486 



Notes and queries. [2»ds.vi.i54..DEc.ii.'58. 



is spoken of as having been in the king's service 

 in the parts of Wales {id. p. 561.) In 1225 and 

 1226, he was amon<;j the knights in the king's ser- 

 vice in Gascony {id. vol. ii. pp. 34. 129.) In 1239 

 ho was ambassador at Rome {Fadera, vol. i. pp. 

 238,' 239.) In 1260 he was Seneschal of Gascony 

 {id. p. 401.), and in 1264 he was constable of 

 Windsor Castle {id. p. 441.) Besides all this, he 

 was sent as an envoy on one occasion to Richard 

 Earl of Cornwall, the king's brother {id. p. 331.); 

 and on another to Beatrice Countess of Provence 

 {id. p. 353.) Probably some of the most import- 

 ant acts of his public life are to be looked for in 

 the history of Gascony. And here let me ob- 

 serve, by the way, that Aquitaine under the Plan- 

 tagenets would form a most interesting episode in 

 the history of England. There are, no doubt, 

 rich materials to be found in the archives of the 

 departments comprised within the ancient pro- 

 vinces of Gascony, Guienne, and Poitou. Be- 

 sides the points of purely historical interest, it 

 would be curious to find out what English families 

 are indebted for their origin to the connexion of 

 this country with the south-western provinces of 

 France ; and also to ascertain what influence this 

 connexion has had upon the English language. 

 Mr. Boys, in a recent communication (2°'' S. vi. 

 399.), has adverted to the possibility of words 

 having come to us from the Romance and other 

 * southern languages without having passed through 

 French. I have no doubt that such is the 

 case. And I think it most probable that such 

 words will be found, in many instances, to have 

 come to us via Bordeaux or La Rochelle. But, 

 like Mk. Boys, I must leave this subject for the 

 present. 



To return to Drogo de Barentin. As early as 

 the year 1225, Henry III. granted him during 

 j>leasure one third of a moiety of the manor of 

 Chalgrove in the county of Oxon {Rot. Litt. 

 Cluus. vol. ii. p. 8.) ; and subsequently he re- 

 ceived a grant in fee of a moiety of the said manor, 

 the other moiety being granted to John de Ples- 

 setis (also a Norman), the same who, in right of 

 Margery his second wife, was styled Earl of War- 

 wick. Early in the reign of Edw. I. we find that 

 Drogo de Barentin's moiety of the manor of Chal- 

 grove had descended to his son and heir, William 

 de Barentin {Rot. Htmdredorum, p. 768.) ; pro- 

 bably the same person as the William de Baren- 

 tyn whose widow is spoken of before the end of 

 the reign of Edw. I. as one of the co-parceners of 

 the manor de albo Monasterio {Osiuestry, if I re- 

 collect rightly), in the county of Salop {Placita de 

 Quo Warranto, p. 720.) 



From Drogo de Barentin, Seneschal of Gascony, 

 I suppose to have been descended : — 1. Sir Dru 

 de Barentyn, who some time in the reign of Edw. 

 III. was sheriff of Berkshire {Rot. Pari., vol. ii. 

 p. 416.) ; and 2. Drugo de Barentyn, who was by 



King Richard II. made alderman of London {id. 

 vol. iii. p. 406.). 



Did this last-mentioned Drogo de Barentyn 

 (the alderman) attain any other civic honours ? 



I hope that the foregoing memorandums may 

 serve Mb. Payne as a clue to assist him in farther 

 investigation. As far as I can judge from a cur- 

 sory inspection of the Calendar of Escheats, I 

 have no doubt that the descent might be traced 

 down for several generations. Upon this point I 

 will only suggest farther, that, at least in the 

 earlier part of the pedigree, it would be well to 

 bear in mind that the name of Drogo, Drouet, 

 or Drii — from whatsoever derived — ran in the 

 family of Barentin, as Baldwin did in that of 

 Wake, or Aubrey in that of De Vere. Meletes. 



EELS FROM HORSEHAIR. 



(2'"> S. vi. 322.) 



" Horsehairs, that though lifeless, yet lying nine days 

 under water, they turn to snakes." — Swinnock's Christian 

 Man's Calling, 71. 



It is probable that when your correspondent 

 S. M. S. transcribed the above she was under the 

 impression that she was recording a superstition 

 long since passed away, or if it remained any- 

 where, only lingering among those of the entirely 

 ignorant who believe every wonderful story that 

 is told them. It will amuse your readers to be 

 informed, or reminded, that the late poet-laureate 

 William Wordsworth and his predecessor, Robert 

 Southey, neither of them men who were easily to 

 be imposed upon, gave credence to this strange 

 metamorphosis : — 



" You must have heard," says the latter in a letter to 

 his brother Dr. Southey, " the vulgar notion that a horse- 

 hair, plucked out by the root and put in water becomes 

 alive in a few days. The boys at Brathay repeatedly 

 told their mother it was true ; that they had tried it 

 themselves and seen it tried. Her reply was, show it me 

 and I will believe it. While we were there last week in 

 came Owen with two of these creatures in a Bottle. 

 Wordsworth was there ; and to our utter and unutterable 

 astonishment did the boys, to convince us that these long 

 thin black worms were their own manufactory by the 

 old receipt, lay hold of them by the middle while they 

 writhed like eels, and stripping them with their nails 

 down on each side, actually lay bare the horsehair in the 

 middle, which seemed to serve as the back-bone of the 

 creature, or the substratum of the living matter which 

 had collected round it. 



" Wordsworth and I should both have supposed that it 

 was a collection of animalcula round the hair (which, 

 however, would only be changing the nature of the won- 

 der), if we could any way have accounted for the motion 

 upon this theory ; but the motion was that of a snake. 

 We could perceive no head ; but something very like the 

 root of the hair, and for want of glasses, could distinguish 

 no parts. The creature or whatever else you may please 

 to call it, is black or dark brown, and about the girth of 

 a iiddle string. As soon as you have read this draw upon 

 your hQrse'8 t^U and mane for half a dozen hairs j be sure 



