Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/187

 ii s. v. FEB. 24, M2.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

151

EXCHEQUER TALLIES.

(11 S. v. 26.)

I NOTICE that R. B. draws attention to two communications having reference to this subject. Perhaps I am hardly the person who should mention a third ; nevertheless I venture to do so, as it is useful for reference and might otherwise be forgotten.

On 2 July, 1902, I read a paper before members of the Archaeological Institute entitled ' Exchequer Annuity Tallies,' which appeared, with illustrations, in their Journal., vol. lix. The occasion of this was the opening in the previous year, at Martin's Bank, 68, Lombard Street, of a box that had been in the hands of the firm for a period so long that no one knew how it came there or what mystery might be concealed within. In fact it contained, not only about forty Exchequer tallies, but also documents proving that these tallies related to thirteen different annuities for ninety-nine years, varying in amount from 01. to 501. , the total being 3401. The annuities were mostlv of the years 1705 and 1706, but one dated from 1703, while two were of the year 1707.

Between 1756 and 1759 inclusive the tallies had belonged to a customer, Alexander Eustace, of Berkeley Square and Bath, who paid about 7,OOOZ. for them, or an average of about 20 years' purchase. He died in 1783. His man of business, afterwards his executor, was George Bryans, by whom probably the wooden box, with its conterits, was deposited. The annuities were collected by the Martin firm. When they lapsed, the box remained, and was forgotten.

On the occasion of the reading of my paper examples of this remarkable series were exhibited ; and through the kindness of Lord Avebury, the late Sir Charles Lawes Wittewronge, and Mr. C. Trice Martin, I was also enabled to show (1) an East India Company's tally; (2) some tallies attached to a bailiff's roll of the Abbot of Westminster's Manor of Wheathampstead. Hertfordshire, all dated 7 Edward I., or 1279-80 ; and (3) the fac- simile of an early thirteenth - century example, once belonging to a Kentish Jew. They, of course, had no connexion with the Exchequer, but mediaeval tallies were in general use for matters of account, this

being a simple and secure way of giving to unlettered persons a receipt, or a promise to pay.

To return to comparatively modern times, Dr. Garth (speaking of tallies as negotiable articles) says : " The only talents in esteem at present are those in Exchange Alley. One tally is worth a grove of bays." And Swift caps this with the following lines :

From his rug the skewer he takes, And on the stick two equal notches makes ; With just resentment flings it on the ground. " There ! take my tally for a thousand pound."

For further information about tallies see The Mirror, vol. xxiv., 1834, where the burning of the Houses of Parliament is also described. The fire was caused by the careless destruction of disused Exchequer tallies in the principal stove of the House of Lords. Doubtless much information can be found else\vhere about Exchequer tallies, which, as I have indicated, form only a por- tion of the entire subject.

PHILIP NORMAN.

BEQUEST OF "BIBLES: LORD W T HABTON (US. iv. 449; v. 56). Philip, LordWharton (1613-96), was, like his father, a Puritan. He was one of the representatives of the Lords in the Westminster Assembly of Divines. After the Restoration he retired to the country and took an active interest in the spread of evangelical religion. For years he pre- sented, under specified conditions, to the children and servants in Yorkshire, Westmor- land, Cumberland, and Berks (where his estates were), copies of the Bible and the ' Westminster Shorter Catechism,' and gave as prizes two works by Puritan ministers. By a trust deed executed 1692, he provided for the carrying on of this work, as well as tor the preaching of sermons in ten named towns each year by ministers who used " conceived prayers.'' The rents of pro- serties in Yorkshire were to supply the necessary funds. The seven original trustees were all Non-conformists ministers and aymen. The trust was diligently adminis- tered for many years. But during the
 * oldness and carelessness of the eighteenth
 * entury members of the Church of England

jecame trustees, and the number increased surely Anglican charity.
 * ill there was not a Non-conformist in the
 * rust, and it was dealt with as if it were a

The attention of the Charity Commis- ioners was called to this in 1894 by the Rev. Bryan Dale. M.A., Congregational minister, Bradford. The Commissioners were unable o secure a satisfactory arrangement with