2-» S. IX. Feb. 11. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



105 



a little Moor of black enamel, who holds a spear of gold 

 in his right hand. This badge is suspended from a double 

 gold ring, and the knights wear it attached to a rich, 

 broad, sky-blue watered ribbon, which is worn scarf-wise 

 over the left shoulder. The motto of the order is " Mag- 

 naninii Pretium." Vide Historical Account of the Orders 

 of Knighthood [by Sir Levatt Hanson], 2 vols. 8vo. No 

 date. } 



&«pUetf. 



DR. HICKES'S MANUSCRIPTS. 



(2 nd S. ix. 74.) 



During the first half of the last century a cer- 

 tain registrar of the Consistory Court of Durham 

 was in the habit of lighting Ills pipe with one of 

 the old wills under his charge, and of glorying in 

 his deed. " Here goes the testator," was his 

 usual exclamation when so employed. That was 

 bad enough, certainly ; but yet it was only a bit- 

 by-bit destruction, and was at length arrested. 

 But what are we to say of this literary holocaust, 

 the consigning of " three large chests" of MSS. 

 to the devouring element? " Here goes the most 

 learned author of Thesaurus Linguarum Septen- 

 trionalium .'" 



But it is not only on account of the loss of 

 notes connected with philology that this wholesale 

 destruction is to be deplored, but still more on 

 account of additional materials for the history of 

 the Nonjurors and their proceedings being thus 

 irrecoverably lost. Dr. Hickes was one of the 

 most prominent, and at one time was the main- 

 stay and the sole rallying point of the succession 

 of nonjuring bishops. On Feb. 24tl>, 1693, he 

 was consecrated Suffragan Bishop of Thetford by 

 the deprived Bishops of Norwich, Ely, and Peter- 

 borough. Thomas Wagstaffe was at the same time 

 consecrated Bishopof Ipswich. The latter died Oct. 

 17, 1712, leaving Dr. Hickes the sole surviving 

 nonjuring bishop. In order, therefore, to per- 

 petuate the succession, he engaged two Scotch 

 bishops, Gadderar and Campbell, to assist him in 

 consecrating others; namely, Jeremy Collier (the 

 historian), Samuel Hawes, and Nathaniel Spinkes. 

 This took place June 3rd, 1713. It is very remark- 

 able thatGadderar had been himself consecrated by 

 Dr. Hickes on 24th Feb. 1712, in London, assisted 

 by Falconar and Campbell. There are several 

 interesting letters from Dr. Hickes to T. Hearne, 

 Dr. Charlett, &c. published in " Letters from the 

 Bodleian Library and Ashmolcan Museum," Lon- 

 don, 1813, in none of which does he allude to his 

 own episcopal character. I have no doubt, there- 

 fore, that among the mass of papers destroyed 

 there must have been many interesting memorials 

 of the proceedings of the Nonjurors. I conclude 

 with this Query, Did Dr. Hickes in his will give 

 any directions about these manuscripts? Also, 

 what is the reason why they were for upwards of 



a century consigned to the darkness of a lumber- 

 room ? John Williams. 



Arno's Court. 



[In a codicil to the will of Dr. George Hickes, dated 

 July 18, 1715, five months before his death, is the follow- 

 ing passage relating to his books and manuscripts: "I 

 give all my manuscripts, letters, and written papers, re- 

 lating to any controversies I have been engaged in, unto 

 Mr. Hilkiah Bedford, with liberty to him to publish 

 in part, or in whole, such of them as he shall think fit. 

 I also give him such printed books of that kind as I have 

 published, or to which I have prefixed Prefaces, Letters, 

 or Dedications ; as also such books as are therein an- 

 swered by me. And after his decease, or that he shall 

 have made such use of them as he shall think proper, I 

 give them all to whom Mr. Bedford shall by his last will 

 and testament appoint, as a proper person, with whom 

 they may be deposited, and with them a catalogue of them 

 all, as well such as I have already delivered to him, or 

 shall hereafter deliver to him, as all the rest that shall in 

 pursuance hereof be delivered to the said Mr. Bedford by 

 my executor." 



It appears that Hilkiah Bedford was present at the 

 death-bed of Dr. Hickes, and immediately despatched the 

 following letter to Thomas Hearne, the Oxford antiquary : 



" Dec. 15, 1715. 



"Dearest Sir, — I received yours, and was waiting an 

 opportunity to return the 16s. for the four subscriptions, 

 when I was obliged, by very ill news, to write to you 

 immediately, before I could get that little bill. It is, Sir, 

 to acquaint you, that after a long indisposition, from 

 which we hoped he was now rather recovering, our 

 excellent friend, the late Dean of Worcester, was at about 

 twelve last night taken speechless, and died this morning 

 soon after ten. I pray God support us under this great 

 loss, and all our afflictions, and remove them, or us from 

 them, when it is His blessed will." 



On Jan. 25, 1720, being the festival of St. Paul, Hil- 

 kiah Bedford was consecrated a bishop at the oratory of 

 the Rev. Richard Rawlinson, in Gray's Inn, by Samuel 

 Hawes, Nathaniel Spinkes, and Henry Gandy. 



Hearne informs us that "Dr. Hickes left Hilkiah 

 Bedford his own books and a legacy in money, desiring 

 that Mr. Bedford might write his life, which accordingly 

 he undertook, but I know not whether he finished it." 

 Hearne farther adds, under Dec. 1, 1724: "Mr. Baker 

 of Cambridge writes me word that Mr. Bedford died Nov. 

 25th last, about ten at night of the stone. By his will, he 

 has left his wife and eldest son executors. He was 

 buried on Sunday, Nov. 29, in St. Margaret's, Westmin- 

 ster, the pall being held up by six friends of his own 

 principles, and the office read by another." 



Hilkiah Bedford left three sons, William and John, both 

 eminent physicians, and Thomas, a Nonjuring divine 

 settled at Compton in Derbyshire. Hearne, in his Diary 

 of Dec. 31, 1734, has the following interesting notice of this 

 son: " Mr. Thomas Bedford, one of the sons of my friend 

 the late Mr. Hilkiah Bedford, is now very inquisitive 

 about the liturgies of St. Basil, St. Mark, St. James, St. 

 Chrysostom, and other Greek liturgies, and hath wrote to 

 me about them, to get intelligence about MSS. thereof 

 in Bodley, well knowing, he saith, that there is nobody 

 better acquainted with the MSS. there than myself. He 

 wants the age of them, and other particulars, and a 

 person to be recommended to collate such MSS. But 

 having been debarr'd the library a great number of years, 

 I am now a stranger there, and cannot in the least assist 

 him, tho' I once design'd to have been very nice in exa- 

 mining all those liturgical MSS., and to have given notes 

 of their age, and particularly of Lcofric's Latin Missal, 



