Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/139

 9*8. XI. FEB. 14, 1903.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

131

would gladly pay for certified copies. Ii some cases clergymen, seeing that 1 was familiar with old writing, have requested me to settle some doubtful points. One had filled up a page of foolscap with extracts required by Sir John Maclean, F.S.A.,for his 'History of Trigg.' Several were wrong ; many I struck out or altered, and many I added. The clergyman was grateful, and informed his correspondent why he might rely on the accuracy of his list. H. H. D.

On the subject of transcripts of parish registers deposited in the episcopal archives in Exeter Cathedral, concerning which I quoted from memory (though not without consent) an off-hand general statement, W. E. Mugford, Esq., of 70, Oxford Road, Exeter, writes to me :

"The archives do not, unfortunately, by any means contain copies of all parish registers, either of Devon or Cornwall e.g. (1) there are no tran- scripts prior to 1596, or between 1644 and 16(51 ; and (2) out of 1,098 years of lost registers between 1596 and 1644 in the two most important deaneries of the diocese viz., Christianity (Exeter) and Plympton only 147 transcripts are known to be extant, while out of 713 years of still existing registers of the same period in the deanery of Christianity only 89 tran- scripts can be traced Then as to the disordered

state of the transcripts that has not been the

case tor a century at least, except as to those for the above period (1596-1644), and the confusion to which they had been brought, largely, I am afraid, by previous generations of searchers, has ceased to be for twelve months past, as 1, with the help of Mr. Bowers, the registry clerk, put more than three-fourths of them in alphabetical order at the end of last year, and as to those of which 1 have not yet been able to identify the parishes, 1 hope to locate a fair number of them by means of the names of incumbents in the Registers of Institu- tions and Visitations. The transcripts posterior to 1660 are arranged in archdeaconries, and each of the four yearly bundles can be examined to find a particular parish in less than an hour. Many tran- scripts, however, are missing, having probably never been sent to the registry, and therefore no bundles can be found for some of the years e.y., a large number of Cornish transcripts are at the Probate Registry at Bodmin, having been trans- ferred there from the archdeacon's registry in 1858, together with the wills and administration papers, and in connexion with this, every antiquary ought to feel indebted to W. H. L. Shadwell, Esq., the pre- sent registrar at Bodmin. for the great trouble he must have taken to put them so carefully in order and to compile the excellent calendar which is now available for searchers.''

I gladly avail myself of Mr. Mugford's per- mission to pass on this valuable authoritative information to readers of *N. & Q.'

ETHEL LEGA-WEEKES.

BANQUO (9 th S. xi. 30). If DR. FERNOW can refer to the last series of 'N. &Q.' he will find (8 th S. xii. 86) an article of mine

which deals exhaustively with Scotch quh and its pronunciation in proper names. The original orthography of Banquo wasBanquho, a Scotch transliteration of Gaelic Bancho. The sound of Scotch quh, equivalent to Gaelic ch, is exactly that of German ch in auch. This guttural being difficult to Englishmen, they substitute A*, and render Banquho (Gaelic Bancho) as Banko, Farquhar (Gaelic Fearchar) as Farkar, Sanquhar as Sankar, Urquhart as Urkart, &c. The English spelling Banquo, though now established, is a blunder, and the English pronunciation Bangkwo, though very much in use, is equally a blunder. JAS. PL ATT, Jun.

KNIGHTLEY CHARLETON (9 th S. x. 189, 231, 317 ; xi. 36). I have before me a very old pedigree of the Guttyns family, in which it is recorded that Thomas Knightley Charleton was born 1396 ; married, at the early age of sixteen years, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Adam Francis ; and died 1460, leaving a son Robert, born 1413, who also married at the age of sixteen years Maria (or Alice), daughter of Robert Corbet, of Moreton Corbet, and died 1472. Robert was sheriff of Salop at the time of his death, and his eldest child, Margaret, became the wife of William Steventon. Their eldest child, Anna, was born 1447, and married John Guttyns in 1462 or 1463. There is nothing remarkable in these early marriages, for in those days men often married at sixteen years of age, though, owing to the unsettled times, marriage was frequently postponed until a much later age ; and girls were not infrequently married at the age of thirteen and even twelve years.

EPSILON.

LES PSAUMES DE BfiZE ' (9 th S. X. 409).

Without claiming that this is an exact reply bo the question, the following particulars may be interesting to your correspondent, faute de mieux. I have referred to a French Bible bearing date M.D.LX. (1560), which has these words on the title-page :

" La Bible | qui est | toute la sain- | cte escriture,, contenant le vieux | testament et le | nouveau. | Avec les Figures & leurs descriptions, pour Tintel- igence des pas- | sages ausquels elles sont mises : & davantage celles du jardin | d'Eden, & de la Pro- 3hetie d Ezeckiel, non encore veues. | Esaie I. | Baoontez Cieux, & toy Terre preste 1'oreille : car 'Eternel parle."

Then follows an allegorical figure of an armed warrior surrounded with printed words :

De rimprimerie de Francois laquy, Antoine Dauodeau, & laques Bourgeois. | M.D.LX."

At the end of the book, but without a separate title-page, comes : " Pseaumes deda- | vid, mis en rime par | Clement Marot et | Theodore de