Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/89

 10 s. VIIL JULY 27, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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knighted in Ireland by the Earl of Essex 30 July, 1599); nor the Sir John Harington ('D.N.B.,' xxiv. 388) knighted 9 Jan., 1584, who afterwards became 1st Baron Harington of Exton ; nor the Sir John Harington ('D.N.B.,' xxiv. 389) created a Knight of the Bath 5 Jan., 1604, who was afterwards 2nd Baron Harington of Exton ; but Sir John Harington of Bagworth and Elmsthorpe (both in Leicestershire), first cousin of the Sir John last named, being the son of Sir Henry Harington (knighted 24 April, 1578), who was fourth son of Sir James Harington of Exton (knighted in June, 1565). This Sir John Harington is stated in Harl. Soc. Publ. iii. 39 to have died in Ireland. I think he must be the John Harington, described as of Yorks, knighted 11 May, 1603. For his daughter see Cokayne's ' Complete Peerage,' iii. 405.

JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

CROSBY HALL (10 S. vii. 481 ; viii. 30). At this critical period in the history of Crosby Hall it may be desirable to furnish a few additional data both as to its history and associations and as to Crosby himself.

In 1827 the magnificent hall was occupied by a packer, and in The Mirror of 19 May in that year there is an illustration of the house, evidently as it was some time before the restoration which was superintended by Blackburn the architect in 1834. In the latter year was published ' The Graphic Illustrator,' by Edward W. Brayley, F.S.A., who on p. 80 supplies a similar illustration in a slightly different aspect. There is another illustration of Crosby House in S. R. Clarke's ' Vestigia Anglicana,' 1826.

Crosby's will has been printed at length in Gough's ' Sepulchral Monuments,' Ap- pendix IV., where will also be found engrav- ings of the figures of Sir John and his lady on the tomb (see also Stothard's ' Monu- mental Effigies ').

The site of the house or " Crosby Place," as it was called is still known as Crosby Square, leading into Crosby Street and St. Mary Axe. Elmes says of the Hall that the roof is carved and scientifically con- structed, and is a study of the art, both hall and rooms below being still used (1831) as warehouses by a packer. " Zigzag " gives a rambling account of the tomb of Sir John " Crosbie " in St. Helen's Church, Bishops- gate Within, in The Illustrated Family Journal ; but he does not apparently allude to the inscription. This in " Aleph's " (Dr. Harvey's) time had long been ob- literated (see his ' London Scenes,' 1863,

p. 313) ; but in Weever's * Funerall Monu- ments,' p. 421, it is given in full, as follows :

Margarete, & Johanne liberorum eiusdem Johannis Crosby militis : ille obiit 1475, & ilia 1466, quorum animabus propitietur Deus."

Weever follows Stow in regarding as fabulous the tradition of Crosby having been a foundling and illegitimate.

The old archway leading to Great St. Helens (not, however, strictly an archway, but a passage under houses supported upon beams of timber) disappeared in 1895, I think. It is said to have occupied the site of the old gateway of St. Helen's Priory. There is an illustration of it in The Daily Graphic of 22 June, 1895.

Other references either to the Hall or to Crosby's monument are A. J. Kempe, F.S.A., in The Gentleman's Magazine, June, 1832 ; Strype's ' Stow ' ; Maitland's ' London ' ; Pennant's ' London ' ; Gough's ' Camden ' ; Thomas Cromwell's ' Walks through Isling- ton,' 1835, p. 31 et seq., with regard to Sir John Spencer's occupation of Crosby Place ; and Hutton's ' Literary Landmarks ' (Lon- don), v. Philip Sidney.

The brick tower of All Saints' Church, Theydon (Garnon), near Epping, commonly known there as Coopersale Church, has in its turret a winding staircase, and appears to have been, to judge from the inscription on it, built by Sir John Crosby. Though the inscription is much obliterated, the following parts can be deciphered :

" Syr iohn Crosbe Knyght late alderman and

grocer of london and a[lsoe] of dame anne and

annesf?] his wyfe of whos godys was gevyn li

toward the making of thys stepyl ob grae dni

ihu."

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

Mr. C. W. F. Goss is librarian (and a very energetic one, too) of that splendid educational establishment the Bishopsgate Institute. He is ever ready to show the treasures of his iconographic collection, which is especially rich in manuscripts, books, prints, &c., about London. In 1901 he printed a ' Descriptive Catalogue of the Books in the Lending Library,' extending to upwards of one thousand columns. His " brief synopsis of each book or some infor- mation concerning the standpoint from which it was written," and his criticisms, are always interesting ; but I object to them, because they make one want to read the books, to accomplish which would require life to be begun over again. RALPH THOMAS.