Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 7.djvu/258

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. vn. MARCH IB, 1007.

farm which now stands on the site of Hard- ham Priory, Sussex. It is decorated with shields bearing the initials W. P., alternating with barrels, or tuns. The latter would appear to be of the nature of a rebus, and suggest that the owner, or probably the prior at the time, bore a name of which the initial letter was P, and of which the termination was ton. P. M.

CROMWELL AND CHALFONT ST. GILES :

PlKES FOB ARMING THE PEOPLE. 1 should

be glad of any information on the following two points. There is a tradition in the village of Chalfont St. Giles, Bucks, that " after the battle of Aylesbury the army of Cromwell encamped in the Silsden meadows, close to the village ; that Cromwell slept at the old Stone House, since pulled down ; and that his guns fired at the Church." When the church was restored, a small round-shot was found in one of the mullions of the east window, which would have been the nearest target, and another, a little larger, was found in the garden of the Rectory, on higher ground, which would have been in the line of fire. The village lies about seventeen miles south from Aylesbury and eight north from Uxbridge, in the Misbourne valley, which cuts through the Chilterns between those two towns.

In the tower of the church used to be a number of pikes, rather short, the heads of which are said to have been made from files, and which were " intended for the arming of the people." The few now re maining are in the Milton Cottage (where Milton wrote ' Paradise Regained ') in th village. When could it have been intendec to arm the people ? and what truth car there be in the Cromwell story ? R. W. PHIPPS,

Col. late Royal Artillery.

CARLYLE AND LADY BANNERMAN. A provincial journal has revived the story o Carlyle's devotion to Margaret Gordon, whc became the wife of Sir Alexander Banner man, M.P. She is said to have been th heroine of Carlyle's novel ' Wotton Rein fred,' which appeared in The New Review fo January, 1892. Miss Gordon is usually stated to have been the " foster daughte of Dr. Guthrie, a London physician." Wh was her father (Alexander Gordon) ?

J. M. BULLOCH.

118, Pall Mall, S.W.

TAMWORTH CHURCHYARD WALLS. Wha is known about the walls running east from the churchyard at Tamworth ? They ar

onded with tiles in the Roman manner, nd are themselves of stone. They are said, believe, to be the remains of some monastic uil dings; but that does not account for the ile bonding. L.

CHARLES I.: HIS PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.

(10 S. vii. 169.)

IN 1633 Sir Henry Wotton composed a Latin address in which he congratulated the ving on his safe return from Scotland. The Diece is printed in the ' Reliquiae Wot- .onianae ' (fourth ed., 1685), and bears the bllowing title : ' Ad Regem e Scotia rleducem Henrici Wottonii Plausus et Vota.' A translation " by a friend of the author " s added, from which I will make two quota- ions. On p. 145 we read :

"Then were advanced to you such who faithfully nstructed in learning that youth of yours, as yet .inapt for business. Then such were sent for who, as your strength increased, dressed you in the exercises of the Horse ; which I call to mind with low graceful a dexterity you managed : until afterwards at a solemn Tilting, I became uncertain whether you strook into the beholders more Joy or Apprehension."

On pp. 156-7 Charles's personal appear- ance is thus described :

" I may say your stature is next a just propor- tion ; your body erect and active ; your colour or complexion hath generally drawn more from the white Rose of York than the red of Lancaster ; your hair nearer brown than yellow; your brow proclaimeth much fidelity ; a certain verecuridious generosity graceth your eyes, not such as we read of Sylla, out of Pompey ; in your gestures nothing of affectation ; in your whole aspect no swelling, nothing boysterous, but an alluring and well be- coming suavity: your alacrity and vigour, the celerity of your motions discovers ; otherwise your affections are temperate, and demeanour well setled ; most firm to your purposes and promises, loving Truth, hating Vice ; Just, Constant, Coura- gious, and not simply so, but knowingly Good."

This excellent sketch is called a " true Portraicture in little " by the translator, who was, I have little doubt, no other than Izaak Walton, a great friend of Sir Henry Wotton. A likeness of the King is given in the volume, and, whether by Van Dyck or another, seems to have been honestly drawn.

In Roger Coke's interesting work ' A Detection of the Court and State of England ' (fourth ed., 1719) we find on pp. 412-13 of the first volume what follows :