312 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. VI. 146., Oct. 16. '58. 



The Duhedom of Shoreditcli. — At a grand ar- 

 chery match, held at Windsor in the reign of 

 Henry VIIL, one Barlow, an expert toxophilite 

 of Shoreditch, so distinguished himself by his skill 

 and superiority on that occasion, that he was re- 

 warded by the monarch with the title of Duke of 

 Shoreditch ; a dignity which appears to have been 

 attached to the championship in the reign of 

 Elizabeth. Can any curious disciple of Captain 

 Cuttle inform me when the above title became 

 extinct, or up to how late a period its pseudo- 

 ducal honours are known to have been retained ? 

 Royalty is proved to have been a promoter of this 

 favourite and fashionable pastime as late as the 

 end of the seventeenth century. F. Phillott. 



[This factitious title was revived, we believe, for the last 

 time by Charles II. In Arch/rnlogia, vol. vii. p. 57., it is 

 stated, that " on April 21, 1682, there was a most magni- 

 ficent cavalcade and entertainment given by the Finsbury 

 archers, when they bestowed the titles of Duke of Shore- 

 ditch, Marquis of Islington, &c., upon the most deserving. 

 Charles II. was present upon this occasion ; but the day 

 being rainy, he was obliged soon to leave the field." See 

 also The English Boivman, by T. Roberts, edit. 1801.] 



Animals on Monuments. — Why are animals of 

 different kinds generally placed at the feet of se- 

 pulchral monuments in the mediaeval times ; and 

 is there any book, heraldic or sculptural, relating 

 to them ? Nemo. 



[(Jough, in his Introduction to Sepulchral Monuments, 

 pp. cxxiii. — cxxv., has given some curious particulars of 

 animals at the feet of effigies. Lions allude to Psalm xci. 

 13. Sometimes family supporters are there, alwa3's after 

 the Reformation. Dogs at the feet of ladies, perhaps 

 lap-dogs; in knights and nobles, companions of their 

 sports, or s\nnbols of their rank. The latest instance of 

 animals at the feet is in 1645. (Fosbroke's Eccles. Antiq., 

 i. 107., 4to.) IMr. Kelke {Notices of Sepulchral Momi- 

 ments, p. 24.) says : " A lion at the feet of a gentleman 

 denoted courage and generosity ; a dog at a lady's feet 

 indicated fidelity and attachment ; a dragon pressed by 

 the feet, or the pastoral staff of an ecclesiastic, denoted 

 antagonism against tbe evil spirit."] 



Trmi-Jxidas. — Does anyone know the origin of 

 this term, applied to the abominable peep-holes 

 recently discussed in The Times? Has it long 

 served to describe any treacherous hole, or was it 

 in ecclesiastical use? and is there reason to suppose 

 that it ever denoted those mysterious low windows 

 and squints thi-ough which bad persons were per- 

 mitted to view the altar and rood ? C. T. 



[The term Trou-Judas is apparently of recent crigi'i. 

 To convey the idea of a peep-hole, the French have been 

 accustomed to employ the word Judas alone, and Trou 

 seems to be a modern prefix. (Cf. the older term, Trou- 

 Madame, standing for a game in which ivory balls are 

 driven through holes or "arcades.") The Judas is a sort 

 of trap-door made in the floor of a room, for the purpose 

 of hearing and seeing what goes on beneath. "Ouver- 

 ture avec trappe h un plancher de boutique pour voir, 

 entendre ce qui se passe au dessous." (Landais.) The 

 French have also the general term icoute, which signifies 

 any place where one may act the spy, any place where 

 one may hear and see without being seen ;— " Locus ob- 



servando quid agatur ant dicatur aptus " (Du Cange) ; 

 "Lieu ou I'on ecoute sans etre vu " (Bescherelle). The 

 employment of this general term may account for the 

 more limited use of the familiar word Judas. Tbe term 

 in Med.-Latin corresponding to ecoute is cscuta. Our own 

 nearest approach to the Judas is the " trappe " of a Han- 

 som — an arrangement not always thought of, but very 

 unpropitious to confidential or tender communications.] 



" The Pauper s Funeral." — Wanted, a copy of 

 this poem, and the author's name. T. Hughes. 



Chester. 



[Our correspondent prob.ably requires a copy of " The 

 Pauper's Drive" commencing — 

 " There's a grim one-horse hearse in a jolly round trot; 



To the churchyard a pauper is going, I wot." 

 If so, it will be found in Rymes and Roundelaycs, bv T. 

 Noel, 1841, p. 200.] 



2Rcpl{r;S. 



ALFRED S JEW'EI,. 



(2°* S. vl. 233.) 



I observe in a recent number of " N. & Q.," 

 that your correspondent L. B. L. has offered a 

 suggestion with respect to the probable original 

 application of that well and long-known archseo- 

 logical curiosity " Alfred's Jewel." I venture, 

 therefore, to trouble you with a few I'emarks by 

 way of answer to his Query. 



Some years since, and during the lifetime of 

 Dr. Ingram, the eminent Saxon antiquary, Pre- 

 sident of Trinity College, Oxon, I wrote to him, 

 stating the impression on my mind that the so- 

 called jewel had most probably been the head of 

 a sceptre, or magisterial staff. Dr. Ingram, in his 

 answer to me, apologised for delay ; but as he con- 

 sidered the subject of importance, he had waited 

 to pay a special visit to the Ashmolean Museum, 

 and having carefully examined the relic came to 

 the conclusion that I had offered a correct ex- 

 planation. He furthermore communicated my 

 observations to the Archseological Society of Ox- 

 ford, the secretary of which forwarded to me the 

 thanks of that society for my suggestion. 



I will just add a k-^ arguments in favour of 

 this view. If the jewel had been worn as a 

 pendant, the figure on the one side and the 

 fleur-de-lis on the other would have been in- 

 verted. Again ; had it been a pendant, it would 

 have had a ring or eye at the top, and not a fe- 

 rule with a pin (still remaining in it) at the bot- 

 tom. The ferule and pin still subsisting, indi- 

 cate that it was originally attached to a staff of 

 wood or ivory, which having decayed has left the 

 pin where it is. Viewing it thus as the head of a 

 sceptre, remark its suitability : on the one side, 

 as remarked by Wotton, sits an enthroned sove- 

 reign, in either hand bearing a lily-headed sceptre, 

 and on the other side the lily itself, in full flores- 

 cence, occupies the whole space ; then how suit- 



