Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/187

 10" 8. V. FKB. 24, 1906.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

151

he died prematurely at Orchard Portman, 20 March, 1690. Having no issue, he left the estates to his nephew Henry Seymour (d. s p. 1728) for life, with remainder to his cousin William Berkeley, who assumed the name and arms of Portman, now borne by his descendants, and whose grandson Edward Berkeley Portman was created Baron in 1837, and Viscount in 1873. Thus the elder line of Portman, which died out in 1690, had numbered twenty chiefs, and, as there were brother heirs, counted sixteen generations.

I regret to add, as result of inquiry, that there are no Portman tombs or memorials of any kind in Orchard Portman Church, and that the church, which was Norman, was more or less rebuilt some fifty years back. This is to be deplored, for had the reparation been made a generation later, no doubt the fate of the church would have been happier. The Norman porch alone remains. The mansion, too, has been Entirely demolished, and besides the church porch there is left of the original building only a little old rectory. Lord Portman's chief seat is now Bryanston, Dorset. W. L. BUTTON.

SIR GILBERT PICKERING, OF TITCHMAESH (10 tb S. v. 82). Since reading these interesting notes I have been looking up some papers on John Dryden which apeared in Olla Podrida, a now defunct Northamptonshire magazine in 1888. These papers are five in number, and were printed in the issues from July to November, being written by Mr. R. B. Wallis, one of the editors of the magazine. In tracing the descent of Dryden Mr. Wallis states that Erasmus Dryden married Mary Pickering at Piltori, Northamp- tonshire, on 21 October, 1630, the name being spelt " Dreydon " in the register.

" Why the young couple went to Pilton on this happy occasion we cannot now determine. It would be quite natural to suppose the wedding would have taken place at the bride's father's church at Aldwinkle All Saints. That they were, however, married at Pilton there is no doubt, as the register puts the question beyond dispute, the entry having been discovered by the Rev. Henry Ward, rector of Aldwinkle St. Footers."

Mr. Wallis in the following paragraph throws some additional light on the inscrip- tion to the memory of Mary Pickering's father, as recorded by MR. RUPERT JONES:

" The eldest child of the marriage solemnized at Pilton was John Dryden. He was born on the 9th August, 1631, at the house of his maternal grandfather, rector of Aldwinkle All Saints. Con- siderable doubt was at one time felt as to the real place of his birth, springing from the fact that a mistake had arisen about the period during which his grandfather held the living. Malone said that

Henry Pickering became rector in 1647. How then should it come about that his daughter's eldest son should be born in the rectory house sixteen years before ? Malone conjectured that he might have been curate of the parish. This did not help much, still the room in the parsonage has been sho\vn as his birthplace from the first. Mr. Christie, in his memoir prefixed to the Globe edition of Dryden's poems, explained the mystery, and the matter may now be held to be cleared up. Malone had relied upon an erroneous account of the inscription on the Rev. Henrj' Pickering's tombstone, and this had caused the whole mistake. According to this wrong reading of an inscription all but illegible, Henry Pickering became rector of the parish in 1647. The Rev. Henry Ward, rector of Aldwinkle St. Peters, however, discovered, and communicated to Mr. Christie, the fact that the date of his pre- senta,tion to the living was really 1597. The inscription is thus given by Mr. Christie, the blanks show the illegible parts :

" ' Heare lyeth the body of Henry Pykering,

Rector of this church the space of 40ty yeares,

who departed this life the day of September,

1637, aged 75.'

"Mr. Christie adds: 'In this epitaph as pre- viously printed ten was utbatitttted for ' 40ty, J 1657 for 1637, and 73 for 75 Mr. Ward tells me ' The inscription is only legible when the sun is shining at a particular time of the day, but is then tolerably clear.' "

In The Gentleman's Magazine for August, 1822, appeared some ' Notices of the Dryden Family.' The following paragraph and note occur therein :

"Erasmus Dryden, Esq., so named from the great Erasmus, with whom he cultivated an acquaintance, was made a Baronet by James I. His eldest son Sir John distinguished himself in a civil capacity, during the Civil Wars; his third settled at Tichmarsh, and had two children, one of which was John Dryden, the great Poet, about whom Dr. Johnson has made many mistakes, particularly concerning his patrimony^ of which he denied the existence, and contradicted the better authority of Derrick, his former biographer, who seems to have been well informed, at least on this subject."

To this is appended the following foot- note :

"The Writer of this article is in possession of some curious and authentic particulars, never yet published, concerning the birth, situation and opinions of the Poet, which he intends soon to lay before the public."

I should like to ask whether the name of "the writer" is known, and if his promise was ever fulfilled. JOHN T. PAGE.

Long Itchington, Warwickshire.

MUNICIPAL SWORD-BEARER (10 th S. v. 90). In the late Dr. Oliver's * History of the City of Exeter' (1861) occurs the following :

"When King Edward IV. visited Exeter, 14th April, 1461, he presented his sword to the city. This sword, covered with black crape, was subsequently borne before the Mayor in the pro- cession on the 30th of January following. King