Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/93

 ii s. VL JULY 27, i9i2.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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in the same place, &c. The supposition that these signatures are by two law clerks is most extraordinary, and is not supported by evidence of any kind.

5. Upon examining the signatures upon the will, I have no hesitation in saying that they are genuine. The body of the will is written in a legal hand. The signatures are obviously true signatures.

6. This is not so ; the words are " In witness whereof I have hereunto put my hand, the day and year first abovewritten." The word " seal " being crossed out, with the word "hand " written above it, shows that the document was signed, but not sealed. There is no seal attached. The publishing took place later.

7. It seems to me clear that the six state- ments made by Sir Edwin Durning Lawrence do not tally with the facts, or with the opinions of the many careful students who have devoted years to the study of docu- ments and records of the Tudor period.

The tests brought forward by Sir Edwin are not the only tests. There are, for instance, other signatures, not attached to legal documents, and these must also be considered. One at least seems genuine, and corresponds with the six.

WILLIAM SALT BBASSINGTON.

Stratford-upon-Avon.

FAMILIES : DUBATION IN MALE LINE (11 S. v. 27, 92, 132, 174, 213, 314, 355, 415, 473, 496). In reply to the question of CUBIOUS at the penultimate reference, I may say that Dr. Round showed in his paper on ' The Families of St: John and of Port ' (Genealogist, N.S., xvi. 1-13) that the St. Johns of Basing descended in the male line from Hugh de Port, Lord of Basing in 1086 ; but he did not investigate the alleged descent of the St. Johns of Bletsho from the house of Basing. However, he evidently thought it not improbable, and genealogists will echo his remark that " it is greatly to be wished that a pedigree so exceptionally fine should be placed beyond cavil by the pub- lication of the proofs."

I did not know that an existing family of Daubeney claimed descent from a com- panion of the Conqueror, but any family of that name would naturally believe itself to be descended from one of the feudal houses named D'Aubigny. It is hardly likely that such a claim could be substantiated. The male descendants of the William d'Aubigny who may have fought at Hastings divided into four branches, which ended as follows : (1) D'Aubigny of Arundel Hugh, fifth

Earl of Arundel, died 1243 ; (2) De Mow- bray of Axholme John, fourth Duke of Norfolk, died 1476 ; (3) D'Aubigny of Cainhoe Robert d'Aubigny, died temp. Henry III. ; (4) D'Aubigny of Wishford Henry d'Aubigny, died 1278.

Another family of D'Aubigny (not con- nected with the above) split into two lines, which became extinct as follows : (1) D'Aubigny of Belvoir William d'Aubigny, died temp. Henry III. ; (2) D'Aubigny, corrupted into Daubeney Henry, Earl of Bridgewater, died 1548. G. H. WHITE.

St. Cross. Harleston. Norfolk.

While this subject is under discussion, I think passing allusion should be made to the last surviving Nottinghamshire family whereof male representatives flourish at the present day in the village wherefrom they derived their name to wit, the Elstons of Elston, near Newark. From at least the reign of Henry III., the family and village are continuously linked in numberless wills, inquisitions, &c., as well as throughout the parish registers. The case is none the less noteworthy from the circumstance that, though anciently patrons of the living, &c. r the family has now been, for centuries, in relatively humble circumstances, and con- sequently there has been no temptation to perpetuate the name, so to speak, arti- ficially. A. S.

"SLEEVELESS ERRAND " (11 S. v. 445; vi. 16). MB. WEEKLEY has come pretty close to what appears to be the true expla- nation of this term, which was first satisfac- torily explained in 1902 by Mr. R. Warwick Bond in his ' Complete Works of John Lyly,' iii. 583, as follows :

" Since printing that note [i.e., a note at i. 253, line 17, on " sleeueless excuse "] 1 have found the true explanation in a custom noted in the following passage from Lady Charlotte Guest's trs. of the ' Mabinogion' (Dream of Maxen Wledig) : ' Now this was the guise in which the messengers journeyed ; one sleeve was on the cap of each of them in front, as a sign that they were messengers, in order that through what hostile land soever they might pass no harm might be done to them.' Without the sleeve they might never be able to perform their errand. The Welsh princess on their arrival recog- nizes ' the badge of the envoys.' "

The term " sleeveless errand " will be found in 1618 (Beaumont and Fletcher, ' Works,' iv. 200), in 1664 (J. Wilson, 'Dramatic Works,' p. 149), in 1676 (G. Etheredge, ' Plays,' p. 333), in 1821 (Sir W. Scott, ' Letters,' ii. 112), and in J. R. Lowell's ' Poems,' ii. 105. ALBEBT MATTHEWS.

Boston, U.S.