Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 4.djvu/143

 12 S. IV. MAY, 1918.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

137

a, butler had formerly hanged himself in it ; and that his mother, who lived to a great age, had shut up half the rooms in the house, in which either her husband, a sou, or daughter had died. The Knight seeing his habitation reduced to so small a compass, and himself in a manner shut out of his own house, upon the death of his mother ordered all the apartments to be flung open, and exorcised i')y his chaplain, who lay in every room one after which had so long reigned in the family."
 * nother, and by that means dissipated the fears

G. P.

LORD CHARLES MURDERED BY HIS BROTHER (12 S. iv. 75). Whether or not this was a case of murder is open to doubt. Mas. STIRLING may read a full account of the circumstances in ' The Annual Register ' for 1796, pp. 31*, 32*. The person who was shot was Lord Charles Townshend (fourth son of the first Marquess Townshend), who was returning from Yarmouth, where he had just been elected M.P., in company with his next elder brother Lord Frederick (not James, as stated in the diary from which MRS. STIRLING quotes). Lord James was a younger half-brother, and at the date was a boy of 11.

The jury, after hearing Lord Frederick's evidence, returned an open verdict, " killed by a pistol ball, from whose hands unknown.' ' The evidence showed that both the young lords, who were driving from Yarmouth to London, behaved in such a way as to suggest intoxication or mental derangement. Lord Frederick, who was seen to throw a pistol out of the carriage window, stated that his brother shot himself. I am not sure whether Lord Frederick was already in holy orders : he subsequently held the rectory of Stiffkey in Norfolk, and died in January, 1836. Burke does not give the date of birth of Lord Charles ; Lord Fre- derick's is dated, both by Burke and Sir Egerton Brydges, as Dec. 30, 1767. The latter dates Lord Charles's birth as January, 1768, these two dates being irreconcilable, but a reference to 'The Annual Register' shows that this should be Jan. 6, 1769. The date of the tragedy was May 27, 1796.

ALFRED B. BEAVEN. Leamington.

The Gent. Mag. for 1796 has an account of his incident, dated Friday, May 27.

Lord Frederick Patrick Townshend was the third son of George, 1st Marquis Towns- hend, and was born Dec. 30, 1767, took holy orders, and d. Jan. 18, 1836. This is all the Peerages say of him. He evidently lived in seclusion for the rest of his life.

The fourth son, Lord Charles Patrick Thomas Townshend, was born Jan. 6, 1769, both brothers being named Patrick because the Marquis was at the time Lord Lieu- tenant of Ireland. Charles was admitted to Lincoln's Inn, May 1, 1786 ; called to the bar May 11, 1793 (Registers); became lieutenant of an Independent Company of Foot Nov. 15, 1793 ; captain 88th Foot the next day ; major 118th Foot, Feb. 23, 1795 ; and when that regiment was reduced the same year, he was retired on its full pay until his melancholy deatli at the age of 27 (Army Lists). W. R. W.

[Mn. R. PIERPOINT sends extracts from ' The Annual Register ' for 1796, p. 21 of the ' Chronicle,' which we have forwarded to MRS. STIRLING. MR. J. F. FULLER, W. B. H., and MR. S. F. HULTON are also thanked for replies.]

" RAPEHOUSE " (12 S. iv. 46, 86). See the ' N.E.D.' under " rasp " and " rasp-house." The earliest quotation for the latter word is taken from Evelyn's ' Diary ' tinder the year 1641, where he writes : " Thence to the Rasp-house, where the lusty knaves are compelled to work ; and the rasping of brasil and logwood for the dyers is very hard labour." Evelyn is speaking of Amsterdam. There is an error in the index to the " Globe " edition of the ' Diary ' (1908), where the Rasp-house is assigned to Antwerp.

EDWARD BENSLY.

LEGENDS ON LOVE TOKENS (12 S. ii. 507 ; iii. 341). G. ,F. Kunz's new book, ' Rings for the Finger ' (Lippincott, 1917), contains many mottoes found engraved on finger rings. There is also the work by M. Deloche, ' Etude historique et archeologique sur les anneaux sigillaires et autres des premiers siecles du moyen age : description de 315 anneaux,' Paris, 1900. The majority of the rings described in this are French or in French collections.

ARCHIBALD SPABKE.

ST. MARTIN DE LONDRES (12 S. iv. 47). Perhaps the two churches mentioned by A. B. C. were founded by " the executors of Mathew Columbars, a stranger born, a Bordeaux merchant of Gascoyne and French wines," who about 1399 rebuilt the church of St. Martin in the Vintry in the city of London, " sometime called St. Martin de Beremond Church." Columbars's arms, which in Stow's time remained yet in the east window of this church, were " between a chevron, three columbins." The tinctures are not given by Stow. The church, which was burnt in the Great Fire, was not rebuilt. JOHN B. WAiNE\raiGHT.