Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/594

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. vi. DEC. 21, 1912.

TOPCLIFFE, THE RACK - MASTER OF THE TOWER.- Can any reader of ' N. & Q.' tell me where I can find the best account of Topcliffe, who was Rack - Master in the Tower in the time of Elizabeth ? I think there is a very scarce pamphlet entitled ' Some Account of Mr. Topcliffe,' by one of his victims, some extracts from which appeared in a Catholic paper several years ago ; but no doubt there are other accounts of this grim personage, who figures so prominently in Monsignor Benson's last book, ' Come Rack, Come Rope.' In a list of old pam- phlets I note ' An Apologie for Master Topcliffe,' but unfortunately neither date nor any further particulars are given.

FREDERICK T. HIBGAME.

23, Unthank Road, Norwich. . [There is a long account of Topcliffe in the 'D.N.B.,' the bibliography at the end of the article supplying many authorities, including several refer- ences to ' N. & Q.']

EXCISEMAN GILL. What is actually known of Exciseman Gill of the Ingoldsby legend ' The Smuggler's Leap ' ?

Come lower away, lads once on the hill, We '11 laugh ho ! ho ! at Exciseman Gill.

The note which heads the legend, taken from ' Supplement to Lewis's History of Thanet,' by the Rev. Samuel Pegge, 1796, says that he was " a riding officer from Sandwich " called Anthony Gill, and that he lost his life by falling over a chalk-pit at Acol whilst in pursuit of a smuggler. Is there any contemporary newspaper or magazine record relating to this affair, or is the date of the occurrence known ?

In The Kentish Companion for 1780, among the names of the Riding Officers of the Custom House at Folkestone, there appears " J. Gill." This cannot be the Exciseman Gill of the legend, for " Anthony Gill " is said to have belonged to the " early part " of the same century. G. H. W.

WILLIAM DARGAN. Can any of your readers inform me whether there has been written a biography of Wm. Dargan. 1799- 1857, who found the 100,000/. required for the Dublin Exhibition of 1853, and to whose memory the National Portrait Gallery in Dublin was erected ?

G. A. WOODROFFE PHILLIPS.

[Dargan is included in the 'D.N.B.,' authorities, as usual, being cited at the end.]

THE SYMBOLISM OF THE PENTALPHA. Will any correspondent indicate to me in what books or brochures I may find informa- tion on this subject ? J. H. R.

Hrplws.

DOOMS IN CHURCHES. (11 S. vi. 410.)

I SEND H. H. the following particulars, drawn partly from personal observation, partly from guide-books and local know- ledge, and the pages of The Archaeologist, The Gentleman's Magazine, and similar sources.

Doom pictures, or representations of the Day of Judgment, in fresco or painting, on the wall of the church or on wooden panelling, are to be found in Suffolk at Wenhaston and Yaxley ; at St. Michael's Church, St. Albans (part) ; Dawsworth in Cheshire ; Holy Trinity, Coventry ; Dawn- trey in Wilts (is this a misprint in The Archaeologist for Dauntsey ?) ; Chaldon in Surrey ; Mitcheldean, Gloucestershire ; and on the triforium of Gloucester Cathedral.

A Doom picture also occurs in the glass of the west window of Fairford Church and on the roof of Llandanwig, Merionethshire. On the roof of St. John the Baptist's Chapel, St. Mary's, Guildford, is, or was, a series of medallions, ascribed temp. Henry III., one of which represents St. Michael weighing souls in the scales.

This is probably not a complete list of the Dooms known to exist, though I have frequently been given a shorter list as " complete." Besides, a Doom picture is known to xist behind the whitewash of the Guild Chapel, Stratford-on-Avon ; traces of painted angels at Warlingham, Surrey, may have formed part of such a picture ; while the partitions above the rood-screen at Bushey, Herts, and Elling- ham, Hants, show signs of once being filled in this manner. I have heard that one was accidentally destroyed at Poslingford, Suf- folk. One was sold from Enfield Church, Middlesex, and one from Dartford, Kent. W T here are they now ?

The finest example I have seen is at Wenhaston. The picture is on panels, and was only revealed by accident about 1892. Before this discovery part of the panel (then whitewashed over) had been cut away to admit a stovepipe. The Doom has been removed from its right position, and is placed in the organ loft, where it is safe from damage, but not, unhappily, in a very good position for light. It measures 8 ft. 6 in. by about 17 ft. In this case Doom and Rood were connected, the picture being divided