Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/364

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [is & i. Arm. a, uu.

Conversation,' printed in 1738, but written a good many years earlier, makes Queen Elizabeth the symbol. "What news, Mr. Neverout ? " says Lady Smart ; to which comes the reply : " Why, Madam, Queen Elizabeth's dead." French equivalents (see 7 S. ii. 458 ; iii. 14) are " Henri Quatre est sur le Pont Neuf," " C'est vieux comme le Pont Neuf," and " ca, c'est de 1'ancien Testa- ment ! " G. L. APPEBSON.

DEATH WARRANTS (12 S. i. 49, 111, 157, 210, 289). MR. ERIC R. WATSON says at the last reference that in capital cases the Clerk of Assize delivers an order for execution to the Under - Sheriff. I have been Clerk of Assize on the South Wales circuit for over a quarter of a century, and have never signed nor delivered to an Under-Sheriff an order for execution.

In this I follow the custom of my pre- decessors in office. I cannot speak for the custom on circuits other than my own.

STEPHEN COLERIDGE.

The Ford, Chobham.

BARONETAGE (12 S. i. 229). In the (the late George Edward Cokayne), vol. i., 1900, pp. xiii, xiv, the eighteenth-century Baronetages mentioned are :
 * Complete Baronetage,' edited by G. E. C.

" 1720. ' " The Baronettage of England," etc., by Arthur CollinsV [the well known editor of Collins' ' Peerage ']. 2 vols., 8vo."

" 1727. ' The English Baronets ' [edited by

and] printed for Thomas Wotton. 3 vols., 12mo."

" 1741.' The English^ Baronetage [with]

an account of such Nova Scotia Baronets as are of English families now resident in England ' [edited by and] printed for Thomas Wotton.

4 vols. (the third vol. being in two parts...), 8vo. This is the same work, but greatly enlarged, as the one next above. Its editor, in the preface, acknowledges his obligations to ' Arthur Collins, Esq., the author of the " Peerage of England." '. . . . This work, which contains numerous monumental inscriptions, etc., is still ' the fullest source of information upon many of the families which it commemorates.'

" 1769. ' A New Baronetage of England, or a genealogical and historical account of the present English Baronets,' printed for J. Almon. 3 vols., 12mo.

" 1771. ' The Baronetage of England con- taining a genealogical and historical account of all the English Baronets now existing,' etc., with ' an account of such Nova Scotia Baronets, as are of English families,' by E. Kimber and R. Johnson. 3 vols., 8vo. This is an abridgement of Wotton's valuable work (1741) which (in a meagre form) is here continued up to date."

Then follows, 1801-05, ' The Baronetage of England,' by the Rev. William Betham,

5 vols., 4to.

Regarding Thomas Wotton, a foot-note

says that he

" ' possessed the best materials which then existed, and even now exist for such a pur- pose rthe collections made by Peter le Neve, Esq., Norroy ' [1704-271. These, as far as they relate to the 'Baronetage, are now in the library of the College of Arms."

Another foot-note says that

" Collins is often credited with being the actual author of this work [the 1741 ' Baronetage '], an error which obtained great circulation from the well known Sir Egerton Brydges having stated in the preface to his valuable edition (1812) of Collins' ' Peerage,' that Arthur Collins * reprinted and com- pleted, in 1741 in 5 vols., 8vo, his incomplete Baronetage of 1720,' to which [erroneous] statement Brydges adds (most justly) that this Baronetage of 1741 is 'an admirable work.' "

ROBERT PIERPOINT. [MR. ARCHIBALD SPARKE thanked for reply.]

SUPPOSED MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE (12 S,. i. 289). The famous " Pendleton Murder " was one of the chief criminal " sensations " of 1817. I possess a pamphlet entitled :

"A Correct Report of the Trial of William Holden, James Ashcroft the elder, James Ashcroft the younger, David Ashcroft, and John Robinson for the Murder of Margaret Marsden and Hannah/ Partington ; and for Robbery in the dwelling-house

of Mr. Thos. Littlewood at Pendleton Taken in

short-hand by George Taylor, solicitor

" Manchester : Printed and Published by J. Pratt, 23 St. Mary 's-Gate. "

It contains the following MS. marginal notes in a contemporary hand :

" I was present at the above awful scene [i.e., the execution at Lancaster Gaol] and saw the n^en come upon the platform, and in short the whcfe demeanour of the unhappy men until they were turned off. Wm. Hickery.". "I was so con- vinced of their guilt that it counterpoised the feelings I otherwise must have experienced on seeing them executed, more especially as they were the first persons 1 had ever seen ex d . W.H."

In another pamphlet entitled ' Lancaster Castle : its History and Associations,' by J. Hall (Lancaster, printed and published by W. Ireland ; London, Whittaker & Co., Ave Maria Lane, 1843), which appeared twenty- five years after the crime, there is an account of the execution, pp. 51-2. The author telte us :

" there was very great excitement in the

country, for a long period, in consequence of the

very general report of their innocence The poor

fellows continued to declare their innocence to the

last moment At this execution, nothing could

exceed the excitement which was kept alive upwards of twelve months every one being quite satisfied of the innocence of the culprits ; however,, the grave has closed over them the searcher of hearts only can adjudicate."