Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/185

 n s.x. AUG. 29, i9i4.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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that same year member of Parliament for prrliy, these being sons of Sir Thomas Lyster, Knt.. who was living in 1272. John Lyster iiii leased the wealth and importance of the family by his marriage with an heiress, Isabel de Boltnn, who brought him Midhope, Rimington, (iislnirne, and Clitheroe lands on the banks of the Ribble which her descendants have held ever since. Fourth in descent from John and Isabel de Bolton comes Christopher Lyster of Midhope, whose two sons, William and Thomas, were the progenitors of the two main branches of the house of Lister those with which Mr. Denny has been principally occupied. The descendants of the second son have, on the whole, done most, as they have become most numerous. Jane Lyster, the daughter of Thomas, was, by her marriage with John Alan of Rossall, the mother of Cardinal Alan, the distinguished sixteenth-century scholar. Jane's brother, another Thomas, married a Wi'Mliy, and from Thomas, his eldest son, come the Listers of Gisburne, the Lords Ribblesdale, and the Listers of Armitage, as well as, through a second grandson, the Listers of Manningham ; while from his second son, Anthony of Newsholme, is derived the interesting line of the Lysters of Boscommon. This Anthony's youngest son, Walter, went to Ireland as secretary to Judge Osbaldeston, and married his daughter Debora, thus bringing into the Lyster family the blood of half the royal houses in Europe which, indeed, was to be reinvigorated as the generations went on by union with more than one other lady of royal descent.

Mr. Denny has added to particulars of marriages, progeny, and deaths such interesting details of the life and character of individuals as he has been able to get together, and the careers of the Ros- common Lysters are among the liveliest. Anthony Lister, son of Walter, married a Miss Blood, who with her five children was murdered in 1641 by the Irish insurgents. Anthony himself, the story goes, was saved by being hidden in an " oven " by the ready-witted nurse of his children which " oven," it has been conjectured, was a round, hollow mound, of which several are found in groups in that part of the country. A delightful boy must have been Thomas Mark Lyster true son, too, of an impetuous father who died at the age of 23, but contrived before that to meet little Miss Henrietta Bourke, aged 14, who had been reprimanded at school, and had run away crying. Heating what was the matter, Thomas Mark, ex- claiming, " No one will ever scold you again," carried her off and married her then and there. The uncle of Thomas Mark, Anthony Lyster, through whom the line descends, also made a, romantic marriage, having for wife a beautiful Rirl called " Anna McLellan," reputed to have been a daughter of Princess Amelia Sophia : her father, one of her grandsons used to say, would never be known. The eldest son of these ha'l a pleasant adventure as a young man. Or.lerr-d by the War Office to go to Leith to reeruit there for his regiment, he embarked with his wife and child in a sailing vessel, which was wrecked off the Fame Island Rocks. After nearly losing the child, they were rescued by the brothers of Grace Darling, and taken to Bam- borough Castle, where they stayed as guests of Ardnloacon Thorpe. There they met two under- graduates (Henry Temple and William Lamb),

who arrived " with their vacation knapsacks filled chiefly with books, on their backs." \ friendship sprang up between them and the Listers, and they all seem to have made their way back to London as strolling players. When Temple had become Lord Palmerston and Lamb Lord Melbourne, the friendship grew to have no little value for Lister, shown chiefly in the bestowal of commissions in the army on his numerous sons.

From William, Christopher Lister's elder son come the Listers of Thornton and Burwell, and the Listers of Skelbrooke, now known as Neviles. These have intermarried, as every genealogist is aware, with many ancient and well-known, tamihes, and in the seventeenth century attained to some distinction in medicine and natural science: witness Sir Matthew Lister, faithfuF servant of Charles I., and Dr. Martin Lister,, author of the ' Historia sive Synopsis Methodic,-* Conchyliorum.'

The surname was undoubtedly borne by several families who were not connected with the "ancient house here in question, and Mr. Denny has collected pedigrees and biographies illustrating no fewer than fifteen which may be taken as independent. Among them is the family of the one Lister who has given the name its widest renown, the great surgeon whose discovery of the cause of the suppuration of wounds and inven- tion of antiseptic surgery have revolutionized the whole treatment of wounds. His ascendants are traced up to a Bryan Lister of Bingley in York- shire, who was buried in 1607.

The book is illustrated with numerous highly interesting portraits, some of which deserved,, however, to be better reproduced. The excellent plan of the book, the carefully accumulated in formation of collateral interest, and the un- usual liveliness of the way in which the different matters are set out are worth some special praise^ t should prove of real use and value to the- student of genealogy, and also a source of enter- tainment to the general reader. Indeed, Mr. Denny may consider himself rewarded for what mast have been prolonged and often somewhat arduous labour by the knowledge that he has produced one of the most notable books of its, kind.

Chats on Housefiold Curio/). By F. W. Burgess,

(Fisher Unwin, 5s. net.)

THIS is the sixteenth of the series of these use- ful books, and may be regarded as a companion to the 'Chats on Copper and Brass.' Mr. Burgess has, with his wonted industry, made diligent search for examples among public collections- and private friends, and the numerous illustra- tions show with what good result.

The " Ingle side," being the central attraction in British homes, naturally has first place ; and the tinder box is naturally one of the most prominent curios. Mr. Burgess gives the date of the lucifer match as 18'JO, but we do not think it came into general use before 1834. It is remarkable that it was not until about 1860 a match that would light only on the box was introduced by Messrs. Bryant & May.

The subject of table appointments (knives, forks, and spoons) gives occasion for much folk- lore, as does the punch-bowl, which until recent