Feb. 15. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



123 



nion of the two. Now, let that in the particular 

 case in question be A, and the less probable B. 

 But the doctrine that you may lawfully take the 

 less probable in jjeneral is the niore probable doc- 

 trine ; meaning at that time the doctrine of the 

 greater number of authorities : therefore they 

 said, even upon your principles it is lawful to 

 take B. C. B. 



Old Hewson the Cobbler (Vol. iii., pp. 11. 73.). 

 — The most satisfactory account of " old Ilewson " 

 is the followinjj, extracted from The Loi/al Mar- 

 tyrolos^y, hy William Winstanley, small 8vo. 1665, 

 (p. 12^3.) : - 



" John Hewson, who, from a cobbler, rose by degrees 

 to be a colonel, and though a person of no parts either 

 in body or mind, yet made by Cromwell one of his 

 pageant lords. He was a fellow fit for any mischief, 

 and capable of nothing else; a sordid lump of igno- 

 rance and impiety, and therefore the more fit to share 

 in Cromwell's designs, and to act in that horrid mur- 

 ther of his Majesty. Upon the turn of tlie times, he 

 ran away for fear of Squire Dun [the common hang- 

 man], and (by report) is since dead, and buried at 

 Amsterdam." 



In the collection of songs entitled The Hump, 

 1666, may be found two ballads relative to Hew- 

 son, viz., " A Hymne to the Gentle Craft ; or 

 Hewson's Lamentation. To the tune of the Blind 

 Beggar : " 



" Listen a wliile to what I shall say 

 Of a blind cobbler that's gone astray 

 Out of the parliament's high way, 

 Good people pity the blind." 



" The Cobbler's Last Will and Testament ; or 

 the Lord Hewson's translation : " 



" To Christians all, I greeting send, 

 That they may learn their souls to amend 

 By viewing of my cobbler's end." 



Lord Hewson's " one eye " is a frequent subject 

 of ridicule in the political songs of (he period. 

 Thus in "The Bloodv Bed-roll, or Treason dis- 

 played in its Colours : " 



" Make room for one-ey'd IIewsox, 

 A Lord of such account, 

 'Twas a pretty jest 

 That such a beast 

 Should to such honour mount." 



The song inquired for by my friend IMr. Cn,\p- 

 PELL, beginning, " My name is ohl Hewson," is 

 not contained in any of the well known printed 

 collections of jjoliticul songs and ballads, nor is it to 

 be found among the broadsides preserved in the 

 King's Pamphlets. A full index to the Litter is 

 now before me, so I make this sUilcmant poxiiively, 

 and to save others the trouble of a search. 



Edward F. IIimbault. 



Old Hewson and SmolletCs '■'■Straps — Per- 

 haps the enclosed extract from an old newspaper 



of April, 1809, will throw some light upon this 

 subject : 



" Smollett's celebrated hugh strap. 



" On Sunday was Interred, in the burial-ground of 

 St. Martin's-in-the- Fields, the remains of Hugh Hew- 

 son, who died at the age of 85. The deceased was a 

 man of no mean celebrity. He had passed mure than 

 forty years in the parish of St. Martin's, and kept a 

 hair- dresser's shop, being no less a personage than the 

 identical Hugh Strap, whom Dr. Smollett rendered so 

 con'-pieuously interesting in his life and adventures of 

 Roderick Random. The deceased was a very intel- 

 ligent man, and took delight in recounting the scenes 

 of his early life. He spoke with pleasure of the time 

 he passed in the service of the Doctor ; and it was his 

 pride, as well as boast, to say, that he bad been edu- 

 cated at the same seminary witli so learned and dis- 

 tinguished a character. His shop was hung round 

 with Latin quotations, and he would frequently point 

 out to his acquaintance the several scenes in Roderick 

 Random, pertaining to himself, which had their found- 

 ation, not in the Doctor's inventive fancy, but in truth 

 and reality. The Doctor's meeting with him at a 

 barber's shop at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the subsequent 

 mistake at the Inn, their arrival together in London, 

 and the assistance they experienced fiom Straps friend, 

 were all of that description. The deceased, to the last, 

 obtained a comfortable subsistence by his industry, and 

 of late years bad been paid a weekly salary by the in- 

 habitants of the Adelphi, for keeping the entrances to 

 Villier's-walk, and securing the promenade from the 

 intrusion of strangers." 



John Francis. 



Itodolph Gualter (Vol. iii., p. 8.). — From letters 

 to and from Rodolph Gualter (in Zurich, and 

 Original Letters, Farher Society) little can be 

 gathered; thus much have I gleaned, that though 

 mention is oftentimes made of Scotland, yet not 

 sufficient to identify Gualter as being a native of 

 that country ; yet it should be observed that he 

 dedicated his Homilies on the Galatians to the 

 King of Scotland, Zurich Letters (second series) 

 cxviii., see also, cxxix., cxxx. These remarks 

 may tend perchance to put J. C. R. on the right 

 track for obtaining true information. 



N. E. R. (a Subscriber.) 



Burning the Hill (Vol. ii., pp. 441. 498.).— The 

 provision for burning out a delinquent miner, con- 

 tained in the Mendip mine laws, called Lord C. J. 

 Choke's laws, first appeared in print in 1687; at 

 least I can find no earlier notice of them in any 

 booh ; but as tlie usages sanctioned by them are 

 incidentally mentioned in proceedings in the E.x- 

 cheqtier in 21 and 22 Elizabeth, they are no doubt 

 of early date. Article 6. certainly has a very san- 

 guinary aspect; but as the thiefj whose hut and 

 tools are to be bui'nt, is himself to be " banished 

 from his occupation before the miners for ever," 

 it cannot be intended that he should be himself 

 burnt also. If any instance of the exercise of a 



