Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/564

 466

NOTES AND QUERIES, no s. vm. DEC. u, 1007.

or they are not. If they are held to be genuine, then no grant is thought neces- sary ; but, if not, then a new grant must issue.

This view of the heralds he can under- stand ; but a confirmation of arms he regards as an official recognition of a false coat, and therefore an altogether irregular pro- ceeding. I fancy, however, that I can satisfactorily account for this procedure. When arms first came into vogue, and armorial science was in its infancy, people took whatever arms they pleased, without reference to any authority, and this was called bearing arms by assumption. These arms of assumption were continued by their descendants, and this continuation was called " prescription" or "user."

The Heralds' College was a later inven- tion ; and what, therefore, could be more natural than that, when a claimant to a coat of arms contrived to establish a pedigree in the College books, showing his lineal male descent from an ancestor who used prescriptive arms prior to the founda- tion of the College of Arms itself, the heralds' officials should acknowledge the claim ? What else could they do ? As time passes, of course the proving a title to arms by prescription becomes ever more and more difficult. OLIVER COLLINS.

BETHLEHEM HOSPITAL : OUTFIT OF IN- MATES. A recent reference on the part of MB. HOLDEN MACMICHAEL to this famous old-time charitable foundation (ante, p. 293, s.v. " Sham Abraham ") reminds me of a small printed notice I found some time since in looking through the papers con- tained in a City church chest. The following is a transcript of it :

BKTHLEM HOSPITAL.

ORDERED, That the Apparel wanting for the Patients, may be provided by their Friends ; but, if not done, the Steward shall furnish what the Weekly Committee shall order at the following Prices :

For MEN. For WOMEN.

I- d. I. s. d.

A Coat 16 6 A Blanket Gown 10 6

A Waistcoat 6 4 A Gown and Petti-

A Pair of Breeches coat 19

A Shirt 3 11 An Under Petti-

A Pair of Shoes 4 6 coat 3 3

A Pair of Stockings 2 3 A Shift 3 4

A Cap 10 A Pair of Shoes 3 1

A Blanket Gown 10 6 A Pair of Stockings 1 10 A Strait Waist- A Cap 1

coat 13 6 A Handkerchief 1 3

Buckles 8 An Apron 2 2

Buckles 8

The notice itself is undated, but bears a written receipt on the back for some 52.

worth of goods, dated 1780. The document measures 8 in. by 7 in., which seems to have been a favourite size for printed bills, receipts, &c., at this period.

WILLIAM MCMURRAY.

WORDSWORTH AND BROWNING. As it is common to note parallels of thought that occur in the works of distinguished writers, it may be permissible to mention here a remarkable contrast presented in the methods by which two eminent poets approach the same mysterious and impressive theme.

In the autumn of 1802 Wordsworth composed on the beach near Calais the sonnet "It is a beauteous evening, calm and free." After dwelling upon the tranquil sunset and the gentleness of heaven over the face of the waters, he suddenly exclaims :

Listen ! the mighty Being is awake, And doth with his eternal motion make A sound like thunder everlastingly.

The quick transition from the contemplation of the peaceful scene to the thought of the omnipresent Deity, while almost startling in its apparent abruptness, is really a legitimate sequence of thought, and forms a comple- mentary and crowning culmination to what precedes. The very silence, to the poet's sensitive ear, is permeated with the sound which evinces eternal energy and super- vision. As one seldom sees a reference to this dignified and reverent meditation on the cosmogony, it is probably safe to infer that Wordsworth's sonnets have ceased to be widely read.

On the other hand, Browning's song in ' Pippa Passes,' telling in rough, homespun fashion that " the year's at the spring " and so forth, appears to be a favourite with the religious writer of these days. It is seldom quoted in full, or considered with reference to its dramatic setting ; but its closing lines,

God's in His heaven All's right with the world,

have reached the distinction that marks the standard quotation. As a simple, colloquial formula this presents no such metaphysical difficulties as have to be en- countered in any attempt to grasp Words- worth's significant commentary, and thus it has quickly become a common possession, while the other is left for the discovery of the specialist. THOMAS BAYNE.

CHURCH PROPERTIES. The note ante, p. 201, reminds me that there is a beautiful " English thirteenth-century wroiight-iron grille " from Chichester Cathedral at the