Villenage.—Can any of your readers inform me at what period villenage became extinct in this kingdom? I have now before me a grant of a manor from the Crown, in the third and fourth year of the reigns of King Philip and Queen Mary, conveying, amongst other goods and chattels, the bondmen, bondwomen, and villeins, with their sequels,—"Nativos, nativas, e villanos cum eoz sequelis." According to Blackstone, the children of villeins were in the same state of bondage with their parents; whence they were called, in Latin, "nativi," which gave rise to the female appellation of a villein, who was called a neife. What I wish to learn is, whether the old wording of Crown grants had survived the existence of villenage; or whether bondage was a reality in the reign of Philip and Mary; and if so, at what it became extinct?

H. C.

Workington.

Roman Roads near London.—In the most ancient maps of Middlesex that I have seen, there are no roads marked out. In a folio coloured map of Middlesex, published by Bowen (the date of which is, I think, 1709, although the same map has various dates, like those of Speed, where the date only is altered several times), the roads are introduced. A Roman road appears from the corner of the Tottenham Court Road, where the Hampstead Road and the New Road now meet, running through what must now be the Regent's Park, until it reaches Edgeware, and thence to Brockley Hills, called SulloniacÆ, an ancient city in Antonine's Itinerary. The lanes marking this road are so different from the other roads, as to show at once what is intended; and yet, either in this same map or in another with the same route, Watling Street is printed upon the highway that leads to Tyburn Turnpike, in a manner to show the whole of that distance is meant. The Roman road from Tottenham Court, after making its appearance in a variety of other maps up to a certain date, about 1780, is nowhere to be found since, in any of the Middlesex maps. Can any of your readers show by what authority this was first introduced, and why discontinued; and if the Watling Street branched off, upon its approach to London, where did the part crossing Oxford Street at Tyburn lead to?

John Francis-X.

Mrs. Catherine Barton.—In Brewster's Life of Sir Isaac Newton, p. 250., is the following passage:

"This accomplished nobleman was created Earl of Halifax in 1700, and after the death of his first wife he conceived a strong attachment for Mrs. Catherine Barton, the widow of Colonel Barton, and the niece of Newton."

I wish particularly to know the maiden name of this Catherine Barton; she married Mr. Conduitt, who succeeded Sir I. Newton as Master of the Mint.

J. E. R. S.

Sampford, Braintree, April 7. 1851.

Sempecta at Croyland.—Dr. Maitland has so kindly answered your correspondent's Query respecting his work on Mesmerism, that I venture to ask him another, through the medium of your pages. Where can be found the poem respecting the old soldier monk at Croyland (or Sempecta, as Ingulphus calls him), from which Dr. M. has given extracts in p. 305. of his Dark Ages?

H. R. L.

Trin. Coll.

Schmidt's Antiquitates Neomagensis—Roman Medicine-stamps.—Can any of your readers inform me,—

1st. Of the DATE when Schmidt published his Antiquitates Neomagensis, and WHERE: also in what libraries it is to be found?

2nd. Of the existence of any Roman medicine-stamps found in the British Islands, as yet undescribed by those who have written on the subject.

Q.

Sir Harris Nicolas' History of the Royal Navy.—Is there any probability that the History of the Royal Navy, begun by Sir N.H. Nicolas, and carried by him to the reign of Henry V., will ever be continued. It is a most valuable work, and was stopped by his lamented death, just as it was beginning to be most interesting.

E. N. W.

Wooden Baldrocks.—Thanksgiving-book.—In the vestry-books of St. Peter's, Ruthin, co. Denbigh, there are some entries, explanations of which will be very acceptable.

From 1683, and many subsequent years, there is a constant repetition in the churchwarden's account of "Wooden Baldrocks," from time to time supplied new to the parish.

In 1704, "A Thanksgiving-book" is charged in the parish accounts.

Query the use and nature of Baldrock? and what book is meant by a Thanksgiving-book?

About the above period, continual payments are made for the destruction of hedgehogs, which seem to be valued at sixpence a-piece, in some cases fourpence; and to have been allowed in the parish accounts.

A Churchwarden.

History of the Jesuits.—Who was the author of A History of the Jesuits; to which is prefixed a Reply to Mr. Dallas's Defence of that Order. It was published in two volumes 8vo., London, 1816, by Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, Paternoster Row.

H. R. L.

Trin. Coll.

Mind your P's and Q's.—What is the origin of this phrase? I have heard one solution of it, but wish to ascertain whether there is any other?

R. D. H.

Mode of hiring Domestic Servants in Holderness—Sittings—Fest.—It is customary once a year for men and women servants out of place to assemble in the market places of Hedon and Patrington, the two chief towns in Holderness, and there to await being hired. This very ancient custom is called Hedon Sittings or Statutes. What is the name derived from? A small sum of money given to each servant hired, is supposed to legalise the contract, and is called the Fest. From what is the word derived?

F. R. R.

Home-made Wines.—It is stated in The Times of this morning (Feb. 17) that—

"We know from old chronicles that most of the wine drank by Englishmen, under the Plantagenets, was of home production."

Can any, and if so what, authority be shown for this statement?

J. Sn.

Inscription on a Clock.—Under the curious clock in Exeter Cathedral are inscribed these words:

"PEREUNT ET IMPUTANTUR, sc. horÆ."

I have been told that they are the concluding words of a longer inscription on some foreign clock. Can any of your readers tell me if they be so?

J. W. Hewett.

Inscription on the Tomb of Peter the Hermit.—At Huy, on the Meuse, is shown the tomb where Peter the Hermit was buried: it is in the shape of an obelisk, and has an inscription on each of the four sides. Of this inscription, which is curious, and which I copied when I was there, I have lost the greater part: can one of your correspondents supply it for me, or tell where the lines are originally to be found, as I fancy they are adapted to, and not made for, the monument.

The part of the inscription which I have runs as follows:

Another two-lined motto is headed "Les Illusions;" and a third, "La LibertÉ;" but neither these, nor a longer one (which I fancy introduces the names of MoliÈre, Rousseau, and FÉnÉlon), am I able to quote.

H. A. B.

Wife of James Torre.-James Torre, the Yorkshire antiquary, married for his first wife Elizabeth Lincolne (see Ducatus Leod., p. 119. Whitaker's ed.); can any one inform me who was that lady's father, and if there is any pedigree known of the family?

I have little doubt that the Rev. William Lincolne, rector of Halton, Lincolnshire, mentioned by Walker, in his Sufferings of the Clergy, b. ii. p. 295., was of the same family.

Edward Peacock, Jun.

Bottesford Moors.

"The Bear's Bible."—In the library of Queen's College, Oxon, is a copy of the Spanish version of the Bible, by Cassiod. Reyna (1569), with the following inscription:—

Ampliss. Antistiti. ac DÑo R^mo D. Edmundo Grindalo, archiepiscopo Cantuariensi, et totius AngliÆ primati digniss. Ob erepta hujus HispanicÆ versionis sacrorum librorum Scripta ex hostium manibus Cassiodorus Reinius ejusdem versionis author gratitudinis ergo et in perpetuÆ observantiÆ pignus D.D.D."

What are the circumstances here alluded to?

H. H. W.

Harris, Painter in Water-Colours.—Some friends of mine have a large paper copy of the edition of the Bible, published in 1802, by Messrs. Nicoll, of Pall-Mall, and known as "Reeves' Bible," which is adorned with a large number of small original drawings in water-colour by "J. Harris, of Walworth, Surrey." I should be obliged if any of your correspondents can give me any information respecting Mr. Harris, and can tell me whether he is still living. The drawings were made before the year 1819.

T. C. W.

University Hoods.—The Scotch universities of Aberdeen, St. Andrew's, and Glasgow had, before the Reformation, or before the Revolution rather, hoods for the several degrees of M.A., D.D., LL.D., and D.C.L. What these were, is a question which it is now very difficult to determine; but this much is known, that the hoods of Aberdeen were identical with those of Paris, those of St. Andrew's with those of Louvain, and those of Glasgow with those of Bologna. The Revolution, however, has done much to obliterate the traces of even the Parisian hoods, and the M.A. hood of Paris is all that has hitherto rewarded the researches of the university antiquary. Can any of your readers assist in the somewhat interesting investigation by endeavouring to discover, or informing us if they already know, what were the hoods of the universities of Paris, Louvain, and Bologna, for the several degrees I have enumerated.

G. A. J.

"Nullis Fraus tuta latebris."—Can any of your correspondents favour me with a reference to the above motto?

S. S.

Voltaire, where situated?—The "terre," hamlet, or other property of Voltaire, from which the French poet took the addition to his paternal name of Arouet,—where situated? That there is, or at least was, in Voltaire's time, such an estate, Condorcet's statement (vide Voltaire) makes apparent. But the locality is not pointed out. Can any of your correspondents help me to it?

V.

Table of Prohibited Degrees, 1563.—By the 99th canon of the Church of England the "table of prohibited degrees" set forth by authority in 1563 is ordered to "be in every church publicly set up and fixed at the charge of the parish." Is this usually done now? and if not, why is it omitted to be done?

What is the authority for the insertion of the Canons, or the Articles, or the table of the prohibited degrees found in the Book of Common Prayer?

J. O. M.

Launcelot Lyttleton.—I shall be greatly obliged to any genealogist who can tell me who was that Launcelot Lyttleton, a Lichfield gentleman, whose eldest laughter, Mary, married the Hon. Francis Roper, and became the mother of the fourteenth Lord Teynham. Was this Launcelot a descendant of Sir Edward Lyttleton, temp. Eliz., who married a daughter of Sir William Devereux?

I could answer my own question by an inspection of the "Roper Roll;" but unfortunately that is in Ireland, and I may not soon discover the address of its possessor.

H. G. R. C.

Erechtheum.

The Antediluvians.—Can you or any of your learned correspondents inform me of any work likely to assist me in my researches into the antediluvian history of our race? The curious treatise of Reimmanus, and the erudite essay of J. Joachimus Maderus, I have now before me; but it occurs to me that, besides these and the more patent sources of information, such as Bruckerus and Josephus, there must be other, and perhaps more modern, works which may be more practically useful. Perhaps the author of the elegant essay on the subject in Eruvin may be able to refer to such a a work.

G. A. J.