Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/104

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NOTES AND QUERIES. us B.ni.rB. 3,1917.

lands. The story was, I believe, first men- tioned by Camden (though I cannot give the exact reference), but Coker in his ' Survey of Dorsetshire,' published in 1732 though believed to have been written about a century before sets it all out in his quaint language (pp. 98-9) as follows :

" From Mapowder the Brooke passeth through deepe and dirty Soyle under Kings Stagge Bridge, which got that name upon this Occasion : King Henry the Third, haveing disported himselfe in the Forrest of Blackmore, hee spared one beau- tifull and goodlie white Harte, which afterwards T. De la Linde, a neighbour Gentleman of ancient Descent and especiall Note, with his Companions

Eursueing, killed at this Place ; but he soone junde howe dangerous it was to bee twitching a Lion by the Eares : For the King tooke soe great Indignation against him, that he not onlie punished them with Imprisonment and a grievous Fine of Money, but for this Fact hee taxed their Lands ; the Owners of which ever sithence yearly until this Daye paye a rounde Summe of Money by way of Amercement unto the Ex- chequer, called White Harte Silver; in memorie of which this C[ountie] needeth no better Remem- brance than the annuall Payment. The Posteritie of this Man ever after gave for their Armes, White Hartes Heads in a red Shielde where as formerly they gave the Coate of Hartly, whose Heire they had married : And the Forrest allsoe from that time beganne to lose its antient Name, and to bee called the Forrest of Whiteharte."

This story Hutchins, the county historian, reproduces in his work, from which, to- gether with the remarks of his later editors upon the subject, Miss CRAIG will, I think, be able to gather all she wants to know.

After giving the above account from Coker, Hutchins (vol. iii. p. 738), s.v. ' Pul- ham,' in referring to King Stagg Bridge, goes on to say :

" The story rests wholly on tradition, which probably owes its origin to many trespasses com- mitted in this and neighbouring forests during the reign of Henry III., and no contemporary or documentary evidence relating to it has been met with."

And he continues :

" Near this place, on the road to Sturminster Newton, is a small inn called King's Stag, its sign displaying a stag with a gold collar round its neck, and underneath the following lines : When Julius Caesar landed here I was then a little deer ; When Julius Caesar reigned king Bound nay neck he put this ring. Whoever shall me overtake Save my life for Caesar's sake."

And again, in vol. i. p. 188 (s.v., ' Winter- borne Clenston'), he makes the following pertinent observations :

" The tradition still lingers in the vale of Black- more, but we have been unable to meet with any original evidence in support of it. If De la Lynde and his companions were punished by

imprisonment and a grievous fine, we should' meet with some trace of it in the Pipe Rolls, or other contemporary records ; and, as regards the payment of ' White Hart Silver,' no notice of which is met with in the Pipe Rolls of Henry III., it is remarkable that it was payable in the time of Henry VIII. out of some lands in Winf rith, far distant from the vale of Blackmore, and which certainly never belonged to the De la Lynde family. Add to this, the imposition of such a tax, in perpetuity, was beyond the power of our monarchs, even in the most arbitrary period of their history."

J. S. UDAL, F.S.A.

Mr. Frank R. Heath, in 'Dorset' ("The Little Guides"), p. 84, after reciting the story of the fine from Hutchins on the authority of Camden and Coker, says :

"Fuller vouches for the payment of White Hart Silver, having in his own person made the payment, although, he quaintly adds, he ^' never tasted the- venison ,' so the custom survived to the days of the Great Rebellion. The old legend, apart from this, i.e., as regards the origin of the payment, lacks confirmatory evidence, for both the Pipe Roll and other official records and documents are silent on the matter."

A R. BAYLEY.

"VAILING THE HAT" (12 S. iii. 25). Cf.. Sir Walter Scott, ' Rokeby,' Canto III. :

And the best of our nobles his bonnet will vail. Who at Rere-cross on Stanmore meets Allen-a-Dale.

G. W. E. R.

PICTURE: ' THE WOODMAN' (12 S. ii. 71). This is apparently a reduced copy of a well-known picture so called by Thomas Barker (" Barker of Bath "), 1769-1847, the original of which is life-size and in the National Gallery. The subject became very popular, and was reproduced in china, pottery, and even textile fabrics, and copied in needlework for Miss Linwood's exhibition in Leicester Square. I believe Barker painted some replicas, one of which is at Raby Castle, Durham. W. B. H.

THE REV. MICHAEL FERREBEE (12 S.. ii. 488). There was a Michael Ferrebee, Rector of Rolleston, Staffs, who may be the- clergyman referred to. He died at Rolleston, and was buried there May 28, 1777. His (? second) wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Wrigley of Langley Hall, Middleton, Lanes. They were married at Middleton on July 15, 1740. The Rev. M. Ferrebee appears to have again married, after the death in 1753 of his wife Elizabeth, a lady of the name either of W r ragg, Ragg, or Cotton, who survived him about forty years. He is believed to be identical with the M. Ferrebee who severely wounded a son of