Sept. 21. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



269 



with great cruelty in Ireland. (Coinp. Peck's Z)e.?. 

 Curios., vol. i. p. 155.) So Stainhurst, in his Z)e- 

 scription, says ot' bad men : " They are taken for no 

 better than rakeliells, or the devil's blacke guarde." 

 — Chap. 8. Perhaps, in distinction to the gaily 

 dressed military guard, the menial attendants in a 

 royal progi-ess were called black-guards from their 

 dull appearance. 



I remember a story current in Dublin, of a 

 wicked wag telling a highly respectable old lady, 

 who was asking where were the quarters of the 

 guards, in which corps her son was a private, to 

 inquire at the lodge of Trinity College if he was 

 not within those learned walls, as the " black 

 guards were lying there." M. W. 



Pilgrims Road (Vol. ii., p. 237.). — Your cor- 

 respondent S. II., in noticing the old track "skirt- 

 ing the base of the chalk hills," ami known by the 

 name of the "Pilgrims' Road," has omitteil to state 

 that its commencement is at Otlbrd, — a fact of 

 importance, inasmuch as that the Archbishops of 

 Canterbury had tliere a handsome palace (the 

 ruins of wliicli still e.xist), which is said to have 

 been the favourite residence of Thomas a Becket. 

 The traditif)n in the county thereupon is, that his 

 memory was held in such sanclity in that neigh- 

 bourhood as to cause a vast influx of pilgrims 

 annually from thence to his shrine at Canterbury; 

 and the line of road taken by them can still be 

 trace<l, though only portions of it are now used as 

 a highway. The direction, however, in which it 

 runs makes it cle.ar (as S. II., no doubt, is aware) 

 that it cannot be Chaucer's road. 



While on the subject of old roads, I may add 

 that a tradition here exists that the direct road 

 between London and Tunbridge did not pass 

 through Sevenoaks ; and a narrow lane which 

 crosses the Pilgrims' road near Everham is pointed 

 out a.s the fbrmer hi^ihway, and by which Evelyn 

 must have been journeying ([)assing cluse, indeed, 

 to the seat of his present descendant at St. Clere) 

 when he met with that amusing robbcr-ailventure 

 at Procession Oak. M \2). 



Pilgrims Road to Canterbury. —In the Athenaum 

 of Nov. 2nd, 1H44, there i.s a notice of Remarks 

 upon Wayside Chapels ; with Ohscrvations on the 

 Architecture and present State of the Chantry on 

 Wakefield Bridge : l{y John Chessell and Charles 

 Buckler — in which the reviewer says : — 



" III our pt'destrianism we have traced tlie now de- 

 solate ruins of several of tliese chapels along the old 

 pilgrims' road to Canterbury." 



If this writer would give us the results of his 

 pcdestriaiiism, it would be acceptable to (dl the 

 lovers of Chaucer. I do not know whether Pnii.o- 

 Cii.\ucKE will (ind anything to his pur])Ose in the 

 pamphlet reviewed. E. S. Jackson. 



Combs buried with the Dead. — In Vol. ii., 



p. 230., the excellent vicar of Morwenstow asks the 

 reason why combs are found in the graves of 

 St. Cuthbert and others, monks, in the cathedral 

 church of IJurham. 1 imagine that they were the 

 combs used at the first tonsure of the novices, to 

 them a most interesting memorial of that solemn 

 rite through life, and from touching affection to 

 the brotherhood among whom they had dwelt, 

 buried with them at their death. M. W. 



The Comb, concerning " the origin and intent" 

 of which Mr. Hawker (Vol. ii., p. 230.) seeks in- 

 formation, was for ritual use; and its purposes 

 are fully des<:ribed in Dr. liock's Church of our 

 Fathers, t. ii. p. 122., &c. Lituhgicus. 



Aiirostation. — C. B. M.will find in the Athenaum 

 for August lOlh, 1850, a notice of a book on this 

 subject. E. S. Jackson. 



St. Thomas of Lancaster (Vol. i., p. 181.). — Mr. 

 E,. M. MiLNES desires information relative to " St. 

 Thomas of Lancaster." This personage was Earl 

 of Leicester as well as Earl of Lancaster ; and I 

 find in the archives of this borough numerous 

 entries relative to him, — of jiayments made to him 

 by the burgesses. Of these mention is made in a 

 History of Leicester recently published. The most 

 curious fact I know of is, that on the dissolution 

 of the monasteries here, several relics of St. Thomas, 

 among others, his felt hat, was exhibited. The hat 

 was considered a great remedy lor the headache ! 



Jaytee. 



Smoke Money (Vol. ii., p. 120.). — 



" Anciently, even in England, were Wliitsun far- 

 things, or smoke farthings, which were a composition 

 for offerings made in Whitsun week, by every man 

 w ho occupied a house with a chimney, to the cathedral 

 of the diocese in which be lived." — Audley's Com- 

 panion to the Almanac, p. 76. 



Pentecostals, or "Whitsun Farthings, are men- 

 tioned by Pegge as being paid in 1788 by the 

 parisiiioners of the diocese of Lichfield, in aid of 

 the repairs of the cathedral, to the dean and 

 chapter ; but he makes no allusion to the word 

 smoke, adding only tliat in this case the payment 

 went by the name of Chad-pennies, or Chad-far- 

 things, the cathedral there being dedicated to St. 

 Chad. C. I. 11. 



Robert Herrick (Vol. i., p. 291.). — Ma. Milner 

 Barry states that he found an entry of the burial 

 of tiie poet Herrick in the parish books of Dean 

 Prior. As ]\Ir. Barry seems interested in the 

 poet, I would inform him that a voluminous col- 

 lection of family letters of eaily date is now in 

 the possession of AVilliam Herrick, Escp, of Beau- 

 manor Park, the present representative of that 

 ancient and honourable house. Jaytee. 



Guildhalls. — The question in Vol. i., p. 320., 

 relative to guildhalls, provokes an inquiry into 



