THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY & NATURALIST. 



the aristocrac}' ' ' to inform them of their faults and of 

 those of others under the disguise of a waggish story." 

 Several of cur kings, particularly the Tudors, kept 

 jesters. There was a jester at court in the reigns of 

 James I and Charles I, but we hear of no licensed 

 court jesters after the year 1625. (Haydn's Dictionary 

 of Dates.) We have in Hampshire what is probably 

 the last instance of a professional jester retained in 

 an English family. He was in the employ of Sir 

 Pexall Brocas, who succeeded to the Brocas family 

 estate of Beaurepaire, near Basingstoke, late in the 

 sixteenth century and died in 1630. So much did 

 Sir Pexall admire his jester, that he had his 

 picture taken, and it is still preserved, inscribed 

 by a later generation with the words, " Hodge, Jester 

 to Sir Pexil Brocas of Beaurepaire." It is (Prof. 

 Montagu Burrows tells us in his " Family of Brocas 

 of Beaurepaire and Roche Court," London, 1886) the 

 face of a rough, humorous fellow, something like an 

 old-fashioned roadside innkeeper. This same Sir Pexall 

 Brocas was a very dissolute fellow, for we are told by 

 the historianStow (quoted by Prof. Burrows) that "On 

 Sunday, October 24, 1613, Sir Pexall Brocas did open 

 penance at Paul's Cross : he stoode in a white sheete, 

 and held a stick in his hand, having been formerly 

 convicted before the High Commissioners for secret 

 and notorious adulteries with divers women." 

 And he had previously got into trouble for riot and 

 forgery. Perhaps it was as some amends for his mis- 

 doings that he proposed to " found a Colledge at 

 Oxford to be called Brocas Colledge," a scheme, how- 

 ever, that came to nothing. F.A.E. 



RECENT DISCOVERIES AT CHILBOLTON. 



Mr. Shore would have been glad to have been at 

 Chilbolton lately, when some ashes and bones, and a 

 Roman coin of Constantine, were found. Chilbolton 

 is about a mile from Wherwell and five or six from 

 Sutton Scotney. Mr. Grace, builder, of Winchester, 

 was having ground prepared for work \vhen the men 

 came across some white ashes, then a barrow with 

 human bones, and also a coin of Constantine. What 

 does this mean, Mr. Shore ? 



G. PARKER. 



PROVINCIAL SOBRIQUETS. 

 Miss Linda Gardiner, of Winchester, has contributed 

 to the Western Antiquary a note on this subject, 

 elicited by some correspondence originated by 

 " Devonshire Dumpling." Suffolk natives (she says) 

 have a similar sobriquet to that of the Devonians, 

 being " Suffolk dumplings " ; those of a neighbouring 

 town are " Yarmouth bloaters " ; Hants has " Hamp- 

 shire hogs," and the men of the Isle of Wight are 

 " Isle of Wight calves " ; Yorkshiremen are " York- 

 shire tykes." There is a saying, of which Manchester 

 is proud, "A Birmingham snob, a Liverpool gent., 



and a Manchester man " ; whilst the lower classes or 

 street loafers of Leeds are, or used to be, known as 

 " Leeds loin-enders,'' probably corrupted from " lane- 

 enders." 



To these we may add the " Wiltshire moonrakers," 

 and perhaps some of our readers can give other local 

 appelatives. 



THOMAS NOTESHULLYXG, MAYOR OF 

 SOUTHAMPTON. 



On a certain agreement of the 42iid ve.ir of Kd .yard 

 III (1368), which is amongst the muniments of the 

 Corporation of Southampton, is the signature of 

 Thomas Noteshultyng, late Mayor of Southampton, 

 as witnessing and confirming the agreement. This 

 name does not occur in the list of ma3 r ors given in the 

 Rev. J. Silvester Davies's " History of Southampton," 

 where the only Thomases in the preceding part ot the 

 i4th century are Thomas de Binedon (or Bynedon), 

 1313? 1316, 1324, 1331 and 1336 ; Thomas del Marche, 

 1340 ; and Thomas le Clerk, 1350. Is he to be identi- 

 fied with any of these ? and may Thomas the clerk 

 and Thomas of Nursling be the same individual? A 

 deed of conveyance of a yearly rent in Southampton 

 of the time of Edward II has the signature of Thomas 

 de Nosschoolyng, burgess of Southampton. [Report 

 of the Historical Manuscripts Commission on the 

 Archives of Southampton, pp. 59, 67.] This is not 

 improbably the same man. F. A. E. 



WEATHER REPORT FOR THE WEEK. 

 From the meteorological register, made at the Ordnance 

 Survey Office, Southampton, under the direction of Col. Sir 

 Chas. Wilson, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., F.R.S , R.E. Lat. 50 

 54'' 5o"N. ; long. i 24' o" \V ; height above sea, 84 feet. 

 Observers Sergt. T. Chambers, R.R., and Mr. J. T. Cook. 



*Black bulb in vacuo. 



