Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/300

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. ix. APRIL 11,

read the Epistle and went back again, and then the other came forward to read the Gospel. Thus both Epistle and Gospel were read from the south side ; but this state of things came to an end when, early in 1872, the east end was curtained off and the altar brought forward. Before this, Canons Gre- gory and Liddon had been taking the east- ward position, and this is now the rule for all who celebrate at St. Paul's.

St. Paul's Cathedral. W ' A ' FBOST -

SIR R. L'ESTRANGE'S POEM ' THE LOYAL PRISONER ' (10 S. i. 250 ; 11 S. ix. 201, 256). I w r as in error in saying that Lloyd's was the first version printed of this poem, and, indeed, was unaware that any bibliography of it had ever been attempted. .According to the ' Catalogue of the Thomason Tracts,' it appeared on 14 July, 1647, and was pub- lished with the two poems, ' Upon His Majesty's Coming to Holmby ' and the ' Panegyrick upon the Parliament. ' I should be glad to know whether L'Estrange was the author of these two also. The press- mark for this tract is E 398 (12). Accord- ing to the same ' Catalogue,' the verses ' Upon His Majesty's Coming to Holmby ' were published separately on 12 May, 1647 (press-mark 669, f. 11 [11]), as a broadside. The verses must have been composed there- fore prior to these dates, and when L'Estraiige was in prison for his attempt to rescue Lynn.

According to one of the Royalist Mer- curies of 1648 (I think Dogmaticus or Aulicus, written by S. Sheppard), Lovelace was amongst those imprisoned in " Peter- house " as suspected of a share in the Kent rising. Later in the same year Elencti- cus stated that "Captain Lovelace" was among the loyal residents in Gray's Inn who had compelled his opponent " Britannicus " (John Hall the poet) to shift his quarters, or, as Elencticus put it, " unkennelled the vermine." J. B. WILLIAMS.

SHILLETO (11 S. ix. 71, 136, 212). The Robert " de Sigillo " who witnessed the charter of Hugh de Laval to Pontefract would probably be Robert of the Seal (Keeper of the Great Seal under the Chan- cellor), afterwards Bishop of London. In the latter part of Henry I.'s reign he wit- nessed many charters as " Robertus de Sigillo." Should the date assigned to the Pontefract charter, printed as 1621, read 1121 or 1126?* The latter date would be more probable for an attestation by Robert. [* Vide Corrigendum, p. 260.]

The contributor who referred to ' The- Norman People ' may have overlooked MR. A. S. ELLIS'S warning that this book is not reliable (11 S. viii. 235). For a much longer and stronger denunciation of it, see Dr. Round's article in The Ancestor, ii. 165- 174. Probably PROF. WEEKLEY could ex- plain the origin of Shilleto.

G. H. WHITE. St. Cross, Harlestou, Norfolk.

TYING LEGS AFTER DEATH : OTHER DEATH FOLK - LORE (11 S. ix. 128, 196, 236). My memory of customs connected with death comes from a Derbyshire village in which all the people were full of old fads- and notions. The first time I was taken into a death -chamber, as a frightened child, my parent told me that no dead body could do harm, as the spirit had gone out of it. The body had just been " laid out," having placed under the heels a big family Bible, which I was told would remain there until the body "was stiffened." The hands were folded on the breast, a spray of " box " in the fingers. Just .above the folded hands was a green turf a "sod," it was called laid on a white napkin, and on this was a saucer filled with salt, which, I was after- wards told, was to keep the body fresh. Round the chin was a white cloth tied in a knot on the top of the head, and the " laying - out woman " was in the act of laying two- penny pieces on the eyelids ; but she could not make them keep in position. This frightened me most of all, for the right eye seemed to be glaring at me ; and the woman said to the rest in the room : " Hey's lowkin' fer th' next un." And again I was told that if the eye would not close it was because the dead man " was waiting to see the next one to die."

On the day of burial a table was set outside the cottage door, on which were set a bowl of box and yew sprays, a plateful of bread (each slice cut in four), half a cheese, a plateful of plum cake, a bottle of home-made wine, a large jug of beer, and various glasses and wineglasses most of the latter, as well as the white table-cover, having been lent by my mother. When the funeral folk assembled about the door, having been bidden by the "laying -out woman," the bowl of box and yew sprays was offered round, and each person took a piece. Then a tray of funeral cakes was brought out of the house in packets. Each packet con- tained two cakes wrapped in white paper, on which was printed a suitable verse of poetry. Each guest, including also the