Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 11.djvu/243

 ii s. XL MAR. 20, i9i5.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

233

Holyoake claims to have been the originator of the idea of placing the light in the Clock Tower. Is it possible for any one to state the exact date when the light was first lighted ? W. HAYLER.

South Norwood. S.E.

A SCARBOROUGH WARNING (11 S. xi. 46, 95, 136, 158). The term " Scarborough warning i.e., no warning at all un- doubtedly came from the capture of the castle by Thomas Stafford in 1557. The facts of the affair are as follows : Stafford was the third son of Henry, Baron Stafford (son of Edward, Duke of Buckingham, who had been executed and attainted by Henry VIII. ), and Ursula de la Pole, the only daughter there were three sons of Sir Richard de la Pole (Chamberlain to Arthur, Prince of Wales) and Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, the eventual heiress of George, Duke of Clarence. He was a brave but reckless man, who had lived for some years on the Continent, where his restlessness was a continual source of trouble to his uncle, Cardinal Reginald de la Pole. Being a strong opponent of the "Spanish Marriage, and having discovered a plan of Philip of Spain to place large foreign garrisons in twelve of the most important English towns with a view to their terrorization, he obtained two ships and certain financial aid from the King of France, and suddenly made his, up to a certain point, successful descent upon Scar- borough. He declared himself Protector of the Realm, and had he been able to carry out his scheme of expelling Philip and Mary, he was to have married the Lady Elizabeth, afterwards Queen. Being eventually cap- tured, however, by his cousin the Earl of Westmorland, whose mother was a daughter of the Duke of Buckingham, he was brought to London, tried, and executed. His body was quartered and boiled. Queen Mary was in so great a hurry to declare war upon Louis that she sent over her representative without proper credentials, a fact which, as the minister he first interviewed in Paris pointed out, would have justified his being hanged ! He, however, received some hand- some presents from the Gallic sovereign, though hostilities broke out, Calais being retaken by the French in the following year. There is an old poem, some 200 lines in length, in the ' Harleian Miscellany ' which describes the daring attempt of Thomas Stafford to upset the Government. Tenny- son also alludes to it in his ' Queen Mary.' The * Dictionary of National Biography,' ' Venetian Papers,' Stone's ' Life of Queen

Mary,' ' Memoirs of Jane Dormer, Duchess-- of Feria,' Strype's ' Memorials,' Brennan' ' History of the House of Percy,' and other works have accounts of this turbulent member of a famous fighting line, who r during one of his periods of retirement from the trouble he had stirred up, resided at the Court of the King of Poland as an honoured guest. E. STAFFORD.

10, Moreton Place, S.W.

The following extract from ' The Harleian Miscellany,' vol. x. p. 257, would appear to- settle the question as to the origin of thi^- phrase. The ' Breefe Balet ' contains twelve stanzas of seven lines each, but the first of these only has been copied, as this will suffice to produce the foot-notes elucidating the point inquired about.

" A Breefe Balet, touching the traytorou* Takynge of Scarborow Castel.* Imprinted at London in Fleete strete by Thomas Powell. Cum privelegio ad imprimendum soluni.

Oh, valient invaders, gallantly gaie,

Who, with your compeeres, conqueringe the- route,

Castels or tow'rs, all standynge in your waie, Ye take, controlling all estates most stoute, Yet had it now bene goode to looke aboute,

Scarborow Castel to have let alone,

And take Scarborow f warnynge everichone."

The following extract from Camden's^ ' Britannia,' vol. iii. p. 250, likewise deal* with Thomas Stafford :

" I need not here mention the daring bravery of Thomas Stafford, who, with a very few French- men, as if he thought it meritorious even to fail' in a bold attempt, surprised this castle in Queen Mary's time, and held it two days, nor Shirleis,. a French nobleman who accompanied him, and was tried and convicted of high treason, though a foreigner, for breaking his allegiance, the two

et 4 P. et M.' MS. note in the black-letter copy from which it is reprinted."
 * '"By Thomas Stafford, 24 Aprilis 1557 an &

f " A ' Scarborough Warning,' according to Fuller, was no warning at all, but a sudden surprise when a mischief is felt before it be suspected. He adds, from Godwin's Annals, that this proverb took its origin from Thomas Stafford (second son of Lord Stafford), who, in the reign of Queen Mary, anno 1557, with a small company of men from France, landed in Scotland, raised an insurrection,, marched onward and seized upon Scarborough Castle before the townsmen had the least notice of his approach. There he published a manifesto- against the Queen, and assumed the title of ' Protector of England.' However, within six days Scarborough was retaken by troops as- sembled under the Earl of Westmorland, and Stafford was made prisoner, brought to London, and beheaded. See Fuller's ' Worthies of York- shire,' also Holinshed, Stowe, Burnet, Rapin* &c."