Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/219

 XL MARCH 14, 1903.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

211

after they had passed into the hands of sub jects, and they were occasionally improperly described as royal demesne or ancien^ demesne, as the case might be.

There was, however, a great difference between ancient demesnes and royal de mesnes. Ancient demesnes, at least in th< county of Devon, are the original areas o: settlement set apart for the use of the Crown whereas royal demesnes are those set apar for the support of the queen and members o_ the royal family (the earls). Until the statute was passed abolishing feudal tenures there could be no mistake about the position o the two.

Domesday shows that North Tawton was ancient demesne of the Crown, whereas South Tawton at that time was only a royal demesne and was held before 1066 by Harold. I shoulo infer from the fact named by Miss LEGA- WEEKES that South Tawton is sometimes described as ancient demesne that it may have originally formed part of the ancient demesne of North Tawton.

ME. WHALE asserts that South Tawton, which Henry I. gave to Rosaline de Beau- mont, formed part of Queen Isabella's dowry in the reign of Henry II. Supposing this to be established, it would only account for South Tawton when in the hands of a sub- ject being improperly described as "royal demesne," not as "ancient demesne," except for the suggestion made above. But what evidence is there that the queen's dowry came from South Tawton rather than from North Tawton ? The authorities are all clear about Henry I. granting South Tawton to Rosaline de Beaumont. But where is there any mention of a reserved rent of 13., or of the king's awarding such a reserved rent first to the queen, then to the Earl of Corn- wall? OSWALD J. REICHEL.

QUOTATION WANTED (9 th S. xi. 170). Distinct, but distant clear, but oh how cold ! From ' Sun of the Sleepless,' Byron's ' Hebrew Melodies.' FEANCIS P. MAECHANT.

HENSLOWE'S 'DIAEY' (9 th S. xi. 169). Mr. Sidney Lee in the 'D.N.B.,' xxvi. 138, with regard to Philip Henslowe's much mutilated MS. diary states that "Mr. G. F. Warner, in his 'Catalogue of the Dulwich MSS., 5 has pointed out all the forgeries, some of which unwarrantably introduce the names of Nashe, Webster, and other dramatists. A letter at Dulwich purporting to be written by Marston to Henslowe is also a forgery."

A. R. BAYLEY.

MAGIC RING (9 th S. xi. 109). The Sultan Amurath possessed a ring, given him by the

Genius Syndarac, which " marked out to him the boundaries of good and evil," by con- tracting and pressing his finger whenever he was engaged in any evil action. See ' The Adventurer,' xx. It was the Bracelet of Memory, in Miss Edgeworth's 'Rosamond,' that by means of a clockwork alarum pricked the wearer at any set time as a reminder.

G. E. D.

This incident occurs in the story of l Le Prince Cheri,' one of the ' Contes des Fe'es ' of Madame Leprince de Beaumont.

E. E. STEEET.

The curious ring in general use amongst the young men in Zululand exactly answers George Eliot's description. It is of conical outline, and is worn much as a thimble might be. Made of soft straw plaiting, all is covered and held together on the outside by broad slips of coloured grass, fastened at the top by a knob of twine. Although I have only seen them worn by the Zulus, their singular aids to virtue are stated to be common amongst other tribes in South Africa.

The article is well known by a compre- hensive name amongst old colonists, but I do not find the native one recorded in Gibbs's 'Zulu Vocabulary,' the only phrase-book I possess upon that language.

Forty years ago an advertising quack doctor lived in Berners Street, W. He made a speciality of the ailments of debilitated young men, and was accustomed, I well recollect, to supply patients with a ring bhat, under given conditions, pricked its wearer, and was thus declared by him to be a check to sundry ills the flesh is heir to.

HAEEY HEMS.

Fair Park, Exeter.

This subject appeared in 5 th S. iii. 149, and reference was given in the reply (p. 194) to ol. ix. New Series of the publications of the itoyal Society of Literature, also the Man- chester Guardian, 6 July, 1874.

EVEEAED HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

THOMAS HAEEISON, REGICIDE (9 th S. xi. 88). Some interesting information respecting he wife and family of this Civil War worthy was given some years since in the ' Cheshire Sheaf,' by the late Mr. J. P. Earwaker. From yhat is there stated we gather that the egicide was born about the year 1616, and n or shortly before 1648 married Katherine, laughter and heiress of Ralph Harrison, of lighgate, in Middlesex. It is not known if lalph Harrison, who died in May, 1656, was n any way related to his son-in-law, but it is