Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/157

 2* S. N 8., FEB. 23. '56.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

149

BARONY OF MOLINGARIA.

The great interest which is excited by the pe- culiarity of the patent granted to Lord Wensley- dale, and the attention which is now directed to all patents out of the usual form, renders the present moment a very suitable one for soliciting information from the readers of " N. & Q." rela- tive to the Barony of Molingaria. The fact of such a creation was first made known by the pro- duction at the meeting of the Society of Anti- quaries, on Thursday, the 4th March, 1852, of the following documents :

1. The Grant. This is on vellum, has the royal autograph at the bottom, with a wafer im- pression of the royal signet at the left hand lower corner. This document, which is obviously not the patent, but rather the Privy Seal Writ, is as follows :

" Carolus Dei gratia Magnae Britannia, Franciae, et Hi- berniae Rex, Fidei Defensor, etc. Omnibus et singulis ad quos prjesentes Liter pervenerint, Salutem. Cum An- tonius de Souca nobilis Lusitanus, serenissimi ac potentis- simi principis Joannis quarti Portugalliae Regis in Anglia residens, inultis adbinc annis (cum maxime flagrarent insani et praecipites regnorum nostrorum motus) Patri nostro beatissimse memoriae utilissimam gratissimam operam navaret et difficillimis illis temporibus Regium nomen inter Rebelles (etiam non sine summo capitis pe- riculo) fortiter asserere et vindicare auderet; tarn singu- laria officia constantiae et affectus erga coronam Britan- nicam pr;t'stita sine aliquo honoris et gratitudinis indicio ex parte nostra praeterire noluimus, sed paterna merita saltern in persona filii ejus agnoscere, et honesta aliqua benignitatis nostrae tessera condecorare aequum duxinuis. Sciatis igitur quod nos pro regia nostra potestate, ex mero motu, certH scientia, et gratia- nostra speciali Ludo- vicum Gonzalum de Souca praadicti Antonii filium crea- vimus, constituimus, et fecimus, ac per praesentes Literas creamus, constituemus, et facimus Baronem de Molin- garia, ipsumque et heredes masculos ab ipso legitime pro- genitos titulo Baronis de Molingaria in perpetuum gaudere volumus, una, cum omnibus juribus, privilegiis, et prae- eminentiis ad dictum Baronis honorem gradumque per- tinentibus, itb, pleno, amplo, et absolute modo ut ulli alii Barones gaudent vel gavisi sunt. In cujus rei testimo- nium praesentibus hisce literis sigillum nostrum apponi fecimus. Dat' e palatio nostro Westmonast' vicesimo octavo die Junii, anno Domini millesimo sexcentesimo sexagesimo primo et regni nostri decimo tertio.

" (Signet) CAROLUS R."

2. A copy of the same, attested by Lord Inchi- quin, and by Mr. Maynard, minister and consul at Lisbon, llth August, 1662.

3. A letter in French, partly in cipher, from King Charles I. to Antonio de Souza, in acknow- ledgment of his services, countersigned by Secre- tary Nicholas.

4. A letter in French from the king to the same, expressing his esteem, dated Bridgwater, 9th August, 1646.

5. Copy of a letter from King Charles I. to John IV. of Portugal, in Latin, entirely in praise of De Souza, dated Oxford, 12th March, 1646.

6. Letter from Queen Henrietta Maria to An- tonio de Souza, thanking him for great services he had rendered to her and the king, dated 31st January, 1662.

Louis Gonqalo de Souza, to whom this Bafony of Molingaria was granted, was at that time a minor, the son of Antonio de fiouza, ambassador from John IV. of Portugal to Charles I., and it was, as the grant relates, for the services rendered by the father to the royal cause, that this dignity was conferred upon his son. The son was born in England.

The documents were the property of the Count de Mesquitella, the great- great-grandson of the Grantee, and had been sent to this country for the purposes of search and inquiry. I believe no record of the grant has yet been discovered in any of the departments in which evidences of it might be expected to be found ; I have therefore trans- cribed the original at length from the pages of the Gentlemaris Magazine (Feb., 1852, p. 157.), in hope that some reader of " N. & Q." may be able to throw light upon its history. \V. J. T.

ANCIENT PAINTING.

In Leighton's Guide through Shrewsbury, 4th ed., p. Ql.etseq., is the following:

" Behind the wainscot of the dining-room of a house situate a little below the Institute in Dogpole, now the property and residence of Dr. Henry Johnson, Senior Physician to the Salop Infirmary, and known in ancient documents by the name of ' The Olde House,' was re- cently discovered an ancient painting, on canvass, fixed upon a board forming the mantlepiece over the fireplace of the room. In the centre is a shield of arms, France and England quarterly, surmounted by a royal crown, and on either side a pomegranate and Tudor rose (white and red conjoined), twice repeated. The ground of the whole dark maroon, ornamented or damasked with white wavy feathery embellishments. Above, on the plaster of the wall, is a rude painting of heavy scroll-work orna- ments ; and it is thought that the rest of the walls, if the wainscot were removed, would be found covered with similar paintings.

" In the absence of all positive evidence, conjectures can only be hazarded as to the cause of these arms, &c. having been placed here.

" One thing, however, is certain, that they are con- nected, in some way, with Queen Mary, daughter of Henry VIII. and Queen Katherine of Arragon, inasmuch as the pomegranate was first introduced as a royal badge of England, upon Katherine's marriage with Prince Ar- thur, son of Henry VII. Now if we consider this paint- ing contemporary with an inscription on the wainscot of the adjoining drawing-room, ' PETUVS ROBERTS M. M. SECO 1553,' and interpret it thus, 'PETRVS ROBERTS MARI.IO MATKUNITATEM SECO, 1553, I, Peter Roberts, decide (the question of) the maternity or legitimacy of Mar3% 1553,' then we may regard it as a loyal demonstra- tion on Mary's accession to the English throne by some one of those many friends and adherents who so warmly sympathized in her early adversity, in the unjustifiable degradation of her royal mother, and her own consequent exclusion from the succession to the throne.