2»<> S. V. 117., Mau. 27. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUJ^KlES. 



263 



Since 1832 tbe Mayor aiul Council Lave dis- 

 pensed with robes, but this year a scarlet f?own, 

 trimmed with sable, subscribed for by the ladies 

 of Canterbury, was presented to the Mayor, which 

 he wears on most public occasions, together with 

 a gold chain, the presentation-gift to a former 

 mayor, by his brother. 



The Sword of State and Mace of the Canter- 

 bury Corporation have been from time to time 

 displayed on certain public occasions. The sword 

 was presented by James I. to the City during the 

 mayoralty of Thomas Paramore. 



The mace itself has a history, and an ancestry. 

 The charter of Henry VI., to which the citizens 

 owe their first privilege of choosing a mayor, con- 

 fers upon that dignitary the power to appoint 

 " Sergeants at Mace," directing their maces to be 

 borne before him. 



In the 2Gth year of Elizabeth " a mace is or- 

 dered to be made out of the maces of the town 

 sergeants," but although these were of silver, 

 some reflection seems to have been cast upon 

 the origin of the mace ; for ten years afterwards 

 "one very fair mace is ordered to be made, decent, 

 to be carried before the Mayor." 



In 1650 we have an entry of " the great mace" 

 being "altered and finished ;" but as the City had 

 about this time some heavy demands from the 

 State to furnish arms and soldiers, the Corpo- 

 ration resolve " That the mace be made with as 

 little charge and addition of silver as may be." 



In 1680 the City decide "That either the new 

 mace be made, or the old one be repaired." The 

 party for the " new mace " seem to have pre- 

 vailed; for in June, 1688, we find an entry where- 

 in the Chamberlain is recorded to have given 

 " twenty shillings for those who assisted him 

 about it." 



Referring to the ancient practice of wearing 

 gowns and robes, we find in the 2nd and 7th of 

 Philip and Mary, " That Mr. Mayor is ordered to 

 provide his wife the Mayoress with a scarlet 

 gown, and a bonnet of velvet, upon the pain of 

 forfeiting 10/." There is a tradition, although it 

 does not appear on the Burghmote Rolls, that 

 under a certain contingency he had also to pro- 

 vide her with a silver cradle. J. Brent. 



SEBASTIAN CABOT AND RICHARD EDEN. 



(2°" S. V. 193.) 

 All the information respecting Richard Eden 

 that could be gleaned by an author of diligent 

 research your learned correspondent, Mr. Samuel 

 Lucas, will find in the Memoir of Sebastian 

 Cabot [by R. Biddle.?], 8vo., London, 1831. The 

 author's indefatigable industry appears in every 

 page of his work. Many confusions and misrepre- 

 sentations which had long prevailed regarding 



this great seaman he has fully cleared up, and 

 more than one " vile calumny " refuted. 



In 1555, Eden published — 



"The Decades of the Newe Worlde, or West India, 

 conteyning the navigations and conquestes of the Span- 

 yardes . . . from the Latin of P. Martyr. London, 1555." 



It is a thick 4to. volume printed in black-letter. 

 In addition to the translation of Peter Martyr, 

 Eden has subjoined extracts from the most rare 

 and curious voyages and travels. Hakluyt (vol. 

 iii. p. 498.) calls him "that learned and painful 

 writer;" and he has transferred a great portion 

 of Eden's work to his own pages. Mr. Biddle states 

 (p. 62.), that " Eden was not a mere compiler . . . 

 In point of learning, accuracy, and integrity, he is 

 certainly superior to Hakluyt . . . Sebastian Ca- 

 bot he seems to have known familiarly, and he has 

 conveyed from the lips of the ' good oulde man ' 

 himself interesting particulars of his earlier voy- 

 ages ! " Eden also attended Cabot on his death- 

 bed ; and in one of his works published by " R. 

 Jugge " he has given an afiecting account of the 

 dying seaman's last moments. (See Memoir, p. 

 222.) 



The author, in referring to Cabot's birthplace, 

 gives some extracts from Purchas, Harris, Pin- 

 kerton, Churchill, Barrow, and the Quarterly Re- 

 view, to show how the matter has been treated by 

 them. He then gives this deeply interesting and 

 important information : — 



" Now it will scarcely be credited, that we have in Eden 

 a positive statement on the subject [of his birth-place] 

 from the lips of Sebastian Cabot himself. The following 

 marginal note will be found at fol. 255. : ' Sebastian 

 Cabote tould me that he was borne in Brystowe, and 

 that at iiii. yeare ould he was carried with his father to 

 Venice, and so returned agayne to England with his 

 father, ofter certayne yeares, whereby he was thought to 

 have been born in- Venice.' Thus then was the question 

 settled 275 years ago .... Surely it is as absurd as it 

 is unnatural to deny to such a man the claim which he 

 seems to have anxiousl}' preferred, and which has been 

 placed on record under his direct sanction." (p. 69.) 



Mr. Lucas will now see whence Sayer took 

 the MS. note that he (Mr. L.) inserted in a 

 local paper ; and our City Librarian will also see 

 that all Sayer's MSS. are not " to be classed with 

 Chatterton's Forgeries." 



A list of Eden's works is given in Watt's BiO' 

 graphia Britannica. If Mr. Lucas is desirous of 

 having a copy of the Memoir of Cabot, it is very 

 likely that J. Russell Smith, 36. Soho Square, can 

 supply it him ; but should he have any difficulty 

 in procuring one, I shall feel much pleasure in 

 lending him mine. William George. 



Bristol. 



^tJ^Xiti t0 :^uiar <kntxiti, 



Wiio was the Author of ''■Peg Bull?'' (2°'* S. v. 

 214.) — As I personally knew the author during 

 tbe last eighteen years of his life, I have no diffi- 



