Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/202

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[2<> S. NO 10., MAB. 8. '56.

Bodies of the Excommunicated incapable of Corruption. I had imagined the " corpus carie carens " to be a distinctive attribute of those who had died in the odour of sanctity. It was there- lore with much surprise to this I found Hallam, in his chapter on the " Ecclesiastical Power " {Middle Ages, c. vn. vol. ii. p. 243., 7th edit.), stating that,

" Their carcasses were supposed to be incapable of cor- ruption, which seems to have been thought a privilege unfit for those who had died in so irregular a manner."

Mr. Hallam refers to Du Cange, sub voce " imblo- catus," a word explained in the octavo abridg- ment, alone within my reach, as derived from " bloc, tumulus quidam altior" because, instead of being laid below the surface, such bodies were rudely laid upon it and covered with rubbish and heaps of stones. A complete Du Cange would no doubt supply the authorities for the idea of incor- ruptibility ; and I should be obliged to any of your correspondents who would illustrate, either thence or from elsewhere, the peculiarity attri- buted in common to the outcast from the church and to her most favoured sons. Y. B. N. J.

Deafness at Will. I have a little study over a printing office, in which I often pass a pleasant hour in the pursuit of literature. The " music of the presses," and the noisy conversation of the " devils" beneath, however, so often distract my attention when I am anxious to concentrate it, that I do not derive the advantage of the study I might. It has occurred to me, that some of your correspondents could suggest some mechanical appliance or other means which might render me perfectly deaf at my pleasure, and vastly augment my comfort. KOPHOS.

Groundolf Family. Can you give me any par- ticulars of the Groundolf family, to which Agnes Groundolf, who married John Gower in 1397, belonged ? F. R. DALDT.

Baskervile's Travels over England. In the year 1678, Thomas Baskervile, Esq., of Sunning- well, Berkshire, travelled over a great part of England, and drew up a MS. account of his ob- servations. This MS. is referred to in Granger's Letters, p. 264., and I should be glad to know its whereabouts at the present time.

EDWARD F. RIMBATJLT.

[This MS. appears to have been at one time in the Harleian collection, for the Earl of Oxford communicated to Mr. Wise a curious extract from it respecting the " White Horse " on Farringdon Hill. See Francis Wise's Letter to Dr. Mead, concerning some Antiquities in Berk- shire, 4to., 1738, p. 57. A portion of the 'MS., however, still remains in the Harleian collection, No. 4716, but not

that part giving an account of the "White Horse." It is a thin, narrow folio, containing, 1. Baskervile's de- scriptions of various places, rivers, &c., in prose and verse, interspersed with epitaphs, &c. in the counties of Wilts, Oxford, and Gloucester. 2. A list of people put to death in the Civil Wars in and about London from 1641 to 1662. 3. An account of bridges over the Thames, beginning at Cricklade in Gloucestershire, with the nifm- ber of arches in each bridge, and their dimensions, &c. 4. Taverns in London and Westminster, and ten miles round London. 700 stage-coaches allowed in London, and the bills of mortality, 1698. 5. Remarks in and about Bampton Church, 1698. Gough (British Topo- graphy, vol. i. p. 35.), copying Wise's notice of the MS., evidently thought it was still, in its complete state, in the Harleian library ; for he tells us, that " In the Har- leian library is ' A Journal of Travels over a great Part of England in 1677, 1678, by Thomas Baskervile, Esq., of Sunningwell, in Berkshire,' a gentleman of learning and curiosity, especially in his j'ounger years, known at Oxford by the nickname of 'The King of Jerusalem.' He died about 1705, aged upwards of ninety, as appears from a print of him. His father was Hannibal Basker- vile, of Brazen-nose College, a melancholy, retired, cha- ritable man, so great a cherisher of wandering beggars that he was several times indicted at Abingdon for har- bouring them." Consult also The Life of Anthony a Wood, by Dr. Bliss, edit. Eccles. Hist. Society, 1848, pp. 86, 87. note.]

St. Mungo and St. Machar. I have not the pleasure of being so well acquainted as I should like to be with St. Mungo, who is said to have founded the bishopric of Glasgow; or with St. Machar, to whom the cathedral of Aberdeen is dedicated. Can any one furnish me with particu- lars relative to these illustrious individuals, or tell me where to find the best account of them ?

R. W. HACKWOOD.

[St. Mungo is better known by his alias St. Kentigern, respecting whom there is a long account in Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints, Jan. 13. See also Britannia Sancta, vol.i. p. 34. ; and Chronicles of the Ancient British Cliurch, pp. 122. 125. Very little that is authentic seems to be known of St. Machar. An ancient Life of St. Columba informs us, that one of his Irish disciples, named Machar, received episcopal ordination, and undertook to preach the Gospel in the northern parts of the Pictish kingdom. The legend adds, that Columba admonished him to found his church, when he should arrive upon the bank of a river, where it formed, by its windings, the figure of a bishop's crosier. Obeying the injunctions of his master, Machar advanced northwards, preaching Christianity, until he found, at the mouth of the Don, the situation indicated by St. Columba, and finally settled there his Christian colony, and founded the church which, from its situation, was called the Church of Aberdon. "Ubi flumen, prsesulis instar baculi, intrat mare." (Colgan, Trias Thau. ; Breviar. Aberdon., Nov. 12.) This Life of St. Columba does not give the precise era of St. Machar'a foundation ; but it may be conjectured to have been be- fore the death of his master, A.D. 597. The venerable Breviary of Aberdeen gives, as the ancient tradition of the church, that the founder of the future cathedral was not interred there ; but, having died in France on his re- turn from a journey to Rome, he was buried in the church of St. Martin at Tours. Consult Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis, vol. i. p. x., published by the Spalding Club, 1845.]