406 Notices of Sir Henry Calthorpe, and his family. thorpe, Knt. Attorney of the Court of Wards and Liveries. He was a junior member of that branch of the Calthorpe family, who by marriage with the sister and heiress of Sir Bartholomew Bacon of Arwerton in the county of Suffolk, Knt. became, in the fifteenth of King Richard II. possessed of the lordship of Cockthorp, in the hundred of North Greenhow, and county of Norfolk; in which parish they continued to reside for many generations; and whose ancestors were seated in the same county from the time of the Norman Conquest, this family being one of the very few of the ancient race of English gentry whose origin may be satisfactorily traced to that period. Sir Henry was second son of Sir James Calthorpe of Cockthorp aforesaid, Knt. by Barbara his wife, daughter of John Bacon of Hessett, in the county of Suffolk, esq. He was entered of the Middle Temple, and became a lawyer of great eminence, successively Common Serjeant and Recorder of the city of London, Solicitor General to Queen Henrietta Maria, and Attorney of his Majesty's Court of Wards and Liveries. He was author of a pamphlet, entitled "Proposals for regulating the Law, to make the same more plain and easy to be understood, and less chargeable and expensive than heretofore;" he also published a useful volume of Reports of Special Cases, collected by himself, touching the several customs and liberties of the City of London. He married Dorothy, daughter and coheir of Edward Humfrey of Isham, in the county of Northampton, esq. by Mary his wife, daughter of William Whettell of London, gent. and sister of William Whettel of this parish, esq. on whose death in 1628, Sir Henry inherited the Ampton estate, which he afterwards made his country residence. He received the honour of knighthood, March 8, 1635; and died at his house in Ampton Aug. 1, 1637. His remains were deposited in the chancel of that church, on the north side of which is a handsome mural monument of black and white marble, ornamented with the effigies of himself and lady, with their children; on the summit several shields of arms much defaced, and beneath a long Latin inscription to his memory. Sir Henry had issue by the above [Nov. lady five sons and four daughters, most of whom died in their infancy; James the third son, and two daughters, Dorothy and Henrietta Maria, only survived their father, the former of whom died July 28, 1641; and the latter Nov. 6, 1645. Dame Dorothy, their mother, remarried to Robert Reynolds, esq. She bore Gules, a cross botony Ermine. James Calthorpe, esq. third and only surviving son, was a minor of about eleven years of age at the time of his father's death; whose custody, wardship, and marriage, the King granted the following January to Dame Dorothy Calthorpe, widow, mother of the ward, Philip Calthorpe of Gressenhall, in Norfolk, esq. and Valentine Pell of Darsingham, in the same county, his uncles. In a schedule annexed to this grant, the property that should descend to the said heir in possession or reversion, is thus particularized : "The manor of Ampton with the appurtenances, the advowson and right of patronage of the parish church of Ampton, one capital messuage, where William Whettell late dwelt, in Ampton aforesaid, and all lands, meadows, &c. &c. and held of his Majesty as of his Abbey of Bury St. Edmund's. "The manor of Aldeby, alias Alby, with the rights, members, &c. in the county of Norfolk, and the advowson of the church of Thorpe, near Haddiscoe Thorp in the said county, held of his Majesty in chief by knight's service. "The manor of Cockthorp and the advowson of the church of Cockthorp and Lt. Langham to the same annexed in the same county, held of his Majesty, as of parcel of the possession late of the Bishopric of Norwich, by the twentieth part of a knight's fee. "The manor of Snitterly, alias Blakeny, alias Snitterly Calthropes, and the advowson of the same church of Snitterly alias Blakeny, and the free chapel of Glamford to the same church annexed, and the manor of Snitterly, late Asteleyes, alias Hollewell-hall, in the same county, and held of his Majesty, as of the late possessions of the said Bishopric of Norwich, by the fortieth part of a knight's fee. The manor of Wyveton, alias Wyveton Staffer, alias Wyveton Duces in the same county, held of his Majesty, of his manor of Greenwich in soccage. 1831.] The Earldom of Wexford. The moiety of the manor of Netherhall, alias Stowes, in the same county, holden of his Majesty in chief by knight's service. "The manor of Acle, with the advowson of the parish church, and the wood called Aclewood, with divers other messuages, lands, marshes, banks, &c. in Blakeny, Cley, Stifkey, Wyveton, Langham, Cockthorpe, Bynham, Morston, and Wighton, in the county of Norfolk; with the following, situated in the county of Essex. "The manor of Stanway, alias Stanaway, and the advowson of the parish church, with the chapel of Albright to the same annexed, and the park called Stanaway Park in Gt. and Lt. Stanaway, &c. held of Thomas Lucas as of his manor of Leyden, by fealty and rent; also the reversion after the decease of Dame Mary Crane, widow, of the manor and farm called Bellowes, and other messuages and lands in Gt. and Lt. Stanaway, Capford, Leyden, Gt. and Lt. Birch, and Fordham. "The reversion after the death of the same person, of two parts in three of the manor of Cockermouth, and of divers lands, &c. to the same belonging, in Dagenham and Barking, also, after the death of Dame Thomazen Swynerton, widow, of fifty acres of meadow and pasture in Stanaway, and two parts in three of the manor of Gt. and Lt. Birch, with messuages, farms, and a corn-mill, situated in the above parishes. 'The manor of Burgh St. Margaret, and certain marshes and divers lands, and free fishings, reputed and known as parcel of the same manor lying in Burgh St. Margaret, Burgh St. Mary, Billockby, Clippesby, Rollesby, Weybride, and Martham, in the county of Norfolk. It is found that Arthur Capell, esq. being seized hereof in fee, he and Elizabeth his wife, by fine and surrender enrolled, dated the 23d of May, the eleventh of Charles I. assure the same to ward's father for life, and after to the said ward's mother for her jointure, and after her decease to the use of the said ward's father, and Arthur Turnor, and theier heirs. "Also one capital messuage where the ward's father dwelt, in St. Peter's hill, near Paul's Wharf, London, in the parish of St. Peter and Benedict in Paul's Wharf, London; with cer 407 THE claim to the Earldom of Waterford by the Earl of Shrewsbury, presents the remarkable case of a noble family assuming, for centuries, a dignity to which it was not entitled, viz. the Earldom of Wexford. By the patent of 1446, granting to the Earl of Shrewsbury the dignity of Earl of Waterford in Ireland, the family has always assumed the titles of Earl of Waterford and Wexford. The Peerages say, that these dignities being forfeited by the Act of Absentees, were re-granted in 1661, 13 Charles II. whether by a new patent or how, does not appear. Lord Mountmorres, in his History of the Irish Parliament, alludes to this case, and states that precedence was given to Lord Shrewsbury as Earl of Waterford and Wexford, not by the original patent of 1446, but by the date of the re-grant, and that he was placed after the Earl of Mountrath, the date of whose Earldom was 1661. The claim of the present Earl of Shrewsbury appears to be to the title of Earl of Waterford only, under the patent of 1446; without reference to the re-grant or patent (if any) of 1661; though, if Mountmorres be correct, the House of Lords of Ireland admitted the Lord Shrewsbury of 1661 to a place in their house, not under the patent of 1447, but under the re-grant of 13 Charles II. Archdall's edition of Lodge, states that the first Earl of Shrewsbury was Earl of Wexford by inheritance; query from whom? and that he was created Earl of Waterford in 1446 (24 Hen. VI.) On the Earl's monument in Shropshire, there is no mention of his Irish titles; but at Rouen in Normandy, where he was buried, it is said there was an inscription in which 408 Easter Eggs.-The accuracy of Leland. he was styled Earl of Shrewsbury, FEW perhaps of your antiquarian readers are ignorant of the old practice on Easter Sunday of presenting coloured Eggs, called Pasche Eggs, or Paste Eggs. This custom, like most of those authorised by the Roman Church, is of considerable antiquity, but in England the usage seems at present to be confined to a very few spots in the northern counties. At the commencement of the last century the usage appears to have arrived in Italy at its height, and some curious evidence on the subject is preserved in a MS. volume in the British Museum, (MSS. Add. 5239.) containing drawings of ecclesiastical ornaments used in ceremonials, &c. executed by Francesco Bartoli and others. At fol. 41, is a coloured representation of the interior and exterior of two of these Easter Eggs, which were presented on Easter Day, 1716, to the beautiful young Lady Manfroni by Signor Bernini, who soon after married her. A note is annexed, by which it appears that it was usual to saw the eggs open longitudinally with a very fine instrument made for that purpose, and to remove the whole of the yolk and white. The shell was then carefully cleaned and dried, and lined with gilt paper, adorned with figures of the saints in silk and gold. Two pair of coloured ribbons were afterwards attached to open and shut the egg (in the manner walnuts are made to open by the French women at present); and when finished, they were offered as a souvenir by gallants to their mistresses. But the eggs presented by Signor Bernini were of a superior description. They were painted on the outside with emblematic figures of hearts, initials, &c. and in the inside contained, on a blue and gold ground, four several portraits of the young lady to whom they were given, represented in various attitudes, and playing on different musical instruments. The eggs were then fastened together by crimson ribbons ; and when opened, would cause pretty surprise to the object of his addresses. In the same volume, p. 42, a See Brand's Pop. Antiq. i. 142. Ed. Ellis; and Hone's Every Day Book. [Nov. there are drawings of six of these eggs, painted in various colours after the usage of Rome. A note says, "These on Easter day are carryed to church to ye parish priests, who bless them and sprinkle y w: holy water; on yt day, at dinner, ye cloth is adorned w: sweet herbs and flowers, and ye first thing y' is eat are these blessed eggs; we are chiefly painted by ye nuns of Amelia, a small city about 30 miles from Rome: ye common sort of these eggs are all of one colour, as yellow, blew, red, or purple, we are sold in ye streets till Ascention day or Whitsuntide. Anno 1716." Mr. URBAN, Ω. Oct. 28. I ENTERTAIN so deep a respect for the memory of Leland, one of the fathers of English Topography, and I feel it to be of so much importance, that his character should be maintained of what he really was, an accurate observer and a faithful narrator, that I am anxious to take the first opportunity of withdrawing a conjecture which has gone forth to the public respecting a statement in his Itinerary. "And so by wooddy and corne ground a mile to Howton or Haulston, wher is a ruinous manor longging, as they saide, to the Tempestes. Conceiving that by Howton, he meant Hooton, now commonly called Hooton-Pagnel, I was led to the further conjecture (South Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 142), that he had confounded Tempest with Luterel, the antient lords of Hooton-Pagnel, owing to the circumstance of the two families having given the same figure to their heraldric bearing. But I am now convinced that not Hooton-Pagnel but Houghton, now Great Houghton, is the place intended by him, which more directly than Hooton-Pagnel lay in his way from Saint Oswald's Abbey to Rotherham, and which did, in the time of Leland, belong to the family of Tempest. Permit me also to take this opportunity of observing that the conjectures in the first volume of that work concerning the age of the keep in the Castle of Coningsborough, receive a very strong confirmation from what I have recently had an opportunity of observing in the ruins of Fountains. No part of those buildings pretends to an antiquity beyond the Conquest; but there is the most exact corre .1831.] Paintings in Mitchel Dean Church, Gloucestershire. spondence between the vaulted roofs Nov. 15. Mr. URBAN, AS you did me the honour, some years ago, to insert in your valuable Miscellany a few notes of mine relative to the Town and Church of Mitchel Dean in Gloucestershire (see vol. xc. i. pp. 17, 113,) you will perhaps consider the following notice of some old paintings, lately discovered in the same Church, worth preserving. Immediately under the roof of the nave, in front of the chancel (the roof of which is considerably lower than the nave), is a large piece of panneled wainscot, which has been for ages covered thickly with whitewash, The workmen, in doing some repairs to the roof of the nave, discovered that there was paint concealed beneath the whitewash, which being mentioned to the Rev. George Cox, the officiating minister of the Church, he with a laudable zeal for the preservation of so interesting a relic of olden times, immediately consulted the churchwarden and some of the principal parishioners, and being promised assistance in the way of a small subscription to defray the expenses, set about carefully removing the whitewash, about the time that I visited Mitchel Dean in the latter end of September last, and I was most happy in contributing my humble assistance in the pious work of restoration. The wainscot is 19 feet broad, and 14 feet high in the centre, the upper part forming about half of a circle, to fit the arched roof above it; it is divided into eight panels or compartments, of which the upper four are occupied by a representation of the Last Judgment. In the centre is seen the Saviour seated on a rainbow, clothed in a crimson robe; or, as the worthy curate suggested, the " vesture dipped in blood" of the Revelation; on each side of his head an angel blowing a long trumpet. On his right is seen the Virgin mother kneelGENT. MAG. November, 1831. 409 ing, behind whom is represented the heavenly Jerusalem, in a rich style of Gothic architecture, St. Peter standing at the door with a large golden key, and a crowd of the newly risen applying to him for admittance to the heavenly city. To the left of Christ is the figure of an Apostle or Saint kneeling in the clouds, to correspond with the Virgin Mary on the other side; and below him a representation of the place of torment, under the usual figure of a monster, with an enormous gaping mouth, vomiting flames, and his emissaries are dragging several of the damned into the fiery gulph, with a square linked chain; others are falling in various ways within the compass of the monster's jaws. Below the feet of Christ are two figures rising from their tombs. * In each of the four lower compartments are represented two scenes of the trial, death, and resurrection, of Christ, although no line or mark of division appears to separate the two subjects. On the lower part of the first panel on the right of the painting is represented the Garden of Gethsemane, and Judas betraying Christ; they are of course the two principal figures, and Judas is in the act of stepping up to his Master to give the fatal signal. On one side is St. Peter sheathing the sword, after having beaten down Malchus, who is lying at the bottom with a lantern in his hand; some rude trees, and several figures of soldiers in armour, complete the group. Above this is Christ standing bound in the Judgment hall before Pilate, who, seated on a throne in gorgeous robes faced with ermine, is washing his hands, an attendant standing by and pouring water from an ewer into the basin. In this group are also a great number of attendants, some in full armour, and carrying glaives, and some in civil costume. In the second compartment, commencing with the upper subject, is represented the figure of Christ seated, bound as before, and blindfold, and two men in civil dress forcing the crown of thorns on his head with * An ancient painting of the Last Judgment, closely corresponding with this description, was formerly in Enfield church; and an engraving of it will be seen in our vol. XCII. i. 621. 410 Paintings in Mitchel Dean Church, Gloucestershire. sticks. Below this Christ is being scourged, with his hands bound to a post; the scourging is inflicted by two men with whips, similar in form to that shown by Strutt, in the hand of an Anglo-Saxon charioteer; and also by Fosbroke in his Encyclopedia of Antiquities, p. 257. Each whip has three thongs, and one has the thongs loaded with balls of iron; both the men are in the attitude of adding insult to the torture. In the third division, the upper subject is the descent from the cross, the dead body of Christ nearly naked lying in the arms of a man who has torn the hands from the cross, leaving the nails; the feet are still attached to the foot of the cross, and nearly even with the ground, a peculiarity which I have not seen in any other representation of the Crucifixion. Joseph of Arimathea stands behind, and the two Marys and St. John are looking on weeping. Below this is the entombment of our Saviour; the body is being deposited in a carved sarcophagus, two men and three women standing round. On the fourth and last panel, the upper scene is the Ascension, and in this are some rude singularities, which often occur in ancient paintings; thus the feet and legs are the only part of the ascending Saviour which is represented, and below him is a large patch of green, with two black foot-marks, representing the spot from which Christ has risen; the Apostles are represented on each side looking up in amazement. Below this is a figure in a crimson robe, holding up the right hand in the attitude of benediction; the two first fingers elevated, and bearing an ornamented cross, with a very long foot, in the left hand, pointing to a man's head, which is apparently issuing from the ground; but the lower part of this division is very indistinct. I apprehend that this is an allegorical allusion to the resurrection of the dead to immortality through the Cross of Christ. The outline of the figures is bold, and tolerably well executed; their style and general appearance are very similar to those in the tapestry in St. Mary's Hall, Coventry. The upper groups of the several compartments are standing on tessellated pavement, and all the subjects are painted on a ground of green and scarlet alternately. A great deal of the paint, [Nov. particularly the green and crimson, is still fresh and brilliant. Great care was taken in removing the whitewash, and I do not think the painting suffered at all in the operation; but the colour has in many parts entirely left the board, and one is inclined to suppose that some overzealous Protestant in the early part of Elizabeth's reign, or one of Cromwell's fanatics, had damaged the painting by scraping it, before it was hidden by the whitewash. Dr. Meyrick went over from Goodrich Court to see the painting; and after a careful inspection of the dress and armour represented, he pronounced it (as well as the beautiful carved roofs of the two northern ailes,) to be of the time of Edward the Fourth; and the Doctor's unerring judgment is confirmed by the costume represented in some fine engravings of that period in the possession of the Rev. Charles Crawley. My friend Mr. Hooper of Ross, who has contributed mainly to the restoration of this painting, both in a pecuniary way, and by his experience and excellent advice, considers that there has been formerly another set of panels below the present, representing passages of Christ's birth and life, and which formed the back of the rood-loft. This supposition is somewhat strengthened by the appearance of framework descending on one side a little below the present panels, and also an opening in the wall between the nave and the south aile, nearly opposite to this part, and which was probably the entrance to the roodloft, but no part of the rood-loft is now remaining, unless the present painting can be considered as a part. The pulpit is handsomely carved in gothic tracery, and is as old as the latter part of the reign of Henry VII. or the commencement of that of Henry VIII. and stands on a pillar of oak; but this, with the sounding-board, which, though of a later date, (James I.) is handsomely carved, has been for many years disfigured by numerous successive coats of white paint; this has, however, now been removed, and the old oak appears in all its native beauty, "when unadorned, adorned the most." On removing the white paint from the pulpit, it was discovered to have been formerly painted with brilliant colours, the ground being blue, the edges of the panels scarlet, and the buttresses and crocketed pinnacles green. On the inside of the pulpit door is a |