June 28. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



519 



2. Do the words "coram Regia Maiestate Jiz- 

 cohi, Regis AnglicB," &c., mean that the play was 

 acted in the presence of the king ? I am inclined 

 to give them that interpretation from some allusions 

 at the end of the last act, as well as from its being 

 written in Latin. 



3. Are any of the race-courses therein men- 

 tioned still used as such ? 



" In Stadio Roystoniensi, Brackliensi, Gatterliensi, 

 Coddingtoii." 



This is the earliest mention oi fixed English 

 race-courses that I have met with, and not being 

 much versed in the secrets of the modern " cespite 

 vivo," I am obliged to inquire of those who are 

 better informed on that subject. F. J. 



[The author of Ignoramus was George Ruggles, A.M., 

 of Clare Hall, Cambridge. This comedy, as well as 

 tliat of Albumazar, were both acted before King James I. 

 and the Prince of Wales, during a visit to Cambridge 

 in March, 1614-15. The edition of Ignoramus, edited 

 by J. S. Hawkins, 8vo., 1787, contains a Life of Rug- 

 gles, and a valuable Glossary to his " ultra-canine 

 Latin" legal terms. There is also a translation of this 

 comedy, with the following title : " Ignoramus : a 

 Comedy as it was several times acted with extraordinary 

 applause before the Majesty of King James. With a 

 Supplement, which (out of respect to the Students of 

 the Common Law) was hitherto wanting. Written in 

 Latine by R. Ruggles, sometime Master of Arts in 

 Clare Hall, in Cambridge, and translated into English 

 by R. C. [Robert Codrington, A.M.] of Magdalen 

 Colledge, in Oxford. London. 4to. 1662."] 



Drakes Historia Anglo- Scotica — Will any of 

 your learned readers inforin me, for what reason 

 and by what authority Drake's Historia Anglo- 

 Scotica, published in 1703, was ordered to be 

 burned by the hangman? And where I can 

 meet with a report of the proceedings relating to 

 it ? Fra. Mewbubn. 



Darlington. 



[Dr. Drake was not the author, but merely the 

 editor of Historia Anglo- Scotica. In the dedication he 

 siys, " Upon a diligent revisal, in order, if possible, to 

 discover the name of the author, and the age of his 

 writing, he found that it was written in, or at least not 

 finished till, the time of Charles I." It is singular, 

 however, that he does not give the least intimation by 

 what mysterious influence the manuscript came to be 

 wafted into his library. It was ordered by the parlia- 

 ment of .Scotland, on the 3;)th of June, 170:3, to be 

 burned I>y the common hangman.] 



CORPSE PASSING MAKES A RIGHT WAY. 



(Vol. iii., p. 477 ) 



The fact of tlie passage of a funeral procession 

 over land, from being an act of user of a very 

 public character, must always have had some in- 



fluence on the trial of the question whether the 

 owner of the land had dedicated the same to the 

 public ; and it is not improbable that in early 

 times very great weight was attached to evidence 

 of this kind : so that the passage of a corpse across 

 land came to be considered in the popular mind 

 as conclusive and incontrovertible evidence of a 

 public right of way over that land. With the 

 reverence for the dead which is so pleasing a 

 characteristic of modern refinement, it is probable 

 that acts of user of this description would now 

 have little weight, inasmuch as no man of right 

 feeling would be disposed to interrupt parties 

 as.sembled on so mournful and solemn an occasion. 

 I recollect, however, having read a trial in modern 

 times for a riot, arising out of a forcible attempt 

 to carry a corpse over a field against the will of 

 the landowner; the object of the parties in care 

 of the corpse was believed to be the establishment 

 of a public right of way over the field in question, 

 the owner of which, with a body of partisans, 

 forcibly resisted the attempt, on the apparent be- 

 lief that the act of carrying a corpse across the 

 field would certainly have established the right 

 claimed. I regret I did not "make a Note" of 

 the case, so as to be able to specify the time, 

 place, and circumstances with certainty. 



That the notion in question is of great antiquity 

 may I think be inferred from the following pas- 

 sage in Prynne's Records, iii. 213., referring to 

 Walter Bronescombe, Bishop of Exeter, 1258 — 

 1280 (and as the authority for which, Prynne 

 cites Holinshed's Chronicle, 1303, 1304; and God- 

 win's Catalogue of Bishops, 326.) : — 



" He did by a Policy purchase the Lordship and 

 House of Clift Sachfeld, and enlarged the Barton 

 thereof by gaining of Cornish Wood from the Dean 

 and Chapter fraudulently ; building then a very fair 

 and sumptuous house there ; he called it Bishop's 

 Clift, and left the same to his successors. Likewise he 

 got the Patronage of Clift Fomesone, now called 

 Sowton, and annexed the same to his new Lordship, 

 which (as it was said) he procured by this means. 

 He had a Frier to be his Chaplain and Confessor, 

 which died in his said House of Clift, and should have 

 been buried at the Parish Church of Faringdon, be- 

 cause the said House was and is in that Parish ; but 

 because the Parish Church was somewhat farre off, 

 the wayes foul, and the weather rainy, or for some 

 otlier causes, the Bishop commanded the corps to be 

 carryed to the parish chiuxh of Sowton, then called 

 Clift Fomcson, which is very near, and bordenth upon 

 the Bishop's Lordship ; the two Parishes being then 

 divided by a little Lake called Clift. At this lime 

 one Fomeson, a Gentleman, was Lord and Patron of 

 Clift Fomeson ; and he, being advertised of snch a 

 Burial towards in his Parish, and a Icoch way to be 

 made over to liis Land, without his leave or consent 

 required therein; calleth his Tenants together, goeth 

 to the Bridge over the lake between the Bishop's 

 Land and his ; there mccteth the Bishop's men, bringing 

 the said Corps, and forbiddeth them to come over the 



