June 1. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



casses of dogs and hounds were sometimes attached 

 to the bodies of criminals. (See Grimm, Deutsche 

 Itechte Alterthum, pp. G85, G86.) I rel'er to this 

 to show that there must have been some special 

 reason for the term " asinorum sepultura." That 

 reason I would wish to have explained ; Ducange 

 does not give it, he merely tells what was the 

 practice ; and the attention of Grimm, it is plain, 

 from his explanation of the " unehrliches be- 

 grjibnis" (pp. 72(3, 727, 728.), was not directed 

 towards it. AY. B. MacCabe. 



Ransom of an English Nobleman. — At page 28. 

 vol. ii. of the Seci-et Histury of the Court of 

 James J., Edinburgh, 1811 (a reprint), occurs the 

 following : — 



" Nay, to how lowe an ebbe of honor was this our 

 poore despicable kingdome brought, that (even m 

 Queen Elizabeth's time, the glory of the world) a great 

 nobleman being taken prisoner, was freely released with 

 this farewell given him, that they desired but two 

 niastieffes for his ransome ! " 



Who was this great nobleman, and where may 

 I find the fullest particulars of the whole trans- 

 action? H. C. 



When does Easter endf — An enactment of the 

 legislature directs a certain act to be done " within 

 two months after Easter" in 1850, under a penalty 

 for non-performance. I have no difficulty in 

 finding that two calendar months are meant, but 

 am puzzled how to compute when they should 

 commence. I should be much obliged by being 

 informed when Easter ends ? that question set at 

 rest, the other part is easily understood and 

 obeyed. II. Edwards. 



Carucate of Land. — Will any one inform me 

 ■what were the dimensions of a carucate of land, 

 in Edward III.'s time ? also, what was the com- 

 parative value of money at the same date ? Are 

 Tables, giving the value of money at various 

 periods in our history, to be found in any readily 

 accessible source ? E. V. 



Members for Calais. — Henry VIII. granted a 

 representative in the English parliament to the 

 town of Calais. Can any of your correspondents 

 inform me whether this right was e.\.ercised till 

 the loss of that town, and, if so, who were the 

 members? O. P. Q. 



Members for Durham. — What was the reason 

 that neither the county nor the city of Durham 

 returned members to parliament previotis to 

 1673-4? O. P. Q. 



Leicester, and the reputed Poisoners of his Time. 

 — At page 31.'!. vol. ii. f>f DTsraeli's Ainenities of 

 Literature, London, 1840, is as follows: — 



" We find strange persons in the Earl's household, 

 (Leicester). Salvador, the Italian chemist, a confiden- 

 tial counsellor, supposed to have departed from this 

 world with many secrets, succeeded by Dr. Julio, who 

 risked the promotion. We are told of the lady who 

 had lost her hair and her nails," . ..." of the Car- 

 dinal Chatillon, who, [ after being closeted with the 

 Queen, returning to France, never got beyond Canter- 

 bury ; of the sending a casuist with a case of conscience 

 to Walsingham, to satisfy that statesman of the moral 

 expediency of ridding the st,:te of the Queen of Scots 

 by an Italian philtre." 



Where may I turn for the above, more particu- 

 larly for an .account of the lady who had lost her 

 hair and her nails ? H. C. 



April 9. 1850. 



Lord John Townshend's Poetical Works. — Can 

 any of your readers inform me whether the 

 poetical works of Lord John Townshend, M.P., 

 were ever collected and yjublished, and, if so, 

 when, and by whom ? His lordship, who, it will 

 be remembered, successively represented Cam- 

 bridge University, Westminster, and Knaresbo- 

 rough, was considered to be the principal contri- 

 butor to the Rolliad, and the author of many odes, 

 sonnets, and other political effusions which circu- 

 lated during the eventful period 1780— 1810. 



OxONIENSIS. 



May 4. 



Martello Towers. — Is it the fact that the 

 towers erected along the low coasts of Kent and 

 Sussex during the prevalent dread of the French 

 invasion received their designation from a town in 

 Spain, where they were first built ? By whom 

 was the plan introduced into England? Is any 

 account of their erection to be found in any Blue 

 Book of the period ? E. V. 



Mynyddyslwyn. — The name of the parish My- 

 nyddyslwyn, in Monmouthshire. This name, so 

 full of Druidic suggestion, was lost from general 

 use at, and anterior to, the incorporation of Wales 

 with England by the statute of Rhudolan. In a 

 list of the names of Welsh parishes at that time, 

 the parish is called The Parish of Tudor ah 

 Howell. Has any reader of the " Notes akd 

 Queries" met with Mynyddyslwyn in any docu- 

 ment bearing an earlier date ? 



D. Rhys Stephen. 



Abergwyddon. 



Three Dukes. — Who were the three Dukes who 

 killed the beadle on Sunday morning, 2Gth Febru- 

 ary, 1671, as commemorated by verses in Poems 

 on State Affairs, vol. i. p. 147.? iS- 



Bishops and their Precedence.— V>\a\\o\>^, in all 

 Tables of Precedency, have place before the tem- 

 j)oral baron.s. No reason is assigned ; but it is 

 generally supposed to be from the respect due to 



