484 



NOTES AND QUERIES. [2»* s. vi. 164., Dec. n. 



'58* 



count of the court-leet there held. But others, 

 on the contrary, have rather thought that the leet 

 was termed a court-leet (curia leta), hecama held 

 at a mansion called a court. Curia, in med.-Lat., 

 is occasionally a farm. " Curia, prtedium rusti- 

 cum," " Curiaria, prssdium." Du Cange. (Conf. 

 in med. and law-Latin, curia persona, a parson- 

 age.) 



There existed, however, in med. -Latin, another 

 term, with which court, as applied to farms, espe- 

 cially in Kent, appears to have been yet more 

 closely connected. This was cortis, or curtis, which 

 originally signified a yard or enclosed place, a 

 farmyard, a space surrounded by walls or build- 

 ings, but not covered in, and which was after- 

 wards used to express an agricultural village. 

 Cortis, curtis, " scriptoribus iiiferioiis sevi, est 

 villa, habitatio rustica asdificiis, colonis, servis, 

 iigris, persoiiis, etc., ad rem agrestein necessariis 

 instructa, alias Colonia" (Du Cange.) 



But here mark a difference. Curtis or cortis, 

 in the diocese of Canterbury, was no longer li- 

 mited in its application to a collection of rustic 

 buildings, but was also used to express a single 

 farm, manor, or mansion, which, in East Kent, is 

 just the sense in which the term court is applied up 

 to the present day. Thus Lyndwood, in his Pi-o- 

 vinciale, edit. 1679 (Constitationes pi-ovinciules 

 quatiiordecim. Archiepiscoporum Cantuariensium) 

 commenting on a " Constitution " attributed to 

 R. Winchelsey, Abp. of Canterbury, p. 199., and 

 on the word curtilagiorurn, writes, — 



"Est enira Curtis, Mansio, vet 3Ianerium, ad inhabi- 

 tandum cum terris, possessionibus, et aliis emolumentis 

 ad tale Maneriura pertinentibus." 



It is very true that this application of the term 

 curtis to a single farm is not confined to Kent : — 

 " Ejus quocirca tiibuit sub jure Filinani, 

 Egregiam curtem dantem fruges sat abunde." 



And it is equally undeniable that ciuiis was also 

 used to signify a court in the aristocratic sense : 

 " Si quis in carte ducis hominem occiderit." But 

 still this use of the word curtis for a farm or 

 manor in the Provincial Constitutions of Canter- 

 bury, as involved in the term cvrtilagium, is 

 worthy of remark in connexion with the appel- 

 lation court, as now applied to so many chief farms 

 in East Kent. 



It is also worthy of observation that to the 

 names of farms and country mansions in East 

 Kent, such as Ripple Court, Dane Court, Sutton 

 Court, &c., we find niany co7-7-esponding French 

 names ; for example, Betancourt (Bettonis Cortis), 

 Houncourt (Hunulfi Cortis), Aumencourt (Alaman- 

 norum Curtis), Hai-ecourt (Harecortis), and La 

 Cour Neuve (Curtis Nova). And it is farther 

 observable that some of the French and English 

 names have a verbal correspondence. Thus to 

 Dane Court, near Dover, answers Dancourt " ad 

 flumen Earam" (Yeres?); and Harcourt, just 



mentioned above (Harecortis), looks quite Eng- 

 lish. (Valesius, Notitia Galliarum.) 



Cortis or curtis is from the Latin cors, cortis, 

 which sometimes in med.-Lat. becomes curs, curtis. 

 Cors is an abbreviated form of the Latin cohors, 

 which originally signified a fold, pen, or farmyard. 



It is remarkable that though curia, in med.- 

 Lat., has all the various significations of curtis, 

 Valesius is very particular in ilistinguishing be- 

 tween curtis and curia. "Guidonis autem Curia 

 [Guiencourt] improprie nuncupatur pro Guidonis 

 Curtis." And asjain : " Curia Bardi, vulgo Cou- 

 bert, Curtis Bardi dici deberet." 



Connected with this subject there are two points 

 which require elucidation. May not an unworthy 

 member of the Kent Archaeological Society be 

 permitted, in conclusion, to express a hope that 

 some member, residing in Kent, will investigate 

 and communicate ? 



1. It is desirable to know how far the term 

 court is applied in East Kent to manor houses, 

 how far to farmhouses and mansions not manors. 

 (" Curtis est mansio vel manerium.") 



2. One wouhl wish to see as complete a list as 

 possible of all houses so designated in East Kent, 

 — ^ farms, mansions, or manors. This would aS()rd 

 means for more fully investigating the connexion 

 with corresponding names in France, as in the case 

 already noticed of Dane Court near Dover, and 

 Dancourt " ad flumen Earam." Thomas Bots. 



HTMNOLOGY : MES. COWPER, ETC. 



(2"'' S. vi. 259.) 



Amongst the lady hymnologists of the last cen- 

 tury enumerated by Z. may be placed the au- 

 thoress of a small volume, entitled " Original 

 Poems, on various Occasions, by a Lady ; re- 

 vised by William Cowper, Esq., of the Inner 

 Temple. London, 1792." Amidst more than 

 eighty pieces, this contains several hymns of su- 

 perior character for poetic beauty and evangelical 

 sentiment, evidently composed (as the prefatory 

 advertisement states) by one familiar with trial. 

 Yet I do not recollect that any are included 

 in modern collections, excepting one which is 

 abridged, and is in the first series of the Edinburgh 

 Sacred Poetry, and there begins : — 



" Soon wifl the toilsome strife be o'er," &c. 



tn the first edition of these poems no clue to 

 their writer appears ; I have not the second edi- 

 tion, but to the prefatory advertisement of the 

 third edition (1810) is appended a foot-note, 

 which states they were written " by Mrs. Cowper, 

 aunt of the immortal poet." Is his revision of 

 this little book named by Southey, or any other 

 of his biographers ? Again, let me ask who was 

 this lady ? Is it possible she was the wife of 



