2»d S. IX. Jan. 28. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



61 



erected here a monastery for nuns, and com- 

 mended it to the patronage of St. Alary and St. 

 Melorius, — a Cornish saint whose relics were 

 preserved here. Alfrida is said to have erected 

 both this and Wherwell monastery in atonement 

 for the murder of her son-in-law, King Edward 

 (Chron. de Mailross, anno dccccxxxix., Robert 

 of Gloucester and Bromton). The house was of 

 the Benedictine order, and continued an inde- 

 pendent monastery till the time of Henry II. in 

 1177. The evil lives of the abbess and nuns drew 

 upon them the royal displeasure. 



The abbess was more particularly charged with 

 immoral conduct, insomuch that it was thought 

 proper to dissolve the community : the nuns, 

 about thirty in number, were dispersed in other 

 monasteries. The abbess was allowed to go 

 where she chose, with a pension often marks, and 

 the house was made a cell to the Abbey of Fon- 

 tevrault in Anjou ; whence a prioress and 

 twenty-four nuns were brought, and established 

 at Amesbury. (Chron. Bromton, anno mcxxxvii.) 

 Eleanor, commonly called the Damsel of Bretagne, 

 sole daughter of Geoffrey, Earl of Bretagne, and 

 sister of Earl Arthur, who was imprisoned in 

 Bristol Castle, first by King John, and after- 

 wards by King Hen. III., on account of her title 

 to the crown, was buried according to her own 

 request at Amesbury in 1241, the 25 Hen. III. 



From this time the nunnery of Amesbury ap- 

 pears to have been one of the select retreats for 

 females in the higher ranks of life. Mary, the 

 sixth daughter of King Edward I., took the reli- 

 gious habit in the monastery of Amesbury in 1285, 

 together with thirteen young ladies of noble fami- 

 lies. (Annal. Wigorn.) Walsingham, in the Ypo- 

 digma Neustrice, says the king and queen were 

 averse to this step, and that was taken ad instan- 

 tiam regis. (Walsing., Hist.-Angl.) 



Two years after this (a.d. 1287), Eleanor, the 

 queen of Henry III. and the mother of Ed- 

 ward I., herself took the veil at Amesbury, where 

 she died, and was buried in 1292 (Walsing. 

 anno 1292). She had previously given to the 

 monastery the estate of Chadelsworth, in Berks, to 

 support the state of Eleanor, daughter of the 

 Duke of Bretagne, who had also become a nun 

 there. Amesbury finally became one of the richest 

 nunneries in England : how long it remained sub- 

 ject to the monastery of Fontevrault, we are not 

 told. 



Bishop Tanner says it was at length made deni- 

 zen, and became again an abbey. 



Isabella of Lancaster, fourth daughter of Henry, 

 Earl of Lancaster, grand-daughter to E. Crouch- 

 back, son of Henry II., was prioress in 1292. 

 There is no register extant. Amesbury is seven 

 miles north from Salisbury. Edward Hogg Fry. 



EPIGRAM CORNER. — No. II. 



" Esse nihil, dicis, quidquid petis, Improbe China : 

 Si nil, China, petis, nil tibi, Cinna, nego." • 



" 'Twas ' a mere nothing '. ' Cinna said, he sought : 

 Then I, when I refused, denied him nought." 



"Cum rogo te nummos sine pignore — ' non habeo'- 

 inquis, 

 Idem, si pro me spondet agellus, habes. 

 Quid mihi non credis veteri, Thelesine, sodali, 



Credis colliculis arboribusque meis. 

 Ecoe reum Carus te detulit — adsit agellus. 

 Exsilii comitem quaeris? agellus eat." 



" ' Tom, lend me fifty !' Tom's without a shilling — 

 I'll give a mortgage — Tom's cash then is found. 

 To trust his old tried friend, Tom isn't willing, 

 But trusts implicitly his woods and ground. 

 Tom may ere long need counsel from a friend, 

 For mortgage, not for me, let Tom then send." 



" Nubere vis Prisco — non miror, Paulla — sapisti. 

 Ducere te non vult Priscus — et ille sapit." 



" To marry Peter, Polly wiseb' tries. 

 Peter won't have her — Peter too is wise." 



" Nil mihi das vivus: dicis, post fata daturum. 

 Si non es stultus, scis, Maro, quod cupiam." 



" You'll not advance me sixpence 'till you die. 

 Then you may know for what event I sigh." 



" Omnia pauperibus morieus dedit Harpalus — haeres 

 Ut se non fictas exprimat in lachrymas." 



" When all his fortune Harpax gave the poor, 

 His relatives were real mourners sure." 



A. B. R. 



LIFE OF MRS. SHERWOOD: FICTITIOUS 

 PEDIGREES OF MR. SPENCE. 



At the present time, when, in consequence of 

 increased facilities for consulting original docu- 

 ments in our public offices, and from other causes, 

 genealogical researches have become so much 

 more general than they were a few years ago, it 

 behoves inquirers to be on their guard against 

 artful and fraudulent persons, who may attempt 

 to palm off fictitious pedigrees and heraldry. 



In 1 st S. ix. 220. Mr. R. W. Dixon first drew 

 attention to the tricks of a Mr. Spence ; and sub- 

 sequent communications from Lord Monson and 

 others (1 st S. ix. 275.) were sufficient to put the 

 readers of " N. & Q." on their guard against Mr. 

 Spence's manoeuvres. But doubtless he had pre- 

 viously made a good thing of his pedigrees ; and 

 I think we owe it to the cause of truth to expose 

 their wortblessness in every instance that may 

 come under our notice. 



On reading the letter of the Rev. G. F. Dash- 

 wood (2 nd S. viii. 435.), I was at once struck with 

 the Spencean style of the Butts pedigree ; and, 

 on looking over the "Table of Descent" in Mrs. 

 Sherwood's Life (London, 1854, p. 5.), I can at 



