Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/464

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. ix. JUNE e, isu.

his descent from the Phoenicians through variou Trojan, Persian, Indian, and Italian lines.

" His will directs that ' his faithful servant Sarah Farey and Emma Farey,' or the survivor o them, shall have the use, rent free, of 4, Uppe: Cheyne Row, Chelsea, for their private occupation and 21. a week during their joint lives, or the life of the survivor.

" In addition the testator has left detailec instructions for publication of ' a proper anc efficient biography, with illustrations, of my lif and travels.' "

The volume, when it appears, should be of considerable interest.

MARGARET LAVINGTON.

CASANOVA AISID HENRIETTE (11 S. ix 226, 277). Readers of ' N. & Q.' will be interested to know that the latest account of Casanova and Henriette is contained in chap. ii. ' Une " Inconnue " de Casanova of M. Charles Samaran's most erudite book entitled ' Jacques Casanova, Venetien : une Vie d'Aventurier au XVIII 6 Siecle ' (Paris, Calmann-Levy, 1914). M. Samaran's splendidly documented work contains no note respecting the Hotel des Balances, but the chapter in question is full of new infor- mation. At present the book is the last word in Casanoviana.

HORACE BLEACKLEY.

0n

Calendar of Coroners' Rolls of the City of London, A.D. 1300-1378. Edited by Reginald R. Sharpe, D.C.L. (Quaritch, 10s. 6d. net.)

How many people, we wonder, know that for some thirty years Dr. Sharpe has been making accessible the mass of varied information buried in the ancient records of the City ? He is, in the best sense of the word, a popularizer of history. His two massive volumes of Calendars of Wills proved in the Court of Husting, filled with details con- cerning the personal belongings of early City worthies, were succeeded by a long line of Calendars of Letter-Books, touching at many points notable events in the history of the country at large, as well as indicating how, through its commerce, London was brought into close intercourse with many important towns in France, Italy, and Flanders.

We have on previous occasions pointed out what interesting reading is to be found in original historical documents, and Dr. Sharpe's la.test volume affords ample illustration of the truth of our remark. The incidents recorded in its pages make the London of five or six centuries ago live again before our eyes. We learn (p. 56) how in 1322 a baby a month old, being left in its cradle with the shop door open, was bitten on the head by a sow that was wandering in the street. The mother came in and snatched up her baby, keeping it alive until midnight of the next day. Dr. Sharpe notes that pigs found wandering in the street were liable to be killed, and became

the property of the slaughterer unless redeemed by their owner by the payment of fourpence. A little girl, 3 years old, entered the house of

Thomas le Irysshman," fell into a vessel of hot water, and scalded herself so severely that she died three days later (p. 207). The schoolboy of those times was very near of kin to the boy of to-day. Richard, son of John le Mazon, aged eight, was walking across London Bridge to school, when he espied a beam on the side of the bridge. Boy-like, he could not pass it, but climbed on to it and hung from it by his hands. Unfortunately, his hands slipped, he fell into the river, and an inquest had to be held on him (p. 25).

Pigs ceased long ago to wander at will about the City, but deodands, which figure largely in this volume, lingered until the early years of Queen Victoria's regin. Dr. Sharpe iri his Intro- duction furnishes much curious information about them. In 1336 a certain sailor, being drunk and the tide being out, ascended the mast of his- vessel in the Thames by a rope, and in attempting to descend fell and killed himself. The jury found that his death was due solely to his drunkenness- and the rope, and that neither the ship nor any- thing belonging to it was moving. The rope, being the cause of death, was consequently for- feited as a deodand, its value being appraised by the jury at 10s. (p. 177). On Tuesday,

September in the next year, William de Tacl- merstone, " after the hour of curfew," was lescending by a stair from the solar in the house of Master Henry de Iddesworth when he fell and broke his neck. The stair was ap- praised at Sd. (p. 195). On St. Valentine's Day, 1337, a much more complicated case had come Before a jury of 29 citizens. On the previous evening two cartel's were taking their carts out of the City, and " urging their horses apace," when the wheels of one of the carts collapsed, and the following cart knocked down Agnes de Cicestre, killing her on the spot. The driver of the latter cart thereupon left it and its three horses, and fled in fear, " although he was not suspected of malicious intent." The cart and ts belongings were appraised at 6s. 8d. ; second, a grey, blind of both eyes, at 4s. ; and the third, a black, at 6s. But these were not sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the law. In the cart at the time of the accident were five Id sacks and five pounds of candles of" coton," nd these had to be redeemed by a further pay- ment of 16d., making the total fine 28s. 0%d.
 * he first horse, of a dun colour, at 10s. ; the

The details of the last case indicate the minute- ness of the various inquiries. Probably much /he largest number recorded here refer to deaths rom violence, and in these cases both the wounds nflicted and the weapons causing them are care- ully described. Dr. Sharpe devotes a section >f his Introduction to an account of these lethal nstruments, such as the twitel allotted to the Miller of Trumpington by Chaucer. This seems o have been a favourite weapon of offence, for t figures in no fewer than eleven cases, three >f them consecutive (Roll G, Nos. 25, 26, and 27). Naturally, much of the worse side of the life of he day is broxight into evidence. Thus we have [uarrels of gamblers, disputes between members, if different crafts, and robberies with violence, n 1301 Walter de Elmeleye, a chaplain, lost his ife in a brawl arising from a woman's abuse. His- mistress incited him to avenge an insult offered