JAN, 19. 1850.] 
to original authorities, in Lardner’s Jewish and Heathen 
Testimonies, chap. xiii. of the Heathen Authors; 
vol. ii, p. 125. of the original 4to. edition ; or vol. vii. 
p- 370. of the 8vo, edition of his works by Kippis, 
1788.] 
High-Doctrine.—In the Cambridgeshire fens 
there are a great number of Dissenters, and I 
believe Cromwell’s Ironsides were chiefly recruited 
from those districts. On the higher Jands adjoin- 
ing are the old parish churches; and in conversa- 
tion it is not uncommon to hear the tenets of the 
Church of England described as High land Doc- 
trine, in contra-distinction to the Low land, or 
Dissenters’ doctrine. 
The thing is amusing, if nothing else, and I 
heard it while staying some few years ago with 
my brother, who iives on the edges of the Cam- 
bridgeshire fens, E. H. 
Wife of Robert de Bruce.—In the Surrenden 
Collection is an interesting roll, entitled “ Libe- 
ratio facta Ingelardo de Warlee Custodi Garde- 
robe, 7 E. 2.” 
It is, as its title imports, the release to the 
keeper of the wardrobe, for one year’s accounts, 
a’. 7 E..2. 
I shall probably be able to send you therefrom 
a few “notes” illustrative of the history of that 
time. 
As a commencement, I think that the subjoined 
“note” will interest your historical readers. 
It appears that the unfortunate wife of Robert 
Bruce was then consigned to the care of the 
Abbess of Barking, with an allowance of 20s. per 
week for the same. She was, I believe, the daugh- 
ter of Henry de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, and died 
in 1328. In the above roll there is the following 
entry :— 
“ C® liberati Anne de Veer Abbatisse de Berkyng, 
per manus domini Roberti de Wakfeld clerici, super 
expensis domine Elizabethe uxoris Roberti de Brus, 
percipientis per ebdomadum xx*., et ibidem perhendi- 
nantis.” 
“ C* liberati Johanni de Stystede valletto Abbatisse 
de Berkyngg, per manus proprias, super expensis 
Domine de Brus in Abbathia de Berkyng perhendi- 
nantis.” 
It does not appear, in the above roll, how long 
the hapless queen remained in the abbey. 
Lampert B, Larxine. 
Ryarsh Vicarage, Dec. 14. 1849. 
The Talisman of Charlemagne. — I beg to refer 
your correspondent, on the subject of Charle- 
magne’s Talisman, to what professes to be a cor- 
rect representation of this antique relic, in The 
Illustrated London News, of March 8th, 1845; but 
it is not there described as “a small nut, in a gold 
filigree envelopment,” and gives the idea of an 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
187 
ornament much too large for the finger or even 
wrist of any lady: that paper says, — 
“This curious object of vertu is described in the 
Parisian journals as, ‘Ja plus belle relique de 
Europe ;’ and it has, certainly, excited considerable 
interest in the archeological and religious circles of 
the continent. ‘The talisman is of fine gold, of round 
form, as our illustration shows, set with gems, and in 
the centre are two rough sapphires, and a portion of 
the Holy Cross; besides other relics brought from the 
Holy Land.” 
The rest of the description much resembles your 
correspondent’s, and asserts the talisman to be at 
that time the property of Prince Louis Napoleon, 
then a prisoner in the chateau of Ham. §. A. M. 
Sayers the Caricaturist.—In Wright’s England 
under the House of Hanover, vol. ii. p. 83n., it is 
stated that James Sayer, the caricaturist, “ died 
in the earlier part of the present century, no long 
time after his patron, Pitt.” In Sepulchral Remi- 
niscences of a Market Town, by Mr. Dawson 
Turner (Yarmouth, 8vo. 1848), p. 73 2. the 
caricaturist is called Sayers, and is said to have 
died on the 20th of April, 1823. C. H. Coorrr. 
Cambridge, Dec. 29. 1849. 
May-Day.—To what old custom does the fol- 
lowing passage allude ? 
“Tt is likewise on the first day of this month [May] 
that we see the ruddy milk-maid exerting herself in a 
most sprightly manner under a pyramid of silver 
tankards, and, like the virgin Tarpeia, oppressed by the 
costly ornaments which her benefactors lay upon her.” 
— Spectator, No. 365. Me anion, 
[Our correspondent will find much curious illus- 
tration of this now obsolete custom in Strutt’s Sports 
and Pastimes, p. 357. (ed. Hone), where tke preceding 
passage from the Spectator is quoted; and we are told 
‘“‘these decorations of silver cups, tankards, &c, were 
borrowed for the purpose, and hung round the milk 
pails (with the addition of flowers and ribands), which 
the maidens carried upon their heads when they went 
to the houses of their customers, and danced in order 
to obtain a small gratuity from each of them.” In 
Tempest’s Cryes of London there is a print of a well- 
known merry milk-maid, Kate Smith, dancing with 
the milk pail decorations upon her head. See also 
| Hone’s Every Day Book, i. p. 576.] 
Dr. Dee's Petition.— There is no mention of 
Dr. Dee’s petition to King James in the list of’ his 
works in ‘l'anner’s Bibliotheca Britannica; but in 
Beloe’s Anecdotes, vol. ii. p. 263., is an account of 
the preface to a scarce work of his, in which he 
defends himself from the charge of being a con- 
| jurer, or caller of divels, &e. 
Tanner mentions his Supplicationto Queen Mary 
for the Recovery of Ancient Writings and Monu- 
ments. 
I fear, however, that your correspondent is ac- 
