2°*S. IX. Mar. 10. '(50.]! 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



185 



cians exclude from logic, upon grounds opposed 

 in that syllabus and in the writings to which it 

 refers. 



It has nevertheless been virtually applied, 

 though wholly unseen, in the famous reductio ad 

 impossibile by which the syllogisms denominated 

 Baroko and Bokardo are reduced to that deno- 

 minated Barbara. A. De Morgan. 



GLOUCESTER CUSTOM. 

 (2 td S. ix. 124.) 



J. Chenevix Frost inquires when it was the 

 custom of the city of Gloucester to present to the 

 sovereign at Christinas a lamprey-pie with a 

 raised crust, and when it was left otf ? The cus- 

 tom is of great antiquity, and certainly existed in 

 the present century, for persons living recollect an 

 old lady named Darke who used to prepare lam- 

 preys for the purpose ; and it probably continued 

 down to the change of the corporation under the 

 Municipal Corporation Act. As Henry I., of 

 lamprey-loving celebrity, frequently held his court 

 during Christmas at Gloucester, the custom may 

 have originated in his tirf!e. In 1530, the Prior 

 of Lanthony at Gloucester sent " cheese, carp, and 

 baked lampreys " to Henry VIII. at Windsor, for 

 which the bearer received twenty shillings {Annals 

 of Windsor by Tighe and Davis, p. 562.). 



During the Commonwealth it appears from the 

 following entry in the Corporation Minutes that 

 the pie was sent to the members for the city : — 



" Item. Paid to Thomas Suffield, cook, for lamprey - 

 pies sent to our Parliament Men, £08 00 00." 



In 1752 it appears to have been the custom to 

 present a lamprey-pie to the Prince of Wales, as 

 appears by Mr. Jesse's book, George Selwyn and 

 his Contemporaries, vol. i. p. 153., where is printed 

 the following letter from Mr. Alderman Harris to 

 George Selwyn, then M.P. for Gloucester : — 



"Gloucester, 15 January, 1762. 

 " Sir, 

 " At the request of Mr. Mayor, whose extraordinary 

 hurry of business will not afford him leisure to write him- 

 self, 1 am desired to acquaint you that by the Gloucester 

 waggon, this week, is sent the usual present of a lamprey- 

 pie from this Corporation to his Royal Highness the 

 Prince of Wales. It is directed to you ; and I am further 

 to request the favour of you to have the same presented 

 with the compliments of this body, as your late worthy 

 father used to do. 



" Sir, your most obedient humble servant, 



" Gab. Harris. 

 '• l'.S. The waggoner's inn is the King's Head in the 

 Old Change." 



Mr. Harris was an eminent citizen of Glouces- 

 ter. He was sheriff in 1732, during his father's 

 mayoralty, and mayor in 1746 and 1757 ; and he 

 appears to have been much esteemed by the Sel- 

 wyn family. It appears also by the following 

 letter (vol. ii. p. 24.), which, if not too irrelevant 



to the Query, may perhaps be deemed amusing 

 enough for insertion, that there was in that age 

 a reciprocity of good things between town and 

 country : — 



" Thomas Bradsham, Esq., to George Selwyn. 



" Hampton Hall, 30 July, 176G. 

 " Dear Sir, 



" 1 have heard by accident that you want a turtle for 

 a respectable alderman of Gloucester, and I am happy 

 that it is in my power to send you one in perfect health, 

 and which I am assured by a very able turtle -eater ap- 

 pears to be full of eggs. 



" I am, with great haste, dear Sir, 



" Your most faithful humble servant, 



" Tiios. Bradshaw." 



If this turtle was an acknowledgment for a 

 lamprey-pie, the alderman made a better exchange 

 than the Earl of Chester, who gave King John a 

 good palfrey for one lamprey the king had given 

 him (Rotuli de Oblatis et Finibus tempore R.Johan- 

 7iis) — a striking proof, if indeed the exchange were 

 a voluntary one, of the great delicacy lampreys 

 were then considered to be. 



If your correspondent is interested in Glouces- 

 ter, he will tind other amusing references to the 

 city in Mr. Jesse's book, vol. ii., p. 272. ; vol. iv., 

 pp. 362. 383. John J. Powell. 



It was formerly the custom to send to the king 

 the first lamprey caught in the river, at the com- 

 mencement, of the season. It was stewed, that 

 being the best way of cooking this fish. Some 

 years ago, i. e. from 1800 to 1806, a relation of 

 mine lived in Gloucester, and from her I received 

 the knowledge of this custom. During that 

 period the lamprey was cooked at the mayor's 

 house ; and an old woman, who had been a famous 

 cook, and went by the name of " Cook Harris," 

 always went to stew it, receiving a guinea as fee 

 for her labour. Latterly, on account of her age, 

 she was fetched from the almshouses (where she 

 resided) in a sedan-chair. If this custom-is dis- 

 continued, it is, I suppose, owing to the change 

 under the Municipal Act. I always understood 

 that some charter for fishing was held by this ser- 

 vice. 



Another custom at Gloucester may here be no- 

 ticed. At the Spring Assizes a lamb was sent to 

 the judges' lodgings ; the animal was killed at the 

 first butcher's in the city, and exhibited for a few 

 hours elegantly dressed with flowers and blue rib- 

 bons, the inside being entirely filled with flowers. 

 I fancy this was sent by the corporation, but I do 

 not know whether the custom is continued. E. S. W. 



Fictitious Pedigrees: Butts (2" j S. ix. 149) 

 — Being absent from home I am not able to refer 

 to the last volume of "N. & Q.," and forget what was 

 there said of the Butts of Congleton, but as Mr. 

 Matthews seems to have confidence that they 



