Mae. 10. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



195 



there to receive the same toll. In one place, how- 

 ever, it happened that an unexpected obstruction 

 barred the way, and a field was entered by a gate, 

 where no one stood to demand his toll. But the 

 undertaker knew his duty, and conscientiously 

 stuck into the gate-post a pin, thus, in the general 

 opinion, paying the due, and barring all future 

 claims of right of way. 



I should be glad to learn, through j^our pages, 

 whether an opinion so generally received, that a 

 right of way can be establishe(], unless the above- 

 mentioned counteraction be used to nullify the 

 claim, is indeed only a vulgar error, or whether it 

 do not rest on some foundation of common law. 



D. Sholbus. 



Jennens (Vol. xi., p. 55.) , — In my early youth 

 I was well acquainted with an old gent, named 

 Umfreville, whose father was Rector of Acton, and 

 much esteemed by Mr. J., who continued his 

 friendship to his son (Mr. U.), from whom I heard 

 these anecdotes. 



King William III. was godfather to Mr. J., 

 and supposed to be his fother ; " Sir, he had tlie 

 king's nose, and as like him as he could stare." 

 Great pecuniary advantages are said to have been 

 the consequence. Mr. J. has made as much as 

 20,000/. in one day in the Stocks. He had always 

 200,000/. in his London bankers' hands untouched, 

 from which they made a large fortune. 



Mr. U. once said to him " Why don't you stand 

 for Sudbury ? " (a borough near Acton) " No, no, 

 the voters are too near my park pales." 



A tradesman called one day with his bill, and 

 Mr. J. was about to pay it; and because the man 

 would have thrown off the odd pence, he said he 

 would never deal with him again, as he must be a 

 cheat. 



He was fond of venison, and frequently had it 

 at his table, buck in summer and doe in winter. 

 He kept a splendid table. My mother when a 

 girl (staying at Dr. Preston's, rector of Walding- 

 field) has dined at Acton. 



At the latter part of his life his memory failed 

 him ; and when he received his rents he put the 

 money or notes in the leases or papers, and after- 

 wards locked them up in an iron chest, so that 

 large sums were found after his death. 



RusTicus. 



The account of this matter given by Q. D. is 

 correct. The property (real and personal) has 

 been in the possession of the respective families 

 named by him for more than half a century. 

 Nevertheless it is a fact (though hardly credible) 

 that a " Jennens Society " has till within the last 

 year or two existed, and may still exist, supported 

 by annual subscriptions of one guinea each (as I 

 have been informed), for the purpose of ventilating, 

 if not litigating, the question of the right to the 

 property. 



A bill was actually filed in the Court of Chan- 

 cery upwards of forty years ago to try that right. 

 The opinion of that eminent conveyancer, the late 

 Mr. Bell, of Lincoln's Inn, was taken by the new 

 claimants, and his opinion was by no means en- 

 couraging to them. That suit was dropped. 

 And yet now, with the Statute of Limitations in 

 their view, and the fact before them that the 

 present possessors have been in enjoyment of the 

 estate more than forty years certainly, this doubt 

 and delusion is still kept up! 



He would be a bold or an unscrupulous lawyer 

 who would encourage any clients, especially poor 

 ones, as many of the soi-disant Jennens's are, in 

 any hopes of advantage in trying to raise any 

 farther question after a lapse of forty years, and 

 against such an opinion as that of Mr. Bell. 



I fancy there are few counties in England where 

 there is not some tradition about " poor people 

 being kept out of their rights," perhaps on no 

 better foundation than exists In the above case. 



Perhaps some of your correspondents might 

 furnish a few of interest to general readers. 



M. H. R. 



Was Queen Elizabeth fair or dark f (Vol. vii., 

 p. 497.). — The passage cited by Mr. Bagnali, 

 (Vol. X., p. 428.) bears incidentally upon the point 

 raised respecting Queen Elizabeth ; and the 

 " fades Candida " assigned to her by the writer, 

 who is describing her personal appearance, leaves 

 no room to doubt that she was of a fair com- 

 plexion. Henry H. Breen. 



St. Lucia. 



Adamsoniana (Vol. viil., p. 257.). — Your cor- 

 respondent E. H. A. appears desirous of collecting 

 memorials of the Adamsons. Let me introduce to 

 him a member of that family in John Adamson, 

 Minister of the New Testament, who wrote an 

 ultra- Presbyterian book entitled, — 



" Christ's Coronation, or the Covenant renewed, with 

 the Causes thereof, and manner of going about it, with 

 some notes of the Prefaces, Lectares, and Sermons, before 

 and after the solemn Action, June 28, 1719, at Blackhill. 

 Printed in the year 1720." 



Mr. Adamson, if not a Perth man, says he 

 began to preach in that Presbyter le ; and his love 

 to Scotland, and antipathy to prelacy, may be 

 gathered from some of his ejaculations: 



" Ichabod," says he, " is written upon our nation. O 

 Edinburgh ! the Voyal city, at the gates of which entered 

 our noble kings sitting on thrones, the princes sitting in 

 parliament, maintaining the liberties and privileges of 

 this ancient kingdom. O Scotland ! which in ancient re- 

 forming covenanting days was a praise in the whole 

 earth, a glory in all lands, making the nations about thee 

 to tremble, how art thou now sitting like a widow girded 

 in sackcloth bewailing thyself, or like a silly slave waiting 

 with trembling what new cesses, new presses, new coined 

 conscience-wasting, heart-confounding, oaths shall come 

 down to thee next from England, that thou may speedily 

 do bidding, lest it be Avorse for thee." 



