Jan. 7. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



ir 



Irish Chieftains. — Some account of the following, 

 Historical Reminiscences of O' Byrnes, O'Tooles, 

 O'Kavanaghs, and other Irish Chieftains, privately 

 printed, 1843, is requested by John Martin. 



Woburn Abbey. 



General Braddock. — Can any of your readers 

 furnish me with information relative to this 

 officer ? His disastrous expedition against Fort 

 I)u Quesne, and its details, are well known ; but 

 I should like to know something more of his pre- 

 vious history. Walpole gives an anecdote or two 

 of him, and mentions that he had been Governor 

 of Gibraltar. I think too he was of Irish extrac- 

 tion. Is there no portrait or engraving of Brad- 

 dock in existence ? Serviens. 



fflinav titacrtal tofflj 8it£toerg. 



Lawless Court, Rochford, Essex. — A most 

 extraordinary custom exists, in a manor at Roch- 

 ford, in the tenants holding under what is called 

 the " Lawless Court." This court is held at mid- 

 night, by torch-light, in the centre of a field, on 

 the first Friday after the 29th Sept., and is pre- 

 sided over by the steward of the manor, who, 

 however, appoints a. deputy to fulfil this part of 

 his duty. The tenants of the manor are obliged 

 to attend to answer to their names, when called 

 upon, under pain of a heavy fine, or at all events 

 have some one there to respond for them. All 

 the proceedings are carried on in a whisper, no 

 one speaking above that tone of voice; and the 

 informations as to deaths, names, &c. are entered 

 in a book by the president with a piece of charcoal. 

 I may add, the business is not commenced until 

 a cock has crowed three times, and as it is some- 

 times a difficult matter to get Chanticleer to do 

 his duly, a man is employed to crow, whose fee 

 therefor is 5*. 



Now Morant, in his History of Essex, merely 

 cursorily mentions this most singular custom, and 

 has nothing as to its antiquity or origin ; I should 

 therefore feel much obliged for any information 

 Concerning it. Russell Gole. 



[The singular custom at Rochford is of uncertain 

 origin : in old authors it is spoken of as belonging to 

 the manor of Rayleigh. The following account of 

 ■ The Lawless Court," at that place, is printed by 

 Hearne" from the Dodsworth MSS. in the Bodleian, 

 vol. cxxv. : — " The manor of Raylie, in Essex, hath a 

 custome court kept yearly, the Wednesday nexte after 

 Michael's day. The court is kept in the night, and 

 without light, but as the skye gives, att a little hill 

 without the towne, called the King's Hill, where the 

 steward writes only with coals, and .not with inke. 

 And many men and mannors of greate worth hold of 

 the same, and do suite unto this strange court, where 

 the steward calls them with as low a voice as possibly 

 he may ; giving no notice when he goes to the hill to 



keepe the same court, and he that attends not is 

 deepely amerced, if the steward will. The title and 

 entry of the same court is as followeth, viz. : 

 ' Curia de domino rege, 

 Dicta sine lege, 

 Tenta est ibidem, 

 Per. ejusdem consuetudinem, 



Ante ortum solis, 

 Euceat nisi polus, 

 Seneschallus solus, 

 Scribit nisi colis. 

 Clamat clam pro rege 

 In curia sine lege : 

 Et qui non cito venerit 

 Citius poenitebit : 

 Si venerit cum lumine 

 Errat in regimine. 

 Et dum sine lumine 

 Capti sunt in crimine, 

 Curia sine cura 

 Jurat a de injuria 



Tenta est die Mercuria? 



prox. post festum S. MichaeHs.' n 

 Weever, who mentions this custom, says, that he 

 was informed that " this servile attendance was im- 

 posed, at the first, upon certaine tenants of divers 

 mannors hereabouts, for conspiring in this place, at 

 such an unseasonable time, to raise a commotion."] 



Motto on old Damask. — Can your correspon- 

 dents furnish an explanation of the motto herewith 

 sent ? It is taken from some damask table napkins 

 which were bought many years back at Brussels ; 

 not at a shop in the ordinary way, but privately ,. 

 from the family to whom they belonged. I presume 

 the larger characters, if put together, will indicate 

 the date of the event, whatever that may be, which 

 is referred to in the motto itself. 



The motto is woven in the pattern of the 

 damask, and consists of the following words in 

 uncials, the letters of unequal size, as subjoined : 



"sIgnUM paCIs PatUr LorICje." 

 the larger letters being iumciddltc. If the V& 

 are taken as two F's, and written thus X, it 

 gives the date mdcclxiii. Perhaps this can be 

 explained. IL 



[The chronogram above, which means " The signal 

 of peace is given to the warrior," relates to the peace 

 proclaimed between England and France in the year 

 1763. This event is noticed in the Annual Register, 

 and in most of our popular histories. Keightley says, 

 " The overtures of France for peace were readily 

 listened to; and both parties being in earnest, the 

 preliminaries were readily settled at Fontainebleau 

 (Nov. 3rd). In spite of the declamation of Mr. Pitt 

 and his party, they were approved of by large majori- 

 ties in both Houses of Parliament, and a treaty was 

 finally signed in Paris, Feb. 18, 1763." The napkins 

 were probably a gift, on the occasion, to some public 

 functionary. For the custom of noting the date of a 

 great event by chronograms, see " N. & Q.," Vol. v., 

 p. .585.] 



