584 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 216. 



de Bassompierre, wlio was at Madrid at the time 

 of tbe king's death ; the Mavechal's informant was 

 the Mai*quis de Pobar, who ivas present at the 

 scene. Is not this sufficient? (See Memoires de 

 Bassompierre, under the date of 11th of March, 

 1621, vol. i. p. 548. of the edition of Cologne, 

 1665.) C.V. 



Churchwardens. — In an old scrap-book in my 

 possession, I met with the following, which, should 

 you deem it of sufficient interest, I shall be glad to 

 see inserted in " N. & Q." The print appears to 

 be about sixty or seventy years old, and evidently 

 from a newspaper : 



" The institution of churchwardens is of remote an- 

 tiquity, they having been first appointed at the African 

 Council, held under Celestine and Boniface, about the 

 year of our Lord 423. These officers have at different 

 periods been distinguished by different appellations, 

 Defertsores, (Economi, and Propositi Ecclesice, Testes 

 Synodales, &c. In the time of Edward III. they were 

 called Church Reves, as we read in Chaucer : 

 ' Of church reves, and of testamentes. 

 Of contractes, and of lacke of sacramentes.' 



At this day they are called Churchwardens ; all those 

 names being expressive of the nature of tbe office, 

 which is to guard, preserve, and superintend the rights, 

 revenues, buildings, and furniture of the church. In 

 an old churchwarden's book of accounts, belonging to 

 the parish of Farringdon, in the county of Berks, and 

 bearing date a. p. 1518, there is the form of admitting 

 churchwardens into their office at that period, in the 

 following words : ' Cherchye Wardenys, tliys shall be 

 3'our charge : to be true to God and to the cherche : for 

 love nor for favor off no man wythin thys parriche to 

 withold any ryght to the cherche ; but to resseve the 

 dettys to hyt Ijelongythe, or else to go to the devell.' " 



Your readers will observe that the last is a very 

 summary kind of sentence. Any farther inform- 

 ation relating to the institution of churchwardens* 

 will be esteemed by J. B. Whitborne. 



Epigram. — In an old book I found this epigram, 

 publislied in 1660, more suitable perhaps for your 

 columns during the excitement of the Papal aggres- 

 sion than now : 



" ON ROME. 



" Hate and debate Rome through the world hath 

 spread, 

 Yet Roma, amor is, if backward read ; 

 Then is it strange, Rome hate should foster ? no, 

 For out of backward love, all bate doth grow." 



Aliquis. 

 Edinburgh. 



Oxford Commemoration Squib, 1849. — The 

 following jeu desprit was circulated in Oxford at 



(I* On the institution of churchwardens consult 

 Burn's Ecclesiastical Law, tit. Churchwardens ; and 

 the works noticed in « N. & Q.," Vol. vii., p. 359.] 



the Commemoration in 1849 ; it created a great 

 sensation at the time, from its clever allusion to 

 the political changes on the other side of the 

 channel, and, I think, deserves to be rescued from 

 oblivion by a place in the columns of " N. & Q. :" 



" LIBERTY ! FRATERKITV I EtlUALITY ! 



" Citizen Academicians, 



" The cry of Reform has been too long unheard. 

 Our infatuated rulers refused to listen to it. Tlie 

 term of their tyranny is at length accomplished. The 

 Vice-Chancellor has fled on horseback. The Proctors 

 have resigned their usurped authority. The Scouts 

 have fraternised with the friends of liberty. The 

 University is no more. A Republican Lyceum will 

 henceforth diffuse light and civilisation. The hebdo- 

 madal board is abolished. The Legislative Powers 

 will be entrusted to a General Convention of the whole 

 Lyceum. A Provisional Government has been esta- 

 blished. The undersigned citizens have nobly devoted 

 themselves to the task of administration. 



(Signed) " Citizen Clough {President of the 

 Executive Council). 

 Seweli- 

 BossoM ( Operative). 



JoHK CONINGTON. 



Wrightson." 



Your academical readers will appreciate the 

 signatures. Tewaes. 



Professor Macffillivrar/. — The mention by W. 

 (Vol. viii., p. 467.) of this lamented naturalist's 

 posthumous work, descriptive of the Natural His- 

 tory of Balmoral, and of its intended publication 

 by Prince Albert, induces me to hope that you 

 will give insertion to the following extract from 

 Professor Macgillivray's History of the Molluscous 

 Animals of Aberdeenshire, ^'C, as sliowing the 

 character of the man, and the spirit in which he 

 prosecuted his researches. 



" The labour required for such an investigation 

 cannot be at all appreciated by those who have not di- 

 rected their energies towards such an object. The 

 rocky coasts and sandy beaches of the sea, the valleys 

 and hills of the interior, tlie pastures, mossy banks, 

 thickets, woods, rocks, ruins, walls, ditches, pools, 

 canals, rills, and rivers, were all to be assiduously 

 searched. No collections of mollusca made in the 

 district were known to me, nor do any of our libraries 

 contain the works necessary to be consulted, although 

 that of King's College supplies some of great value. 

 In a situation so remote from the great centres of civi- 

 lisation, the solution of doubts is often difficult of at- 

 tainment, and there is always a risk of describing as 

 new what may already have been entered into the 

 long catalogue of known objects. But the pleasure of 

 continually adding to one's knowledge, the sympathy 

 of friends, the invigorating influence of the many 

 ramblings required, the delight of aiding others in the 

 same pursuits, and many other circumstances, amply 

 suffice to carry one through greater difficulties than 

 those alluded to, even should the sneers of the ig- 



