332 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 179. 



The Axe which beheaded Anne Boleyn. — A 

 friend of mine has excited my curiosity by stating, 

 that in his school-boy readings of the history of 

 England, he learned that the axe which deprived 

 Henry VIII.'s second wife (Anne Boleyn) of her 

 head was preserved as a relic in the Northgate 

 Street of Kent's ancient citie, Canterbury, I have 

 written to friends living in that locality for a con- 

 firmation of such a strange fact ; but they plead 

 ignorance. Can any of your numerous readers 

 throw any light relative to this subject upon the 

 benighted mind of Phii^ip West. 



Roger Outlawe. — A friend of mine in Ger- 

 many has met with some ancient rolls, said to 

 have been from the Irish Court of Common Pleas, 

 chiefly of the time of Edward III., and headed 

 thus : 



" Communia placita apud Dublin coram fratre 

 Rogero Outlawe priore hospitii sancti Johannis de 

 Jerusalem in hibernia tenens locum Johannis Darcy 

 le Cosyn Justiciarii hiberniae apud Dublin die pasche 

 in viiij mense anno B. Etii post ultimum conquestum 

 hibernije quarto." 



Can any person state who this Roger Outlawe 

 was ? And is it not singular that a prior of a re- 

 ligious and military establishment should be qua- 

 lified to sit as locum tenens of a judge in a law 

 court ? • H. T. Ellacombe. 



Clyst St. George. 



" Berte au Grand Pied." — I should be glad to 

 know what is the history or legend of the goose- 

 footed queen, whose figure Mr. Laing, in his 

 Norway, p. 70. 8vo. edition, says is on the portals 

 of four French cathedrals. Thos. Lawrence. 



Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 



Lying by the Walls. — What is the origin of the 

 phrase " Lying by the walls," an euphemism for 

 dead ? It was very commonly used in this county 

 some years ago. Instead of saying " Poor M. or 

 N. is dead" they always said " Poor M. or N. lies 

 by the walls." R, P. 



St. Ives, Hunts. 



Constables of France (Vol. vi., pp. 128. 254.). — 

 Has no person been appointed to fill that high 

 office since the death of the Due de Luynes, In 

 1621 ? A. S. A. 



Wuzzeerabad, 



St. John's Church, Shoreditch. — The church of 

 St. John, within the priory of Holywell, Shore- 

 ditch, and the chapel adjoining it, built by Sir 

 Thomas Lovel, treasurer of the household to Kino- 

 Henry VII., knight of the most noble Order of the 

 Garter, &c. 



Is there any better or other account of this 

 priory, church, and chapel than that given in the 



Monasticon ? Judging by the statement copied by 

 Mr. Lysons from the original entry in the books 

 of the College of Arms, the chapel must have been 

 a splendid building. Sir Thomas Lovel was buried 

 there on the 8th June, 1525, " in a tombe of whyte 

 marbell which both hit and the chappell were 

 founded by hym, and it stondeth on the southe 

 syde of the quyre of the saide churche." At his 

 funeral there were present the Bishop of London, 

 Lord St. John, Sir Richard Wyngfield, and many 

 others, nobles and gentlemen. The Abbot of 

 Waltham, the Prior of St. Mary Spital, four orders 

 of friars, the Mayor and all the aldermen of Lon- 

 don, the gentlemen of the Inns of Court, the Lord 

 Steward, and all the clerks of London, &c., also 

 attended. What a contrast to the present condi- 

 tion of the place, now a scavenger's yard, once the 

 apparently last resting-place of the councillor of 

 a mighty sovereign ! " They that did feed deli- 

 cately, that were brought up in scarlet, embrace 

 dunghills. The holy house where our fathers 

 worshipped is laid waste." Warden S. Hendey. 



P. S. — Part of the chapel is now to be found 

 under the floor of the " Old King John," Holywell 

 Lane. The stone doorway into the porter's lodge 

 of the priory still exists ; but, from the accumula- 

 tion of earth, the crown of the arch is six feet 

 below the ground. I took a sketch of it, and some 

 other remains of the priory, also under ground, 

 about ten years ago. W. S. H. 



Alitor ^Mtxiti b)«t5 %xxi^txi. 



Sir John Thompson. — What are the crest, arms, 

 motto, and supporters of Sir John Thompson, 

 Bart., created Baron Haversham, of Haversham 

 and Newport Pagnel, about the eighth year of 

 William III. ? R. P. D. 



[Or, on a fesse indented az. three etoiles ar. ; on a 

 canton of the second, a sun in his glory, ppr. — Crest, 

 an arm, erect, vested gu. cufF ar. holding in the hand 

 ppr. five ears of wheat or. Motto, " In lumine luce." — 

 Robson's British Herald, vol. ii. s. v. ; and for the plate, 

 vol. iii. pi. 50.] 



Ring, the Marriage. — When and how did the 

 use of the ring, in the marriage ceremony, ori- 

 ginate ? Is it of Christian origin ; or is it derived 

 from the Jews, or from the Greeks or Romans ? 



Jonathan Pim. 



[Brand quotes Vallancey and Leo Modena for the 

 use of the marriage ring among the Jews (^Popular 

 Antiq.,\o\. ii. p. 103. edit. 1849). Wheatly, however, 

 has given the most detailed account of its origin : — 

 " The reason," he says, " why a ring was pitched upon 

 for the pledge rather than anything else was, because 

 anciently the ring was a seal, by which all orders were 

 signed, and things of value secured (Gen. xxxviii. 18,, 

 Esther iii, 10. 12., 1 Maccab, vi. 15.); and therefore 

 the delivery of it was a sign that the person to whom 



