Nov. 26. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



52t 



thornden, and respectively attributed to William 

 Wallace, and to Robert the Bruce. The latter is 

 a very remarkable specimen, the grip being formed 

 either of the tusk of a walrus or of a small ele- 

 phant, considerably curved ; and the guard is con- 

 structed of two iron bars, terminated by trefoils, 

 and intersecting each other at right angles. Tlie 

 blade Is very ponderous, and shorter than usual 

 in weapons of this description. 



The claymore of modern times is a broadsword, 

 double or single-edged, and provided with a 

 basket hilt of form peculiar to Scotland, though 

 the idea was probably derived from Spain. 

 Swords with basket hilts were commonly used by 

 the English cavalry in the reigns of Charles I. 

 and II., but they are always of a different type 

 from the Scotch, though affording as complete a 

 protection to the hand. I possess some half- 

 dozen examples, some from Gloucestershire, which 

 are of the times of the civil wars. There are 

 many swords said to have been the property of 

 Oliver Cromwell; one is in the United Service 

 Museum : all that I have seen are of this form. 



W. J. Bernhard Smith. 



Temple. 



Temple Lands in Scotland (Vol. viii., p. 317.). — 

 Your correspondent Abredonensis, upon a refer- 

 ence to the undernoted publications, will find 

 many interesting particulars as to these lands, viz. : 



1. "Templaila: Papers relative to the History, 

 Privileges, and Possessions of the Scottish Knights 

 Templars, and their Successors the Knights of Saint 

 John of Jerusalem, &c. Edited by James Maidment. 

 Sm. 4vo. 1828-29." 



2. " Abstract of the Charters and other Papers re- 

 corded in the Chartulary of Torpbichen, from 1581 to 

 1596; with an Introductory Notice and Notes, by 

 John Black Gracie. Sm. 4to. 1830." 



3. " Notes of Charters, &c., by the Right Hon. 

 Thomas Earl of Melrose, afterwards Earl of Hadding- 

 ton, to the Vassals of the Barony of Drem, from 1615 

 to 1627 ; with an Introductory Notice, by John Black 

 Gracie. Sm. 4to. 1830." 



4. " Fragmenta Scoto-Monastica: Memoir of what 

 has been already done, and what Materials exist, to- 

 wards the Formation of a Scottish Monasticon : to 

 which are appended, Sundry New Instances of Goodly 

 Matter, by a Delver in Antiquity (W. B. Turnbull). 

 8vo. 1842." 



The "Introductory Notices" prefixed to 'Nos. 

 2, and 3. give full particulars of the various sales 

 and purchases of the Superiorltus, &c., by Mr. 

 Gracie and others. T. G. S. 



Edinburgh. 



Lervis and Scwell Families (Vol. viil,, p. 388.). 

 — Your correspondent may obtain, In respect to 

 the Lewis family, much information In the Life 

 and Correspondence of Mattheio Gregory Lewis, 

 two vols. 8vo., London, 1839, particularly at 



pp. 6. and 7. of vol. i. He will there find that 

 Matthew Lewis, Esq., who was Deputy Secretary 

 of War for twenty-six years, married Frances 

 Sewell, youngest daughter of the Right Hon. Sir 

 Thos. Sewell ; that Lieut.- Gen. Whitelocke and 

 Gen. Sir Thos. Brownrigg, G.C.B., married the 

 other two daughters of Sir Thos. Sewell; and 

 that Matthew Gregory Lewis, who wrote the 

 Castle Spectre, &c., was son of Matthew Lewis, 

 Esq., the Deputy Secretary at War. 



With regard to the Sewell fixmlly. The Right 

 Hon. Sir Thos. Sewell, who was Master of the 

 Rolls for twenty years, died In 1784; and there 

 is, I believe, a very correct account of his family 

 connexions In the Gentleman s Magazine for 1784, 

 p. 555. He died intestate, and his eldest son, 

 Thos. Bailey Heath Sewell, succeeded to his 

 estate of Ottershaw and the manors of Stannards 

 and Fords In Chobham, Surrey. This gentleman 

 was a magistrate for the county of Surrey ; and 

 in the spring of 1794, when this country was 

 threatened by both foreign and domestic enemies, 

 he became Lieut.-Col. of a regiment of Light 

 Dragoons (fencibles), raised In Surrey (at Rich- 

 mond) by George Lord Onslow, Lord-Lieut, of 

 the county, in which he served six years, till the 

 Government not requiring their services they 

 were disbanded. Lieut.-Col. Sewell died In 1803, 

 and was burled in the church at Chobham, where 

 there Is a monument to his memory. Of his 

 family we have no farther knowledge than that 

 he had a son, Thos. Bermingliam Heath Sewell, 

 who was a cornet in the 32nd Light Dragoons, 

 and lieutenant in the 4th Dragoon Guards during 

 the war of the French Revolution. The History 

 and Antiquities of Surrey, by the Rev. Owen 

 Manning and Wm. Bray, In three vols, folio, 1804, 

 has In the third volume much concerning the 

 Sewell family. D. N". 



Pharaoh's Eing (Vol. vili., p. 416.). — The men- 

 tion of the ring conferred on, or confided to, 

 Joseph by the Pharaoh of Egypt, as stated in 

 Genesis xli. 42., reminds me of a ring being 

 shown to me some years ago, which was believed 

 by Its then possessor to be the identical ring, or at 

 all events a signet ring of the very Pharaoh who 

 promoted Joseph to the chief office in his kingdom. 



It was a ring of pure gold, running through a 

 hole In a massive wedge of gold, about the size, as 

 far as I recollect, of a moderate-sized walnut. On 

 one of its faces was cut the hieroglyphic (Inclosed 

 as usual with the names of Egyptian kings in an 

 oval), as I was assured, of the king, the friend of 

 Joseph, as was generally supposed by the readers 

 of hieroglyphics: I pretend to no knowledge of 

 them myself. 



The possessor of the ring, who showed It to me, 

 was Mr. Sams, one of the Society of Friends, a 

 bookseller at Darlington. Since railroads have 



