Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/574

 NOTES AND QUERIES. rio s. XL JUNE 12, im

Nevill Cradock of Kent. The arms on the slab in St. Peter Mancroft Church are Townshend impaling Cradock. Was her mother one of Sir Thomas Browne's sisters ? Townshend's will was dated 1705, but was proved in 1709. GEO. W. G. BARNARD. Norwich.

If your correspondent will refer to the will of Thomas Browne, mercer, of Cheapside (father of Sir Thomas Browne), which was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canter- bury, 4 Dec., 1613, he will find that Sir Thomas had three sisters, named Anne, Jane, and Mary, and also possibly another brother or sister born posthumously. One of these would probably be the mother of Anne Townshend. G. R. BBIGSTOCKE.

Ryde, Isle of Wight.

RICHARD MEREDITH, DEAN OP WELLS (10 S. xi. 410). " Westminster " is evidently a blunder for Winchester in the ' D.N.B. Index and Epitome ' ; for the original account of Meredith's career says he was admitted scholar of Winchester in 1573, and refers to Kirby's ' Winchester Scholars.'

A. R. BAYLEY.

Richard Meredith entered Winchester College in 1573 from Bath, aged 14 (Kirby's 'Winchester Scholars,' p. 145). , Memory reminds me of an organist of New College whose epitaph ran, I think, as follows : Here lies one, blown out of breath, Who lived a mery life, and died a Mery death. Was this the same ? and do I quote correctly ? I think he had a memorial in New College Cloisters or Ante-chapel.

JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

Richard Meredith (like Benjamin Hey don, his immediate predecessor in the deanery of Wells) was a Winchester scholar. He is entered in the College Register under the year 1573 thus :

" Ricardus Merydythe, de Bathe, 13 annorum [in festo] Michaelis Archangeli preterite, admissus 22 Decembris."

According to the ' Liber Successionis ' he was admitted fellow of New College, Oxford, on 8 Aug., 1578, and vacated his fellowship] with a civilist's degree (B.C.L.), in 1584 From his will, dated 23 July, 1621, and proved 15 Feb., 1621/2 (P.C.C., 17 Savile), it semes likely that he died a widower and childless; for there is a bequest of his wife's marriage ring to a Mrs. Norris, and no children are mentioned. The executors were Timothy Rivett, S.T.P. (Archdeacon of Bath, 1613-38), Thomas Southworth, ., who was, I believe, Recorder of Wells,

and Anthony Cavell, gent. John Lippiat and his wife, of Bath, were among the legatees, none of whom bore the name of Meredith, or was described in the will as the testator's relative. I should be glad of information about Dean Meredith's parent- age and marriage. H. C.

DEW-PONDS (10 S. xi. 428). The vast British camps in Wiltshire for instance, those crossed by the road from Wilton to Blandford suggest that a whole people, with their flocks and herds, occupied them for years. If so, how did they obtain water unless by the dew-pond plan ? D.

I do not remember whether the desired information is contained in an article which appeared a few years ago in either The Antiquary or The Reliquary I think the former entitled ' Dew Ponds.' The defi- nition of a dew-pond as given in the ' E.D.D.' may be noted ; it is " a pond on the downs, not fed by any spring, but kept up by mist, dew," &c. Such ponds are said to rarely fail, even in the longest drought.

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

RECUSANTS' MARRIAGES (10 S. xi. 290, 373). MRS. COPE'S question can only be answered by reference to what was the law of the land in the reign of Elizabeth. Doubt- less many irregular marriages took place in her reign and in succeeding reigns. But the two great risks of marrying otherwise than in accordance with the law the personal risk and the property risk had the effect of compelling general, though not perhaps universal obedience. The only method of marriage recognized by the law in those times was that of the Church of England. What this was can be seen by reference to the Prayer Book of the period, and was almost exactly the same as in the present day. Any other method was illegal ; consequently a marriage attempted in any other way was not regarded as a legal marriage, even though blessed by a Roman Catholic priest.

The personal risk of evading the law was the risk of being reported to the bishop and proceeded against in an ecclesiastical court. The property risk was only incurred when there was property involved. The In- quisitio post Mortem was a legally consti- tuted inquiry, not only into the state of a deceased person's affairs, but into the right of the heir to succeed to the honours and estates. If the marriage were irregular, the heir was illegitimate, and there was no right of succession. Some inquiries I made