248 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 46. 



and a tract ascribed to him is printed in the The- 

 atrum Chemicum. E. 



Sii- Robert Howard. — Can any reader assist me 

 in finding out the author of 



" A Discourse of the Natioiiall Excellencies of 

 En<rland. By H. H. London. Printed l)y I'homas 

 Newconib for Henry Fletcher, at the Tliree Gilt Cups 

 in the New Buildings, near the west end of St. Paul's, 

 165S. 12mo., pp. 248." 



This is a very remarkable work, written in an ad- 

 mirable style, and wholly free from the coarse 

 party sjjirit which then generally prevailed. The 

 writer declares, p. 235., he had not subscribed the 

 engagement, and there are internal evidences of 

 his being a churchman and a monarchist. Is there 

 any proof of its having been written by Sir Robert 

 Howard ? A former possessor of the copy now 

 betbre me, has written his name on the tiiK.'-i)age 

 as its conjectured author. jSIy copy of Sir Robert's 

 Poems, published two years after, was published, 

 not by Fletcher, but by " Henry Heiringman, at 

 tlie sign of the Anchor, in the lower walk of the 

 New Exchange." John Dryden, Sir Robert's 

 brother-in-law, in the complimentary stanzas on 

 Howard's poems, says, 



" To write worthy things of worthy men, 

 Is the pecidiar talent of your pen." 



I would further inquire if a reason can be assigned 

 for the omission from Sir Robert Howard's col- 

 lected plays of The Blind Lady, the only dra- 

 matic piece given in the volume of poems of 1660. 

 J\[y co[)y is the third edition, published by Tonson, 

 17'2-2. A.13.R. 



Crozier and Pastoi-al Staff. — What is the real 

 difference between a crozier and a pastoral siafT? 



I.Z.P. 



Marks of Cadency. — The copious manner in 

 which your correspondent E. K. (Vol. ii., p. 221.) 

 has answered the question as to the " when and 

 why" of the unicorn being introduced as one of 

 the supporters of the royal arms, induces me to 

 think that he will readily and satisfactorily respond 

 to an heraldic inquiry of a somewhat more intricate 

 nature. 



Wliat were the peculiar marks of cadency used 

 ■by the heirs to the crown, apparent and presimip- 

 tive, after the accession of the Stuarts? For ex- 

 ample, what were the charges, if any, upon the 

 label or file of difference used in the coat-armour 

 of Henry, Piince of Wales, eldest son of James I., 

 and of his brother Charles, when Prince of Wales, 

 and so on, to the present time ? A. 



Miniature Gibbet, 8;c. — A correspondent of the 

 Times newspaper has recently given the following 

 account of an occtirrence which took ])lace abf)uc 

 twenty-five years ago, and the concluding cere- 

 mony of which he personally witnessed : — 



" A man had been condemned to be hung for mur- 

 der. On the Sunday morning previous to the sentence 

 being carried into execution, he contrived to commit 

 suicide in the prison by cutting his throat witli a razor. 

 On IMonday morning, acCDrding to the then custom, 

 liis body was l)i ought out from Newgate in a cart; and 

 atti.r Jack Ketch had exhibited to the people a small 

 model gallows, with a razor hanging therel'rom, in the 

 l)resence of the sheriffs and city autliorities, he was 

 thrown into a hole dug for that purpose. A stake was 

 driven through his body, and a quantity of lime thrown 

 in over it." 



AVill any correspondent of " Notes and 

 Queries " give a solution of this extraordinary 

 exhibition? Had the sheriffs and city authorities 

 any legal sanction for Jack Ketch's disgusting part 

 in the performances ? What ai'e the meaning and 

 origin of driving a stake through the body of a 

 suicide ? A. G. 



Ecclesfield. 



lUtJltE^. 

 COLI.AE OF SS. 



If you desire proof of the great utility of 

 your publication, metliinks there is a goodly 

 quantum of it in the very interesting and valu- 

 able information on the Collar of SS., which the 

 short simple question of B. (Vol. ii., p. 89.) has 

 drawn forth; all tending to illustrate a mooted 

 historical question: — first, in the reply of *. 

 (Vol. ii., p. 110.), giving reference to the Gentle- 

 man. i Magazine, with two riV/e?--Queries ; then Mr. 

 Nichols's announcement (Vol. ii., p. 140.) of a 

 forthcoming volume on the subject, and a reply in 

 part to the Query of *. ; then (Vol. ii., p. 171.) 

 jMr. E. Foss, as to the rank of the legal worthies 

 allowed to wear this badge of honour ; and next 

 (Vol. ii., p. 194.) an Armiger, who, though he rides 

 rather high on the subject, over all the Querists 

 and Replyists, deserves many Uianks for his very 

 instructive and scliolarlike dissertation. 



'What the S. signifies has e\idently been a 

 puzzle. That a chain is a badge of honour, there 

 can be no doubt ; but may not the Esse.i, after 

 alL, mean nothing at all? originating in the simple 

 S. link, a form often used in chain-work, and 

 under the name of S. A series of sucli, linked 

 together, would produce an elegant design, which 

 in the course of years would be wrought more like 

 the letter, and be embellished and varied accord- 

 ing to the skill and taste of the workman ; and so, 

 that which at first had no particular meaning, and 

 was merely accidental, would, after a time, be 

 supposed to be the initial letters of what is now 

 only guessed at, or be involved in heraldic mys- 

 tery. As for *.'s rider-C^uery (Vol ii., p. 110.), 

 repeated by jNIr. Foss (Vol. ii., p. 171.), as to dates, 

 — it may be one step towards a reply if I here 

 mention, that in Yatton Church, Somerset, there 



