52 



Bassano's €f)uvd) Notes, 



A FORGOTTEN FACT OF DERBYSHIRE HISTORY. 



By J. Pym Yeatman, Barrister-at-Law. 



jjVERY lover of Derbyshire history and heraldry knows 

 and values the volume of Derbyshire Church notes 

 deposited in the College of Arms, known to the 

 Heralds as " Bassano's." It is unique in character ; 

 for although several counties can boast of fair accounts of the coat 

 armour exhibited in their churches, and taken note of by divers 

 Heralds, yet few, if any, can claim to possess so complete a 

 collection as this, of the date from 1686, or a little earlier, to the 

 year 1706. As this collection is more complete, and contains an 

 unusually large amount of general information, including, evi- 

 dently, every scrap of genealogical information to be derived 

 from monumental inscriptions or heraldic furniture of any kind — 

 banners, coat armour, or carvings — it is most clear that it is the 

 work of a thorough and devoted herald and antiquary. 



Now, the book in the Heralds' College is written by the same 

 hand throughout, and that a poo. hand, and it is known only as 

 the work of " Bassano," a coach-painter of Derby of a somewhat 

 later date. It is very doubtful whether such a handy-craftsman 

 could have compiled such a volume himself; * but all doubt ceases 

 when the original work from which the Heralds' copy is taken 

 comes to sight ; and I claim to have discovered it amongst the 

 MSS. of the late Daniel Dakeyne, of Holt House, Darley Dale, 



* Vide Addendum. 



