254 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 150. 



3if jjlt'c^ ta Miliar <^{ientS. 



Birthplace ofWichliffe (Vol. vi., p. 55?). —There 

 seems little reason to doubt that the celebrated 

 reformer was a native of the parish of ^A''yclil^e, 

 about eleven miles from Richmond in Yorkshire. 

 The arguments may be found at length in Vaughan's 

 Life of Wycliffe, and it is therefore perhaps unne- 

 cessary to transcribe them. With regard, how- 

 ever, to the difficulty of the reformer s name not 

 being found in any of the pedigrees of the family 

 of Wycliffe, it may be observed that Whitaker 

 notices in the one which he gives, that "the genera- 

 tions about tliat time are not sufficiently proved." 

 Two of the family, however, were rectors of tlie 

 parish during the years 1362 — 1369. It has also 

 been observed that the family would not be anxious 

 to preserve the memory of one who was regarded 

 by them as a heretic, in their records. This might 

 possibly account for the uncertainty apparent in i 

 the pedigrees about that period. With regard to 

 the orthography of the word, the most ancient form ; 

 of which I know is upon a brass still existing in ] 

 the parish church, wiiich is to the memory of 

 Roger de Wyclif : he appears to have lived in the 

 beginning of the fourteenth century. The name 

 was, however, variously spelt, but the most pre- 

 vailing, and now universal, form is Wycliffe. 



A. W. II. 



WyclifFe. 



In the Rev. Dr. Vaughan's Life of WicMiffe, 

 vol. i. p. 230., it is proved almost to a certainty that 

 the venerable reformer was born at a humble vil- 

 lage of the name of Wycliffi?, about six miles from 

 the town of Richmond in Yorkshire. Your cor- 

 respondent Sevar<j is referred to the interesting 

 life of Wickliffe quoted above. John Algor. 



Eldon Street, Sheffield. 



Constables of France (Vol. vi., p. 128.). — In 

 answer to the question of A. S. A. concerning the 

 successor of Annas de Montmorency in the office 

 of Constable of France, I beg leave to state that 

 he was succeeded by Henry Due de Montmorency, 

 who was rewarded with the sword of Constable on 

 Dec. 8, 1593, and died 1614; and he was again 

 succeeded by Charles d' Albert Due de Luynes, 

 made Constable April 2, 1621, and died in the 

 same year. F. C. B. 



Monumental Brasses abroad (Vol. vi., p. 167.). — 

 The names of the brasses at Dublin Cathedral are 

 Geoffrey Fyche, 1527, and Robert Sutton, 1528, 

 both priests. 



Your correspondent is doubtless aware that 

 there is in the Museum of Practical Geology, Jer- 

 myn Street, a large Flemish brass from the ruined 

 convent of Corteville, Flanders, in memory of 

 Lodewyc de Corteville and lady ; but no rubbings 



of it are allowed to be taken, in consequence of 

 the number of applications for that purpose. 



WlXHAM W. K. 



[This is another case fur the application of Photo- 

 graphy, as no injury to the brass could result, and, 

 moreover, copies might readily be multiplied by 

 printing. — Ed.] 



Bemarliable Trees (Vol. v., passim ; Vol. vi., p. 

 159.). — In the town of Pembroke stands a very 

 fine elm-tree, beneath which it is said both John 

 Wesley and Rowland Hill have preached. The 

 tree is venerated by the inhabitants, and carefully 

 preserved from injury. It stands a few feet from 

 the boundary line that divides the parishes of 

 St. Michael and St. Mary. It is marked in the 

 oldest maps, though some say that the present is 

 only a descendant of the ancient tree ; and, judg- 

 ing fi-om its appearance, I should think this state- 

 ment was correct. 



In Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Englandy 

 art. " Norfolk," is the following : 



" In the reign of Edward VI., owing to a system of 

 enclosing adopted by the nobility and gentry who had 

 become possessed of the abbey lands, a rebellion broke 

 out in this county ; and the insurgents, being actuated 

 by the same spirit as the Levellers in the reign of 

 Richard II., proceeded to abolish all distinctions of 

 rank or title, and to execute their designs under the 

 direction of two ringleaders named Ket. Their chief 

 place of rendezvous was Mousehold Heath, near Nor- 

 wich, where the elder of the leaders, Robert Ket, with 

 assistant deputies from every hundred, held his coun- 

 cils under a large tree, hence called ' The Oak of 

 Reformation.' " 



Is this tree known to exist ? If not, can any 

 correspondent communicate its fate ? Tee Bee. 



Portrait of Sir Kenelm Digby (Vol. vi., p. 1 74.). 

 — There is a picture of Sir Kenelm, undoubtedly 

 the work of Vandyke, at New'oridge House, co. 

 Dublin. It represents him dressed in a black 

 velvet coat, with the right hand on the breast, and 

 the head turned three quarters to the right. The 

 size of the picture is about three feet by three feet 

 six inches. It was purchased by Pilkiugton (author 

 of the Dictionary of Painters), soon after the 

 middle of the last century, for the grandfather of 

 its present possessor, but at what precise date and 

 place is unknown. The painting is in Vandyke's 

 best manner. Uksdi.a. 



Dress of the Clergy (Vol. vi., pp. 99. 183.).— 

 Upon this subject I beg to forward to you the 

 following extracts from the Constitutions of Thomas 

 Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, made at the 

 Convocation held in St. Paul's in July, 1463. 



After observing that " the new ill-contrived 

 fashions of apparel of the clergy and people for 

 several years " have been declaimed against by 



