38 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 167. 



a point of meeting of five or six much frequented 

 roads, a few miles only from Bath and other towns, 

 would be an unsuitable spot for a hermit ; besides 

 ■which, the country beyond a spot, is not the spot 

 itself. Others have thought it may have been 

 built by a person of the name of Plaister; one 

 which, though uncommon, is still not entirely ex- 

 tinct in the county. Of this, however, there is no 

 evidence. 



A derivation has occurred to me from noticing 

 a slight variety in the spelling and statement of 

 the name, as it is given by one of the ancient his- 

 torians of Glastonbury. He calls it " the chapell 

 oi playsters" and says that, like one or two houses 

 of a similar kind, it was built for the relief and 

 entertainment of pilgrims resorting to the great 

 shrine at that monastery. This indeed is the most 

 reasonable and probable account of it, as it lies on 

 the direct road between Malmesbury and Glaston- 

 bury, and the prevailing tradition has always been 

 that such was the purpose for which it was used. 

 It is fair to presume that the name has some con- 

 nexion with the use. 



Now, it is well known that pilgrimages were not 

 in all respects very painful or self-denying exer- 

 cises, but that, with the devotional feeling in 

 which they took their origin, was combined, in 

 course of time, a considerable admixture of jovial- 

 ity and recreation. They were often, in short, 

 looked upon as parties for merry-making, by people 

 of every class of life, who would leave their busi- 

 ness and duties, on pretence of these pious expe- 

 ditions, but really for a holiday, and, as Chaucer 

 himself describes it, " to play a pilgrimage." (" The 

 Shipmanne's Tale.") Many also were pilgrims by 

 regular profession, as at this day in Italy, for the 

 pleasure of an idle gad-about life at other people's 

 expense. May not such "play-ers" of pilgrimages 

 have been called, in the vernacular of the times, 

 play-sters?" The termination -ster, said to be 

 derived from a Saxon noun, seems in our language 

 to signify a Jiahit or constant employment. A maft- 

 iter is one whose sole business it is to make malt ; 

 a iap-ster, one whose duties are confined to the 

 tap ; a roadster is a horse exclusively used as a 

 hack ; a gamester, the devotee of the gaming-table. 

 From these analogies it seems not unreasonable to 

 suppose that the persons who made a constant 

 habit of attending these pleasant jaunts to Glas- 

 tonbury may have been called by the now-forgotten 

 ■name o{ play ster s." If so, "the chapell o{ play- 

 strers " becomes nothing more than " the chapel of 

 pilgrims" according to the best tradition that we 

 have of it. Perhaps some of your readers may 

 have met with the word in this sense ? 



J. E. Jackson. 



Leigh Delamere. 



Martha Blount. — Is there any engraved por- 

 trait of this lady ? and can any of your numerous 

 correspondents give me reasonable hope of finding 

 portraits of Mrs. Rackett and other connexions 

 of Pope ? I would suggest, that when we are 

 favoured with a new edition of the little great 

 man's works, each volume should contain a por- 

 trait, if procurable, of those who catch a reflected 

 ray of greatness from association with the poet. 



A. F. "Westmacott. 



Feltham House, Middlesex. 



Degree of B.C.L. — In Vol. vi., p. 534., an 

 Oxford B.C.L. asked the privileges to which a 

 gentleman having taken this degree was entitled. 

 Perhaps your correspondent will inform me what 

 is the least time of actual residence required at 

 the university, and the kind of examination a 

 candidate for the honour has to be subjected to, 

 before he becomes a B.C.L. ? also the way for a 

 stranger to go about it, who wants to spend as 

 little money and time in the matter as is possible ? 



J. F. 



Halifax.' 



The Word " anywheii." — Why should not this 

 adverb, which exists as a provincialism in some 

 parts of England, be legitimatised, and made as 

 generally useful as anywhere, or anyhow, or any- 

 one ? If there be no classical precedent for it, will 

 not some of the many authors who contribute to 

 your pages take pity upon anywhen, and venture 

 to introduce him to good society, where I am sure 

 he would be appreciated ? W. Frasbb. 



Shoreditch Cross, Sf-c. — Can any of your readers 

 inform me where a model or picture of the Cross 

 which formerly stood near the church of St. Leo- 

 nard, Shoreditch, can be seen ? Also, where a 

 copy of any description can be seen of the painted 

 window in the said church ? 



Sir Henry Ellis, in his History of the Parish^ 

 gives us no illustration of the above. J. W. B. 



Winchester and Huntingdon. — I would with 

 your permission ask, whether Winchester and 

 Huntingdon have at any time been more populous 

 than they are at present, and what may have been 

 the largest number of inhabitants they are sup- 

 posed to have contained ? G. H. 



La Bruyere. — What is known concerning the 

 family of Jean de la Bruyere, author of Les 

 Caracteres ? Did he belong to the great French 

 house of that name? One of the biographical 

 dictionaries states that he was grandson of a Lieu- 

 tenant Civil, engaged in the Fronde ; but M. Suard, 

 in his " Notice " prefixed to Les Caracteres, says 

 that nothing is known of the author except his 

 birth, death, and office. His grand-daughter, Mag- 



