282 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. V. 118., April 3. '68. 



est daughter of the first wife, beinw married, a 

 virgin ought to inherit (JLb. 202.). In other ma- 

 nors the sons and daughters inherit equally, as at 

 Wareham, Dorsetshire (Blount's Ten., 288.; Watk., 

 Cop., by Vidal, ii. 441.). In others, the eldest 

 daughter alone succeeds to the inheritance, as at 

 Yardley, Herts (Salmon's Herts, 323.; Watk. 

 Cop., ii. 444.) ; and I have been informed of one 

 manor (Penrith in Wales) where daughters are 

 preferred in respect of inheritance to sons. Thus 

 it is, I think, owing to the caprice of the several 

 ancient lords, that these different manorial cus- 

 toms have arisen and been established. 



As to the name of the custom, we have this sig- 

 nificant fact from the Year Books, 1st Edw. I. 

 p. 12. (No. 38.), viz. in Nottingham there were 

 two tenures, "Burgh Engloyes" and "Burgh 

 Frauncoyes," the usages of which tenures are 

 such, that all the tenements whereof the ancestor 

 died seized in Burgh Engloyes ought to descend 

 to the youngest son, and all the tenements in 

 Burgh FraunQoyes to the youngest son, as at com- 

 mon law. (Robinson's Gav., 3rd ed., pp. 118. 

 391., citing Co. Litt, 110 6.) 



My opinion is, that this custom is not derived 

 from the British nor from the Anglo-Saxon races 

 in this country, but that it originated with the 

 Norman lords after the Conquest, who imposed 

 this custom as a peculiar mark of serfdom on their 

 English vassals, which their Norman followers, 

 who were accustomed to the law of primogeni- 

 ture as attached to freeholdings, would not sub- 

 mit to. Hence the distinction of tenures at 

 Nottingham, of Burgh Engloyes and Burgh 

 Fraun9oyes ; which, although not now known 

 in that town, were kept in remembrance until 

 lately by the two parts of the town having been 

 not long since distinguished as the English borough 

 and the French borough. 



To show that the customary descent to the 

 youngest son was not unknown to the Norman 

 and Flemish followers of William, as a peculiarity 

 of serfdom or villenage, see the Coutumes locales 

 du Baillage d' Amiens, par M. Bouthors, Grefl5er 

 en chef de la Cour d'Appel a' Amiens, etc., pub- 

 lished by the Societe des Antiquaires de Picardie ; 

 where we find that the same customary descent to 

 the youngest son prevailed in that province of 

 France, and in Artois, under the name of Mainete 

 (raoins ne moins age), viz. in the Seigneuries of 

 Grouy et Bavaincourt, Rettembes, Croy, Lignieres, 

 Warlus, Rezencourt, Brontelle, Hornvy, Selin- 

 court, Adinfer, Blairville, Wancour, Guemappes, 

 Hebuterne, Pays de Callien, Temporel du chapitre 

 d' Arras, and Rassery. 



M. Bouthors in a letter to me says that in the 

 environs of Arras and of Douai the law of Mainete 

 was the general custom ; in Ponthieu and Vivier 

 it was the exception. 



M, Bputbors also says that it is found likewise 



in Flanders, under the name of Madelstard (Mer- 

 lin, Repertoire de Jurisprudence, en mot Mainete), 

 and Du Cange tells us it prevailed among families 

 at Hochstet in Suabia : " Quam etiam locum ha 

 buisse in familia Hocstratana. Auctor est Ludo- 

 vicus Guicciardinus in Descr. Belgii." 



I cannot find any such passage in Guicciardini'a 

 Belgium, 2 vols. 16mo., Amsterdam, 1660; pro- 

 bably there is a more enlarged edition. I shall be 

 much obliged to any of your readers for a refer- 

 ence to the passage. 



I have found a spare copy of my Sussex Papers, 

 which I have much pleasure in offering to Louisa 

 Julia Norman for Mons. Martin, and I have 

 sent it to the lady. (i. R. Corner. 



" THE EXISTENCE OF THE MAELSTROM." 



(2""^ S. V. 154.) 



It seems to be the fashion now-a-days to class 

 this famous whirlpool with the sea-serpen^, the 

 krakeft, and other marvels of old Eric Pontoppi- 

 dan's History. Mr. Bayard Taylor, it seems, 

 made diligent inquiry, but could not find it ; and 

 the like fate befel M. W. M. Williams of Birming- 

 ham, as related by him in a lecture on Norway 

 delivered at the Philosophical Institute at Bir- 

 mingham, in 1857. I do not know if Mr. Bayard 

 Taylor visited the Loffoden Isles, but I am quite 

 certain that his search for the maelstrom cannot 

 have been a very diligent one. Mr. Williams 

 states that he inquired about the whirlpool on his 

 journey to the North Cape, and was told by the 

 naval officer whom he questioned, that " he did 

 not know the English knew all about it." No 

 doubt the good-tempered and well-informed Nor- 

 wegian was laughing at the wondrous tales cur- 

 rent in England regarding the maelstrom ; but 

 yet its existence as a dangerous current, only to 

 be approached at certain times of the tide, and in 

 still weather, is as positive a fact as that the Straits 

 of Dover separate England from France. We do 

 not find any allusion to the maelstrom in Murray's 

 sagacious guide-book, and in the next edition we 

 hope this defect will be remedied. Englishmen 

 are not prone to believe much they have not per- 

 sonally seen, and the maelstrom lies so far out of 

 the English line of tour in Norway that its very 

 existence is now called in question. The few 

 English tourists who go to the North Cape take 

 advantage, of course, of the opportunities of travel 

 afforded them by the excellent fortnightly coast- 

 ing steamers to Hammerfert, but not one in a 

 thousand probably is induced to land upon the 

 Loffoden islands, even at the spot where the vessel 

 touches at them in the Rast Sund. There are no 

 fishing streams about the rugged Loffodens to 

 tempt the English angler amid their solitudes, 

 and in summer the population of these isles is 



