372 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 106. 



well-known arms of the Sydney family. Henry- 

 Viscount Sydney, afterwards Earl of Romney, was 

 Master-General of the Ordnance from July, 1693, 

 to June, 1702. P.'C. S, S. 



Sacri)-Sancta Begum Majestas (Vol. iv., p. 293.). 

 — In reply to the second query of BopiuLs, I send 

 the following extract from Sir James Ware's 

 Writers of Ireland : — 



" John Maxwell was at first promoted to the Sees of 

 KiUala and Achonry, and afterwards translated to the 

 archbisliopric of Tuain. He writ a Treatise intitled, 

 Sacro-Sancta Regiiin Majestas; Printed London, 1643 

 or 1644, 4to. , which he published under the name of 

 J. A. In answer to which came out a Tract intitled, 

 Lex, Rex ; The Law and the Prince, a dispute for 

 the just Prerogative of King and People. Containing 

 the Reasons and Causes of the most necessary defensive 

 Wars of the Kingdom of S^-otland, and of their expe- 

 dition for the aid and help of their dear brethren in 

 England. In which their Innoeency is asserted, and a 

 full Answer is given to a seditious Pamphlet, intitled, 

 Sacro-Sancta Regum Majestas, or the Sacred and Royal 

 Prerogative of Christian Kings under the name of 

 J. A. but penned by John Maxwell, the excommunicate 

 Prelate. London, 1644, 4to." 



TrEO. 



Dublin. 



Your correspondent Bope'a? asks who was the 

 author of the Sancta Regum j\Icijesta.i, or the Sacred 

 and Roi/al Prerogative of Christian Kings : 0.x- 

 ford, 1644. 



This work has been by some erroneously attri- 

 buted to Archbisho[) Ussher, from the siipitosition 

 that the letters J. A., subscribed to the dedication, 

 denoted Jacobus Armachanus ; they signify, how- 

 ever, Johannes Alladensis, and the real author was 

 John Maxwell, Bishop of Killala. See \Vare's 

 Writers of Ireland (Harris's edit.), p. 357. 



J. H. T. 



Grimsdilch (Vol. iii., pp. 192. 330.).— There is a 

 wood so called in the parish of Saffron Walden, 

 which has long formed a part of the Audley End 

 estates. It is about a mile from the town, situated 

 on the crest of a steep hill, on the south side of the 

 road leading to Linton, and from its commanding 

 position may have been at some time a military 

 station. Some portions of a fosse may still be traced 

 on the lower edge of the wood ; but no tradition 

 connected witli its history has descended to us. 

 Warton, in \\\i Account of Kiddington, Oxon, ]t. 62., 

 edition 1815, observes that Stiikeley describes a 

 fosse called Grimsditch, near Ditchley House, be- 

 tween Stunslield and Chipping Norton, the vallum 

 of which was eastward. He also says that the 

 word means " the ditch made by magic," and was 

 indiscriminately a])plied to ancient trenches, roads, 

 and boundaries, whether British, Roman, Sa.xon, 

 or Danish. 



AVe learn from the same work, that there exists 

 a vallum, or ridged bank, within two miles of 



Ewelme, and near to ISTuffield, called Grimsditch; 

 and the lands adjoining to it are described in a 

 charter in or before the reign of Richard I. as 

 " e.xtra fossatura de Grimisdic." Braybrooke. 



" Tw Twopence now" ^-c. (Vol. iv., p. 314.). — 

 I met with the lines mentioned by your correspon- 

 dent Remigius in a newspaper about twenty years 

 ago, and cut them out. I cannot now remember 

 the work it was said they were copied from, nor 

 do I quite understand if that is the information 

 Remigius wants, or the verses themselves : but I 

 think the verses, and theretbre inclose them. 



THE ABBEY : A FRAGJIENT. 



" A feeling sad came o'er me, as I trod the sacred 



ground 

 Where Tudors and Plantagenets were lying all 



around : 

 I stepp'd with noiseless foot, as though the sound of 



mortal tread 

 Might burst the bands of the dreamless sleep that 



wraps the mighty dead. 



" The slanting ray of the evening sun shone through 

 those cloisters pale, 



With fitful light, on regal vest and warrior's sculptured 

 mail ; 



As from the stained and storied pane it danced with 

 quivering gleam. 



Each cold and prostrate form below seem'd quicken- 

 ing in the beain. 



" Now sinking low, no more was heard the organ's 



solemn swell, 

 .\nd faint upon the listening ear the last hosanna fell ; 

 It died — -and njt a breath did stir; above each 



knightly stall, 

 Unmoved, the banner'd blazonry hung waveless as a 



pall. 



" I stood alone^a living thing midst those that were 



no more — 

 I thought on ages that were past, the glorious deeds 



of yore — 

 On Edward's sable panoply, on Cressy's tented plain, 

 The fatal Roses twined at length, on great Eliza's 



reign. 



" I thought on Blenheim — when, at once, upon my 

 startled ear 

 There came a sound ; it chill'd my veins, it froze my 



heart with fear, 

 As from a wild unearthly voice I heard these accents 



drop — 

 ' Sarvice is done — it's tuppence now for them as 

 vants to stop ! ' " 



Fanny. 



Pauper's Badge (Vol. iv., p. 294.). —The 8 & 

 9 "Wm. III. c. 30. s. 2., required all paupers in 

 the receipt of parochial relief to wear a badge 

 bearing a large Roman " P," together with the 

 first letter of the name of the parish, cut either in 

 red or blue cloth, upon the shoulder of the right 

 sleeve of the uppermost garment, in an open and 



