July 2. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Celtic Irish. Some of our readers may be able to 

 elucidate the obscure references : 



« The Irish men they have a farme, 

 They kepp the bread, 



And make boyranne. 

 They make butter and eatt molchan. 

 And when they haue donne 



They have noe shamm. 

 They burne the strawe and make loisbran. 

 They eatt the flesh and drinke the broth, 

 And when they have done they say 

 Deo gracias is smar in Doieagh." 



The next appears to be a scrap of a woman's 

 song: 



" Birch and keyre 'tis wal veyre a spyunyng deye a 



towme. 

 I am the geyest mayed of all that brought the somer 



houme. 

 Justice Deyruse in my lopp, and senscal in my 



roame," &c. 



John Devereux was Justiciary of the Pala- 

 tinate Liberty of Wexford in the early part of 

 Henry VIII.'s reign. That Palatinate was then 

 governed by a seneschal or " senscal." The jus- 

 tice would seem to have been a gallant and sensual 

 man, and the song may have been a little satirical. 

 Among the notes of the " Manners " of the Irish, 

 it is declared that — 



"Sett them a farme — the grandfather, father, son, 

 and they clayme it as their own : if not, they goe to 

 rebellion." 



Will any antiquary versed in Celtic customs 

 explain whether this claim of possession 4^rew out 

 of any Celtic usage of tenancy ? And also point 

 out authorities bearing upon the customs of Celtic 

 agricultural tenancy ? 



The next extract bears upon the communication 

 at Vol. vii., p. 332. : 



" An Ultagh hath three purses. He runneth behind 

 dore to draw his money : one cutteth the throte of 

 another." 



Now, was an Ultagh an Irish usurer or money- 

 lender? Your correspondent at page 332. re- 

 quests information respecting Roger Outlaw. Sir 

 William Betham, in a note to the "Proceedings 

 against Dame Alice Ugteler," the famous pseudo- 

 Kilkenny witch, remarks that " the family of Ut- 

 lagh were seated in Dublin, and filled several 

 situations in the corporation." Utlagh and Out- 

 law are the same surnames. The named Utlagh 

 also occurs in the Calendar of Printed Irish Patent 

 Rolls. William Utlagh, or Outlaw, was a hanker 

 and money-lender in Kilkenny, in the days of 

 Edward I, He was the first husband of the witch, 

 and brother of Friar Roger Outlaw. In favour of 

 the latter, who was Prior of Kilmainham, near 

 Dublin, a mandamus, dated 10 Edw. II., was issued 

 for arrears due to him since he was " justice and 



chancellor, and even lieutenant of the justiciary, 

 as well in the late king's time as of the present 

 king's." He was appointed Lord Justice, or deputy 

 to the Lord Lieutenant, by patent dated Mar. JjS, 

 9 Edw. IIL 



Many of the Irish records having been lost, your 

 correspondent will do an obliging service in poiafe- 

 ing out the repository of the discovered roll. Pep^ 

 haps steps might be taken for its restoration. jH, 



[The following communication from our valued 

 correspondent, the Rev. H. T. Ellacombe, affords at 

 once a satisfactory reply to H.'s Query, and a proof of 

 the utility of " N. & Q,."] 



Roger Outlawe (Vol. vii., p. 559,). — Thanks to 

 Anon, and others for their information. 



As for " in viiij mense," I cannot understand it : 

 I copied it as it was sent to me. B. Etii was an 

 error of the press for R. Etii, but I purposely 

 avoided noticing it, because my very first commu- 

 nication on the subject to "N. & Q.," under my 

 own name and address, opened a very pleasing 

 correspondence, which has since led to the re- 

 storation of these Irish documents to their con- 

 geners among the public records in Dublin ; a 

 gentleman having set out most chivalrously from 

 that city at his o-.vn cost to recover them, and I 

 am happy to say he has succeeded ; and in the 

 English Quarterly Magazine there will soon 

 appear, I believe, an account of the documents in 

 question. It would not, therefore, become me to 

 give in this place the explanation which has been 

 kindly communicated to me as to the meaning of 

 the last conquest of Ireland ; but I have no doubt 

 it will be explained in the English Quarterly. 



H. T. Ellacombe. 



Rectory, Clyst St. George. 



Minax §,atzS, 



Burial in an erect Posture. — In the north transept 

 of Stanton Harcourt Church, Oxon, the burial- 

 place of the Harcourt family, is a circular slab of 

 blue marble in the pavement, in which is inlaid a 

 shield of brass bearing the arms of Harcourt, — two 

 bars, dimidiated with those of Beke ; the latter, 

 when entire, forming a cros ancree. The brass is 

 not engraved, but forms the outline of the shield 

 and arms. It is supposed to be the monument of 

 Sir John, son of Sir Richard Harcourt and Mar- 

 garet Beke, who died 1330. (See extracts from 

 Lord Harcourt's " Account," in the Oxford Archi- 

 tectural Guide, p. 178.) Tradition relates, if my 

 memory does not mislead me, that the knight was 

 buried beneath this stone in an erect posture, but 

 assigns no reason for this peculiarity. Is the pro- 

 bability of this being the case supported by any, 

 and what instances ? Or does the legend merely 

 owe its existence to the circular form of the stone? 



