12 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 166. 



sense of divisions or partitions, is it unreasonable 

 to suppose that Castrum Divisarum implied and 

 constituted, at that early period, the deposit or 

 fountain-head of the blazonry of the Norman 

 leaders ? 



It was certainly not unsuited for such a species 

 of heralds' college ; being central, inland, a royal 

 treasury, and the frequent scene of a court. When 

 in the ensuing age re-edified by Bishop Roger, 

 the monkish historians, without a dissentient voice, 

 proclaimed it the most splendid castle in the realm ; 

 and though it may be objected that this observa- 

 tion belongs to a date not to our purpose, yet the 

 pre-existence of the fortress is proved by its 

 having been the temporary prison of Duke Robert. 

 I am aware that such a notion as Devizes having 

 formed the nucleus of the tree heraldic in England 

 is not countenanced, nor even suspected, by any of 

 the popular writers on the art. I may add, that 

 one gentleman, holding an important position 

 therein, has signified his disapproval of so early an 

 origin being assigned to the institution. But over- 

 against this, I beg to parade a passage from a 

 letter written by Thomas Blore in 1806 to Sir 

 Egerton Bi-ydges : 



" The heralds," says he, "seem originally not to have 

 been instituted for the manufacturing of armorial en- 

 signs, but for the recording those ensigns which had 

 been borne," — Censura Lileraria, vol. iii. p. 254. 



My case Is now stated. I shall be well content 

 that some of your archseologlcal friends should 

 scatter It to the winds, provided they will explain 

 how it is that Devizes, in common with some of 

 the ancient cities of Egypt and Greece, has so long 

 rejoiced in a plural name. To aid this last endea- 

 vour, I close with one more statement. The castle 

 stood nearly midway between two other adjoining 

 towns or villas, also bearing plural names : Pot- 

 ternae=arum [Posternse ?] and Kaninga;=arum. 



J. Waylen. 



P. S. — I think I may plead the privilege of a 

 postscript for the purpose of recording (what may 

 be taken as) an Indication, though perhaps not a 

 proof, that the idea of devices or contrivances was 

 implied in the name so recently as the period of 

 the civil war. The Mercwius Civicus, a parlia- 

 mentary paper, 1644, states that Devizes was being 

 garrisoned for the king, in the following terms : 



" Hopton is fortifying amain at the Devises in Wilt- 

 shire, but I fear greater fortifyings from the Devices in 

 Oxford." 



Oold Signet Ring. — I possess an ancient gold 

 signet ring, which was dug up a few years since 

 not far from an old entrenchment in the borough 

 of Leominster, in the county of Hereford, the de- 

 vice thereon being a cock ; it is of very pure metal, 



and weighs 155 grains. It is in fine preservation : 

 the device is rudely cut, but I beg to inclose an 

 impression from which you may judge. Can any 

 of your antiquarian readers throw any light on the 

 subject to whom this device originally belonged ? 



In levelling the ibrtified entrenchment above 

 referred to some half century ago, various utensils 

 of pottery, burnt bones, spear and arrow heads, 

 tesselated tiles, fragments of sculptured stones, 

 and other relics of antiquity, were found. 



J. B. Whitborne. 



Ecclesia Anglicana. — I observe. In an interesting 

 letter published in the December Number of the 

 Ecclesiologist, In an enumeration of Service Books 

 belonging to the English Church before the Re- 

 formation, and now existing in the Pepysian Li- 

 brary, Cambridge, the following title : 



"No. 1198. Servicium de omni Officio Episcopali 

 consernenta {sic) chorum .... secundum usum Ee- 

 clesie Anglicane." 



Now I am anxious to know from any of your 

 readers, who are better informed on these subjects 

 than I am, or who have access to old libraries, 

 whether Ecclesia Anglicana is a usual designation 

 of the Catholic Church in England before the 

 Reformation . 



Service Books according to the use of some 

 particular cathedral church are of course well 

 known, as in this same list to which I have re- 

 ferred we find " secundum usum insiguls ecclesie 

 Eboracensis," " ad insignis ecclesise Sarisburiensis 

 usum," &c. : but I should be glad to learn. In these 

 days of ultramontane pretensions, whether, even 

 prior to the Reformation, the distinct nationality, 

 of the Anglican church was commonly asserted by 

 the use oif such a title In her Service Books. I 

 need scarcely observe how many interesting cog- 

 nate questions might be asked on this subject. 



G. R. M. 



Tangier s. — English Army in 1684. — A mer- 

 chant in 1709 deposed that he knew not how long 

 complainant had been a soldier, or beyond the 

 seas belbre May, 1697, but that he has heretofore 

 seen and knew him at Tomger, before and at the- 

 time of the demolishing thereof, being then a 

 soldier; and no doubt could prove that he was in 

 England a considerable time next before May, 

 1697. 



Could the place be other than Tangiers, de- 

 stroyed In 1684 ? 



Was complainant (a younger son of a well-con- 

 nected family of gentry, but himself probably in 

 poverty), who In deeds, and on his mon. tablet, is 

 described as gent., likely to have been In 1684 

 (aged twenty-seven) a private, a non-couunis- 

 sloned, or commissioned officer ? 



If the latter, would he not have been so de- 

 scribed ? A. C. 



