Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/391

 9* s. x. NOV. is, 1902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

383

And bade me brawndysche the blade ; " the brande

as myn awen

Many swayn with the swynge has the swette levede, For whills thow swank with the swerde it swy kkede

the never." ' M. A.,' 3349-61.

Full of brightest promise was everything, but at noon Fortune's mood changed, she sud- denly whirled her wheel, Arthur was hurled from the chair with broken spine, and woke "all wery fordremyde," wondering what his vision might betoken. We need lot here follow the interpretation given by the "philosopher" whom Arthur consulted, nor pursue the tale of Arthur and his Round Table to its tragic ending. But we may quote the warning the philosopher addressed to the king that he could trust to Fortune no more :

"Freke," sais the philosophre, "thy fortune es

passede, For thow sail fynd hir thi foo, frayste when the

lykes !

Thow art at the hegheste, I hette the forsothe, Chalange nowe when thow will thow chevys no

more. Thow has schedde myche blode and schalkes

destroyede,

Sakles in cirquytrie in sere kynges landis ; Schryfe the or thy schanie and schape for thyn ende ; Thow has a schewynge, sir kynge, take kepe 3if the

lyke,

For thow sail fersely fall within fyve wynters. Fownde abbayes in Fraunce, the froytez are theyn

awen, Fore Froill and for Ferawnt, and for thir ferse

knyghttis

That thowe fremydly in Fraunce has faye belevede."

'M. A./ 3394-3405.

GEO. NEILSON. ( To be continued. )

THREE UNKNOWN MEMBERS OF THE

LONG PARLIAMENT. IN ' An Exact Alphabetical List of the Old and New Secluded Members' surviving in May, 1659, and appended to Prynne's ' Con- scientious, Serious, Theological, and Legal Queries,' occur three names whose identity I have never been successful in establishing, nor in ascertaining even tentatively the constituencies they were elected to represent. These are given as John Haidon, Robert Stanton, and "Mr." North. A similar, but slightly varied list in Prynne's ' Full Decla- ration of the True, State of the Secluded Members' Case,' printed 30 January, 1659/60, omits Haidon and Stanton, but retains "Mr." North. But inasmuch as Prynne's various lists of the secluded members all slightly differ from one another it is doubtful if the one can be taken as corrective of the other. More probably the whole must be taken together. I may say at once that of these three alleged members I have discovered no

trace whatever in the ' Commons' Journals ' or other authorities, and no evidence of their existence beyond their enumeration by Prynne. If they were elected at all it is tolerably certain that it was under one or other of the writs ordered by the House shortly before the purge of December, 1648, and that, like Prynne himself, they sat but a few weeks or days, or possibly even not at all. The writs issued for which no return is certainly known are as follows :

9 February, 1646/7, for St. Michael (Corn- wall), for two members. Lord Carr, elected about May, was one member ; for the other I place Thomas Temple, named in several of Prynne's lists, and undoubtedly a Cornish member. 14 April, 1647, for Camelford (Corn-, wall), for one .member. It is doubtful if a. return to this was made. 1 March, 1647/8, Newport (Cornwall), for two members. Prynne elected 7 November following. For his colleague (not recorded) I tentatively place Alexander Pym, named by Prynne as one of the secluded. 16 Mafch, 1647/8, co. York, for two members. Nothing seems to be known of any return, but it is hardly .likely that a writ for so important a constituency would be ignored. 20 September, 1648, Steyning (Sussex), for one member. 18 November, 1648, Canterbury, for one member. 18 November, 1648, Portsmouth, for one member. Carlyle names Richard Cromwell as being elected under the last writ. Not improbably this was so, but I do not know the authority upon which this alleged return is based, nor have I found any trace of Richard Cromwell in the Long Parliament, either before or after the purge.

So far as I am aware the foregoing con- stituencies fu"rnish the only cases of uncer- tainty that have to be dealt with in the returns to this historic Parliament. It is possible that, owing to the disorders of the times, no return was made to the last three writs ; but it is equally possible that returns were made, and that the new members so elected, being of the same Presbyterian bias as the secluded, never attempted to take their seats. Had they been " Rumpers," and elected even after the purge, they would have been admitted to the House, as was Col. Bennett, elected for West Looe under a writ of 18 November, 1648, and admitted to sit 25 October, 1651. If either of the three un- known members was elected at all it would probably be for one of these constituencies. Not infrequently the name and family of a member will largely help to indicate the locality of the constituency he represented, though in Cornwall this assistance is often