Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/504

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. i. JUNE n, ws.

Hopkinson, who was instituted to the living in 1572, various members of the allied families of Lord, Ashe, and Jenkin having held the living during the whole of the intervening period, with the exception of about twelve years. The living of Northiam was also held with only a very brief interval (1676-96) by members of the families of Frewen and Lord from 1583, when the Rev. John Frewen was instituted, down to the death in 1914 of the Rev. John Octavius Lord, who had held the living since 1856. The present Vicar, the Rev. A. Frewen Aylward,can claim kinship with the Frewen family. Brede is another parish in which the cure of souls has re- sembled an heirloom. For over a century and a half the living was held by members of the famity of Home, one of whom was the famous George Home, Bishop of Norwich, whose ' Commentary on the Psalms ' was formerly a very widely read work.

LEONARD J. HODSON. Robertsbridge, Sussex.

The living of Chagford, Devon, has been in the gift of the Hayter family since 1660 ; and nearly all the rectors have been Hayters or relations of that family.

W. CTJRZON YEO.

Richmond, Surrey.

THE " JENNINGS PROPERTY " (12 S. i. 329, 433). Mr. Coleman's collection relating to Jennings has been dispersed. I have some of the MSS., two pedigrees issued, and some of the pleadings in Chancery. Lot 436 in Phillipps's sale, referred to by MR. HUM- PHREYS, was purchased by Messrs. Walford Brothers of New Oxford Street.

There are before me the following : 1. In Chancery, 1868, Baylis v. Howard : Answer of Defendant, Frederick, Earl Beauchamp. 2. Ditto. Answer of Defendant, the Hon. Mary Howard. 3. Ditto. Bill of Complaint. 4 and 5. Plaintiffs' and Defendants' affidavits (with Writ Office stamp on them). 6. 1860, Bill of Complaint in Jennens v. Henry Beau- champ, Earl Beauchamp, and others, and a MS. copy of same. 7. 1862, Wigham v. Jennings : Answer of Defendant, Samuel Jennings.

Mr. Williams of Brighton very kindly gave me a large mass of original papers connected with Acton in Suffolk, but they have no bearing on the cases. I have seen a docu- ment concerning Humphrey Jennings of Birmingham written about 1700, and may still have it. I believe it was an abstract of title, though I cannot be sure how.

F. MARCH AM.

53 Chalk Farm Road, N.W.

Some months ago a large number of deeds were sold at Hodgson's, and I have since- heard that they formerly belonged to James Coleman. At a sale held previously I found in a parcel a number of printed pedigrees of the Jennens family, together with the follow- ing :

"A History of the Family of Jennings and its Variants (from 1575), compiled by James Colemems [? name, but. evidently Coleman], 1866, neatly written on 163 pp. of an exercise book, with pedigrees."

This work was ordered by several persons r for which reason I communicated with the gentleman who bought it from me with a view to rebuying it ; but, although he declined to sell it, he expressed his willingness to have a copy of it made. If any of your readers would like his name and address,. I should be pleased to forward it.

REGINALD ATKINSON.

97 Sunderland Road, Forest Hill, S.E.

" SHE BRAIDS ST. CATHERINE'S TRESSES ' T (12 S. i. 447). This is a Euphuistic transla- tion from the French. Nearly all French dictionaries give " coiffer sainte Catherine " as a provincial and figurative phrase for " rester fille, ne pas trouver a se marier." But they do not explain why St. Catherine should have been selected from among the many virgin martyrs as the patroness of in- voluntary spinstorhood.

Perhaps a legend similar to that of St. Wilgefortis may have attached itself in some parts of France to St. Catherine.

JOHN B. WAINE WRIGHT.

" St. Catharine of Sienna, 1380. When marriage- able, she refused the importunity of her parents to wed, and having cut off her hair to keep her vow r they made her a kitchen maid." Hone's ' Every- Day Book,' vol. i. p. 530.

" 'And thpu, what dost thou know of the Sainte Catherine, little foolish one ? ' cried'her father.

"Jacqueline wriggled her head free and shrieked : ' But it is true, true what I say, and me I know well what it means the Sainte Catharine. It is my Meme who told me, she claims to coif her all the " old girls." Voila ! '" ' An English Girl in Paris,' p. 233.

R. J. FYNMORE.

[No ; the saint was Catherine of Alexandria. The expression is said to come from the sixteenth or seventeenth century. According to the received French tradition it became the custom, in certain churches in France in which there was a statue of St. Catherine, to dress the head of the statue afresh for the saint's feast-day, and this service was rendered by young women between the ages of 25 and 35 who were unmarried. There is a modern saying that at 25 a maid puts a first pin into St. Catherine's head-dress ; at 30 a second ; at 35 the coiffure is finished. See Larousse y .Dictionnaire.']