414 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°* S. IX. Mat 26. '60. 



Curiously constructed Epitaph (2 nd S. ix. 

 359.) — The epitaph of Wni. Tyler, given under 

 the above designation, is apparently to be ar- 

 ranged as follows : — 



"Est 

 Hie Tumulus 

 Index Chari Cineris, — non Animi 

 Index Mortis, — non Vitas Iiistoria; 

 Index Viri, — non Virtutis. 

 Ilia — Saxum et Pagina Marmorea ostendunt 

 Hsec — ostendunt Caelum et Liber Vita?. 



Cretera Piget non Dici 



Seu velis Imitari, seu velis Carpere. 



Nam 



Vixit Bene 



Major Literis, Major Lituris. 



Posuit ejus uxor Maria." 



Thus collocated, its interpretation presents no 

 difficulty. I should translate it thus : — 

 " This Tomb 

 is 

 The Indicator of Beloved Remains, — not of a Mind, 

 The Indicator of Death, — not of the History of a Life, 

 The Indicator of a Man, — not of Virtue. 

 The former — the Stone and Marble Page exhibit 

 The latter — are shown by Heaven and the Book of Life. 

 It is sad that more should not be told 

 Whether you are disposed to imitate, or to blame. 

 For 

 He lived well 

 Above the praise of writing, — and above censure. 

 His wife Mary erected this Monument." 



The following sentence of the proposer of the 

 Query seems far more unintelligible : — 



" To whatever merit the composer may aspire, his 

 claim must in part rest upon the abbreviated construc- 

 tion, and of which he tenders to the reader, who is tacitly 

 challenged to fathom the studied difficulties, a fair share, 

 for making that intelligible which he has wrapped in the 

 mazes of obscurity." 



The meaning of this may well furnish a Query 

 for some " magnus Apollo." F. C. H. 



The Judas Tree (2 nd S. ix. 386.) — A corre- 

 spondent asks a question respecting the Judas 

 tree (Cei-cis siliquastruni). A large one lias existed 

 for many years in my gardens at Stanford Court, 

 Worcestershire, which, as long as I can recollect, 

 has put forward its pea-shaped scarlet blossom 

 and seed pod every succeeding spring. The early 

 frost of the last autumn (1859) injured the leaves 

 before they were sufficiently mature to fall off, 

 and they in consequence remained on the trees 

 through a great portion of the winter. The same 

 cause affected the oriental planes that grow near 

 to it ; but I am not aware of any permanent injury 

 to either. I believe the Judas tree will be found 

 quite hardy in this country, if grown in a spot shel- 

 tered from cutting winds. Thos. E. Winnington. 



[Several other correspondents have favoured us with 

 similar replies, and with invitations to our Querist to visit 

 their "Judas trees," now in full bloom. Our excellent 

 friend L. B. L. states, that at Ryarsh it has never failed 

 to bloom and ripen its seeds, and that he has raised many 

 plants from it.— Ed. "N. & Q."] 



Hugh de Cressingham (2 nd S. ix. 388.) — Of 

 Hugh de Cressingham, relative to whom you say 

 you have failed to trace any notice, there is a full 

 account in The Judges of England, vol. iii. p. 82. 

 He is there described as an officer of the Ex- 

 chequer, as having been seneschall of the queen 

 in 18 Edvv. I., and one of her bailiffs of the manor 

 of Haverford (Rot. Pari, i. 30. 33.); and as 

 head of the Justices Itinerant for the Northern 

 Counties from 1292 to 1295 (Year Book, i. 33.; 

 Dugdale's Chron. Series). In the next year he 

 was appointed Treasurer of Scotland; and " proud, 

 haughty, and violent, he made himself hateful to 

 the Scots by his oppressions." He was slain in 

 battle when the English forces were defeated by 

 Wallace at Stirling, in 1297 ; and it is related 

 that, "so deep was the detestation in which his 

 character was regarded, that his body was man- 

 gled, the skin torn from his limbs, and in savage 

 triumph cut to pieces." The story that Wallace 

 ordered as much of his skin to be taken off as 

 would make a sword belt, has been absurdly ex- 

 tended to its having been employed in making 

 girths and saddles. The Scots called him " Non 

 thesaurarium but trayturarium regis" (Triveti 

 Annates, 366. note). 



He, like other officers of the Exchequer, was of 

 the ecclesiastical profession, and held so many be- 

 nefices that he is called by Prynne " an insatiable 

 pluralist;" and Heiningford, describing him as 

 prebendary of many churches, gives him a bad 

 character, and ascribes to him an immoderate pas- 

 sion for hoarding money. (Archaologia, xxv. 608.) 

 He was son of William de Cressingham. 



Edward Foss. 



Wright of Plowland (2° a S. ix. 174. 313.)— 

 From a pedigree of this family it appears that 

 Robert Wright of Ploughland Hall, Esq., married, 

 1st, Anne, daughter of Thomas Grimston, ofGrim- 

 ston Garth, Esq., by whom he had issue Anne, 

 Martha, and William; which William married 

 Anne, daughter of Robert Thornton, of East New- 

 ton, Esq. Robert Wright married, secondly, Ur- 

 sula, daughter of Nicholas Rudston of Hayton ; 

 and his second wife Jane, daughter of Sir Wil- 

 liam Mallory, of Studley, Knf., by whom he had 

 issue John, Christopher (the two conspirators in 

 the Gunpowder Plot), Ursula (married to John 

 Constable of Hatfield), Alice, and Martha. The 

 relationship between William Wright and the two 

 conspirators would, therefore, be that of half- 

 brothers. William Wright died at Ploughland, 

 and was buried at Welwick (the parish in which 

 Ploughland is situate), 27th December, 1616. His 

 wife Anne (Thornton) died 28th December, 1618, 

 and was buried at Welwick. This family has now 

 become extinct : the last male heir was Francis 

 Wright, who died without issue subsequent to the 

 year 1656, in which year he by deed gave his 

 estates to his kinsman, Thomas Crathorne, in 



