596 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 243. 



kardi Domini Papae Notarii. Guidottus Pisanus 

 me fecit." 



On a small bell : 



" Mentem Sanctam Spontaneam, honorem Deo, 



Et Patris liberationem. 



Ave Maria gratia plena Dominus tecum ; 



Benedicta tu in mulieribus 



Et benedictus fructus ventris tui." 



In the Church of St. John Lateran was a bell 

 with a mutilated inscription ; but the date is plain, 

 1389. The name of Boniface IX. is on it, who 

 was Sum. Pont, in that year. 



In the Church of St. Maria? Majoris were two 

 bells dated anno Dom. 1285 ; and another 1291. 



In the Church of the Jesuits was a bell with 

 this inscription, brought from England : 



" Facta fuit A. Dom. 1400, Die vi Mesis Septebris. 

 Sancta Barbara, ora pro nobis." 



Roccha, who published his Commentary 1612, 



says: 



" In multis Campanis jfa mentio de Anno, in quo facta 

 est Campana, necnon de ipsius Ecclesia? Rectore, vel 

 optime merito, et Campanae artifice, ut ego ipse vidi 

 Rgiucb, ubi prascipuarum Ecclesiarum, et Basilicarum 

 inscriptiones Campanis incisas perlegi." — P. 55. 



So that it would appear that the practice of in- 

 scribing dates on bells was usual on the Continent, 

 though for some reason or other it did not gene- 

 rally obtain in England till after the Reformation. 

 I have a Note of another foreign bell or two with 

 an early date. 



At Strasburg : 



" di O Rex gloriae Christe, veni cum pace ! mccclxxv. 

 tertio Nonas Augusti." 



On another : 



" Vox ego sum vita;, voco vos, orate, venite. 1461." 



On a bell called St. D'Esprit : 



" Anno Dom. mccccxxvii mense Julio fusa sum, per 



Magistrum Joannem Gremp de Argentina. 



Nuncio testa, metum, nova quaedam flebile lethum." 



A bell called the Magistrates : 



" Als man zahlt 1475 Jahr 

 /War Kaiser Friedrick hier offenbar : 

 Da hat mich Meister Thomas Jost gegossen 

 Dem Rath zu laiiten ohnverdrossen." 



On another : 



" Nomen Domini sit benedictum. 1806." 



I would beg to add a Note of one more early 

 and interesting bell which was at Upsala : 



* * Anno . Domini . mdxiiii . fusa . est . ista . Cam- 

 pana . in . honorem . Sancti . Erici . Regis . et . 

 Martiris . Rex . erat . Ericus . humilis . devotus . 

 honestus . prudens . V." 



What V. means is rather a puzzle. 



I fear I have already extended this reply to a 

 length beyond all fair limit. I may at some future 

 time (if desirable) send you a long roll of legends 

 on mediaeval bells without dates, and others of the 

 seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, some of a 

 devotional character, and others of the style of 

 unseemly and godless epitaphs. But it is to be 

 hoped) that in these, as in other like matters, a 

 better taste is beginning to predominate ; and it 

 must be a subject of congratulation that 



"Jam nova progenies ccelo demittitur alto." 



H. T. Ellacombe. 

 Rectory, Clyst St. George. 



In the steeple of Foulden Church, South Green- 

 hoe Hd., Norfolk, are six bells with inscriptions 

 as under : 



1. "Thos. Osborn /e«7. 1802. 



Peace and good neighbourhood." 



2. " The laws to praise, my voice I raise." 



3. " Thos. Osborn fecit, Downham, Norfolk." 



4. " Our voices shall with joyful sound 



Make hill and valley echo round." 



5. " I to the church the living call, 



And to the grave I summon all." 



6. " Long live King George the Third. 



Thomas Osborn fecit, 1802." 



Goddard Johnson. 



DE BEAUVOIR PEDIGREE. 



(Vol. ix., p. 349.) 



Your correspondent Mr. Thomas Russell 

 Potter inquires whether any descendants of the 

 De Beauvoirs of Guernsey are still existing. The 

 family was, at one time, so numerous in that 

 island that there are few of the gentry who cannot 

 claim a De Beauvoir among their ancestors ; but 

 the name itself became extinct there by the death 

 of Osmond de Beauvoir, Esq., in 1810. Some 

 few years later, the last of a branch of the family 

 settled in England died, leaving a very large 

 property, which was inherited by a Mr. Benyon, 

 who assumed the name of De Beauvoir. 



The name is also to be found in the Irish baro- 

 netcy ; a baronet of the name of Brown having 

 married the daughter and heiress of the Rev. 

 Peter de Beauvoir, the widow I believe of an 

 Admiral M'Dougal, and thereupon taking up his 

 wife's maiden name. 



With respect to the pedigree which Mr. Potter 

 quotes, and of which many copies exist in this 

 island, it is without doubt one of the most impu- 

 dent forgeries in that way ever perpetrated. From 

 internal evidence, it was drawn up at the latter 

 end of the reign of Elizabeth, or at the beginning 



