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dna §, No 8, Fen. 23. °56.] 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
149 
Queries. 
BARONY OF MOLINGARIA. 
The great interest which is excited by the pe- 
culiarity of the patent granted to Lord Wensley- 
dale, and the attention which is now directed to 
all patents out of the usual form, renders the 
present moment a very suitable one for soliciting 
information from the readers of “ N. & Q.” rela- 
tive to the Barony of Molingaria. The fact of 
such a creation was first made known by the pro- 
duction at the meeting of the Society of Anti- 
quaries, on Thursday, the 4th March, 1852, of the 
following documents : 
1. The Grant. This is on vellum, has the 
royal autograph at the bottom, with a wafer im- 
pression of the royal signet at the left hand lower 
corner. “This document, which is obviously not 
the patent, but rather the Privy Seal Writ, is as 
follows : 
“Carolus Dei gratia Magne Britannia, Francie, et Hi- 
bernie Rex, Fidei Defensor, etc. Omnibus et singulis 
ad quos presentes Liter pervenerint, Salutem. Cum An- 
tonius de Souca nobilis Lusitanus, serenissimi ac potentis- 
simi principis Joannis quarti Portugalliz Regis in Anglia 
residens, multis adhine annis (cum maximé flagrarent 
insani et precipites regnorum nostrorum motus) Patri 
nostro beatissime memorize utilissimam gratissinam 
operam navaret et difticillimis illis temporibus Regium 
nomen inter Rebelles (etiam non sine summo capitis pe- 
riculo) fortiter asserere et yindicare auderet; tam singu- 
laria officia constantie et affectis erga coronam Britan- 
nicam prestita sine aliquo honoris et gratitudinis indicio 
ex parte nostra preterive noluimus, sed paterna merita 
saltem in persona filii ejus agnoscere, et honesta aliqua 
benignitatis nostra tessera condecorare equum duximus. 
Sciatis igitur quod nos pro regia nostra potestate, ex 
mero motu, certa scientia, et gratia nostra speciali Ludo- 
vicum Gonzalum de Souca predicti Antonii filium crea- 
yimus, constituimus, et fecimmus, ac per presentes Literas 
creamus, constituemus, et facimus Baronem de Molin- 
garia, ipsumque et heredes masculos ab ipso legitime pro- 
genitos titulo Baronis de Molingaria in perpetuum gaudere 
yolumus, una cum omnibus juribus, privilegiis, et pre- 
eminentiis ad dictum Baronis honorem gradumque per- 
tinentibus, ita’ pleno, amplo, et absoluto modo ut ulli alii 
Barones gaudent vel gavisi sunt. In cujus rei testimo- 
nium prexsentibus hisce literis sigillum nostrum apponi 
fecimus. Dat’ @ palatio nostro Westmonast’ vicesimo 
octavo die Junii, anno Domini millesimo sexcentesimo | i 
| haying been placed here. 
sexagesimo primo et regni nostri decimo tertio. 
“ (Signet) Caro.us R.” 
2. A copy of the same, attested by Lord Inchi- 
quin, and by Mr. Maynard, minister and consul 
at Lisbon, 11th August, 1662. 
3. A letter in French, partly in cipher, from 
King Charles I. to Antonio de Souza, in acknow- 
ledgment of his services, countersigned by Secre- 
tary Nicholas. 
4, A letter in French from the king to the 
Same, expressing his esteem, dated Bridgwater, 
9th August, 1646. 
_ 6. Copy of a letter from King Charles I. to 
Jobn LY. of Portugal,‘in Latin, entirely in praise 
of De Souza, dated Oxford, 12th March, 1646. 
6. Letter from Queen Henrietta Maria to An- 
tonio de Souza, thanking him for great services 
he had rendered to her and the king, dated 31st 
January, 1662. 
Louis Gongalo de Souza, to whom this Barony 
of Molingaria was granted, was at that time a 
minor, the son of Antonio de Souza, ambassador 
from John LV. of Portugal to Charles I., and it 
was, as the grant relates, for the services rendered 
by the father to the royal cause, that this dignity 
was conferred upon his son. ‘The son was born in 
England. 
The documents were the property of the Count 
de Mesquitella, the great-great-grandson of the 
Grantee, and had been sent to this country for 
the purposes of search and inquiry. I believe no 
record of the grant has yet been discovered in any 
of the departments in which evidences of it might 
be expected to be found; I have therefore trans- 
cribed the original at length from the pages of the 
Gentleman's Magazine (Feb., 1852, p. 157.), in 
hope that some reader of ‘ N. & Q.” may be able 
to throw light upon its history. W.d. 7. 
ANOIENT PAINTING. 
In Leighton’s Guide through Shrewsbury, 4th ed., 
| p. 91. et seq., is the following: 
“Behind the wainscot of the dining-room of a house 
situate a little below the Institute in Dogpole, now the 
property and residence of Dr. Henry Johnson, Senior 
Physician to the Salop Infirmary, and known in ancient 
documents by the name of ‘The Olde House,’ was re- 
cently discovered an ancient painting, on canvass, fixed 
upon a board forming the mantlepiece oyer the fireplace 
of the room. In the centre is a shield of arms, France 
and England quarterly, surmounted by a royal crown, 
and on either side a pomegranate and ‘udor rose (white 
and red conjoined), twice repeated. The ground of the 
whole dark maroon, ornamented or damasked with white 
wavy feathery embellishments. Aboye, on the plaster of 
the wall, is a rude painting of heavy scroll-work orna- 
ments; and it is thought that the rest of the walls, if the 
Wainscot were removed, would be found coyered with 
similar printings. 
“In the absence of all positive evidence, conjectures 
can only be hazarded as to the cause of these arms, &c. 
“One thing, however, is certain, that they are con- 
nected, in some way, with Queen Mary, daughter of 
Henry VIII. and Queen Katherine of Arragon, inasmuch 
as the pomegranate was first introduced as a royal badge 
of England, upon Katherine’s marriage with Prince Ar- 
thur, son of Henry VII. Now if we consider this paint- 
ing contemporary with an inscription on the wainscot 
of the adjoining drawing-room, ‘PETRVS ROBERTS M. M. 
seco 1553,’ and interpret it thus, ‘PETRYS ROBERTS 
MARL& MATERNITATEM SECO, 1553, I, Peter Roberts, 
decide (the question of) the maternity or legitimacy of 
Mary, 1553,’ then we may regard it as a loyal demonstra- 
tion on Mary’s accession to the English throne by some 
one of those many friends and adherents who so warmly 
sympathized in her early adversity, in the unjustifiable 
degradation of her royal mother, and her own consequent 
exclusion from the succession to the throne, 
