Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/548

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. vii. DEC. 4, 1920.

The assize of bread is the regulation of its price according to statutes passed at various times, the first of these being, I understand, 51 Henry III. (1266). At that time the price of corn varied from one shilling to seven shillings and sixpence per quarter in different parts of the country, the price of bread varying with it. The local magis- trates were charged with the duty of seeing that the statute was observed. Harrison -(1577-87) speaking of the weekly markets held in the towns complains that this was very indifferently done. He says :

" In most of these markets, neither assizes of bread nor orders for goodness and sweetness of grain and other commodities that are brought thither to be sold are any whit looked unto " ;

and again :

"It is rare to see, in any country town (as I said) the assize of bread well kept according to the statute."

The statute ordained that the price of corn should, determine the price of bread, and, obviously, if the assize were "set" weekly there would be less opportunity for "profiteering." C. C. ^B.

The definition of "assize " is the "action of fixing the price of articles of daily con- sumption, such as bread, ale, &c. " We now term it " Government control " over rations and prices. The custom of "assize," or stating maximum market prices, extends back for centuries. In the reigns of Eliza- beth and James VI. and I. the prices ruling in London for daily necessities may be studied in a little black-letter work, printed by my ancestor, to be seen at the Guildhall Library entitled, ' Lawes of the market. ' W. JAGGARD, Capt.

DOMESTIC HISTORY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (12 S. vii. 191, 216, 257, 295, 399). "Afternoon-tea" is not the ?a ue thing as the meal at which our ancestors assembled, at the beginning of last century. The latter usually came after an early dinner, at one or two o'clock, and at (say) six forestalled supper at nine. " Afternoon -tea " began by being a diversion of sips and friandises, and was, originally, at four o'clock P.M. It was relegated to a later hour, when dinner was postponed to night-time ; but it is not unlikely that some domestic strike or other may bring us back to the manners and customs of our admirable ancestors.

ST. SWITHIN.

THE ORIGINAL WAR OFFICE (12 S. vii. 310, 354, 416, 435). SIR ALFRED- ROBBINS is correct, the third Secretary of State (1768-1782) had charge of the Colonies and of the American War. On July 11, 1794, a Secretary of State for War was appointed, and in 1801, because the armies were largely employed in the West Indies, the Colonial affairs were transferred to him*. After the Napoleonic Wars, this Secretary of State devoted much more time to the Colonies than to army affairs with the result that on the outbreak of the Crimean War a fourth Secretary of State was appointed exclusively for the War Depart- ment.

The administration of the army from the- Stuart times, however, had to a great extent been in the hands of the Secretary at War. In 1855 this appointment was merged into that of the Secretary of State for War, and; in 1863 abolished altogether.

In 1854 the various branches of the War Department were housed as follows : The new War Department at Pembroke House,, No. 7 Whitehall Gardens (transferred on Dec. 4, 1854, from Downing Street) ; the- War Office (that of the Secretary at War) at the Horse Guards ; the Office of Ordnance in Pall Mall ; the Medical and other depart- ments in separate houses in Whitehall Yard ^ and the Department of the Commander-in- Chief (until 1871) in the Horse Guards.

In 1857 the Departments of the Secretary at War, the Secretary of State for W T ar, and the Ordnance were merged into one,, and Buckingham House, Pall Mall and the- Ordnance Office, as well as adjacent shops,. &c., were connected together to form a new home for it, where it remained until November, 1906. W. Y. BALDRY.

War Office Library.

WILL PROVED BEFORE BURIAL OF TES- TATOR (12 S. vii. 391, 439). John Gibbon,. Bluemantle (great-uncle of the historian), is shown by an affidavit attached to his will to have died on the afternoon of Aug. 2, 1718. Probate issued the same day. No- doubt the death had occurred at the College of Heralds, quite close to Doctors' Commons^

Anne Catysby made her will at St. Bartholomew's spital, Feb. 28, 1507/8,. and it was proved "penult. Feb.," 1507/8- (leap year), the probate in this case issued on the same day that the will was executed*.

Remarriages were occasionally celebrated' with similar promptitude.