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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. i. APR. 23, 1910.

GEORGE ABBOT, M.P., THE PURITAN.

THE parentage of this otherwise well-known M.P. for Tamworth in the Long Parliament has never been ascertained, nor anything of his origin beyond the fact that he was of Yorkshire extraction. Foster's ' Alumni Oxon.'' states that he was born in Middlesex, and was the son or grandson of a Sir Thomas Abbot of Easington, Yorks, Knight, and this is accepted by the ' D.N.B.' So far, how- ever, I have failed to trace the existence of any such knight, and should be glad of evidence. George Abbot's will unfor- tunately throws but little light upon his own family connexions, but is interesting in itself, so is here subjoined in abstract :

George Abbott, now of Caldeoott, co. Warwick : 21 Sept., 1647. To be buried in the. church at Caldecote if I Jdie at or near ; if not, where I decease. 52. annually to the minister of Badsley, in Warwick. Four annuities of 20s. during the lives of my mother and father-in-law, Col. Purefoye. 21. to those who helped to defend the house, now living at Hinkley. 10Z. to my cousin Lattice Farmer. 101. to my kinswoman Sarah Smart. " All my written books and papers that are of divinity to my uncle Ralph Purefoy, and those that are of other subjects to my father- in-law." Certain other books to uncle. Those by Dr. Sibbs and Mr. Hooker's works, and those on history and physics, I give to my mother. " I give 51. to my said uncle to buy him Sibbs' and Hooker's works and to make him shelves to set his books on." " I make my honoured mother Mistress Joane Purefoy, wife to Col. William Purefoy, executor." Also gives her house and lands at Badsley, Warwick, and asks her to reward the servants. " Also my house, &c., in Conny Street, commonly called Lendinge Street, in York for ever." " Also the house and lands I have by conveyance from my grand- father Vrinckton [?], lying and being at Corne- borough neere Sheriff Hutton in Yorkshire, or in the county or the citty of Yorke, I know not well which." To my honoured father-in-law Col. William Purefoy of Caldecott, after my mother's death, all the houses and lands in Badsley and Cornborough. 4Z. 10s. for ever per annum " for a school at Badsley to teach boys and girls to read English perfectly, and say by Hart Mr. Ball's litle Catechism." The like sum to Caldecott for the same purpose. Sums for school-books. After the death of my mother and father-in-law lands, &c., in Badsley to Daniel Birfield, servant to my father-in-law. Several legacies of 80L, 40Z., &c., to friends. Also money to the ministers of Caldecott to buy Bibles and Hooker's works and Ball's large Catechism. George Williams, my kinsman. My cousin Thomas Bourchier, Es^., that married my cousin Pickering. To school at Bishops Hill, York, &c. Col. William Purefoy executor. Proved in London 21 April, 1649 [54 Fairfax].

Testator's "father-in-law'* (or rather stepfather), the well-known Col. Purefoy of Caldecott, M.P. for Coventry in the Long

Parliament, married Joane, daughter and heir of Aleyn Penckeston of the city of York. It is evident that this lady was a widow when she married Purefoy, and that George Abbot was her son by her first husband. Not improbably the ' ' grandfather " whose somewhat indecipherable name seems in the will to read " Vrinckton n should be Penckes- ton. George Abbot seems to have been an only child, and was probably brought up from his earliest years at Caldecott, where he died 2 Feb., 1648/9, aged forty-four, and where he was buried.

I have only to add that for the above- abstract of his will I am indebted to my friend Mr. A. Rhodes. W. D. PINK.

Lowton, Newton-le-Willows.

SHAKESPEARIANA.

' ROMEO AND JULIET s : THE EAEL OF SOUTHAMPTON (10 S. xi. 423 ; 11 S. i. 164). I thank DR. WHITEHEAD for his reply. It appears therefrom that the ' Diet. Nat. Biog.' is in error in stating (Ixiii. 153) that the parents of the third Earl of Southampton who was the dedicatee of the two Shake- speare poems were married 19 Feb., 1565/6. The correct date is "about May, 1569." This renders it more likely that the passage in ' Romeo and Juliet,* I. v. 32-42, refers to this marriage, which is therein stated to- have taken place on Pentecost. Pentecost (Whitsunday) occurs forty-nine days after Easter Sunday. In the year in question, 1569, Easter fell on 10 April (see ' Whitaker's Almanack *), and Pentecost, consequently on 29 May the month now correctly given by DR. WHITEHEAD.

The year 1569 is also in agreement with my suggestion that this marriage is referred to in the tragedy, as a little calculation will show. The two old Capulets differ as to the number of years elapsed since the marriage, one stating " thirty years," the other " some five-and-twenty years.' 5 The latter clinches his point by stating that the son of Lucentio was twenty-three years old ("His son was but a ward two years ago "). As the third earl was born in 1573, we obtain, by adding these 23 years, the year 1596 as a definite basis for our calculation. Subtracting DR. WHITEHE AD'S year 1569 from 1596, we obtain 27 years, which agrees sufficiently well with the statement in the play " some five-and-twenty years. 5 '

Thus it appears that the following f data agree chronologically inter se, and