Page:Notes and Queries - Series 4 - Volume 3.djvu/541

 4* S. III. JUNE 5, '60.] NOTES AND QUERIES. and vegetables ; and among his descendants is still preserved this characteristic I. 0. TJ. : D' to John Toft, near Leeke, Dec. 8, 1745. 19 horses' hay at 4 d. . . .64 Gates, 18 peckes at 3d. . . .53 7 Keceved the above accomptt bay mei, Jo. Graham, ageytantt to may Lord Kilmarnok." Edward and John Bratt, interesting twins still in the flesh, in Mill Street, describe their grand- father as having fought with the "rabels" at Fold-brook, and having had the sinews of his hand so badly wounded that thenceforth he was disabled from milking his cows. Nanny Toft, an old washerwoman living in Stock well Street, had her wrath stirred and her hunger balked by some of these unwelcome guests entering her humble abode, and helping themselves to the dumpling then boiling in the pot over the fire. Of others who hid themselves and their treasures, and turned their horses and cattle loose on the unen- closed commons, in the vain hope that they might escape, many reports still circulate ; but the most striking feature in the passage of this hungry host through the moorlands is so tersely de- scribed in the vernacular, that I cannot do better than append it : " Leigh. < Th' yung Purtendur wi' his officers steydii to brexfast at th' squeir's (Murhall's), an' arterwards th' Scotch sojers rob't his hahis of his foire arms an' money, an' mej^dn him shew 'em th' road to'ard Darby.' " Telwright. l Bu' they fund'n the'r wey back ogen pratty seun, afore th' duke cud meet wi' em? ' " Leigh. ' They didn ; an' th' squeir thout he'd ma' 'em amends for robbin' his hahis ; so he catch't a laisy Scotch rogue as had lagg'd behinnd, tuck't him up wi' a hawt'r o'er a soin-post at Leek, had him fleead loike a cawf, an' sent his hoide to th' tan-yord t' may into leather for a drum-yead.' " Relics of the expedition: In Lady Harpur Crewe's boudoir, at Calke Abbey, hangs the Young Pretender's bridle, and at Mr. Bagshawe's of Ford Hall is an exquisite miniature of him, which is believed to have been given to an an- cestor by Charles Edward himself. Mr. Harrison of Snelston Hall, Mrs. Briggs of Ashborne, and my- self, inter olios, possess claymores left behind them by the Highlanders ; and over a very fine print of Charles Edward, in the Leek Institute, is sus- pended an officer's sword, which was found thrust into the thatch of a cottage on Morridge. At Wolfscote Grange, near Hartington, and at Mr. R. H. Edge's of the Acre Farm, are guns with immensely long barrels; and there is a shield, formed of two thicknesses of wood covered with rough strong leather, left at Langley. I may add that the original warrant of the Derbyshire lodge of Ancient Freemasons, whose head-quarters are at Longnor, was signed by Charles Edward as grand-master, while at Derby, in 1745. JOHN SLEIGH. Thorubridge, Bakewell. THE QUINTAIN. (4 th S. iii. 468.) I have great pleasure in being able to tell MR. PIGGOT that the quintain at Offham still stands there, and that it is in good condition: had it not been that a road has been made to pass within a few feet of it, a person might ride at it now. The striking board is not perforated, i. e. bored through, but some small round holes, about a quarter of an inch deep, are cut on it, probably to afford a better hold for the lance, and to pre- vent its glancing off. I went to see it about a year ago, my attention having been called to it by a passage in Mrs. Markham's History of England, &135. It is a nice book for young children, arkham is an assumed name. The lady who wrote it was Elizabeth, wife of the Rev. John Penrose, of Bracebridge, near Lincoln. She died in 1837. She said : <! I Avas lately told that there is still a quintain existing at MalRng in Kent. At the first sight of it the gentle- man Avho told me this thought it was a guide-post, but on inquiry he found it was the relic, and probably the only one left, of the quintain." Offham is a short mile from Town Mailing. In "N. & Q." 3 rd S. x. 312, a like question to MR. PIGGOT'S was asked by E. S. lie referred to Murray's Handbook of Kent, p. 117, where it is described, and with this passage : " Quintains of this form are scarcely earlier than the reign of Elizabeth, the more ancient having been in the shape of a giant or Saracen with a broad wooden sword which struck the unskilful tilter as the figure turned on its pivot." No answer was returned to E. S.'s query. Mrs. Markham gives a drawing of the quintain, but it is not much like the one at Offham. Hers appears to be about four feet high ; that at Off- hain is about ten. I had an impression that there was one still in existence in Huntingdon- shire or Northamptonshire, but I think I must have been wrong; had there been, I think we should have heard something about it from CUTH- BERT BEDE. I take it there are few readers of " N. & Q. who do not like pretty scenery, and that all the more if objects of antiquarian interest abound amid it. Let me suggest to them that Town Mailing would give them glorious head-quarters for a week's holiday in the coming summer. I aright mention that the quintain stands on the vilfage green at Offharn. C. W. BERKLEY. I do not think the quintain will be found to be of such rare occurrence as MR. PIGGOT seems to believe. The machine has been set up by more than one lover of the old game, to my own know- ledge. I have myself seen two ; one at Chartlev, Lord Ferrers' seat in Staffordshire, and another in