514 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 87. 



What a store of information migtt be obtained, 

 by persons having leisure and inclination to pursue 

 such an object, by the simple means of an ordinary 

 pocket-memorandum-book ! 



Thomas William King. 



Our next communication, from the Rev. Canon 

 Raines, is valuable, as showing that unless some limit 

 is placed to the antiquarian ardour of those who would 

 " collect and record every existing monumental inscrip- 

 tion," the historical and genealogical inquirer will be 

 embarrassed by a mass of materials in which, like Grati- 

 ano's reasons, the two grains of wheat will be hid in 

 two bushels of chaff — a mass, indeed, which, from its 

 extent, would require to be deposited with the Regis- 

 trar-General, and arranged by the practised hands of 

 his official staff. 



Mr. Dunkin's proposed record of existing mo- 

 numents will be, if carried into effect, a very useful 

 contribution to genealogists. Many years since I 

 transcribed all the inscriptions inside the parish 

 church of Rochdale, in Lancashire ; but I never 

 contemplated the possibility of any antiquary 

 having the ardour to undertake a similar task 

 outside. There are many thousands of grave- 

 stones, covering some acres ; and I have under- 

 stood that when one side of a grave-stone has 

 been covered with inscriptions, the stone has 

 been turned upside down, and the sculptor has 

 again commenced his endless work on the smooth 

 surfiice. In a great majority of these frail records 

 nothing would he obtained which the parish regis- 

 ter could not supply. F. E. Raines. 



Milnrow Parsonage, Rochdale, June 4. 



Our correspondent from Bruges furnishes, like 

 York Herald, valuable evidence as to what individual 

 exertion may accomplish ; and we are sure, that if he 

 will take the trouble of securing, while he has the op- 

 portunity, a copy of the inscriptions in the cemetery 

 allotted to the English at Bruges, confining himself 

 merely to the names, dates, and genealogical informa- 

 tion contained in them, and will then deposit his 

 collections either in the Library of the Society of 

 Antiquaries, or the Manuscript Department of the 

 British Museum, he will not only be setting a good 

 example to all antiquaries who may reside in any of 

 tlie cities of the Continent, but earn for himself here- 

 after the thanks of many an anxious inquirer alter 

 genealogical truth. 



The communications made in your interesting 

 " Notes and Queries" have occasioned me much 

 gratification, and if it be in my power to contribute 

 but a mite to this rich treasury of information, I 

 should consider it a privilege to be allowed to do 

 so. To show that I am actuated by a kindred 



spirit, perfnit me to inform you, that a few years 

 ago I undertook the formation of a desultory 

 collection of " memorials of the ancient dead," 

 and with that view corresponded with several 

 hundred clergymen, inviting their local assistance; 

 and I need scarcely add that a prompt and cour- 

 teous attention to my wishes, encouraged my 

 labours, and accomplished (so far as time and 

 opportunity permitted) my object. It will be 

 obvious that I had no intention of aiming at speci- 

 mens in the higher department of monumental 

 art, which have been so ably executed by Gough, 

 Stotliard, Neale, and others, but to content my- 

 self with those humbler efforts of skill which lay 

 neglected and sometimes buried in holes and cor- 

 ners in many a rural church in remote districts. 



The result has put me in possession of a col- 

 lection of about three hundred illustrations, con- 

 sisting of pen-and-ink outlines, pencil sketches, 

 Indian ink drawings, and some more highly 

 finished paintings in water colour; and in addition 

 to these, upwards of two hundred autograph letters 

 from clergymen, many of which contain not only 

 inscriptions, but interesting parochial and topo- 

 graphical information. 



The illustrations I have arranged (as well as I 

 am able) in centuries, commencing with the plain 

 cope lid of the eleventh century, according to the 

 plan adopted by M. H. Bloxam, Esq., in his ad- 

 mirable treatise modestly intitled A Glimpse at 

 the Monumental Architecture and Sculpture of 

 Great Britain. The volume made for their re- 

 ception is an atlas-folio, guarded; on one leaf is 

 inserted the drawing, on the other the letter (if any) 

 which accompanied it, to which are added a few 

 brief memoranda of my own : it is still, however, 

 in an unfinished state. 



The book is a very cumbrous one, so that its 

 transmission would be no very easy task ; if, how- 

 ever, it should be thought desirable, and the prac- 

 ticability explained, I shall have much pleasure in 

 placing its contents at the disposal of any one 

 engaged in following out the plan proposed. 



Allow me to add that, about a mile distant from 

 the quaint and interesting city from whence this 

 " note" is dated (and in which I have resided for 

 some time), we come to the cemetery, a portion of 

 which is allotted to the interment of those English 

 residents, or visitors, who may have terminated 

 their earthly career at this place. Should a copy 

 of the inscriptions in this receptacle (which are 

 numerous) be acceptable, 1 will endeavour to 

 procure one ; but in this case I should be glad to 

 know whether these extracts should be confined 

 to names, dates, and genealogical information 

 only, ov include the various tributes of affection 

 or of friendship, by which they are generally 

 accompanied. M. W. B. 



Bruges. 



