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NOTES AND QUERIES. tii s. v. JAN. 13, 1912.

If these notes prove interesting, I shall only be too glad to follow them up with others, pointing out some of the more important allusions and references to, and imitations and criticisms of, Shakespeare which are to be found in Italian literature. PAUL L. FALZON.

Malta.

FRANCES, DUCHESS OF SUFFOLK, AND ADRIAN STOKES. (See 1 S. vi. 128, 225 ; xii. 451.) In ' The Nine Days' Queen,' "by Richard Davey, p. 352, it is stated that the Duchess,

" Lady Jane's strange and untender mother, did not, as might have been expected, even in those unfeeling times, go into retirement after the bloody deaths of her daughter, son-in-law, husband, and brother-in-law, but within a fortnight, and on the very day that Lord Thomas Grey was arraigned (9th March, 1554), not, as some writers say, the day that he was executed, she married her late husband's Groom of the Chambers, a red- ihaired lad of middle-class origin, fifteen years her junior, one Mr. Adrian Stokes."

On referring to 1 S. vi. 225 I find an extract from Potter's ' Charnwood Forest,' p. 79, as follows :

" The Duchess, after the death of her husband

(beheaded February 23rd, 1553/4) afterwards

enjoyed much tranquillity and domestic happiness .... in a second matrimonial connexion with Mr. Adrian Stocks, who had been her Master of the Horse .... they were married March 1st, 1554/5."

If this statement is correct, just a year and a week had elapsed. Mr. Davey, in a foot- note, refers to 'N. & Q.,' 1 S. xii. 451. Miss Agnes Strickland has the date 24 Feb., 1553/4, for the execution, and 9 March, 1553/4, for the remarriage. Both Miss Strickland and Mr. Davey mention a paint- ing, portraits of the Duchess and Mr. Stokes, dated 1554, with their ages thereon, 36 ^and 21 respectively.

In 'Acts of the Privy Council, 1547-50,' .at p. 439, there is a list of officers, &c., at Newhaven (Havre), 6 Feb., 1546, under Lord Stourton, wherein Adrean Stokes appears as " Mareschall " at 13s. 4d. per diem. At p. 294, 4 Feb., 1546/7, the "Council" at Newhaven consisted of Wil- liam Lord Stourton, Sir Richard Cavendish and Adrian Stockes. There is also at p. 373

" 28 January, 1549, a Warrant ordered to be issued to pay to Adryan Stokes, late Marshall -of Newhaven, CLXX U for his wages at xiijs. iiijd. by day, and his ten men at vid. the day, from the xxij" d of February last untill the xvii th of August following."

Again, p. 414, Lord John Grey, late Deputy &t Newhaven, and Adryan Stokes, lat Marshal, are referred to.

Now if Adrian was 21 in 1554, as stated in the picture, he would be only 14 in 1546/7, a very early age, even in those days, 'or one of " middle-class origin " to be associated with a Council, and to fill the office of Marshal. Is it not just possible that the Marshal may have been father of the husband of the Lady Frances, and that through his influence the younger Stokes became Groom of the Chambers to the late Duke ?

Mr. Davey in a foot-note, p. 353, suggests that Adrian was a son or near relation of John Stokes, the Queen's brewer.

R. J. FYNMORE.

Sandgate.

TALLIES: THE EXCHEQUER. "It may surprise people to learn that not more than 85 years have passed since tallies were the accepted and only form of receipt for money paid into the National till. " So strong is precedent, and so conservative in its methods is a government department, that this sys- tem went on without much alteration for nearly eight hundred years. Useful as tallies may have been in Norman and Plan- tagenet times, their continued employment after banks and cheques had become common may well excite our wonder. The last wooden tally of the Exchequer was struck on October 10, 1826" ; and the system finally came to an end with the burning of the Houses of Parliament in 1834.

The few words above are extracted from a paper by Sir Ernest Clarke in the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society for Decem- ber, 1911. Another paper on the same sub- ject, from the pen of Mr. Hilary Jenkinson, appeared recently in Archceologia, vol. Ixii. ; and it may perhaps be useful that these two contributions, containing so many valuable notes on the subject, should be recorded in the pages (and Index) of 'N. & Q.,' with previous references on the same topic.

R. B.

Upton.

[See 8 S. i. 174, 233, 359, 520; 10 S. v. 305.]

BRINSOP COURT. It may be noted that this fine Herefordshire house and the estate have been bought by Sir Richard Sutton, and it is understood that the new owner meditates a minute and thorough restoration. This beautiful residence, though it fell long ago from its former high estate, has been for many years in good hands, and the vandalism of the year 1800, approximately, when a tower was taken down to build a stable wall, as it is stated, has in no way been repeated, and happily