Page:Notes and Queries - Series 7 - Volume 5.djvu/10

2 when the name of Mr. James Russell Lowell figures in the introduction; but it is nevertheless a fact.

Amongst the advantages enjoyed by those who take an interest in tracing out their pedigree are the kindness and courtesy it developes [sic] in friends and others who become aware of the object of the search. A friend, knowing my hobby, informed me that he had seen in the City an ancient Missal, in which were recorded many particulars respecting persons of the name of Hyde. In a very short time afterwards I had the pleasure of calling upon the Rev. John C. Jackson, 11, Angel Court, E.C., who most courteously allowed me to inspect the MS. I wanted to see. It far exceeded my most sanguine expectations. It was the Great Antiphoner of Salisbury and Norwich, being the entire Breviary, with all the musical notes, the Kalendar being in the middle. It consists of 359 large folio leaves, and is written on vellum, apparently about the beginning of the fifteenth century. It had evidently been the service book used in Denchworth Church, Berkshire, and had been in use in the reign of Henry VIII., because the word “Pope” was erased, in compliance with his orders, and also the name of St. Thomas of Canterbury, whom the king considered to have been a traitor. In addition to these, several erasions have been made by a line ruling through the words, which does not interfere with their legibility.

Written upon blank spaces in the Kalendar were the dates of the birth and death of many members of the Hyde family, who lived for centuries at Denchworth, and built the church. These are the most numerous. There are, however, several other names mentioned, and in addition is a memorandum, copied below, which seems of earlier date than 1135, when the death of John Hyde, Esq., is recorded in the last year of Henry I. Written in a blank space in January, evidently by a regular scribe, is:—

The book being a large folio, and a page given for each month, frequent blank spaces occur between the days, some of the lines being only partly filled. In these spaces were entered the births and deaths which the church desired to remember on their particular days. The Kalendar, being in the centre of the book, could be easily turned to by the priest when performing the service. The entries are made sometimes between the lines, rendering it difficult to determine whether they belonged to say the 11th or 12th; in such cases the day of the month is given in the entry. They come according to the days of the month; in the following list I give them chronologically:—

The last entry with a date is:—

There are several births registered of Hyde children; and also, but without date other than that of the month:—

On a tombstone in Denchworth Churchyard it is stated that the Wyblyns were in that parish for five hundred years.

A man of that name witnessed one of the Hyde deeds mentioned in Clarke’s ‘Hundred of Wanting,’ p. 98, 1398.