July 30. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



101 



remains. At last I found, in the State Trials, 

 vol. ix. p. 684., that after the executioner had held 

 up the head to the people, " Mr. Sheriff ordered 

 his Lordship's friends or servants to take the body 

 and dispose of it as they pleased, being given 

 them by Ilis Majesty's favour." Probably, there- 

 fore, it was buried at Cheneys ; but it is worth a 

 Query to ascertain the fact. 



My attention was drawn to this omission by the 

 discovery of the decapitated man found at Nune- 

 ham Regis (" N. & Q.," Vol. vi., p. 386.), and from 

 observing that the then proprietor of the place 

 appears to have been half-sister to Lady Russell, 

 viz. daughter of the fourth Lord Southampton, 

 by his second wife Frances, heiress of the Leighs, 

 Lords Dunsmore, and the last of whom was 

 created Earl of Chichester. But a little inquii-y 

 satisfied me this could not have been Lord Rus- 

 sell's body ; among other reasons, because it was 

 very improbable he should be interred at Nune- 

 ham, and because the incognito body had a peaked 

 beard, whereas the prints from the picture at 

 Woburn represent Lord Russell, according to the 

 fashion of the time, without a beard. 



But who then was the decapitated man ? He 

 was evidently an offender of consequence, from 

 his having been beheaded, and from the careful 

 embalming and the three coffins in which his re- 

 mains were inclosed. The only conjecture I see 

 hazarded in your pages is that of Mr. Hesleden 

 (Vol. vi., p. 488.), who suggests Monmouth ; but 

 he has overlooked the fact stated in the original 

 communication of L. M. M. R., that Nuneham only 

 came into the possession of the Buccleuch family 

 through the Montagues, i. e. by the marriage of 

 Henry, third Dulve of Buccleuch, to Lady Eliza- 

 beth Montagu ; the present proprietor, Lord John 

 Scott, being their grandson. This marriage took 

 place in 1767, or eighty-two years after Mon- 

 mouth's execution, and thirty-three years after the 

 death of his widow, the Duchess of Buccleuch and 

 Monmouth, who is supposed to have caused the 

 body to be removed from Tower Hill. 



Notwithstanding the failure of heirs male in 

 three noble families within the century, viz. the 

 Leighs, the Wriothesleys, and the Montagus, the 

 present proprietor is their direct descendant, and 

 there are indications in the letter referred to, that 

 the place of interment of his ancestors, as well as 

 of this singular unknown, will no longer be aban- 

 doned to be a depository of farm rubbish. 



W. L. M. 



ANCIENT FURNITURE PRIE-DIEU. 



Perhaps some of the readers of " ISf. & Q." will 

 be able to give me some information as to the use 

 of an ancient piece of furniture which I have met 

 with. At Codrington, a small village in Glou- 

 cestershire, in the old house once the residence of 



the family of that name, now a farm-house, they 

 show you in the hall a piece of furniture which 

 was brought there from the chapel when that part 

 of the building was turned into a dairy. It is a 

 cupboard, forming the upper part of a five-sided 

 structure, which has a base projecting equally 

 with the top, which itself hangs over a hollow 

 between the cupboard and the base, and is 

 finished off with pendants below the cupboard. 

 The panel which forms the door of the cupboard 

 is wider than the sides. All the panels are carved 

 with sacred emblems ; the vine, the instruments of 

 the Passion, the five wounds, the crucifix, the 

 Virgin and child, and a shield, with an oak tree 

 with acorns, surmounted by the papal tiara and 

 the keys. The dimensions are as follows : 



Depth from front to back, 2 feet 4^ inches. 



Height, 4 feet 8 inches. 



Height of cupboard from slab to pendants,. 

 2 feet 6 inches. 



Height of base, 9 J inches. 



Width of side panels, 1 foot 8 inches ; of centre- 

 panel, 1 foot 10^ inches. 



Width of the door of the cupboard, 1 foot 

 5 inches. 



The door has carved upon it a scene represent- 

 ing two men, one an old man sitting upon a chair, 

 the other a young one falling back Irom a stool ; a 

 table separates them ; and in the next compart- 

 ment (for an arcade runs through the group) a 

 female figure clasps her hands, as if in astonish- 

 ment. This I can hardly understand. But the 

 panel with the papal ensigns I think may throw 

 some light on the use of the whole. In the year 

 1429, John Codrington of Codrington obtained a 

 bull from Pope Martin V. to have a portable altar 

 in his house, to have 'mass celebrated when and 

 where he pleased. I find that such a portable 

 altar ought to have " a suitable frame of wood 

 whereon to set it." Such altars are frequently 

 mentioned, though I believe very few remain ; but 

 I never could hear of the existence of anything to 

 show what the frame would be. It occurs to me 

 as possible that this piece of furniture may have 

 been used for the purpose. The whole question 

 of portable altars is an interesting one, and if this 

 account should by tlse means of "N. & Q." fall 

 into the hands of any one who is acquainted with 

 the subject, I hope he would consider it worth a 

 communication. 



For some time I was at a loss for another in- 

 stance ; however, I have just received from a 

 friend, who took interest in the subject, a sketch 

 of something almost identical from the disused 

 chapel at Chillon in the Canton Vaud. Of this I 

 have not the measurements, but it stands about 

 breast-high. It is there called a " prie-dieu," and 

 is said to have belonged to the Dukes of Savoy, 

 but the size is very unusual for such a use. I 

 send sketches of each of the subjects of my Query, 



