June 7. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



447 



" Each, when his rustic pains began, 

 To merit pleaded equal right, 

 'Tivas only who left off at noon. 

 Or who went on to work till night." 



C. P. Ph***. 



Breirhouse Antiquities. — In Forth and others 

 versus Stanton, Trinity Term, 20 Charles IT., 

 Timothy Alsopp and others sue for lOOZ. for cost 

 of beer, sold by them to defendant's late husband. 

 Can this Timothy Alsopp be a lineal predecessor 

 of the present eminent firm of Samuel Alsopp and 

 Sons ? We are told that Child's is the oldest 

 banking-house — which may be the oldest brewing 

 establishment ? J. H. S. 



Joseph of Exeter de Bella Antioclieno. — Joseph 

 of Exeter, or Iscanus, was the author of two 

 poems : 1st, De Bella Trojano ; 2dly, De Bella 

 Antiocheno. The first has been printed and pub- 

 lished. The second was only known hj fragments 

 to Leland. See his work De Scrip. Brit. p. 239. 

 ]\Ir. Wartnn, in his History of English Poetry 

 (1774), affirms, that Mr. AVise, the Kadcliffe li- 

 brarian, had informeil him that a MS. copy of the 

 latter was in the library of the Duke of Chandos 

 at Canons. Query, where is it ? It was not at 

 Stowe. It is not in Lord Ashburnham's collec- 

 tion, nor in the British Museum ; nor in the Bod- 

 leian Librai'y, nor in the archives of Sir Thomas 

 Phillipps. For the honour of the nation, we 

 earnestly hope that it may be discovered and com- 

 mitted to the press. Exoniensis. 



Hhislrations of Welsh History : — 1 . Offer by 

 David, Prince of Wales, to become a Vassal of the 

 Pope. — 2. Death in the Tower of Griffith ap 

 Llewellyn, Prince of North Wales. — In Madox's 

 Collections in the British JMuseum (Add. MSS. 

 No. 4563., vol. Ixxxviii. p. 387.) are the annexed 

 references to two interesting incidents in the history 

 of Wales, noticed in a MS. Chronicle of John De 

 Malverne, in the library of Corpus Christi College, 

 Cambridge. The references are sent for insertion 

 In " Notes and Queries," in the hope that some 

 member of the University may be induced to 

 favour the readers of " Notes and Queries" with 

 the passages referred to by Madox. 



" Per idem teinpus David Princeps Norwallla^ ad 

 alas papalis protectlonis confugere proponcns, terram 

 suara optulit el ab ipso tenere, reddendo hide sibi quin- 

 gentas inarcas, cui perliibetur D. Paj^a favorem pra;- 

 buisse in magnum regni Anglia; pra'judicium ; novit 

 t'nim mnndus Priiicipem Wallia; ab antiquo vassallum 

 Uegis Anglia: extitisse. Ex cod. Chron. [MS. Job. de 

 Malverne, M. H.] A. Dom. I'i-H." 



the ^vindow-tax, 



" GrifT. fil. Lewcl. Princeps Norwal!l:c, being in 

 the Tower of London, fell down a.s be tryed to make 

 his escape out of a window, and dyed. lb. ad. Ann. 

 1241." 



John ap William ap John. 



Inner Temple, May 28. 



€LV.txiti. 



LOCAL MINTS, AND NOBBS OF 

 NORWICH. 



In a MS. chronicle, now before me, of remark* 

 able events which occurred, in connexion with the 

 history of the city of Norwich, from the earliest 

 period to the year 1716, compiled by an inhabi- 

 tant of the place named Nobbs, of whom a woi'd 

 or two at the end of this note, occurs the following 

 passage : 



" This year (1695) the parliament made an act for 

 remedying the coin of the nation, which was generally 

 debased by counterfeits, and duninished by clipping, 

 and laid a tax upon glass windows, to make good the 

 deficiency when it should be taken in. And, for the 

 speedy supply of money to the subjects, upon calling 

 in of the old money, there were mints set up in York, 

 Bristol, Chester, Exeter, and Norwich. The mint in 

 Norwich beijan to work in Sept. 1 696. Coined there 

 259,371?. The amount of plate and coin brought into 

 this mint was 17,709 ounces." 



These quantities are identical with those given 

 by Blomeheld (^History of No7-ivich, fob, 1741, 

 p. 300.). 



1. The duties chargeable on windows, as now 

 collected, were regidated by Sched. A. of 48 Geo. III. 

 c. 55. ; but, assuming the correctness of Nobbs' 

 statement, is it generally known that this tax 

 07-iginated in the year, and under the circumstances, 

 above recorded ? 



Bishop Burnet (Hist. Own Time, 8vo., 1833, 

 vol. iv. pp. 252. 258.), describing the proceed- 

 ings taken by parliament for rectifying the state 

 of the coinage, without telling us by what means 

 the money was raised, says (p. 290.) : 



" Twelve thousand pounds was given to supply the 

 deficiency of the bad and clipped money." 



Is this sura the amount of the proceeds of the 

 tax laid, as our chronicle records, iipon glass 

 windows ? If so, or from whatever source obtained, 

 it may, in passing, be remarked, that it appears to be 

 ridiculously inadequate to meet the requirements 

 of the case ; for, according to the Bishop, in ano- 

 ther place (p. 316.) : 



" About five millions of clijiped money was brought 

 Into the exchequer, and the loss that the nation suf- 

 fered, by the rccolning of the money, amounted to 

 two millions and two hundred thousand pounds." 



The window duties have of late provoked much 

 discussion, and it would prove of some interest, if, 

 through the medium of your pages, any of your 

 correspondents would take the trouble to investi- 

 gate a little further the subject of this note. It 

 very easily admits of confirmation or denial. 



2. The principal reason, however, for now 

 writing, is to retjuest answers to the two following 

 Queries: 1. What amount of money was respec- 

 tively coined during 1696, and the following year, 

 in the cities of York, Bristol, Chester, and Exeter ? 



