Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/74

 68

NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. IL JW.Y 22, low.

1567. In the second (1915) volume is set out (at pp. 405-72) a list of the Masters and Wardens within the period 1407-1603, being complete from 1475 onwards. There are several lists of Members, the earliest relating to the year 1493.

Glass-Sellers (11 S. vii. 101). Young's ' History ' (1913) yields a successional list of Masters and Wardens from 1664. MS. 1645 at Guildhall comprises in its two parts a transcript by Mr. Young of the Register of Apprentices, 1665-1853, together with a list of Freemen, 1664-1913, and a complete index. Some original papers re- lating to this Company, dating within the period 1670-90, are to be found in the British Museum (MS. Sloane, 857).

Horners (11 S. vii. 102). At p. 39 of Rose- dale's ' History ' (1912) we are informed that " the earliest Minute Book in the possession of the Company covers the period 1731-96." Dr. Rosedale deals chiefly with the Com- pany's early records, and does not tell us when the Accounts and Admission Registers begin. They are presumably of modern date, however, from the absence of reference.

Innkolders. Mathews, in his ' History,' as printed in the London and Middlesex Archae- ological Society's Transactions, new series, vol. i., refers at p. 160 to " the existing Minute Books, which date from September, 1642." There is no mention made of the Accounts.

Joiners. Phillips, in his ' Annals ' (1915), informs us (p. 18) that the first book of Renters' Accounts commences in 1621, and (p. 42) that the regular series of Minutes date from 1679. (The Company preserve rough Minutes from 1660, as is remarked at p. 36.) The earliest Registers of Apprentices and Freemen date respectively from 1641 and 1651 (pp. 29 and 31). A chronological list of Feoffees, 1497-1885, is given, together with an alphabetical list of the Liverv, 1496-1914.

Leathersellers (11 S. vii. 102). Some original papers relating to this Company are contained in the British Museum at MS. Egerton, 2383.

Pinners and Wiresellers. A ' Register Book of Wardens' Accounts of the Pinners' and Wiresellers' Companies ' is to be found in the British Museum, where it constitutes MS. Egerton, 1142. It comprises the Pinners' Accounts, 1462-97, and the Wire- sellers' (formed by the union of the Pinners and Wiremongers in 1497) from the last date to 1511.

Scriveners. At p. 450 of Besant's ' The City ' (1910) it is remarked as follows :

"At the time of the Great Fire of London all the archives of the Company were burnt except the ancient book called their common paper, and which book is still extant."

A folio volume of records of this Company, dating between 1616-25, is contained in the British Museum at MS. Harley, 2295, though whether it is to be identified with the " ancient book " above referred to does not appear.

Vintners (US. vii. 404). The Accounts of this Company for the period 1507-22, with cognate records, will be found in the British- Museum at MS. Egerton, 1143.

WILLIAM McMuRRAY.

MENAGEKIES AND CIRCUSES. The diffi- culty of writing the history of shows attempted many years ago by Thomas Frost is so great "that your readers may like to know o~f a useful contribution to the subject in the May issue of Harnlyn s Menagerie Magazine, where Mr. John Birkett gives some ' Recollections of Menageries and Circuses in the Past Nearly Seventy Years, notablv Wombwell, Edmonds, Bostock, Mander, Hylton, Sedgewick, Symons, Day, Anderton, "Cook, Hengler, Ginnett, and Newsome. The late Mr. Arthur Morice, advocate, Aberdeen, made a very fine col- lection of showmen's bills, which, I believe,, is now in the Aberdeen Public Library. A summary of its contents appeared in Scottish Notes and Queries in January and June, 1901. The remarkable circus family of Cooke (dating at least from 1784) was described in Bon Accord, July 2, 1887, and a genealogical table of the family appears^n. the current ' Who's Who in the Theatre. J. M. BULLOCH.

123 Pall Mall, S.W.

CEREMONY OF DEGRADING A KNIGHT. This is described in a letter, dated London, June 22, 1621, from Dr. Meddus to the Rev. Joseph Meade, and in one, dated June 23, 1621, from the same Rev. Joseph Meade to Sir Martin Stuteville. The former wrote that the previous afternoon a Marshal's Court had sat at the King's Bench in Westminster Hall, the members of the court being the Lord Privy Seal, the Lord Duke of Lennox, the Lord Marquis of Buckingham, the Earl of Arundel, and the Viscount Doncaster, who saw Sir Francis Mitchel degraded of knighthood. According to the second letter, eight heralds came in their coat armour, broke the knight's sword over his head, cut