Oct. 9. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



345 



the only singing-bird which in a wild state ap- 

 proaches near to the dwelling of man. While the 

 sparrow is the only bird in constant attendance on 

 the human biped, the llobin is the only one which 

 in the closest disti-icts cheers him with a song. In 

 my garden here at Pentonville I have heard the 

 Robin daily since the third week in August this 

 year : and though the little wren, the greenfinch, 

 the tomtit, and several other birds, visit us, the 

 Robin is the only one which claims popular atten- 

 tion ; and this he certainly deserves. I frequently 

 hear him long before daylight ; and I experience 

 no greater pleasure at this season than enjoying 

 the fresh air in my garden before daybreak, when 

 several Robins in good song maintain a friendly 

 converse, in their melodious way, from the tops of 

 neighbouring trees. The peculiarly full and fluent 

 melody, though consisting of only a few notes, has 

 a great charm for townsmen, and at most houses 

 it is customary to throw out crumbs for the Robin. 

 The fearlessness, and (if it might be said) the love 

 of man which the Robin evinces must, I am sure, 

 be the chief element in our partiality for him. 



Shirley Hibberd. 



Surely our affection for the Robin redbreast 

 arises from its familiar habits. It enters houses 

 freely ; it hops about our breakfast-table, picking 

 up the crumbs ; comes and goes as it pleases ; pops 

 upon our shoulders, and seems to feel itself per- 

 fectly at home ; it places entire confidence in us, 

 and we do not like to abuse it. This I take to be 

 the cause, not the consequence, of the " babes in 

 the wood." 



Our dislike of the toad and the serpent is suffi- 

 ciently accounted for by their personal appearance, 

 and their poisonous reputation. E. H. 



TOMB OF JOHN BARET IN ST. MARY S CHURCH, 

 ST. EDMUNDS, BURY. 



(Vol. v., pp. 247. 353.) 



It is now some years since I saw this curious 

 tomb, of date a.d." 1463 ; at that time the fine 

 church of St. Marie's was restoring in the best 

 possible taste, under the strenuous exertions of its 

 valuable rector, Rev. Mr. Eyre. 



The tomb in question had long stood in a recess, 

 with one side against the wall, so as to render it 

 impossible to read the legend which ran round it; 

 when I saw it, during part of the alterations, it 

 was required to be moved from its place, and I 

 took the opportunity to copy the curious in- 

 scription as below. How it is now placed I know 

 not, but at the time it struck me that it could not 

 be standing in its intended or original position, 

 but that in some changes in the internal arrange- 

 ment of the church, it must have been, as it were, 



shoved aside. The inscriptions, which are in 

 black letter, were as follows : 



■J. " He that will sadly behold me with his ie, r> 



Maye see his own Merowr and lerne to die. * 



Wrappid in a schete, as a ful rewli wretche, 

 No mor of al my minde to me ward wil streche. 

 From erthe I kam and on to erth I am brought. 

 This is my natur : for of erthe I was wrought. 

 Thus erthe on to erthe tendeth to knet. 

 So endeth ech creature : doeth John Baret. 

 Wherfore ye pepil in waye of charitie, 

 With your goode prayeres I praye ye helpe me. 

 For such as I am : right so slialle ye al bi, 

 Now God on my sowle ; have merci and pitie. 



Amen." 



With respect to the " skeleton figure " in Exeter 

 Cathedral (Vol. v., p. 301.), it is now many years 

 since " I made a Note " respecting it. As I recol- 

 lect, it represents a human figure in an extreme 

 state of emaciation, with a dagger sticking in the 

 breast, and the legend told me at the time was to 

 the effect that it represented some one who had 

 attempted to imitate, literally, our blessed Lord's 

 fast of forty days, and that holding out to the 

 thirty-ninth day, and unable to endure the agonies 

 of hunger, he then stabbed himself, thus consum- 

 mating an act of presumption by an act of des- 

 peration. A. B. R. 



Belmont. 



EXTERIOR STOUPS. 



(Vol. vi., p. 160.) 



As one of the correspondents of "N. & Q." 

 referred to an exterior stoup at Badgeworth 

 Church in Gloucestershire, and suggested that 

 a description be given of it by a local corre- 

 spondent, by the kindness of Mr. D. J. Hum- 

 phrls of Cheltenham I am favoured with a 

 drawing of it, and, at his request, forward the 

 following description. The stoup in question is 

 situate on the right as you enter the west door- 

 way of the tower, and is- a plain chamferred ogee- 

 headed recess in the fasciae of the basement mould- 

 ing, with a semi-hexagonal projecting basin, the 

 top member of the mouldings of which is the 

 boutell ; this, together with the ogee head of the 

 recess, would place the date within the Second- 

 pointed or Decorated period, while the doorway 

 itself is of the Third-pointed or Perpendicular 

 period, having a four-centred pointed arch under 

 a square-headed recess. Over the doorway is a 

 western light with flowing tracery, which would 

 lead us to Imagine that the west doorway was a 

 reparation at a subsequent period to the original 

 building of the tower. The church itself is of the 

 Decorated period, and from the specimen of one 

 window which Mr. H. has sent me, must be an 

 exquisite example of the style, there being no less 



