Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/222

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[2nd s. N 11., MAR. 15. '56.

in a clear, audible voice the rhythms of the psalm verses, so that all the congregation might agree together in sound and rhythm. Hence, responding upon the monotone or clerk- tone was called in our cathedrals the parochial use, in contradistinction to the cathedral or choral use. The clerks of the present day have, for the most part, lost their clerk-tone, and no one dreams of attending to their rhythmical arrangements. Those celebrants who desire to "gain a clear, bold, and consentaneous delivery of the psalm verses should precent every verse of the Psalms, and thus act as the chorostates, choragus, or rather rhythmopseist to their congregations. On all festival days, when any Psalm began with the prefix or intonation, the choragus or precentor commenced every Psalm. The prefix announced the gamut the music was to run in, and the particular rhythm of the chant, a rhythm which was regulated by the voice and wand, the melody and action of the precentor. On ferial days the custom varied : with some choirs thevsang straight through, as the music was well known, and the rhythms thoroughly familiar. There is now no uniform custom, and certainly no law. The celebrant may commence every Psalm, if he should desire to do so, or take his turn for beginning, such as the odd or even chances of the Psalms may give him. A few 3 T ears ago some clergymen were very desirous of abolish- ing the clerk and his 'office: such who did this found themselves in a great difficulty, for to maintain a chorus (not a singing, but responding chorus) without a chora- gus is an impossibility.]

Who was Bishop of Worcester in 1467? In an old deed of arbitration I was examining a short time since, mention is made of " John, by Divine permission, Bishop of Worcester." The deed is dated " the 20th day of October, in the year of our Lord 1467, and of our consecration the 24th." I shall be glad to learn the surname of this bishop, as well as any particulars of his history that are known. ALFRED T. LEE.

Tetbury, Gloucestershire.

[Dr. John Carpenter was Bishop of "Worcester in 1467, formerly Fellow, and afterwards Provost, of Oriel College, Oxford, and in 1437-8 Chancellor of the uni- versity. He was installed in his cathedral Dec. 24, 1444, and built a gate to the episcopal palace at Hartlebury, which was demolished in the Civil Wars; and in 1461 erected a library in the charnel-house belonging to his cathedral. He died at his palace at Northwyke, in 1476. Upon his tomb in Westbury Church is carved the skeleton of a man. See Dugdale's Monasticon, and Godwin, De Prcesulibus Anglias, by Richardson.]

Heelball. Can any of your readers inform me of any method of preparing the common " heel- ball" used for rubbing brasses, so as to lessen the labour, and obtain a blacker rubbing than can be well got by the ordinary process ? I have reason to think that there is some method, and should much like to know it. K,. H. W.

[Heelball is sold of three qualities, hard, middling, and soft; the hard for summer and fine work, middling for general use, and soft for winter and large surfaces. But as our correspondent seems desirous to save time as well as labour, perhaps the more expeditious method adopted by Messrs. Waller may be serviceable to him. It is thus noticed in a valuable paper on Sepulchral Brasses by Albert Way (Archaological Journal, 1845, vol. i.) : " Rub- bers of wash-leather stiffened with paper are prepared, a

triangular shape having been found to be most convenient, and primed with a thin paste formed of very fine black- lead in powder, mixed with the best linseed oil, or if that kind is not at hand, with sweet oil. Tissue paper, of somewhat stronger quality than is commonly used, answers best for making rubbings by this method, and it is manufactured in large sheets. The rubbings thus pro- duced with great expedition are perfectly distinct, and this process answers admirably, if the chief object be to obtain the means of supplying an accurate reduction of the design for the use of the engraver ; but those persons who are desirous of forming an illustrative collection, will prefer the rubbings produced with heelball, as more sightly and more durable, the paper employed being of stronger quality, although the operation requires much longer time and greater pains than are expended when the method just described is adopted."]

Sudan Court. Challoner Chute, Esq., speaker in Richard Cromwell's parliament, according to family tradition, died at Chiswick. The Lennard MSS., penes Sir Thomas Barrett Lennard, Bart., state his death to have occurred at " Sutton Court," the occasional residence of his widow for twenty years or more. Is Sutton Court in Chis- wick ? G. STEIN MAN STEINMAN.

[Sutton Court is in the parish of Chiswick, and during the Civil Wars the manor was sequestered to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London. In 1676 the lease came into the hands of Thomas, Earl of Fauconberg, who mar- ried, in 1657, Maria, the third daughter of Oliver Crom- well. The house and gardens are thus described by Mackey (Journey through England, vol. i. p. 86., 1732) : " From Brentford I passed by the pleasant village of Chiswick, and in an hour got to Sutton Court, that cele- brated seat of the Earl of Fauconberg ; and I must own that the house, furniture, pictures, and gardening, are well worth the curiosity of a stranger. Sutton is, indeed, un bijou, ft has three parterres from three fronts of the house, each finely adorned with statues. The gardens are irregular, but every walk affords variety, the hedges, grottos, statues, mounts, and canals, are so many sur- prising beauties. In the house are several very good Italian pictures, and a very neat library."]

The Game of Chequers. Can any of your readers describe the game of checquers, a board for which we so frequently see as the sign for a village inn ? The board is divided into sixteen squares ; and it is usually placed lozengewise, i. e. with a corner at the top and bottom. The game is mentioned in one of Dibdin's songs, as being played at by the seamen :

" Dear Mary, adieu! Can that love go to wreck, When even- plank bears your sweet name on the deck? Yea, many true knots on the yards have I made, While guileless at checquers my messmates have

played."

I can find no one acquainted with the game, or who can tell me how it was played. A. C. M.

[The chequers is the old game of tables, or draughts, and better known in later times as backgammon. Both these games, as well as chess, were played upon a che- quered board. Consult Hoyle's Games, by Jones, edit. 1800, and Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, edit. 1845, p. 321., for a description of these games. ].