Z-xi S. No 108., Jan. 23. '68.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



71 



jRohin Hood (Dehativg) Society, a.d. 1613. — A 

 little book, purporting to be a History of this 

 Society, and published in 1764, and sold at the 

 Oxford Theatre, St. Paul's churchyard, asserts 

 Sir Hugh Myddelton to have been the founder. 

 Can any reader of " N. & Q." refer me to any 

 contemporary authority for the statement? 



A Constant Header. 



Mr. Watts. — About the middle or towards the 

 end of the last century there was a Mr. Watts 

 living, as is supposed, in Islington, and nearly re- 

 lated to Dr. Isaac Watts. His daughter Rebecca 

 married the late Mr. John Warren, sugar-broker, 

 of Commercial Chambers, Mincing Lane. Can 

 any reader of " N. & Q." inform me what was the 

 degree of consanguinity between him and the logi- 

 cian and poet ? F. J. Leachman, M, A. 



Sir James Bourchier, S^c, — In the State Paper 

 Office is a docquet of a licence to Sir James 

 Bourchier, Sir Charles Morrison, and Sir Charles 

 Chute, to travel for three years, dated Feb. 16, 

 1604-5. Are any particulars known of their tra- 

 vels, and of the places they visited ? J. Y. 



John of Eltham. — The following paragraph 

 appears in Black's Guide to Scotland, 12th edit., 

 1856, p. 184., speaking of St. John's church, 

 Perth: "In the year 1336, King Edward III. of 

 England stabbed his brother, the Duke of Corn- 

 wall, before the high altar of this church." I 

 have sought in vain for the authority for this 

 statement, and shall be glad if any of your readers 

 can give it me. G. (1.) 



[The story that the Duke of Cornwall was stabbed by 

 his brother rests upon the authority of Fordun and Hector 

 Boethius. Fordun makes the following statement : — 

 " Cumque idem rex, ante magnum altare Sancti Johannis, 

 •super praetnissis ipsum, ut debuit, argueret ; et ipse regi 

 indignanti animo responderet, subito fratris spata sive 

 cultello extracto percussus, rebus exutus est humanis." 

 (^Scotichronicon, lib. xiii. cap. xxxviii. edit. 1759.) The 

 story is also narrated by Andrew of Wyntown, in The Oi-y- 

 gynale Cronykil of Scotland, book viii. cap. xxx. : — 



" Qwhen he j^e Kyng his Brodyr mete, 

 Dare fell \>?d in swylk carpyng, 

 Dat ajjire yharnyd to be Kj'ng 

 Of Scotland, \>a.t l^are wyth a knyf 

 De Kyng reft his Bro|>yr l>e lyf." 



To this passage the editor, Daniel Macpherson, has added 

 the following note : — " If Edward really slew his brother, 

 this is a much more probable cause than resentment of 

 his cruelty at Lesmahagow. {Scot. CAron. ii. 323.) It 

 must be allowed that the authorities for his dying of 

 sickness are not satisfactory, and that the fact was more 

 likely to be known in Scotland than in England. In such 

 cases the propagation of a decent falsehood is not un- 

 common." This story of the violent death of John of 

 Eltham, however, is rejected by most of our English 

 Jjjstorians. Barnes, in \ns, History of Edward the Third, 



p. 107., thus notices it:— "The Scotch writers {Hector, 

 lib. XV. fol. 320, n. 40.) tell the manner of his death thus: 

 •That having done many abominable cruelties in that 

 kingdom, and especially without any regard to holy 

 places, after all he came to St. John's town, where (say 

 they) the King his brother then was in the church at his 

 devotions near the altar. That upon sight of him the 

 King, who had heard of all his barbarous and profane 

 cruelties, questioned him somewhat about4:hose matters: 

 but receiving from him an harsh and undutiful answer, 

 was so far provoked, that immediately drawing his sword, 

 he there slew him with his own hands upon the place, 

 adding this, That an altar ought not to be a refuge for 

 one who had by fire and sword violated both churches 

 and altars.' Certainly (says Barnes) this sentence which 

 Hector puts into King Edward's mouth was no way un- 

 becoming a religious prince, even though he had per- 

 formed such a fact upon such a brother, as they make 

 this Lord John to have been. But this very author, for- 

 getting decencies and characters, at another time makes 

 the same King as great a profaner of holy places himself; 

 and yet his friend Buchanan likes not this story of his so 

 well as to set his hand to it, which he very seldom 

 scruples to do, but when the lie is too apparent : for, in- 

 deed, King Edward was not in Scotland at the time of 

 Prince John's decease ; and the young lord was neither 

 so barbarous nor profane as Hector feigns ; and besides, 

 his death was natural, as all our histories and the records 

 themselves agree." The authorities quoted by Barnes are 

 Knighton, p. 2568. n. 30. ; Holinshed, Scotland, p. 237. 

 n. 50.; Pat. 10 Edw. III. p. 2. m. 3.; and Dugdale, ii. 

 p. 109. &c.] 



Stationers' Company, London. — In "N. & Q." (2°** 

 S. ii. 322, 323.) there is an interesting account of 

 the number of books entered at Stationers' Hall 

 from 1767 to 1773, and from 1700 to 1708: will some 

 correspondent of "N. & Q.," who has a know- 

 ledge of the history of the Company, inform me 

 in what year it was first established, and with 

 what object it commenced its operations ? Also, 

 whether there has been any history of the Com- 

 pany published which I could obtain ? L. A. N. 



[The Company of Stationers, or Text Writers, is of 

 great antiquit3'. By the authority of the Lord Mayor 

 and Court of Aldermen, they were formed into a Guild in 

 the 3'ear 1403, 4th of Henry IV. Their first hall was in 

 Milk Street. The Company had no control over printed 

 books till they received their first charter, dated May 4, 

 1557, the 3rd & 4th of Philip and Mary, by the title 

 of " The Master and Keepers, or Wardens, and Common- 

 alty, of the Mi'stery or Art of Stationers of the City of 

 London," by which they obtained an inquisitorial right 

 upon all literary compositions. Queen Elizabeth, by 

 letters patent, confirmed this charter. The entries of 

 copies began at Stationers' Hall in 1558, but without the 

 delivery of any books. They seem to have been intended 

 by the booksellers of the Company to make known to each 

 other their respective copyrights, and to advertise the 

 works, as there were then no newspapers. By a subse- 

 quent charter, James I. gave the Company the right of 

 printing primers, psalters, almanacks, and prognostica- 

 tions. The delivery of books began in the year 1662, 

 when, by the Act 13 & 14 Car. IL c. 33., it was enacted 

 that everj' printer should send three copies of everj' book 

 new printed, or reprinted with additions, to the Sta- 

 tioners' Company, to be sent to the King's library, and 

 the Vice-Chancellors of Oxford and Cambridge, for the 

 use of their public libraries. This Act did not remain in 

 force above five or six years. On the accession of 



