2 nd S. IX Jan. 14. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



33 



John Gilpin (2 nd S. viii. 110.) —"In a small 

 volume containing a printed book dated 1587, 

 and various manuscripts chiefly written by a 

 clergyman, Christopher Parkes (Yorkshire), with 

 dates from 1655 to 1664, and in another hand 

 1701, also on the fly-leaf amongst other direc- 

 tions, showing that the volume was in demand, is 

 written, — ' To be left att Mr. John Gilpin's 

 House att the Golden Anchor in Cheapside att 

 j* corner of Bread S: London.' This was not 

 written after 1701, and may have been written 

 before that date." 



" Cowper's ballad was first printed in 1782, but 

 without the information that it was founded upon 

 a story told him by Lady Austen, a widow, who 

 heard it when she was a child. Mr. West writes 

 in 1839, that Mr. Colet told him fifty years ago, 

 say about 17S9, or seven years after the publi- 

 cation of the ballad, that one Beyer, then in his 

 dotage, and who did not live at the corner of 

 Bread Street, was the true Gilpin. Mr. Colet 

 did not get the true story from Mr. Beyer, which 

 must have differed from the poet's amplified and 

 excusably exaggerated taie. The fact is that 

 Beyer knew nothing about Gilpin till he read 

 Cowper's ballad: he was not a train-band captain. 

 The reason why the true Gilpin was not disco- 

 vered is because nobody looked for him amongst 

 the earlier records of the city and its trade com- 

 panies. His name was supposed to be fictitious, 

 because he did not live in Cowper's time, and it 

 was not generally known that Lady Austen had 

 told him an old story." 



The above has been handed to me by a learned 

 friend, now aged eighty, who tells me that his 

 mother told him the story of John Gilpin, eo 

 nomine, in his childhood, and said she had heard 

 it when a child. A. De Morgan. 



Note about the Records temp. Edward III. 

 (2 nd S. viii. 450.) — The contributor of this Note 

 has not stated its source, nor the date, either of 

 its being written, or of the record from which it 

 was derived. The latter appears to be in 1341, 

 when Edward the Third had reigned " these four- 

 teen yeares," and at which time Thomas de Eves- 

 ham (whose name is turned into Evsann) suc- 

 ceeded John de St. Paul as Master of the Rolls. 

 But we ought also to be informed where this 

 memorandum was found, and at least the ap- 

 parent age of the MS., which, from the spelling, is 

 perhaps not anterior to Elizabeth or James the 

 First. J. G. N. 



The Prussian Iron Medal (2 nd S. viii. 470.) 

 — The Prussian iron medal was not given to those 

 Prussian patriots who in the wars against Nap. I. 

 sent in their jewels and plate for their country's 

 service, but to those who, as civilians or non- 

 combatants, accompanied the Prussian armies. A 

 full description of it may be found in Bolzenthal's 



work on medals (Denkmiinzen), ed. 1841, p. 26., 

 No. 74., and a representation of it in plate xvi of 

 the same work. Motto, " Gott war mit uns. Ihm 

 seydieEhre!" (" God was with us. To Him be 

 the glory ! ") And on the field, " Fur Pflichttreue 

 /im/ Kriege." (For fidelity in the war.) Form 

 oval, with a ring for suspension. To all com- 

 batants was granted a circular medal of captured 

 gun metal (No. 73.). So far as those patriots 

 who devoted their jewels and plate are concerned, 

 the facts are these. All being surrendered, " La- 

 dies wore no other ornaments than those made of 

 iron, upon which was engraved : ' We gave gold 

 for the freedom of our country ; and, like her, wear 

 an iron yoke.' " A beautiful but poor maiden, 

 grieved that she had nothing else to give, went 

 to a hair-dresser, sold her hair, and deposited the 

 proceeds as her offering. The fact becoming 

 known, the hair was ultimately resold for the 

 benefit of fatherland. Iron rings were made, each 

 containing a portion of the hair ; and these pro- 

 duced far more than their weight in gold. 



Such is the account given in Edwai'ds's History 

 and Poetry of Finger Rings, 1855, pp. 190, 191. 

 The author refers in a note to The Death War- 

 rant, or Guide to Life, 1844 (London), a work 

 which I have not been able to meet with. 



9 Thomas Boys. 



Lodovico Sforza.— In "N. & Q." (2 nd S. vii. 

 47.) I asked why Lodovico Sforza was called 

 " Anglus." Among the replies given, Mr. Boase 

 (2 nd S. vii. 183.) referred to a medal on which 

 Galeazzo Maria Sforza was styled " Anglerie-que 

 Comes." My attention has since been drawn to 

 a passage in Cancellieri's Life of Columbus, edi- 

 tion of 1809, p. 212. note : in which, quoting from 

 Raiti's account of the Sforza family, he states 

 that " the title of Counts of Anghiera, which had 

 belonged to the Visconti, was retained by the 

 Sforzas, their successors." Signor Ratti adds, 

 that Anghiera having formerly had the rank of a 

 city, and having lost that rank, Lodovico Sforza 

 restored it by two very ample charters. This act 

 strengthens the claim of Lodovico to the title, 

 Anglus, given him by Scillacio. Anglerius, or 

 Anglus, is formed from Augleiia, the Latin for 

 Anghiera. Neo-Eboracensis. 



Misprint in Seventh Commandment (2 nd S. 

 viii. 330.) — A correspondent inserts a Query re- 

 specting the edition of the English Bible, in which 

 the word " not " was omitted from the seventh 

 commandment. The edition in which this error 

 occurs was printed in 1631, not in 1632. If Nix 

 will refer to " N. & Q." 2 nd S. v. 389, 390., he will 

 see this edition, and two others of the same year, 

 particularly described. It is said that there is a 

 fourth issue with a different title-page. This I 

 have not seen, but the three others are distinct 

 reprints. 



