268 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 47. 



festivities held by our forefatliers ; but I can dis- 

 cover no allusion even to the mistletoe for two 

 centuries later. If any of your readers should be 

 familiar with anv earlier allusion in pi-ose, but still 

 more j)artioularly in verse, printed or in manu- 

 script, I shall feel obliged by their pointing it out. 



Poor Rohins Almavacks. — I am anxious to as- 

 certain in which public or private library is to be 

 found the most complete collection of Poor Robin's 

 Almanacks : through the medium of yf)ur columns, 

 I may, perhaps, glean the desired information. V. 



Sirloin. — When on a visit, a day or two since, 

 to the very interesting ruin (for so it must be 

 called) of Ilaughton Castle, near Blackburn, 

 Lancashire, I heard that the origin of this word 

 was the following freak of James I. in his visit to 

 the casfle ; a visit, by the way, which is said to 

 have ruined the host, and to have been not vary 

 profitable even to all his descendants. A magni- 

 ficent loin of meat being placed on the table be- 

 fore his ^Majesty, the King was so struck with 

 its size and excellence, that he drew his sword, 

 and cried out, " By my troth, I'll knight thee, Sir 

 Loin!" and then and there the title was given; 

 a title which has been honoured, unlike other 

 knighthoods, bj' a goodly succession of illustrious 

 heirs. Can any of your correspondents vouch 

 for the truth of this ? H. C. 



Bowden, Manchester. 



Thomson of Esholt. — In the reign of Henry 

 VIII. arms were granted to Henry Thomson, of 

 Esholt, CO. York, one of that monarch's gentlemen- 

 at-arms at Boulogne. The grant was made by 

 Laurence Ualton, Norroy. The shield was— Per 

 fesse embattled, ar. and sa., three falcons, belted, 

 countercharged — a bend sinister. Crest: An 

 armed arm, embowed, holding a lance, erect. 

 Families of the name of Thompson, bearing the 

 same shield, have been seated at Kilham, Scar- 

 borough, Escrick, and other places in Yorkshire. 

 My inquiries are, — 



1. Will any of your readers be kind enough to 

 inform me where any mention is made of this gi ant, 

 and the circumstances under which it was made ? 



2. Whether any undent monuments, or heraldic 

 bearings of the family, are still extant in any parts 

 of Yorkshire ? 



3. Whether any work on Yorkshire genealogies 

 exists, and what is the best to be consulted ? 



Jaytee. 



IJfpItc^ to iHtiinr <Sucn'c5. 



Pension (\o\. ii., p. 134.). — In the Dictionnaire 

 Universelle, 1775, vol. ii. p. 203., I find the fol- 

 lowing expiation of the French word Pension: — 



" Sorame qu'on donne pour la nourriture et le loge- 



ment de quelqu'un. // se dit aussi du lieu oH I'on donne 

 a manger." 



May not the meeting of the benchers have de- 

 rived its name from their dining-room in which 

 they assembled ? Bratbrooke. 



Execution of Charles I. (Vol. ii., pp. 72. 110- 

 140. 158.). — In Lilly's History of his Life and 

 Times, I find the following interesting account in 

 regard to the vizored execution of Charles I., 

 being part of the evidence he gave when ex- 

 amined before the first parliament of King 

 Charles II. respecting the matter. Should any of 

 your correspondents be able to substantiate this, 

 or produce more conclusive evidence in deter- 

 mining who the executioner was, I shall be ex- 

 tremely obliged. Lilly writes, — 



" Lil)erty bein^ given me to speak, I related what 

 follows: viz, That the next Sunday but one after 

 Charles I. was beheaded, Robert Spavin, Secretary to 

 Lieutenant- (Jeiieral Cromwell at that time, invited 

 himself to dine with me, and brought Anthony Pearson 

 and several others along with him to dinner. That 

 their principal discourse all dinner time was only who 

 it was that beheaded the king. One said it was the 

 common hangman ; another, Hugh Peters ; others 

 were also nominated, but none concluded. Robert 

 Spavin, so soon as dinner was done, took me by the 

 liand, and carried me to the south window. Saith he, 

 ' These are all mistaken ; they have not named the 

 man that did the fact : it was Lieutenant-Colonel Joice. 

 I was in the room when he fitted himself for the work ; 

 stood behind him wlien he did it ; when done, went 

 in with l)im again: there is no man knows this but my 

 master, viz. Cromwell, Commissary Ireton, and my- 

 self." — 'Doth Mr. Rushworth know it ?' saith L 'No, 

 he doth not know it,' saith Spavin. 'J'he same thing 

 Spavin since has often related to me, when we were 

 alone." 



R. W. E. 



Cheltenham. 



Paper Hangings (Vol. ii., p. 134.). — 

 " It was on the walls of this drawing-room (the 

 kmg's at Kensington Palace) that the then new art of 

 paper-liangings, in imitation of the old velvet flock, 

 was displayed with an effect that soon led to tlie adop- 

 tion of so cheap and elegant a m.inufacture, in prefer- 

 ence to the original rich material from which it was 

 copied." — W. H. Pyne's Boyal Residences, vol. ii. p. 15. 



M.W. 



Black-guard. — There are frequent entries 

 among those of deaths of persons attached to the 

 Palace of Whitehall, in the registers of St. Mar- 

 garet's, Westminster, of " , one of the blake 



garde," about the year 1566, and later. In the 

 Churchwardens' Accoin]its we find — 



" 15152. Pd. for licence of 4 torchis for the Black 

 Garde, vj. d." 



The royal Halberdiers carried black bills. (Grose, 

 Milit. Antiq., vol. i. p. 124.) In 1584 they behaved 



