266 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 284. 



south of Scotland, where Episcopalian churches 

 and burying-grounds were consecrated during the 

 unsuccessful attempt of the martyr king to intro- 

 duce that form of worship into Scotland ? That 

 some now Presbyterian were once Episcopalian I 

 am aware, as in a parish in Berwickshire the com- 

 munion rails are yet to be seen at the east end of 

 the church, and have remained there ever since 

 that much to be regretted change. Still I should 

 be glad to learn if there are many instances of the 

 same kind, and therefore whether many of the 

 burial-grounds have received the rite of conse- 

 cration. Amtiquabius. 



Wells Charters. — In the Wells corporate Re- 

 cords, under the date of August 23 (21 James I.), 

 1622, is the following entry : 



" Welles Civitas sive Burg., in Com. Som. — This day 

 motion was made by Mr. Maior that the King's Majesty's 

 heralds have required this corporation to show their an- 

 tient charters and liberties, and the armes of this cittie, 

 and to have the same entered into theire booke made for 

 that purpose; whereuppon it is condiscended that the 

 said heralds shall see the charters and both the seales, 

 viz' the corporation scale and the maior's; and it is 

 agreed that the receiver shall pay unto them xl»., which 

 was taken out of the chest in the little purse, in which 

 then is left xiiZ. xiiis." 



Can any of the numerous readers of " N. & Q." 

 tell me if the book in which the Wells charters 

 appear to have been copied by the heralds is now 

 in existence ? and if so, whether a transcript of 

 the charters can now be had ; by what means ; 

 and the probable expense ? Ina. 



Wells, Somerset. 



" Dowlas, Lockerams, Vyttres, Ollonnes *, Pol- 

 davys." — The above occurred in a letter of about 

 the middle of the sixteenth century, as merchan- 

 dise imported from Normandy. Can any of your 

 readers give any definition of the words lockerams, 

 vyttres, or ollonnes ? I imagine they must be some 

 description of canvass or stuff. Another letter 

 speaks of a vessel laden with sades. From the 

 context I should imagine it some sort of wine. 

 Was there any wine known by that name at that 

 particular period ? Ct. Hopper. 



Author of ^^ Words of Jesus" SfC. — An Anxious 

 Inquirer wishes to know if the Editor of " N. & 

 Q." could tell who is the writer of the Words of 

 Jesus, the Mind of Jesus, and the Faithful Pro- 

 miser f 



Wilstone. 



Prestbury Priory. — I should be much obliged 

 to any of your readers who would inform me 

 whether there was formerly a priory or " religious 

 house" of any kind at Prestbury in Gloucester- 

 shire. The monastery of Lanthony possessed 



* Is this what we now call brown Holland ? 



lands there, and the parish church ; but I cannot 

 find in Dugdale any account of a priory. There 

 is a house near the church which bears marks of 

 having been in former times a " religious house," 

 and which now goes by the name of the " Priory." 



Catholicus, ■ 

 Oxford. 



Naval Action. — What was the precise action 

 or circumstance to which Dr. Arnold alludes in 

 his History of Borne, vol. i. ch. x. p. 169. ? — 



" For what memorable instance did our English sailors 

 refuse to fight — nay, suffer themselves to be killed — 

 rather than fight for a commander whom they detested .' " 



The writer of this Query is anxious to ascertain 

 the precise fact — from the tenor of some replies 

 received in certain private inquiries, from some 

 who appear to know, and yet manifest a desire to 

 " blink the question " altogether. 



An aged admiral speaks of a " rumour," &c., and 

 others can give no full satisfactory answer. 



Fragments of Voyages and Travels, by Captain 



Basil Hall, Second Series, vol. iii. p. 323., seems to 



be "the fact;" but gives no name of vessel or 



commander, no date or scene of action. C. M. 



Liverpool. 



Old Parr. — On looking through the indices of 

 " N. & Q.," I am surprised to find that none of 

 your contributors have asked what were the dates 

 of the birth and death of Thomas Parr, familiarly 

 known as " Old Parr." I have seen various dates 

 given in almanacs as those on which he was born 

 and died ; and I am therefore at a loss to know 

 when he made his entrance into, and exit from, 

 our busy world. The dates generally given of 

 his death range from Nov. 15, 1635, to late in 

 December of that year ; while the dates of his 

 birth range from Feb. 1483, to Sept. 12, same 

 year. It is stated, that while residing with the 

 Earl of Arundel, Parr visited a man named Henry 

 Jenkins, who was born in 1501, and died in 1670 ; 

 being the oldest man born in England of whom 

 we have any record. I once met with a copy of 

 an inscription on the tombstone of a soldier named 

 Ivan Yorath, a Welshman, who was stated to 

 have attained the age of one hundred and eighty 

 years. G. L. S. 



[The inscription on the tomb of Old Parr in West- 

 minster Abbey gives the year, but not the day of his. 

 birth : " Thomas Parr of the county of Salop, born in 

 anno 1483. He lived in the reign of ten princes, Edward 

 IV., Edward V., Richard III., Henry VII., Henry VIII., 

 Edward VI., Mary, Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I., 

 aged 152 years ; and was buried here Nov. 15, 1635." In 

 1635, about a month before Parr's death, Taylor, the water- 

 poet, published a pamphlet, entitled : " The Olde, Olde,. 

 very Olde Man ; or, The Age and Long Life of Thoma.s 

 Parr, the Sonne of John Parr of Wennington, in the 



