The Society's MSS.—Note I. 



229 



it appears that the mortgage was then held by " Mary Vilett, 

 widow, and executrix of Charles Vilett, deceased, formerly Mary 

 Calley." We have here, presumably, Charles Yilett, son of Charles, 

 the executor and residuary legatee named in Mr. Arthur Vilett's 

 will. 



In the parish register of Wroughton the name occurs : — 

 1660, April 15th, William, son to John Vilett, borne. 

 1671, March 30th, Grace, daughter to Mr. Richard Vilett, 

 baptized. 



1681, July 29th, Elizabeth, daughter to Charles Violett, gent., 

 baptized. 



1729, June 5th, Jasper York and Bridget Vilet, married. 



1673, October 28th, Mrs. Vilett, buried. 

 One at least of the above entries appears to refer to the descendants 

 of Richard Vilett, second son of Nicholas and Elizabeth (Stephens) . 

 This Richard is said, in the pedigree above referred to, to have had 

 issue three sons, Richard, Nicholas, and Edmund. The youngest, 

 Edmund, is possibly intended in the following extract from the 

 Alumni : — " Vilett, Edmund, s. Arthur, of Swindon, Wilts, gent./' 

 who matriculated at St. John's, 6th April, 1666, aged 16. It does 

 not appear that Arthur Vilett had any son Edmund, and it is not 

 impossible that the " s. Arthur " is a misreading, or an actual error 

 of the scribe. The subsequent career of this Edmund was not 

 undistinguished. He became B.A. 15th March, 1669-70 ; M.A., 

 22nd March, 1672-3 ; B.D., 5th June, 1679 ; and was " esquire 

 bedel of divinity," 1681 — 1706. Claims of kin, and claims of 

 county, have all long since been condemned as retrograde and 

 anachronisms. The " poor scholar " has not thereby in the least 

 profited, but that is beside the mark. All we are entitled to say 

 is that the lads who were founders' kin did become esquire bedels, 

 bishops, and so forth ; and the last fruit of the old system, it may 

 be noted, was the most distinguished Rector Lincoln ever possessed, 

 who secured a Yorkshire fellowship, after he " had seen with the 

 despair of an excluded Peri all the gates of all the colleges shut 

 against " him. 



