266 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[No. 17. 
served in the Harleian MSS., No.7332, fol.41. It 
purports to have been 
“ Written (i, e. transcribed) by Feargod Barebone, 
who being at many times idle and wanting employ- 
ment, wrote out certain songs and epigrams, with the 
idea of mending his hand in writing.” 
There is another copy among Malone’s MSS. in 
the Bodleian (No. 16. p. 55.), where it is entitled 
A new Tom of Bedlam. But I contend there is 
no evidence to show that this is the ballad alluded 
to by Walton; none of the copies having the 
name of the author. We have two other songs 
(probably more) bearing the same title of Tom of 
Bedlam; one beginning, “ From the top of high 
Caucasus ;” the other commencing, “ From the 
hag and hungry goblin;” either of which are quite 
as likely to have been intended as that mentioned 
above. 
It still remains a question, I think, which of the 
two Basses was the author of the ballads men- 
tioned by Walton. But I have already trespassed 
so long upon your valuable space that I will leave 
the further consideration of the subject until a 
future period: in the meantime, perhaps some of 
your correspondents may be enabled to “ illumi- 
nate our darkness” upon the various knotty points. 
Epwarp F, Rimsacrr. 
BEAVER HATS—PISAN. 
Allow me to say a few words in reply to your 
correspondent “ Gastros.” His quotation from 
Fairholt (Costume in England), who cites Stubbes’s 
Anatomy of Abuses as the earliest authority for 
the use of beaver hats in England, is not a satis- 
factory reply to my query; inasmuch as I am 
aware that beaver hats were occasionally worn by 
great people in this country some centuries before 
Stubbes was born. For example, Henry III. 
possessed “unum capellum de Bevre cum appa- 
ratu auri et lapidibus preciosis;” as appears from 
the “* Wardrobe Account,” of the 55th year of his 
reign. I have, therefore, still to ask for the 
earliest instance of the use of hats or caps of this 
material in England ; such hats, as well as gloves, 
are mentioned in several English inventories made 
between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. 
Is there any example earlier than the time of 
Henry IIL. ? 
“Gastros” has also obligingly replied to my 
query as to “ the meaning of the term Pisan, used 
in old records for some part of defensive armour,” 
but he seems to have forgotten that I expressly 
stated that term had no relation to “ the fabrics of 
Pisa;” at least such is my belief. With regard to 
the inventory of the arms and armour of Louis le 
Hutin, taken in 1316, printed in Meyrick’s An- 
cient Armour, to which he kindly refers me, it may 
be observed that the said inventory is so per- 
versely translated in the first edition of that work 
(just now I have no means of consulting the 
second), as to be all but useless; indeed it might 
be termed one of the most extraordinary literary 
performances of modern times, as the following 
instance may suffice to show. One of the items 
of the inventory is, “une cote gamboisée 4 ar- 
broissiaus d’or broudées 4 chardonereus ;” and it 
is thus rendered into English, ‘a gamboised coat 
with a rough surface (like a thicket ;—note) of 
gold embroidered on the nap of the cloth!” The 
real signification is “‘a gamboised coat embroidered 
in gold, with little bushes (or trees), with gold- 
finches [on them].” But I am rather wandering 
from my point: I never could ascertain on what 
authority Sir Samuel Meyrick asserted that “ ja- 
zeran armour,” as he calls it, was formed of “ over- 
lapping plates.” The French word jazeran was 
derived from the Italian ghiazarino, or ghiazzerino, 
which signified “a gorget of mail,” or what some 
of our antiquaries have termed “a standard of 
mail;” in France this word always preserved its 
relation to mail, and in process of time came to 
be applied to so lowly an object as a flagon-chain : 
see Cotgrave’s Fr. Dict. ed. 1673. Roquefort, 
indeed, says a “jaserans” was a cuirass, but to 
my apprehension the passage which he quotes from 
the Roman d Alexandre — 
“ Es haubers, jazerans, et és elmes gemez ”— 
sees to prove that, in that instance at least, a 
gorget is meant. At any rate, the translation of 
the passage in the inventory to which “ Gasrros” 
refers should be, “three Pisan collerets of steel 
mail,” not that given by Meyrick. Here we have 
clearly a fabric of Pisa: whereas the pisan, of 
which I desire to know the meaning, invariably 
occurs as an independent term, e.g. “item, unum 
pisanum,” or “unum par pisanorum.” Of course I 
have my own conjecture on the subject, but should 
be glad to hear other opinions; so I again put the 
question to your correspondents. In conclusion I 
would observe to ‘“ Gastros” that they must be 
very late MSS. indeed in which such a contraction 
as pisan for partisan can be found. If you have 
room, and think it worth while, I will from time 
to time send you some corrections of the more 
flagrant errors of Meyrick. T. Hupson Turner. 
REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES. 
Norman Pedigrees. — In reference to your cor- 
respondent “B.'s” inquiries, he will find much 
information in the Publications de la Société des 
Antiquaires de Normandie. Under their auspices, 
M. Estancelin published in 1828 a full history of 
the Earls of Eu. Iam not aware of any full col- 
lection of pedigrees of the companions of William 
the Conqueror: the names of several of the lands 
from which they took their designations yet 
remain. W. Durrant Cooper. 
