474 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 211. 



the Duke of Gloucester, the Bishops of Winchester 

 and Salisbury, the Earl of Warwick, and others .... 



" Item. That the King uses to wear the livery of the 

 collar of the Duke of Guienne and of Lancaster. 



" Item. That persons of the retinue of the King 

 wear the same livery. 



" To which our lord the King then answered to the 

 said earl .... 



" That soon after the coming of his said uncle of 

 Guienne, when he came from Spain last into England, 

 that himself our lord the King took the collar from the 

 neck of the same his uncle and put it on his own neck, 

 and said that he vowed to wear and to use it in sign 

 of good love of whole heart between them also, as he 

 did the liveries of his other uncles. 



" Item (as to the third). Our lord the King said that 

 it was by leave from him, and by his wish, that per- 

 sons of his retinue wear and use the same livery of the 

 collar." 



This practice of one of our early sovereigns 

 seems to afford a precedent for the mode in which 

 divers gentlemen and persons of quality volun- 

 tarily showed civility towards Richard Evelyn, 

 and for that in which several gentlemen of birth 

 and estate testified their respect and affection for 

 Humphrey Chetham. Nicholas Assheton also ap- 

 pears to have the support of this royal precedent 

 in so far as relates to his accepting and wearing 

 the livery of a friend and neighbour ; and the 

 custom of his day evidently lends its sanction to 

 his forming, upon a state occasion, one of the body 

 of menial servants in attendance upon Sir Richard 

 Houghton, when he went to meet the king. 



Another passage in the Rolls of Parliament 

 seems to afford a respectable civic precedent for 

 the services performed by Nicholas Assheton and 

 other liveried gentlemen, when they waited at the 

 lords' table at Houghton Tower : 



"11"> Edward lit. a.d. 1337. 



" A nre Seigneur le Roy et a son conseil monstre 

 Richard de Bettoyne de Loundres, qe come au Corone- 

 ment fire Seigneur le Roy q ore est il adonge Meire de 

 Loundres fesoit Toffice de Botiller ove ccc e lx vadletz 

 vestutz d'une sute chescun portant en sa mayn un coupe 

 blanche d'argent come autres Meirs de Loundres ountz 

 faitz as Coronementz des pgenitours nostre Seigneur 

 le Roy dont memoire ne court pars et le fee q appen- 

 doit a eel jorne c'est asavoir un coupe d'or ove la 

 covercle et un ewer d'or enamaille lui fust livere p 

 assent du Counte de Lancastre et d'autres Grantz 

 qu'adonges y furent du Conseil nostre Seigneur le Roy 

 p la mayn Sire Rol5t de Wodehouse et ore vient en 

 estreite as Viscountes de Londres liors del Chekker de 

 faire lever des Biens et Chateux du dit Richard 



XX. 



. — IX??. xiis. vij. pur le fee avant dit dont il prie qe 



lUl 



remedie lui soit ordeyne. 



" Et le Meire et Citoyens d'Oxenford ount p point 

 de chartre q'ils vendront a Londres a I'Encorroneraent 

 d'eyder le Meire de Loundres pur servir a la fest et 

 toutz jours I'ount usee. Et si i plest a nre Seigneur le 



Roy et a son Conseil nous payerons volonters la fee 

 issent qe nous soyons descharges de la service." — Rolls 

 of Parliament, vol. ii. p. 96. 



" To our lord the King and to his Council sheweth 

 Richard de Bettoyne of London, that whereas at the 

 coronation of our lord the King that now is, he their 

 mayor of London performed the office of butler with 

 three hundred and sixty valets clothed of one suit each, 

 bearing in his hand a white cup of silver, as other 

 mayors of London have done at the coronations of the 

 progenitors of our lord the King, whereof memory 

 runneth not, and the fee which appertained to this 

 day's work, that is to wit, a cup of gold with the cover, 

 and a ewer of gold enamelled, were delivered to him 

 by assent of the Earl of Lancaster, and of the other 

 grandees who then there were of the council of our 

 lord the King, by the hand of Sire Robert de Wode- 

 house, and now comes in estreat to the viscounts of 

 London out of the Checquer, to cause to take the 

 goods and chattels of the said Richard, eighty-nine 

 pounds twelve shillings and sixpence, for the fee afore- 

 said, whereof he prays that remedy be ordained to him. 



" And the mayor and citizens of Oxford have, by 

 point of charter, that they shall come to London to 

 the coronation, to help the mayor of London to serve 

 at the feast, and always have so done. And if it please 

 our lord the King and his Council, we will pay wil- 

 lingly the fee, provided that we be discharged of the 

 service." 



There can be little doubt that the citizens of 

 Oxford bore their own travelling expenses ; and it 

 seems probable that the citizens of London and 

 Oxford bore the cost of the three hundred and 

 sixty suits of clothes and three hundred and sixty 

 silver cups ; but this is scarcely sufficient to ac- 

 count for their willingness to pay a sum of money 

 equivalent to about fifteen hundred pounds in the 

 present day, in order to be relieved from the 

 honourable service of waiting clothed in uniform, 

 each with a silver cup in his hand, helping the 

 Mayor of London to perform the office of butler 

 at coronation feasts. However this may be, it is 

 still somewhat remarkable that, in the seventeenth 

 century, Nicholas Assheton of Downham, Esq., 

 and other gentlemen of Lancashire, upon a less 

 important occasion than a coronation feast, dressed 

 in the livery of Sir Richard Houghton and volun- 

 tarily attended, day after day, at the lords' table 

 at Houghton Tower, and served the lords with 

 biscuit, wine, and jelly. J. Leweltn Curtis. 



FEMALE PARISH CLERKS. 



(Vol. viii., p. 338.) 



The cases of Rex v. Stubbs and Olive v. Ingram, 

 mentioned in the following extracts from Pri- 

 deaux's Guide to Churchwardens, p. 4., may be of 

 service : 



" Generally speaking, all persons inhabitants of the 

 parish are liable to serve the office of churchwarden, 



