2«<» S. IX. Fkb. 25. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



149 



his return, and more particularly during the last 

 few years of his incumbency ; for instance. 1627. 

 " A child of Edmund Quinsey baptized alswhere, 

 and not in our Parish Church." [I may note that 

 it was from this stock that Quincey-Adams the 

 American statesman was descended.] Almost 

 the last entry he made was " Maie 8. 1631, a 

 child of James Connington baptized and buried 

 by himselfe in scime" It is curious to remark 

 how jealous Browne, formerly himself a violent 

 sectarian, seems to have been of any departure in 

 others from the church's rules. There is nothing 

 particularly interesting in any other of Browne's 

 comments, but I give the following entries as 

 specimens: — "1599. Guilbert Pickering Gen- 

 tleina my L. Burghley's officer : buried at Tieh- 

 marsh." " An Irish youth dying in y e manour 

 house Porch for want of succour, and buried Oct. 

 24. 1630." " Edward Greene an old and lame 

 Bachelar Februarie 8. 1630." H. W. 



BUTTS FAMILY. 

 (2 nd S. viii. 435.) 



A merchant family of this name flourished in 

 the city of Norwich during the thirteenth and 

 two following centuries. Members of it were re- 

 peatedly called upon to represent their fellow 

 citizens in the frequent parliaments of that period. 

 They filled the chief seats of civic dignity, held 

 local offices of trust and importance under the 

 royal commission, and were altogether people of 

 great wealth, consideration, and influence in their 

 native place. The last of them who possessed the 

 magistracy there was John Butte, Esq., sheriff in 

 1456, and mayor in 1462 and 1471. He died in 

 1475 (Blomefield, Hist. Norwich, fob, 1741, p. 

 809.) ; and after his time no more mention of the 

 name, which is spelt in various ways, appears in 

 the city annals. It next publicly occurs, as far as 

 I know, in reference to Sir AVilliam Butts of 

 Ryburgh, physician to Hen. YIIL, who died in 

 1545, and was buried at Fulham. Then we have 

 another Sir William of Thornage, who was high 

 sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk in 1562, and repre- 

 sented the former shire in the parliament of 1571. 



Now, it has often occurred to me that the Nor- 

 wich family were probably the progenitors of that 

 of which the royal physician was a member; and, 

 with this impression on my mind, I sought in- 

 formation on the subject in the pages of " N. & 

 Q,"so long ago as in 1852 (1 st S. iv. 501.). I have 

 not indeed the slightest proof of such a connexion 

 between the two families as is here supposed ; but 

 it is not unworthy of notice that, about the period 

 when the one of them ceased to exist amongst the 

 notable* of the city, we begin to hear of the other 

 amongst those of the county. Then there is 

 another fact, to which however unimportant it 

 may seem to be, I am induced to refer: — Wil- 



liam is the distinguishing Christian name, from 

 generation to generation, both in the direct and 

 collateral descent of the Norwich Butts'. It is 

 theirs with a uniformity of sequence that is very 

 remarkable and most unusual for so lengthened a 

 period ; and the same observation applies, though 

 perhaps with some modifications, to the descend- 

 ants of the Norfolk Butts' down to the present 

 day. It is true that William is, of all names, 

 amongst the most, common, and these are very in- 

 sufficient grounds whereon to build any tangible 

 conclusions ; but still it seems to me there may be 

 something in them to warrant investigation, and, 

 as I have long been on the watch for evidence of 

 the correctness or otherwise of my impressions on 

 the subject, I should be glad if ]\Ir. G. H. Dash- 

 wood would give it his consideration. 



It might be inferred, from the tenour of these 

 remarks, that I am disposed, with your reverend 

 correspondent, to regard the Congleton Butts' as 

 mythical personages. Such, however, is not by 

 any means the fact ; and I would venture to ob- 

 serve, in allusion to them, that the reference to 

 Camden, which is adduced in support of the early 

 portions of the pedigree, is not, as I understand it, 

 intended to apply to any printed work of that 

 author's, but to " original papers," as they are 

 considered to be, "signed by William Camden." 

 These papers, whatever be their value, I have 

 reason to believe, are still in existence, and per- 

 haps their lady-possessor would have no objection 

 to submit them to competent examination. I 

 would take the liberty of requesting the gentle- 

 man who, with great courtesy, privately commu- 

 nicated with me in 1852 on the subject of this 

 family, to assist me in carrying out this sug- 

 gestion, the more especially so as Camden is made 

 to say, in the documents referred to, that — 



" Sir William Butts, who was slain whilst fighting in 

 the van of the English army commanded by the Lord 

 Audley under Edward the Black Prince, at the battle of 

 Poiciiers, quartered, in the right of his mother Constance, 

 the ensigns of the noble families of Fiizhugh, Sutton, 

 Pole, Vernon, Neville, Latimer, Welles, Gournay, Leigh, 

 Ilussey, and Mallet." 



Wm. Matthews. 



Cowgill. 



Faxes Psalms (2 nd S. ix. 103.)— I fear H. V. 

 will not succeed in coming at a copy of Lady 

 Fane's Psalms. Lowndes merely follows Herbert 

 in describing it, and, like his predecessor, is 

 silent as to the whereabouts of the book. Dr. 

 Dibdin, in his edition of Herbert's Ames, strikes 

 Lady Fane out of the list of Rob. Crowley's pub- 

 lications ; dismissing the work in question in a 

 foot-note, as if a doubtful book. 



From Chailewood's licence, in 1563, for Serten 

 Godly Prayers of Lady Fane's, it might be con- 

 eluded that the work was neither Psalms of David 



