Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/215

 10 s. XIL AUG. 28, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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extremely sorry that the guilty epithet should have crept into ' N. & Q.' through my carelessness. I offer my sincere apologies to the ancient and noble family of Fiennes, to H. C., and to the readers of ' N. & Q.'

A. R. BAYLEY.

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR AND BARKING <10 S. xi. 447 ; xii. 31, 77). Freeman in his 4 History of the Norman Conquest ' dis- cusses this very point, and comes to the conclusion that only Eadgar ./Etheling, the Archbishop of York, and some other prelates offered their submission at Berkhampstead ; but that the tender of the crown was made there by a deputation of the chief men of the metropolis, while the coronation took place at Westminster on Christmas Day.

Shortly afterwards, says Freeman, " Wil- liam found it convenient to leave London, a,nd to withdraw to Barking in Essex," on -account of the excesses committed by his soldiers ; and here he established himself until the fortress which he set about build- ing the nucleus of the future Tower had been made sufficiently strong for his protection, that is to say, from December, 1066, to March, 1067. According to Wil- liam of Poitiers, whose account Freeman adopts in preference to that of Florence of Worcester on this occasion, it was at Bark- ing that Eadwine and Morkere and many of the Northern and Mercian Thegns swore their allegiance. See note PP to vol. iii. on ' The Submission at Berkhampstead.'

1ST. W. HILL. New York.

In the ' History of England ' written originally in French by Rapin, and after- wards translated into English, we find the following :

"Whatever regard William showed the English, he had, however, a distrust of them, as he attributed their submission rather to an excess of fear than goodwill. A few days after his coronation he with- drew to Barking, not venturing to trust himself in so great a town as London, being doubtful of the fidelity of its inhabitants."

Freeman in his ' History of the Norman Conquest,' vol. iv. p. 19 note, says :

" How much of the various acts and designs which William of Poitiers seems vaguely to put between the coronation arid the homage of Barking really belongs to William's first stay in London, how much to the stay in Barking, how much to the progress which followed, must be largely a matter for conjecture."

Barking was easily accessible to William while he superintended the building of the Tower of London, being distant only 1\ miles. Again, the Abbess of Barking was a, noblewoman with immense domains, and

a peeress of the realm ; the abbey was a sanctuary, and the King would be safer there than camping in the field. Hunting could be had close by in Waltham Forest, then strictly preserved ; while abundant fishing in the Roding and the Thames would delight some of his retinue. W. W. GLENNY.

Barking, Essex.

T. L. PEACOCK (10 S. xii. 88, 132). If J. J. F. will consult Prof. Saintsbury'a introduction to Macmillan's 1895 edition of ' Maid Marian and Crotchet Castle,' he will find the details of Peacock's life there set forth. Chertsey was his maternal grand- father's home, and there he lived with his widowed mother till they came to London when he was sixteen years of age. After a lapse of six years he again retired to Chertsey, where he remained for nearly ten years, then migrating to Marlow, and not settling at Halliford till 1822 or 1823. L. R. O.

GEORGE SELWYN'S FONDNESS FOB EXE- CUTIONS (10 S. xii. 107). MB. ^HORACE BLEACKLEY says (inter alia] : ' Except in the case of Lord Lovat and of Damiens, those who tell us of his morbid tastes do not give any particular instances." Amongst several in ' George Selwyn and his Con- temporaries,' by John Heneage Jesse, I some time back came across the following :

" When the first Lord Holland was on hia death-bed, he was told that Selwyn, who had long lived on terms of the closest intimacy with him, had called to enquire after his health. The next time Mr. Selwyn calls,' he said, show him up -if I am alive I shall be delighted to see him, and if I am dead he will be glad to see me.

VoL L P ' 5< A. T. SEVAN.

Bessells Green.

THE BONASSUS (10 S. ix. 365, 451 ; x. 90, 138, 318, 392; xi. 356).~The ' N.E.D. quotes Bossewell, 1572: ' Bonasiiw is a Beaste in fourme like a Bull." Samuel Otes, in his 'Lectures on Jude,' delivered about thirty years later, says that some his opponents

"are like the beast Bonosus, mentioned by Aristotle, who, having his homes ' reflexed,, not being able to defend himself with them, three or four! furlongs off poysoneth the dogges with hi dung : which is so hot, as it burneth off all their haire." Ed. 1633, p. 353.

This curious animal may be considered a precursor of the great American sea-serpent. I do not know what Aristotle realty saya about him ; but Otes is usually correct m his citations. RICHARD H. THORNTON.

36, Upper Bedford Place, W.C.