438 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



[No. 29a. 



are more worn than the use of the chamber at the 

 assumed period would warrant. The existence of 

 this sacred asylum must have been familiar to 

 the heads of the family for several generations ; 

 indeed, evidence of this was afforded by a packing- 

 case directed " For the Right Honble. the Lady 

 Petre, at Ingatestall Hall, in Essex ; " the wood 

 of which was very much decayed, and the writing 

 in a firm and antiquated style. The Petre family 

 left Ingatestone Hall between the years 1770 and 

 1780. 



The " hiding-place " measures fourteen feet in 

 length, two feet one inch in width, and ten feet in 

 height. Its floor-level is the natural ground line ; 

 the floor is composed of nine inches of remarkably 

 dry sand, so as to exclude damp or moisture. The 

 Hall itself is of the age of Henry VII. ; but it 

 is diflicult to determine whether this chamber is 

 coeval therewith, or the work of the next century. 

 The style of brickwork of the party wall is very 

 similar to that of the main walls, with this differ- 

 ence, that the bricks in the latter, with few ex- 

 ceptions, are two and a quarter inches in thickness, 

 while those in the former agree only in this respect 

 to the height of four feet, above which the ma- 

 jority of them are two and a half inches In thick- 

 ness. The mortar joints throughout are large ; 

 the courses of brick range round the four walls, 

 and the party wall is slightly toothed into the ex- 

 ternal walls. The top of the party wall gathered 

 over in six courses receives a " double floor " 

 sixteen Inches thick over the " hiding-place," 

 while the rest of the room above is a single floor 

 measuring only seven inches, — a circumstance af- 

 fording strong evidence that the " secret chamber" 

 js an addition to the original structure. A cur- 

 sory examination of the sand composing the floor 

 brought to light a few bones, small enough to be 

 those of a bird, and In all probability the remains 

 of food supplied to some unfortunate occupant 

 during confinement. 



The most Interesting relic Is the chest, in which 

 no doubt was deposited the vestments, crucifix, 

 altar-furniture, and sacred vessels. Care was 

 taken that the apartment should be perfectly dry ; 

 the chest was moreover kept off the floor by two 

 pieces of oak for bearers. It measures four feet 

 two and a half Inches In length, one foot seven 

 inches in width, and one foot ten and a half inches 

 to the top of the arched lid. The wood appears 

 to be yew, and Is only three quarters of an Inch In 

 thickness, very carefully put together and entirely 

 covered with leather, turned over the edges in- 

 side and glued down. The chest was farther 

 lined with strong linen, securely nailed, and the 

 outside edges iron-bound ; five Iron bands pass 

 round the skirt-way, two others lengthways, and 

 two girt It horizontally. Tlie metal is thin, hard 

 hammered, one and one eighth and one and a 

 quarter inches in breadth, and as it were woven 



alternately under and over, and thickly nailed ; 

 the nails are clenched at the back, and each of the 

 cross-bands is made Into a hinge, so that the lid 

 hangs upon five hinges. There are two hasped 

 locks, each rivetted on by three long staples made 

 ornamental by chisel-cuts on the foce ; a pro- 

 jecting rib formed like the letter S encircles the 

 keyholes; and there is a third means of fastening 

 adapted for a padlock In the centre. At tlie ends 

 are long thin handles In quaint character like the 

 rest. Considering Its antiquity and the original 

 lightness of its make, the chest is in good preserva- 

 tion ; the lining Is nearly gone ; the wood, iron, 

 and leather of the bottom, and the metal of the 

 top, are all much decayed. 



These few notes would be Incomplete if a small 

 and rudely-modelled clay candle-holder, stuck 

 firmly against the end wall about three feet from 

 the floor, passed unnoticed. Since it bears no 

 peculiar stamp of age. It would be useless to 

 speculate uppn its origin : the surface, hollowed to 

 receive a candle, contains some particles of sand. 



Other examples of "priests' hiding-places" I 

 understand are to be met with at Lawston Hall, 

 Cambridgeshire ; Coldham Hall, Suffolk ; Maple 

 Durham, and Upton Court, Berkshire ; and at 

 Stonyhurst, the ancient seat of the Sherbourne 

 family, in Lancashire. Henby Tuck. 



ON A PASSAGE IN SHAKSPEARe's " KING HENRY 

 VIII.," ACT IV. SO. 2. 



Mr. Charles Kean, in his splendid revival of 

 Shakspeare's King Henry VIII., having laudably 

 restored the vision scene ; on recurrence to It an 

 emendation has suggested Itself to me, of which I 

 think he will gladly avail himself; and altliough, 

 as my own edition of the play is printed, I cannot 

 Insert It in the text, I have no doubt that in all 

 future editions It must be adopted. 



After the vision vanishes, and the music ceases, 

 the queen's attendants are struck with her altered 

 appearance, and, as it stands in the folio, Patience, 

 one of her women, is made to say : 

 « Do you note 



How much her grace is alter'cl on the sodaine ? 



How long her face is drawne? How pale she lookes. 



And of an earthy cold ? Marke her eyes ? " 



Griffith replies, 



" She is going, Wench. Pray, pray." 

 On which Patience adds : 



" Heaven comfort her." 



In the variorum edition the passage is thus given : 



« Do you note 



How much her grace is alter'd on the sudden ? 

 How long her face is drawn ? How pale she looks. 

 And of an earthly cold ? Mark you her eyes ? " 



