Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/501

 io" s. iv. NOV. is, 1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 415 the mason who cut the inscription. Mr. Lock wood, in his book on 'Widford and Widford Church ' (1883), after referring to this, writes as follows : " Unfortunately, a few weeks afterwards a hurricane blew down a tree which, falling upon the stone, broke it short, and it has now a somewhat stunted appearance." My brother, the late Sir Martin Qosselin, was a great admirer of Charles Lamb, and had a " Lamb Library " at Blakesware. With the consent of the rector of Widford he had Mrs. Field's tombstone repaired, and wishing that some lasting record should be made to show that the tomb was that of "The Grandarne," he had the beautiful lines quoted by your correspondent cut under the original inscription. HELLIER K. H. GOSSELIN-GRIMSHAWE. Err wood Hall, Buxton. [ME. W. B. GEEISH also thanked for reply.] DETACHED BELFRIES (10th S. iv. 207, 290).— MR. PAGE is mistaken in stating that Orms- kirk Church, Lancashire, has a detached tower. This church has two steeples, side by side, at the west end, a tower and a spire, but they are both attached to the main fabric of the church. T. GLYNN. Liverpool. May I, as an amateur, venture to express •what ha.s always appeared to me a simple explanation of the detached belfry? 1. It would only occur to the builders of the earliest churches or temples that a tower of some sort in which a bell could be rung was neces- sary to apprise people of the approaching service. Hence were built such campaniles as those of Venice and Pisa and the minarets of Eastern cities. 2. It would be a second and distinctly later thought to join the tower to the church, so as to save the necessity of a fourth wall and increase the stability. In support of my suggestion I would point out that the separated towers in this country are usually on the village side of the church. S. D. CLIPPINGDALE. BATHURST AND THE HIGHWAYMAN <10th S. iv. 349).— The following extract from Mr. George W. E. Russell's delightful ' Col- lections and Recollections ' (p. 6) would seem to satisfy 3. E.'s inquiry :— " Another story of highway robbery which excited me when I was a boy was that of the fifth Earl of Berkeley, who died in 1810. He had always declared that any one might without disgrace be overcome by superior numbers, but that he would never surrender to a single highwayman. As he was crossing Hounslow Heath one night, on his way from Berkeley Castle to London, his travelling car- riage was stopped by a man on horseback, who put his head in at the window, and said, ' I believe you are Lord Berkeley?" 'I am.' ' I believe you have always boasted that you would never surrender to a single highwayman?' ' I have.' ' Well,' present- ing a pistol, 'I am a single highwayman, and I say, " Your money or your life."' ' You cowardly dog !' said Lord Berkeley; ' do you think I can't see your confederate skulking behind you ?' The high- wayman, who was really alone, looked hurriedly round, and Lord Berkeley shot him through the head. I asked Lady Caroline Maxse (1803-86), who ' i. I It has escaped my memory whether Grantley Berkeley, who was the brother of Lady Caro- line Maxse, corroborates this story in his ' Recollections.' Still, on Mr. Russell's great authority, it should be safe to accept it in the form he tells it. Such a tale could never have been told of either the first or the second Earl Bathurst. Frederick Augustus, fifth Earl of Berkeley, appears in a tete-a-tete in The Town and Country Magazine, March, 1773, vol. v. p. 121. HORACE BLEACKLEY. I have a vivid recollection of my good mother (who was a Yorkshirewoman) telling me this story in the forties. His lordship, she said, had long made it his boast that no highwayman should ever rob him. Driving in his coach late one night in a lonely locality, he was suddenly pulled up, and a knight of the road, thrusting a pistol through the open window, reminded the occupant of the boast in question, and demanded his money or his life. Apparently quite unconcerned, the gentleman coolly retorted, " No ! and you shouldn't have it now. if it wasn't for that man behind you !" The robber, naturally, turned momentarily to see who the second intruder might be. Then, instantly drawing a pistol from his bosom, the noble lord neatly put a bullet through the assailant's head. HARRY HEMS. Fair Park, Exeter. CATALOGUES OF MSS. (10th S. iv. 368).—It is hard to understand what view is taken by the authorities responsible for the catalogues of MSS. contained in the three great State- aided repositories : the British Museum, the Bodleian Library, and the Public Record Office. As I have already pointed out, the printed catalogues are too expensive for _any one to buy them, and copies are not deposited, as they should be, in all the local libraries. It is consequently necessary to journey to one of the three places named to ascertain what is to be found there, just as if we lived before printing was invented. The waste of time involved is incalculable, and is, in most cases, prohibitive of any search being made in that