Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/121

 12 S. VIII. JAN, 29, 1921.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 97 York's household. As to his earlier boy- liood Archdeacon Coxe tells us that : " He was brought up under the care of his father .... He wis also instructed in the rudiments of knowledge by a neighbouring clergyman of great learning and piety." EDWABD BENSLY. Much Hadham, Herts. POOR RELIEF BADGE (12 S. viii. 48). The following appears in :>ne of tie Church- wardens' Account Books at Aldeburgh, Monday, Feb. 23, 1773 : " do agree to fix the penalty upon the Overseers of this Parish if they relieve any poor person be- longing to this parish without they constantly wear a Badge on the Right Arm marked Red Cloth with two large Black Letters PA without side of their Garments so that it may plainly appear such persons receive Alms from this Parish And that the Over- seers at onee get Cloth for that purpose." ARTHUR T. WINN. Aldeburgh. BOOK or COMMON PRAYER (12 S. viii. 49). Wijat your inquirer needs will probably be found in the issues of the Parker Society, 1847-55. This private Society was rather short-lived and long ago disbanded. Though its publications, all in funereal black cloth, have long been out of print, they may often be met with cheaply in the antiquarian bookshops. The three most likely volumes are : ' Liturgies. Primer, and Catechism set forth in the reign of King Edward VI.. ..1844.' 8vo. 1 Liturgies and Occasional Forms of Prayer set forth in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Edited by Wra. Keatinge Clay. 1847.' 8vo. ' Private Prayers put forth by authority in the reign of Q. Elizabeth ' ; the * Primer ' of 1559 ; the ' Orarium ' of 1560 ; the ' Preces privates ' of 1564 ; the 'Book of Christian Prayers of 1578. With an appendix containing the Litany of 1544. Edited byW.K. Clay. 18-')l.' 8ro. Full detailed list of Parker Society issues may be seen in Lowndes' 'Bibliographer's Manual,' vol. xi., pp. 5558. W. JAGGARD, Capt. Memorial Library, Stratford-on-Avon: " Three Primers put forth in the Reign of Henry VIII." will meet MR. HAMILTON'S requirement, as regards the Book of Common Prayer. They were published in one volume at th> Oxford University Press in 1834, and would perhaps be easily met with second- hand or be found for consultation in a public library or on clerical shelves. ST. SWITHIN. MR. EVERARD HAMILTON will no doubt find what he requires in the following works : 'Prymer a Prayer Book of Lay People in the Middle Ages.' Ed. H. Littlehales. Longmans. 1891-92. Old Service Books of the English Church.' By the Rev. Christopher Wordsworth and H. Little- hales. Methuen. 1904. 'Church Services and Service-Books before the Reformation.' By the late Dr. B. Swete, S.P.C.K. 1907. J. CLARE HUDSON. Woodhall Spa. "To OUTRUN THE CONSTABLE" (12 S. viii. 29, 58). This appears as far back as Butler's 'Hudibras,' i. 3, 1368, published in 1663, but there having the meaning of talking about things about which one knows nothing. In a foot-note reference is made (in my copy, 1801) to Ray's 'Proverbs, 1 2nd ed., p. 326. W. A. HUTCHISON. YEW-TREES IN CHURCHYARDS (12 S. viii. 50). The statute referred to by G. B. .M. which required yew-trees tc be planted in churchyards for the supply cf bows is doubtless that passed in the reign of Richard III., in 1483, which according to Stow ordained a general planting of yew trees for the use of archers. Later on in the time of Elizabeth it was enacted that they should be planted in churchyards in order to preserve and protect them from injury, and also to keep them out of the way of horses and cattle, in consequence of the poisonous property of the leaves. But there were other reasons assigned for the situation selected. One was the protection of the church from damage by storms ; a poor reason if we consider the slowness of growth and the horizontal direction of the branches, both of which, as pointed out by a writer in The Gentleman's Maqazine (1786, p. 941) : "prevent its rising high enough, even in a century, to shelter from storms a building of moderate height." Moreover, as seldom more than cne or two yews of any size are to be seen in a churchyard, the amount of protection they can afford in time of storms must depend upon whether they happen to be standing to windward or not. Evelyn in his well-known ' Sylva,' says : "The best reason that can be given why the yew was planted in churchyards is that branches of it were often carried in procession on Palm Sunday instead of palms."