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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[12 8 III. DEC., 1917.

Besides the above I have consulted the Close and Pipe Rolls ; works issued by the Chetham Society, Historic Society of Lan- cashire and Cheshire, and Lancashire and Cheshire Record Societies ; the histories of Preston and its parish church by Fishwick, Tom Smith, Hardwick, and Hewitson ; ' Victoria History of Lancashire ' ; Raines's ' Chantries ' (both excellent) ; the Chester Registers, &c.

I am also anxious to trace the whereabouts of Torres's ' Archdeaconry of Richmond Registers.'

I should be glad if correspondents would communicate with me direct.

J. E. ADKINS, Organist of Preston Parish Church, Lancashire.

EPITAPH ON A PARROT. On a small slab of artificial stone lying on the turf under a tree, at the side of the public pathway, in the grounds of Peel House, by Cloverifords, Selkirkshire, there is this advertisement : Here lies Major

stiff and cold

by whom we shall

be no more bored

He's gone to join the

mighty horde

Oh poor Polly it's

very cold ?

1903=1913.

The last two lines of the above read as if they were an echo of the conversational powers of the " Pierrot."

Is there a book in which inscriptions in memory of pet birds and other tame crea- tures, existing in Great Britain and Hibernia, have been collected ?

EDWARD S. DODGSON.

JAN WEENIX. Will you permit renewed inquiry (see 11 S. ix. 69, 114) as to the picture upon our walls by this painter of still -life ? The signature, J. Weenix, with date 1697, is placed upon a stone beside some dead game. So far my efforts to consult the book recommended by MR. ARCHIBALD SPARKE as likely to enlighten us have failed. Was the artist in the habit of signing his name in this somewhat un- usual position ? I am anxious to establish the genuineness of the canvas.

CECIL CLARKE.

Junior Athenaeum Club.

TOURNAMENTS AT BERWICK-ON-TWEED. A Staffordshire Court Roll of 1599 contains the admission of one George Holmer, gentleman, to lands in the manor of King- swinford. In it he is described as " faber ferrarius domine regine nunc de officio

magnorum torneamentorum' ; ? suorum de Berwicke super Twyde." What were these great tournaments of Berwick, and what woiild be his duties in connexion therewith ?

FREDERICK A. HOMER. 81 Lansdowne Road,

Handsworth, Birmingham.

BROWNING : MOTTO FROM HANMER. At the heading of Robert Browning's play ' Colombe's Birthday,' written in 1844, there are the following lines : Ivy and violet, what do ye here With blossom and shoot in the warm spring

weather, Hiding the arms of Monchenci and Vere ?

HANMER.

I shall be glad if any of the readers ' N. & Q.' can inform me in what the above lines occur. I can find no poetry written by Hanmer. The village of Boughton Monchelsea in Kent was formerly called Bocton Monchenci, from a Norman family of the name of Monchenci. A daughter of William de Monchenci married Hugh de Vere, and Browning, in the lines he quoted, evidently alludes to their marriage. C. J. MEADE

(late Vicar of Boughton Monchelsea). St. Ellen's, 103 Pembroke Crescent, Hove, 4*^

MONTFORD, MONTFORT, OR MOUNTFORD.

Can any of your readers inform me if there are any existing families of the above names who can clearly trace their descent from the family of Montfort-sur-Risle, which settled in Warwickshire and Somerset, and whose descendants are now living in Essex, Stafford- shire, Shropshire, &c. ? Please reply direct. R. M. DEELEY.

Abbeyfield, Salisbury Avenue, Harpenden.

SIR DAVID MURRAY AND THE '45. Can any reader state where Sir David Murray, 4th Bart, of Stanhope, who was banished for taking part in the '45 Rebellion, died, and the date ? The genealogists mostly say in 1769 or 1770, but never quote their authority, and none of them name a place. In his 'History of Peeblesshire ' (p. 424) Wm. Chambers says that Sir David Murray '' died abroad, leaving a family." Can any one say who, when, and where he married, or give any details ? Any references to sources of information relating to the exile's doings after 1749 will be valued by

EXILED.

" TABLING THEIR BATONS." Once a year the members of the Dunbar constabulary attend at the Town Hall and hand over to the Provost, in the presence of the