172 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 41. 



after one of them cam to hir mornyngly arrayde, and 

 sayde that his felowe was deed, and so required the 

 money, and she delyuered it to hym. Shortly came the 

 tother man, and required to haue the moneye that was 

 lefte with her in kepyng. The maiden was than so 

 sorrowful!, botli for lacke of the money, and for one to 

 defend her cause, that she thought to hange her selfe. 

 But Demosthenes, that excellent oratour, spake for 

 her and sayd : ' Sir, this mayden is redy to quite her 

 fidelitie, and to deliuer agayne the money that was 

 lefte with her in kepyng, so that thou wylt brynge thy 

 felowe with thee to receyue it.' But that he coude 

 not do." 



This is the 69lh tale in the collection. I cite from 

 tlie reprint which appeared in 1831, under the 

 title of The Hundred Merry Tales: or Sfiak- 

 speare's Jest Book. C. H. Cooper. 



Cambridge, July 29. 1850. 



The story of the three men and their hag of money 

 (Vol. ii., p. 132.) is here stated to be "in the 

 Notes to Rogers's Italy :" but it is in the body of 

 the work, as a distinct storj', headed, " The Bag 

 of Gold." Robert Snow. 



Will. Robertson of Mu)-ton^'(Vo\. ii., p. 135.) 

 is stated by Douglas in his Baronage, p. 413., 

 to be descended in the fourth degree from Alex- 

 ander Robertson, fifth baron of Strowan. The 

 pedigree of Robertson of Strowan is given in the 



same vol. 



F. R. S. L. and E. 



Long Meg of Westminster. — I am not quite of 

 Dr. Rimbault's opinion, th.at Long Meg of West- 

 minster is a fictitious personage. I believe her to 

 have been as much a real woman as Moll Cutpurse 

 was a century later. 



If the large stone shown as Long Meg's grave 

 had been anywhere else within the walls of West- 

 minster Abbey than where it is, I should have had 

 great doubts about the Westminster tradition. 

 But Long jNIeg, there is reason to believe from 

 the numerous allusions to her in the Elizabethan 

 dramatists, was a heroine after the Reformation, 

 and her burial, therefore, in the cloisters, where 

 few people of wealth or good reputation were 

 buried between 1538 and 1638, seems to me a 

 common occurrence. Had Islip or Esteney buried 

 her among the abbots in the cloister, I could then 

 have joined in Dr. Rimbaui-t's surprise. I have 

 altered the passage, however, to " marking the 

 grave, it is said.'' This will meet, I trust. Dr. 

 Rimbault's objection, though I have Gifford to 

 support me in the passage as it at present stands : 



" There is a penny story-book of this tremendous vi- 

 rago [Westminster Meg], who performed many won- 

 derful exploits about the time that Jack the Giant 

 Killer flourished. She was buried, as all the world 

 knows, in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey, where a 

 huge stone is still pointed out to the Wliitsuntide 

 visitois as her grave stone." — Gilford's Ben Jonson, viii. 

 78. 



Let me add, that I am much obliged to Db. 

 RiMBAULT, as well as to other correspondents, for 

 corrections and still more valuable additions to 

 my book, printed in " Notes and Queries." 



Peter Cunningham. 



The Churchivardens'' Accounts of St. AnthoHns 

 (Vol. i., pp. 180. 260.). — In my additions to Mr. 

 Ci\an\\\g\vMTis Handbook for London, I noticed two 

 folio volumes of churchwardens' accounts, belong- 

 ing to the parish of St. Antholin's, that had acci- 

 dentally got away from the custody of their proper 

 guardians. This notice roused from his slumbers 

 one of the said guardians, the present overseer of 

 the parish, W. C, Junior, who stated in your 

 journal of February 23. that 



" The churchwardens' accounts are in good preserva- 

 tion, and present (in an unbroken series) the parish 

 expenditure for nearly three centuries." 



The worthy overseer also wishes to impress your 

 readers with a belief that I had been misled by 

 Thorpe's Catalogue, ami that the books to which I 

 referred were merely extracts. In justice to my- 

 self, I therefore give the entries in Thorpe's Cata- 

 logue verbatim as they occur. Your readers will 

 then be better able to jmlge which is the " true" 

 Dromio : — 



"The Churchwardens' Accounts from 1615 to 1752 of 

 the Parish of St. Antholin's, London. Folio, 3/. 3s. 

 " This curious and interesting volume appears to 

 have been kept purposely for the various clergymen to 

 write their receipts for preaching the morning lectures 

 at the above church for nearly a century and a half. 

 It contains the autographs of many eminent divines ; 

 among others, John Goodwin, R. Pearson, J. Berri- 

 man, J. Withers, J. Cooksey, R. Vann, T. Shepperd, 

 W. Scott, R. Chambre, J. Todd, Lilly Butler, J. 

 Botham, C. Evans, T. Clarke, J. Williams. J. Povey, 

 J. Hotchkis, W. Stringfellow, W. Pott, C. Bancroft, 

 R. Clarke, W. Gearing, and many others." 



" The Churchwarden and Overseers of the Parish of 

 St. Antholin's in London, Accounts from 1638 to 

 1700 inclusive. Folio, il. 3s. 



" An interesting record of the expenses of this parish 

 for sixty-four years. It commences with the gifts of 

 various sacks of coals, faggots, &c. , to the poor, receipts 

 for flesh licences, collections, interest money, the Lady 

 INIartaine's gifts, Sir W. Craven's gifts, the Merchant 

 Tailors' Company's gifts, Mercers' ditto, the Company 

 of Ironmongers forty fagots, the Company of Mercers 

 a load of charcoal, the gift of the late King James 

 seven loads of Newcastle coals, — this royal bequest 

 appears to have been an annual gift for ever. Query, 

 if now iji j)"y>ient9 Annual gifts of Lady Coventry 

 for putting out two poor children born in this parish. 

 Lady Martin's, and many others, are annual gifts, which 

 ought to be forthcoming to the parish at tliis time." 



This last note contains some Queries which I 

 should be glad to see answered. 



Edward F. Rimbault. 



