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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. x. OCT. is, 1002.

the third Baron Perceval, who was a man of great consideration in the County of Meath, in which he was seated near Portlester, and is presumed to have built the Castle of Norrach ; his name is entered in two Rolls of the Barons of Ire- land, and A.p. 1301 he received letters from K. E. I.* requiring his attendance in the Scottish Wars, but two years af terf' he was slain in battle in Ireland, viz., Oct r 22, 1303,+ and, having been a great benefactor to the Priory of Youghall, was buried there. He married Grace.l! eldest daughter of Maurice, 2 nd Baron of Kerry, and left an only son Thomas, the fourth Baron Perceval, who dying without issue.H the title ceased. He is called Lord of Norrach (Robert I 8t Barron) by Sir James Ware, who says he founded the nunnery of S' Mary in Timolin, and placed his daughter there."

The references I have added from Ander- son's 'House of Yvery,' vol. i. pp. 316-24, which gives fuller details, agreeing in the main with the above account, except that it makes Grace the daughter of Thomas Fitz- maurice, the first Baron of Kerry. I have had no opportunity of verifying these refer- ences. C. H. SP. P.

A SEXTON'S TOMBSTONE. Worth Church in Sussex is in part a Saxon edifice, reputed to be one of the oldest in England. Near the south en trance is a headstone; the inscription thereupon I copied a few days ago. It reads :

"In memory of John Alcorn, Clerk and Sexton of this Parish, who died Dec. 13 : 1868 in the 81st year of his age.

Time honored friend, for fifty three full years, He saw each bridal's joy, each Burial's tears : Within the walls, by Saxons reared of old, By the stone sculptured font of antique mould, Under the massive arches in the glow, Tinged by dyed sun-beams passing to and fro, A sentient portion of the sacred place, A worthy presence, with a well worn face. The lich-gate's shadow, o'er his pall at last, Bids kind adieu as poor old John goes past. Unseen the path, the trees, the 6ld oak door, No more his foot-falls touch the tomb-paved floor His silvery head is hid, his service done, Of all those Sabbaths absent only one. And now, amidst the graves he delved around, He rests and sleeps, beneath the hallowed ground.

Keep Innocency, and take heed unto the thing that is right, For that shall bring man peace at the last. Psalm xxxvii. 38."

I may add the lichgate mentioned above is one of the most ancient examples of its kind in this country. HARRY HEMS.

Fair Park, Exeter.


 * Ex Rot. Glaus.

t ' Annal. Hib.,' by Sir Jas. Ware. t Camden's 'Annals of Ireland.' Hollinshead.

Comitum de Egmont,' Le Neve and Hawkins. IT 15 E. II., 1323. See ' Annal. Hib.,' by Sir Jas
 * Ex ' Geneal. Comitum de Kerry ': and in 'Geneal

"HONEST" EPITAPHS. I beg to send for insertion in 'N. & Q.' the following pitaphs.

On a tablet on the outer wall of Stepney Church, beneath the west window of the north aisle :

Here lieth the

bodi of honist

Abraham Zoveh

of Wappin rope

maker who died the 16 th Ivly

1648

also Mary his wife wh

disceased the 29 of

May 1660 lately

the wife of Rich

ard Bvrdin.

On a ledger stone in the centre aisle of North Walsham Church, Norfolk :

" Here Lye Intomb'd (let it be call'd ye shrine | of Dear Sacheverell & Pretty Constantino | that two Such Names should Struggle in one womb | Bee both Interr'd & lye beneath one Stone | is Surely new & Wholly yett Unknow'ne | their Lives were Short few days or not much longer | Sweet Baby's both the Sons of honest Saunder (?) | April ye 13... 17...."

On a ledger stone in the south aisle of Stanford - on - Avon Church, Northampton- shire :

Here is interrd ye

body of Honest

William Coton

who depted this life

. 1637

in yeare of

his age.

JOHN T. PAGE. West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

THE MAID OP ORLEANS. I should like, as one who has written (and published) a short biography of Jeanne d'Arc, to ask the Editor of ' N. & Q.' kindly to find a corner for the enclosed extract from the Daily Graphic of 25 August. Since I compiled my crude sketch of the heroine (more than twenty years ago), I have noticed in many papers and magazines, French as well as English, a disposition to believe that Jeanne not only was not burnt, but that she lived for many years after " happy, though married " and was the mother of several children, one of whom was the progenitor of the Irish family named Darcy. This, however, like a good many other vandalic attempts to " rewrite history," I should be inclined to take cum grano sails. For my part, I prefer to believe still in the story of the white dove which rose from the funeral pile, 30 May, 1431, at Rouen.

"Among minor indications of the growth of a better understanding between our French neigh- bours and ourselves, one notes the installation of a new statue of Joan of Arc the gift of an English-