2-* S. VI. 154., Dec. 11. '580 N'OTES AND QUERIES. 



477 



think, it will be found that Lincolnshire may justly 

 claim a fair proportion of the great men who form 

 the glorious galaxy of British celebrities. 



I have been long engaged in collecting mate- 

 rials for the biography of the " Lincolnshire Wor- 

 thies," with the intention of publishing a Volume 

 under that title, if I be allowed health and 

 strength to complete it. Of course, I find no 

 difficulty in getting together abundant materials 

 for the lives of such men as Sir Isaac Newton, 

 John Foxe the Martyrologist, John and Charles 

 Wesley, Sir John Franklin, &c. ; but there are 

 many others respecting whom information is 

 scanty. I allude more particularly at this time to 

 Stephen Skinner, author of the Etymologicon Lin- 

 gucB Aiighcance ; John Still, Bishop of Bath and 

 Wells, and author of Gammer Gurtons Needle 

 (the first known English comedy) ; Richard Ber- 

 nard of Epwortb, the translator of Terence, the 

 fifth edition of which is dated 1629 ; and Thomas 

 Lodge, the author of several tragedies and poetical 

 pieces, and who died of the plague in 1625. Any 

 information respecting these persons, or relating 

 in any way to the work which I have in hand, will 

 be very thankfully received. Pishet Thompson. 



Stoke Newingtou. 



Serjeants' Rings. — Mr. W. S. Walfofd, in 

 some remarks on Serjeants' Rings inserted in the 

 last number of the Archteological Journal, pp. 

 161-165, says that the earliest motto on them that 

 he has met with is " Lex Regis prsesidium," in 19 

 & 20 Elizabeth, 1577-8. He does not seem to 

 have pursued his inquiries into " N. & Q." farther 

 than the fifth volume of its First Series ; for, had 

 he looked into the seventh volume, he would have 

 found in p. 188. an example nearly a century 

 earlier, in the ring of Chief Justice Sir John 

 Fineux, called Serjeant in the 1 Henry VIII. 

 1485, with the motto " Susb quisque fortunse 

 faber." This ring was in the possession of his de- 

 scendant the late Lord Strangford. To this I 

 have been enabled to add two others : one of Chief 

 Justice Sir Edward Montagu, when he assumed 

 the coif in 1531, of "iEquitas Justitia Norma;" 

 and the other, that of the serjeants called in 1552, 

 of " Plebs sine lege ruit." [See Judges of Eng- 

 land, vol. V. pp. 16. 103. 285."] Edward Foss. 



List of Works of Great Painters. — Has there 

 ever been compiled a catalogue of the paintings of 

 celebrated Musters? and if so, will you obligingly 

 inform me of the title of the work ? If not (and 

 my researches hitherto lead me to suppose that no 

 Buch work exists), permit me to suggest to ama- 

 teurs the formation of such a list. It should state 

 the pictures known by history or tradition to have 

 been painted by each Master, and should add, 

 when possible, in whose possession each such pic- 

 ture now is, or was when last heard of. Any other 

 particulars relative to the picture would also find 



place, so as to render the list a catalogue rai- 

 Sonne. 



As a specimen (the numbers Afe merely conjec- 

 tural) : " Correggio is known to have painted 

 thirty-three pictures, the subjects of which are 

 subjoined. Of these, there are six of which nothing 

 is now known : the present or recent localities of 

 the remaining twenty-seven are here given : — 



1. La Notte. Dresden Gallery. 



2. Venus and Cupid, National Gallery of London. ^ 



3. Virgin and Child, in 1832 belonged to A. B. of, &c. 



since lost sight of." 



Of course it would be impossible that such a list 

 could be more than approximative. All the pic- 

 tures painted by a Master are not known ; and, 

 of those known to have existed, many have disap- 

 peared from public notice. But the attractiveness 

 of such a work to the compilers would be that it 

 would be always growing, as it were; always be- 

 ing improved and augmented by fresh researches ; 

 the search might be carried on by many persons 

 in connexion with each other, and contributions 

 might be expected from strangers of all nations. 



It might be commenced in the closet, by 

 merely consulting memoirs of painters, histories 

 of th^ art, &c., and lists of public galleries, hand- 

 books of travel, &c. When these means were ex- 

 hausted, the object in view would lend additional 

 charms to tours, either on the Continent or in the 

 British Isles. The chief obstacle to accuracy 

 would be the number of pictures which in Eng- 

 land are to be tound, not in public galleries or 

 show-houses, but in the possession of private and 

 obscure individuals. Stylites. 



TTie Corporation of Exeter at Public Service, 

 temp. Charles II. — The following curious state- 

 ment is among the family papers of Sir John 

 Trelawney : — 



" These are to certify whom it may concern, y' when I 

 first came to be Bishop of Exeter, 1 found a custom y' y® 

 Mayor and Aldermen, when they came from y"' sermon, 

 were not admitted to the Prayers of 3'"= quoire till they 

 went home and pull'd off their gowns, w"^"" was a great 

 prejudice to y", and, as I thought, to the service too; 

 consulting therefore with y^ church, it was agreed y' they 

 sh<> come immediately into the Quire from sermon in y' 

 habits, but so y' y" swordbearer tlio'' at the Quire doore 

 turne <lowne his sword, and tbey came in, not as Mayor 

 and Aldermen, but as other geiitlen\en, by this publick 

 testimony acknowledging y' they did it not b}' their owne 

 right, but by y" favour of y church : But within a while 

 y« swordbearer, growing a little bold, kept up his sword 

 a good way into the Quire ; for w'ch he was rebuked, and 

 immediately gave it over: by this favour we found y' y" 

 solemnity of y" service was advanced. Given under my 

 hand and scale, Mov. 30, 1684. 



" Akt. Norwich.* (L.S.) 



" Wittness, Charles Wells, Vwh. not., 

 Will. Cooper, Pub. not." 



w. p. c. 



[* Anthony Sparrow, Bishop of Exeter, 1667; trans- 

 lated to Norwich, 1G7C.— Ed.] 



