Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 4.djvu/334

 328

NOTES AND QUERIES.

[12 S. IV. DEC., 1918.

resigned t~> a kinsman, John Crosse, in- stituted June 18, 1530, by the presentation of (now Sir) John Mordaunt. At his death a successor was instituted June 20, 1533. There may be some error here, unless there was a third John Crosse in holy orders, as the elder John certainly did not live till 1530, though no date or place of probate of the will of 1515 has so far been found.

With him, however, out of the way, the career of the younger man becomes clearer, from entries in Newcourt's ' Repertorium ' (1710 ed. ) and elsewhere. He became heir to the large family estates in Lancashire on the death of his brother Roger s.p. in 1522. On May 22, 1525, John Crosse, A.M., was presented to the rectory of Roding Alba by Sir John Mordaunt, a successor being appointed on Sept. 10, 1532, " per mort. Crosse " (Newcourt, ii. 500). On June 3, 1530, John Crosse, A.M., was presented to West Horndon, Essex, by Sir John Mor- daunt, and resigned in favour of Edm. Mordaunt, instituted Aug. 24, 1530. Pro- bably John died in 1532, for we know that by 1533 his half-brother James Crosse, citizen and goldsmith of London, had inherited the Lancashire properties.

From all this it will be seen there is room for a good deal of confusion and error, and I should be grateful for any data or re- ferencss which modern research may supply, or for any correction of my dates or details.

The pedigree stands, I think, as follows : =p John Crosse, d. 1502.

1st wife.=

p Richard, =f=2nd wife, s. and h., d. circa 1515.

John, Rector of St. Nicholas, &c., d. before 1526.

-

James Crosse of London, heir to brother John.

Roger, s.andh. d. 1522 s.p.

John Crosse, Rector of Mulsoe, &c., heir to brother,

d. circa 1532

s.p. ^

I do not give references for every detail mentioned, but they can be found in the Radcliffe, and in the ' Viet. Hist, of Lanes,' vols. iv. and vi. (Foster's ' Lancashire Pedigrees ' is good for the main descents of the Crosse family, but fails one as regards collaterals, and I have considerably added to his work in this respect.)
 * Calendar of Crosse Deeds,' by R. D.

Perhaps something turns on the patronage of the Crosses by John Mordaunt of Turvey,

Beds, afterwards created Baron Mordaunt, and I should like to know more of his con- nexion with the family. In a MS. pedigree of Crosse in the Liverpool Public Library (Moore Papers), circa 1630, Richard Crosse above is given a son " Ed. se r to John lo. Mordent."

Since the above was in type, I find that bhe will of John Crosse, parson of Turvey, Beds, and Liverpool, was proved in P.C.C. in 1517 (34 Holder), and the will of John Crosse, clerk, of Mulsoe, Bucks, and Lanes, was proved there in 1532 (24 Thrower). The former practically proves that the Rector of Turvey was a son of William Crosse, a brother of the Rector of St. Nicho- las ; and the latter proves that the kinsman mentioned above was the heir to the Lancashire estates. Who then was his predecessor at Mulsoe ? We see now there were four different clerics of the same name. I shall be glad of any information which can be given about any of these men. Replies can be sent direct.

R. STEWAKT-BROWN.

Bromborough, Cheshire.

" RAIN CATS AND DOGS." Has a satis- factory explanation of this expression ever been given ? It has been attributed to a mispronunciation of the Greek Kara. Sdas or the French catadoupe, but both these derivations seem to me unlikely to have given rise to this popular phrase.

According to Trench Johnson's ' Phrases and Names : their Origin and Meaning,' the expression is due to a combination of popular superstition and Scandinavian mythology, the " cats " being transformed witches, and the " dogs " the hounds of Odin, the god of storms. But is there any evidence to justify this far-fetched deriva- tion of the phrase ?

The ' New English Dictionary,' under the heading " cat," 17, quotes G. Harvey, 'Pierce's Super.,' 8 (1592), "Instead of thunderboltes shooteth nothing but dog- boltes or catboltes." This seems nearer the mark, but it is impossible to judge without the context, and this I do not know. By the way, " dogbolts " and " cat- bolts " are terms still employed in pro- vincial dialect to denote, respectively, the iron bars for securing a door or gate, and the bolts for fastening together pieces of timber (see ' English Dialect Dictionary ').

A variety of the very popular game of trap and ball was called provincially " cat and dog "the " dog " being the club with which the players propelled the " cat,"