270 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 47. 



.fTuilds. In the enulite and instructive work of 

 Wilda on the Guild St/stem of the Middle Ages 

 (Gildemcesen im Mittelalter) it will be found to be 

 stated that guilds were associations of various 

 kinds, — convivial, reliuious, and mercantile, and 

 so on ; and that places of assembly were adopted 

 by them. A guild-house, where eating and drink- 

 ing took place, was to be met with in most villages 

 in early times: and these, I fancy, were the guild- 

 halls. On this head consult Plone's Ecenj-day 

 Booh, vol. ii. p. 670., and elsewhere, in connexion 

 with Whitsuntide holidays. Jatxee. 



Able StricUand (Vol. ii., pp. 198. 237.). — The 

 fullest account of the Abbe Strickland, Bishop of 

 Namur, is to be found in Lord Ilervey's Memoirs 

 (Vol. i., p. 391.), and a most curious account it is 

 of that profligate intriguer. C. 



Long Lonkin (Vol. ii., pp. 168. 251.). — This 

 ballad does not relate to Cumberland, but to 

 jSTorthumbei-land. This error was committed by 

 Miss Landon (in the Druwing-room Scrap-hook 

 for 1835), to whom a lady of this town communi- 

 cated the fragment through the medium of a friend. 

 Its real locality is a ruined tower, seated on the 

 corner of an extensive earth-work surrounded by 

 a moat, on the western side of Whittle Dean, near 

 Ovingham. Since this period, I have myself taken 

 down many additional verses from the recitation 

 of the adjacent villagers, and will be hajipy to 

 afford any further information to your inquirer, 

 Seleucus. G. Boucuier Richardson. 



Neweastle-upon-Tyne, Sept. 7. 1850. 



HavocJi (Vol. ii., p. 215.). — The presumed object 

 of literary men being the investigation of truth, 

 your correspondent Jarltzberg will, I trust, 

 pardon me for suggesting that his illustration of 

 the word havock is incomplete, and especially with 

 reference to the line of Shakspeare which he has 

 quoted : 



" Cry havoek ! and let slip the dogs of war." 



Grose, in his History of English Armour, vol. ii. 

 p. 62., says that havok was the word given as a 

 signal for the troops to disperse and pillage, as 

 may be learned from the following article in the 

 Droits of the Marshal, vol. ii. p. 229., whereia 

 it is declared, that — 



" In the article of plunder, .all the sheep and hogs 

 belong to such private s-oldier.s as can take them ; and 

 that on the word havok being cried, every one might 

 seize his part ; but this prohably was only a small part 

 of the licence supposed to be given by the word." 



lie also refers to the ordinance of Richard II. 



In agreeing with your correspondent that the use 

 of this word was the signal for general massacre, 

 unlimited slaughter, and giving no quarter, as well 

 as taking plunder in the manner described above, 

 the omission of which I have to complain is, that, 



in stating no one was to raise the cry, under 

 penalty of losing his head, he did not add the 

 words, " the king excepted." It was a royal act ; 

 and Shakspeare so understood it to be ; as will 

 ajipear from the passage referred to, if fully and 

 f lirly quoted : — 



" And Ca?sar's spirit, ranging for revenge, 

 With Ate by his side, come hot from liell, 

 Shall in these confines, uith a monarch's voice. 

 Cry Havock ! and let slip the dogs of war." 



Julius C(Bsar, Act iii. 



It is not at this moment in my power to assist 

 F. W. with the reference to the history of Bishop 

 Berkeley's giant, though it exists somewhere in 

 print. The subject of the experiment was a 

 healthy boy, who died in the end, in consequence of 

 over-growth, promoted (as f;xr as my recollection 

 serves me) principally by a peculiar diet. W(l). 



Bechefs Mother. — I do not pretend to e.xplain 

 the fiicts mentioned by I\Ir. Foss (Vol.ii., p. 106.), 

 that the hospital founded in honour of Becket was 

 called " The Hospital of St. Thomas the Martyr, 

 of Aeon ;" and that he was himself styled "St. 

 Thomas Acrensis, or of Acre-," but I believe that 

 the true explanation must be one which would 

 not be a hindrance to the rejection of the common 

 story as to the Archbishop's birth. 7/" these titles 

 were intended to connect the Saint with Acre in 

 Syria, they may have originated after the legend 

 had become popular. But it seems to me more 

 likely, that, like some other city churches and 

 chapels, that of St. Thomas got its designation from 

 something quite unconnected with the history of 

 the patron. In particular, I would ask what is the 

 meaning of "St. Nicolas Aeons?'" And may not 

 the same explanation (whatever it be) serve foi* 

 "St. Thomas of Aeon?" Or the hospital may 

 have been built on some noted " acre" (like Long 

 Acre and Pedlars' Acre) ; and if afterwards 

 churches in other places were consecrated to St. 

 Thomas under the designation '■'■ of Acre^^ (as to 

 which point I have no information), the churches 

 of " our Lady of Loretto" scattered over various 

 countries, will supplv a parallel. As to the in- 

 ference which JMr. Nichols (Pilgrimages, p. 120.) 

 draws from the name Ao'ensis, that Becket was 

 lorn at Acre, I nuist observe that it introduces a 

 theory which is altogether new, and not only op- 

 posed to the opinion that the Archbishop was of 

 English or Norman descent on both sides, but 

 essentially contradictory of the legend as to the 

 fair Saracen who came from the East in search of 

 her lover. J. C. R. 



Watching the Sepulchre (Vol. i., pp. 318. 354. 

 403.). — In the parish books of Leicester various 

 entries respecting the Sepulchre occur. In the 

 year 1546, when a sale took place of the furniture 

 of St. Martin's Church, the "Sepulchre light" was 



