Imatges de pàgina
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PART II.]

Jewish Custom of Swearing.-The Passing Bell.

to is the first mention, by Moses, who particularly wrote for a family of the Shemites, of this adjuration subsequently to his mention of the institution. (He has given us another instance of the adjuration in the case of Joseph on his death-bed, Gen. 47.) Now I cannot but think, if the adjuration had reference to the rite, that under such circumstances the adjurer

would have added words to that effect, supposing it the first use of that form of oath ;-and supposing it not so, that the writer still would have added an observation to the same effect, for his reader's sake.

Grotius has observed that this adjuration was in his time still used in the East. If so, still this point would admit of a satisfactory solution, by ascertaining the light in which it is held by the nations using it, or at least whether it is usual otherwise than among those of the Jewish or Ishmaelite circumcision.

Vatablus remarks that Eben Ezra gives it as a form of homage to place the hand under one sitting; illustrating the form by the derivation of possidere from sedendo. One of Grotius's suppositions is, that it may be by the sword worn on the thigh.

In p. 499 of the same number, in Mr. Oliver's article on Funeral ceremonies, the passing bell in Lincolnshire appears for a male to toll four times, for a female three times at present. A variation on this point I think exists in part of Northamptonshire, where I myself lately resided. The pulsations were in each case three, and three times repeated, or oftener, according to the number of the bells. The distinction being, that for a male the first triad is tolled on the bell of lowest pitch, for a female on the highest bell; the following ones ascending or descending regularly. These rung out, the passing bell was tolled as usual about London for a

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certain time; nor am I aware that
there was any distinctive way of con-
cluding, as in Lincolnshire.
Yours, &c.

Mr. URBAN,

C.W.C.

Dec. 5.

following abstract of the Charter of IN requesting your insertion of the Padstow* under Queen Elizabeth, with the accompanying observations, I will just premise that the town was some centuries previously in possession of chartered privileges first acquired under King Athelstan. Lysons incorrectly states, that "it does not appear that Athelstan ever had any connection with Padstow;" the conby Whitaker. (See Gent. Mag. 1825, verse however is clearly established

"

.320.) Among his authorities we have "Ec'l'a de Aldestowe," in the Valor of Pope Nicholas (1291), and "P'och' s'c'i Petroci Majoris in quâ est Burgus de Aldestowe,' in a writ of 45 Edw. III. (1372) for a general subsidy. Leland also is unusually explicit in explaining the name, viz. called " in Englisch after the trew and old writinges Adelstowe (latinè Athalstani locus), and the town there taketh

King Athelstane for the chef gever of
priviledges onto it." This circum-
stance quite accords with the charac-
ter of the Sovereign and the events of
his reign, which have been recently
so faithfully and classically recorded
by Mr. Turner in his Anglo-Saxon
History: he remarks (ii. 305), “Athel-
stan was certainly a great and illus-
trious character. He appears to have
been as amiable as great.
clergy he was attentive and mild; to
his people, affable and pleasant. With
the great he was dignified, with others
he lay aside his state, and was con-
descending and decently familiar. His
people loved him for his bravery and
humility, but his enemies felt his
wrath.' The name of Wealas was
applied by the Saxons to the Britons

To the

*For communications on the early history of Padstow, see Gent. Mag. 1825, i. 320, ii. 410; 1826, ii. 305; and 1827, ii. 17. The following engravings connected with this place have been published, viz. Place, inscribed to Humphrey Prideaux, esq. in Borlace's Natural History of Cornwall. Padstow, from the harbour, inscribed to the Rev. C. Prideaux Brune, in Hist. of Cornwall by Rev. R. Polwhele. Saunders Hill, and part of Padstow, inscribed to Thomas Rawlings, esq. in Gilbert's Cornwall. Font and Piscina in Padstow Church, in Lysons's Magna Britannia, vol. iii. Saunders Hill, in Neale's Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen, ser. ii. vol. i. Padstow Church, in Gent. Mag. 1827, ii. 17. Saunders' Hill, in Jones's Views of Seats in the Western Counties. Place, in Fisher's Cornwall and Devonshire Illustrated, 1831. Seal formerly used by the Padstow Corporation in Lewis's Top. Dict. 7.

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Charter of Padstow, Cornwall.

generally; Mr. Turner has therefore been led into a slight error in making Howel King of Wales instead of Cornwall.

The following is an abstract of the Charter of Padstow, now lapsed by desuetude, extracted from the originals in the Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer's Office in the Exchequer, 25 Eliz. (1583) part 3, Roll 59, viz.

1. Incorporation under the name of the Mayor and Burgesses of the "Burrowe of Padstowe."

2. Burgesses to elect at Michaelmas, a Mayor, Steward, five Aldermen, and two Sergeants of Mace.

3. Burgesses discharged from attendance on Juries, Assizes, &c. &c. except within said Borough.

4. Pleas to be held every Monday in the Guildhall before the Mayor and Steward or their Deputies.

5. Weekly Market on Friday; Mayor to be clerk of said market.

6. Two Fairs annually; one on the Friday fortnight before Easter, and one on the 6th August.

7. Burgesses discharged from toll at bridge, wallage, pannage, payage, carriage, stallage, passage, anchorage, culage, kayage, wayvage, planceage, and lastage.

8. Mayor and Burgesses empowered to levy toll, pontage, lastage, anchorage, and culage within the borough, port, and haven of Padstow, and the creeks thereto appertaining.

9. Full reservation in favour of the rights of the Lord of the said Borough and his heirs.

The weekly market is now held on Saturday; and April 18 and Sept. 21, are the days fixed for the nominal fairs.

In the Royal letters patent to John Pope in the Remembrancer's Office, 36 Hen. VIII. (1545) parts 1. 8. Rolls 71. 23. the rights of the lord of the manor, alluded to and confirmed in the above charter, are specified. Among several manors and lands in different parts of England conveyed to that gentleman, we find the manor of Padstow situate in Padstow, St. Cadock, Lenlissick, Rewne, and Tretharope, the advowson of the Vicarage, the oblations and emoluments of the chapels of St. Cadock and St. Sampson's, the fishery in the water of Gyll within the said manor, and the island of Gulland Rock, together with sundry other manorial rights in as full

[VOL. CI.

and ample a manner as the late prior of Bodmin or his predecessors held or ought to have held and enjoyed. These rights evidently annul some of the privileges apparently conferred by the Charter. The copy of a lease from the manorial proprietor to the Corporation, was inserted in Gent. Mag. 1826, ii. 305.

The Pope family possessed considerable influence with the Crown, and filled many distinguished offices. Bp. Tanner remarks, with great truth, that several of the old persuasion were active promoters of the dissolution of religious houses, and succeeded in obtaining grants of the church lands on terms far below their real value. This was the case with the Roman Catholic family of Pope. John Pope, first of London, afterwards of Wroxton, co. Oxon, was the only brother, and eventually succeeded to the greater part of the estate, of Sir Thomas Pope, Treasurer of the Court of Augmentations, guardian of the Princess, afterwards Queen Elizabeth, and founder of Trinity College, Oxford. Warton published an interesting Life of this gentleman in 1760, with a pedigree tracing the descent from his brother (John Pope) to the noble families of Downe and Guilford.

By purchase from the last-mentioned gentleman, the manor of Padstow became the property of the Prideaux family. The following notice of their descent connects itself with the explanatory remarks which appeared on the same subject in Gent. Mag. 1827, ii. p. 18. Paganus de Prideaux, A.D. 1069, (temp. Will. Conq.) was the first of the family who resided at PriIdeaux Castle in Luxilion for fourteen descents, when the elder branch having ended in coheiresses, the property was carried by marriage about the year 1400 into the Arvas family, from whence it was similarly transferred to the Hearles of Northumberland. A younger son in the third descent from Paganus, settled at Orcharton near Modbury in Devonshire, having married an heiress of that name, and this branch gave birth to Roger and John Prideaux, both knights of the shire for Devon (temp. Edw. III). On the extinction of the elder, the descent was continued in a younger branch which had married the heiress of Adeston at Holbeton in the same county. In the third descent from John before men

PART II.]

Prideaux Family.-Port of Padstow.

tioned, William of Adeston married the heiress of Giffard of Thuborough in the parish of Sutcombe, which then became the residence of his family, the elder branch of which, after marrying the heiresses of Edgecombe, Yeo, Arundell, Bevill, and Carminow, ultimately became extinct in the male line by the last-mentioned heiress this branch was possessed of Resprin in St. Winnow, where Sir Richard Prideaux, knt. then Sheriff of Cornwall, was seated in the civil contests of 1746. Some generations previously to this period, Roger, the third son of Humphrey Prideaux of Thuborough, the founder of his own fortune, purchased Seldon in the parish of Holdsworthy, and made it the residence of his family; he became Sheriff of Devon in 1580. His eldest son Sir Nicholas purchased the manor of Padstow, and died in 1627, at an advanced age, having erected the mansion house at Place about the year 1600.* According to Lysons, the tithe fish and the oblations and emoluments of St. Cadock and St. Sampson's, were held on lease by his grandfather Humphrey in 1537, under the priory of Bodmin. Mr. Prideaux Brune, the present representative, obtained his Majesty's sign manual in 1797, for taking that name on succeeding to the estate of the ancient family of Brune of Plumber in Dorsetshire. The members of the Prideaux family have been so numerous, and have spread so extensively in the county of Devon, as to justify the probability that many families there, now bearing the same name, are descended from the younger

branches of the house.

Within the nave of the Cathedral at Norwich, between the north pillars, is the following inscription to Dr. Prideaux, which may be added to the memorials of the Padstow Prideauxes which have appeared in your Maga

zine :

"M. S. Sub hoc marmore depositæ sunt mortales exuvia Humphridi Prideaux, S.T.P. Nascebatur Padstoviæ in agro Cornubiensi

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3° die Maii, A. D. 1648°, Edmundi Prideaux de Padstovia, armigeri, filius natu tertius, bonis literis a piis parentibus dicatus, in scholâ regia Westmonasterii studiosum tyrocinium posuit, quæ postea in æde hac ecclesia promotus, primò in prebendaChristi Oxoniæ ulteriùs provexit, unde in rium 150 die Augusti, A.D. 1681°; secundò in Archidiaconum Archidiaconatûs Suffolci 210 die Decembris, A. D. 1688°, et tertiò demùm in Decanum 80 die Junii, A. D. 1702°, installatus fuit. Obiit intra septum hujus ecclesiæ 1° die Novembris, A. D. 1724."

The

It does not appear that the commercial interests of Padstow were benefited by the Charter; indeed, it is evident, that, unless supported and countenanced by the manorial proprietor, its provisions would with difficulty be carried into effect. exercise, therefore, of these privileges probably ceased soon after the residence of the Prideaux family. About the middle of the last century, the trade of the port rapidly increased, and the spirit of commercial enterprise very much conduced to the prosperity of the town. There are now 74 vessels belonging to the port, chiefly under 100 tons burthen. This harbour is the only secure shelter for ves

sels between the Land's End and Hartland Point, a distance of 24

leagues; but the access is difficult, and sometimes dangerous. The character of the whole coast is marked by inaccessible cliffs, broken at intervals by sandy beaches, which are rendered equally fatal by the heavy ground sea from the Atlantic Ocean. 175 vessels have been wrecked or stranded, and upwards of 200 lives lost, in the last 33 years within the limits of the port. These melancholy facts have given rise to an excellent institution for the preservation of life and property from shipwreck established at this place in 1829, and liberally supported by Lloyds', the Trinity House, and gen

tlemen of influence connected with the county. The property of the association is vested in John Paynter, esq. the manorial proprietor of Ide, and

* The writer has seen a document purporting to be the copy of a conveyance of the manor of Padstow and its dependencies, from John Pope, gent. to Nicholas Prideaux, esq. dated 36 Hen. VIII. (1545) appointing Roger Prideaux and William Tyler his attornies, first to take seizin on his behalf as proprietor, and then to deliver up possession to the purchaser. But the said Nicholas Prideaux was not born until 1552; what therefore becomes of the authenticity of the document? In all probability the latter gentleman purchased the estate from Pope in the reign of Elizabeth.

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Mrs. Siddons.-Williams and Welby Families.

the Rev. William Rawlings, Vicar of
Padstow, as trustees. The erections
and excavations at the entrance of the
harbour are very extensive, and the
apparatus, to which a lifeboat is at-
tached, having been brought into ope-
ration in the winter of 1830-1, suc-
ceeded in rescuing six vessels from
total wreck, and in all probability
their crews from destruction.
Yours, &c.

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Δ.

I perceive that Mr. Evans, of Worcester, (p. 290) considers that I am mistaken in assigning the 5th of July 1755 for the birth-day of Mrs. Siddons. His reason is that, "according to the register of her baptism she was born on the 14th of that month." He notices also the discrepancy in the said register as to the christian name of her father, who is styled George, whereas he was always known to be Roger Kemble.

Mr. Evans will find the 5th of July inscribed by her daughter upon her monument in the burial ground, and the mural tablet in Paddington church. This is authority enough-indeed the authority of Mrs. Siddons herself, for she directed the inscriptions to be placed on these memorials of her existence; and, with truly christian humility, marked nothing but the commencement and the close of life.

But I do not read the register as Mr. Evans has done; and as the worthy rector of St. Mary's, Brecon, sent me an extract from the Parish book, on the 24th April 1826, it may be worth while to preserve it literatim; for which purpose I transcribe it on the present occasion. To my eye July 14th is the day of baptism.

Register Book of Christenings and Mar

riages in St. Mary's, Brecon. Baptisms in the year 1755-July 14, Sarah, daughter of George Kemble, a comedian, and Sarah his wife, was baptized.

I certify that this is a correct copy, taken from the Register Book of Christenings of St. Mary's, Brecon. (signed)

Brecon, 24th April 1826.

THO. BEVAN.

Curate.

As I had the happiness to know Mr. Roger Kemble personally, I am quite sure that he had no share whatever in the nominal error pointed out; and at this distance of time, conjecture

[VOL.CI.

alone can be exercised as to the cause of it. 1, however, know that excel lent person to have been a zealous catholic; and conceive it possible at least that Mrs. Kemble, a very firm protestant, took the sole direction of matters upon the entrance of her daughter into a christian community. Perhaps there might be difficulty at St. Mary's in this case of a catholic and protestant union, and a slight change might obviate the demur. I have nothing better to propose; for, Į as Mrs. Kemble was a lady of incomparable sense, it could be no halluci nation of caprice. I must now close the subject, however fond of it. "Sed fugit intereà, fugit irrevocabile tempus, Singula dum capti circumvectamur amore." J. BOADEN.

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THE following letter, though it may not furnish any new historical facts, will, I think, be thought worthy of publication, from its giving an account of a very important event in the annals of this country, penned on the very day of its occurrence. Although the writer does not mention the audible murmur of lamentation around the scaffold of the unfortunate Charles, which is recorded by some other writers; yet he uses an expression of equivalent import, that the execution "much discontented the citizens."

William Williams, the writer of this letter, was a younger son of a family which, as well as the Welbys, to the head of whom his letter is addressed, had been seated for some generations at Denton in Lincolnshire. He is thus described in the epitaph of his daughter Mrs. Susanna Gregory at

Denton :

"William Williams was the youngest child of John Williams of Denton in the county of Lincoln, Esq. who [i. e. William] being a citizen of London, by his industry gained a moderate fortune, with which he, his executors, and his widow Mrs. Elizabeth Williams, purchased lands and tenements in the county of Nottingham, and in the town and county of the town of Nottingham; and also lands and tenements at Wivell and Hungarton in the county of Lincoln, which had been the estate of his eldest brother Richard Williams; and also lands and tenements at Harlaxton, in the county of Lincoln; who surviving his brother Richard, and his daughter Mrs. Elizabeth King, and George and John his two

1

PART II.]

Account of the Execution of King Charles I.

brothers (who never married), the estate at Denton descended to the aforesaid William Williams of Rempston, esq."

This flourishing and land-purchasing citizen was buried at Denton in the year 1700, fifty-two years after the death of Charles the First, at which period it may be presumed he was a His letter was advery young man. dressed to William Welby, esq. the Lord of the superior manor at Denton, and who had married Williams's sister Eleanor (see the pedigrees of Welby and Williams, in Turnor's Soke of Grantham, pp. 124, 125). From that marriage Sir William Earle Welby, the present Baronet, is fourth in descent. He now enjoys the lordship of Denton, and with it the affectionate esteem of every man in the county. The name of Welby is there, and wherever known, a pledge for all that is kind, benevolent, independent, and honourable.

The original letter was found with others in a box containing many old family deeds and documents at Denton. Yours, &c. W. A. A.

MOST LOVINGE BROTHER! The experience I have of your greate kindnesses and favoures, doth by ye often thinkinge on their deservings, deeply embosome themselves in my grateful affection, that neither tyme nor absence can extenuate; and though the requitall of such invaluable curtesies lye not in my poore power, yett ye willingnesse of my desires this letter will testifye in promisinge my uttermost power in all serviceable endeavoures. Sir, in answer to your letter, such books as you write for I cannot possibly gett in towne, I have beene att divers shoppes and cannot gett ye ordinances for presbiteryan government, neither can helpe you to y" as yett.

All the newes I can sende you is yt ye Kinge was beheaded this daye before Whitehall gate; itt much discontents ye cityzens. Ye manner of his deportment was verey resolvedly, wth some smiling countenances, intimating his willingnesse to be out of his troubles; he made noe speech to ye people, but to those upon ye stage

We hope we may be favoured with any others thought worthy of publication.-EDIT.

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with him, expressing yt they murdered him; ye Bishop of London was with him upon ye stage. When he made himselfe ready for the blocke, he first pulled of his hatt and gave itt to ye Bishop, yn his cloack and his doublett to 2 others, and his George he gave to ye Bishop, wh ye parliament hath sent for; and after his death proclamation was made yt none sha be proclaimed Kinge butt with ye Parliament's consent.

Br, 1 desire you to excuse my rudenesse by reason of ye want of tyme, yt I cannot enlarge myself for expressions of my gratefullnesse. I pray give my humble duty wth many thanks to my mother, with my best love to youreselfe, with my Br and Sisters. Y' faithful Br Jan. 30.

WILL. WILLIAMS.

To Mr. Wm. Welby, at his house of Denton, near Grantham. These presents.

Mr. URBAN.

Dec. 14.

ADVERTING to the Rev. Edmund Cartwright's "History of Bramber Rape," in his description of Edburton, I perceive he has omitted the following memorials in the Church, and other matters relating to the parish.

"In memory of the Rev. Charles-Vaughan Baker, A. M. the diligent Master of the Free Grammar-school at Steyning twentyfive years, and the faithful Rector of this parish near thirty years. He died the 2d day of August, MDCCLXXIV. and his remains are deposited in the middle of this chancel. Near to them are interred those of his widow, Elizabeth Baker, who was the second daughter of the late Rev. Edward Wilson, A. M. Rector of Westmeston in this county, who departed this life 17th day of May, 1802, in the 77th year of her age.' On Slabs :

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