Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 10.djvu/580

 478 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. x. . 1922. WROTH FAMILY (12 S. x. 372, 418, 434). -The Wroth or Wrothe family seems to have been a fairly scattered one, as the late Dr. G. W. Marshall, in his ' Genealogist's Guide ' (Bell and Sons, London, 1879), gives the following references to it : Collinson's ' Somerset,' iii. 67 ; Morant's 'Essex,' i. 163, 165; ii. 519; 'Visitation of Somerset,' printed by Sir T. Phillipps, 147; 'History of Hampstead,' by J. J. Park, 11-5; Hoare's ' Wiltshire,' III. iv. 44 ; Wright's ' Essex,' ii. 62; Archceologia Cantiana, xii. 315; Harleian Society, xiii. 132, 330. Bridger, in his ' Index to Printed Pedigrees ' (J. Russell Smith, London, 1867), gives also Berry's ' Sussex Pedigrees ' (London, 1830). The ' Visitation of the County of Somerset for 1531,' edited by the Rev. F. W. Weaver (W. Pollard, North Street, Exeter, 1885), contains a long pedigree of this family from William de Wrotham, Lord of Newton, in the parish of North Petherton, ob. 14 John (1213), to Sir Thomas Wroth, the third and last baronet, who died in 1721. Of this family Sir Thomas Wroth, Kt., represented Bridgwater in Parliament 1627-1661, and in 1643 moved the impeachment of Charles I., and was appointed one of the King's judges, but would not continue to act. Petherton Park and Newton Plecy in North Petherton were in the possession of the Wroth family for over 500 years, until by the marriage of Cicely, daughter and sole heir of Sir Thomas Wroth (the last baronet), with Sir Hugh Acland, sixth baronet, in 1721, they were conveyed to that family, and were recently disposed of by sale by the present repre- sentative of the Acland family, the twelfth baronet of that name. The Wroth arms were, Arg. on a bend sa. three lions' heads erased of the field, crowned or. CROSS CROSSLET. BRASS ORNAMENTS ON HARNESS (12 S. x. 410, 459. In Yorkshire these are known as " brasses," or " hoss brasses." They are in the form of symbols of the sun, moon and stars, and are probably the lineal descendants of the amulets, which served a dual purpose of ornamentation and pre- servation from evil, just as the brass -bound " wickenwood " whipstocks gave old-time carters a scatheless passage over haunted bridges and preserved them and their teams from witchcraft. There are rows of old " hoss brasses " in most of the old-fashioned Yorkshire farm kitchens, but they are com- paratively rarely used with the present class of wagon. W^here there are May Day processions or farmers lend their wagons for social functions the farm horses appear resplendent in brasses. I have never heard them called anything but ' ' hoss brasses * ' and occasionally " hoss fonniter " (i.e..,. furniture). J. FAIRFAX-BLAKEBOROUGH. ^J Grove House, Norton-on-Tees. LONDON CLOCKMAKERS (12 S. x. 431). William Kipling, Broad Street, near Charing Cross, was in business from 1705 till about 1737. William and John Kipling apparent ly continued the business until 1750. The following books give details of makers of clocks and watches : 1. ' Old Clocks and Watches and their Makers,' by F. J. Britten (3rd ed., 1911,. published by Batsford, London), contains a list of eleven thousand names. 2. ' Old Scottish Clockmakers, 1453 to 1850,' by John Smith (2nd ed., 1921, pub- lished by Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh), gives many Scottish makers and also lists of names and dates of makers in the north of England, in Ireland and the Isle of Man. 3. ' The Old Clock Book,' by N. Hudson Moore (1912, published by Heinemann,. London), gives information regarding American clocks and their makers. E. R. Glasgow. Jlote* on Jloofe*. Medieval France : a Companion to French Studies- Edited by Arthur" Tilley. (Cambridge Uni- versity Press. 25s. net.) IF it is the Editor who is responsible for the choice of a sub-title, Mr. Arthur Tilley is to be congratulated " A Companion to French Studies." He is himself of the initiated and therefore can appreciate the charm of that de- scription. He knows that France has a gift to bestow on those who yield themselves to her enchantment, but that such yielding implies something more than facile acceptance of a gift. To know her in her legend or her romance, her art or her devotion, to have gained real and intimate knowledge of her, though it be within some narrow limit of subject or of period, is to have found one of those sources of delight that cannot be exhausted in a lifetime. It is clear that narrowness of limit has its danger, however. Modesty may be responsible for the encircling line. The research of succeeding generations of students may suggest that thorough knowledge is attainable only if the selected field be small. Nevertheless the isolation of special subjects does threaten to rob the study of history of half its value, and work such as that contained