Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/267

 9*8. XL MARCH 28, 1903.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

259

was fought, but the news would soon reach Canter- bury probably be conveyed as rapidly as possible to the archbishop by a special messenger. There was not time for the news to be as wildly exagge- rated as in after days. Stone says that there were 23,000 and more slain, as it was reported. A docu- ment in the Paston Letters gives the number of the dead as 28,000. Hume believed that above 36,000 perished. Lingard puts the number still higher. We believe that what Stone heard is far nearer the truth than the others, though even he had probably received a distorted account.

Stone was certainly not a scholar. His words often assume wrong forms, even when judged by the lax mediaeval standards, and their order will not be found to the taste of those who take classical or Renaissance Latin as their model. He is sometimes absolutely ungrammatical. Nevertheless, we have derived great pleasure by reading his artless jot- tings, all the more so, perhaps, because he records so many things which our grandfathers would have condemned as very far below what " the dignity of history " requires. He seems to have been a simple- minded man, who took no little pride in his ecclesi- astical position. He was exact in recording the colours of vestments, and noted with much care the route taken by the great outdoor processions which afforded such unaffected delight to our simple- minded forefathers. He evidently took intelligent interest in strange beasts, for he records that on the vigil of St. Lucy, in 1466, the Patriarch of Antioch arrived at Canterbury, bringing with him four dromedaries and two camels. Whether they were presents to the king or archbishop, or only part of the retinue with which he travelled, the chronicler does not think it necessary to explain. Under 'Weather' the editor indexes the various natural phenomena which Stone records. These entries will be found useful by any one who devotes him- self to making an exhaustive catalogue of the notices which occur in our records of the physical conditions under which our forefathers lived before observa- tions were made in an orderly and scientific manner.

The Yorkshire Archwological Journal. Part LXVI.

(Leeds, Whitehead.)

MB. J. EYRE POPPLETON continues his excellent notes on the bells of the West Riding of Yorkshire. As we turn over his pages we cannot but feel sad when we call to mind how many mediaeval bells were sacrificed during the last century without copies or rubbings being taken of their legends and ornaments. It required both courage and persever- ance to transcribe bell inscriptions even fifty years ago. It is at all times dirty and laborious work, and the antiquary who devoted himself to the task became an object of derision to his neighbours, being daily asked by very superior persons what profit could arise from such a waste of time and energy. Mr. Poppleton's papers are accompanied by excel- lent facsimiles of the more important legends. Among others we have the memorable one "In God is all," which occurs on the first bell at Rylstone. This was misread "God us ayde" by a former incumbent of Bolton Abbey. There was some excuse for his blunder, as it was the family motto of the Nortons of Rylstone. The clergyman was evidently not familiar with black letter. He was, however, pleased by his discovery, and communi- cated it to Wordsworth, who, in his poem 'The White Doe of Rylstone,' embodies it in well-known lines of striking beauty. Canon Fowler of Durham,

who is very learned in bell-lore, was, we believe, the first to discover the mistake. The single bell at Marton-cum-Grafton is curious, for it bears the legend "Campana Sancti Johannes Ewafnjgeliste." If a similar misappropriation of letters did not occur elsewhere, this might be regarded as a bell-founder's error, of which there are many examples ; but in this case it is difficult to regard it as such, for Grayingham Church, in Lincolnshire, affords another instance, and in Didron's ' Annales Arch^ologiques ' we read of a cross at St. Omer's with the same strange spelling. The editor of 'The Red Paper Book of Colchester' also says that " Evangelist is always spelt thus in the borough records of the time of Richard II. An early inscription existing in Bilsdale Church, of which a reproduction is given, is very interesting. It records the building of the church by a certain as yet unidentified Wil- lelmus, who is described as "nobilis," and we are further told that the church was dedicated to St. Hilda. Both the spelling and lettering are most strange. We do not call to mind having met with anything of the same character elsewhere. The unnamed author of the paper thinks its period to be some time between the Norman Conquest and the foundation of Kirkham Priory in 1122. The useful series of notes on Yorkshire churches is continued. Some of them are important from having been made before modern restorations had taken place. The account given of the con- fiscations consequent on " the Rising in the North " is of interest, though it might with advantage have been much enlarged.

THE death of Mr. Charles Godfrey Leland (Hans Breitmann), which took place on the 20th inst. at Florence, where he had for some years resided, will be felt both in England and America. In his many- sided development, love of antiquities and folk-lore asserted themselves, and he was a very diligent, if not always exact student. In recent years he took a keen interest in 'N. & Q.,' and during the closing years of last century many articles from his pen appear therein. His ' Hans Breitmann,' by which he is best known, is inconsiderable beside his contribu- tions to archaeology. He was a frequent resident in England, and his tall figure and his animated con- versation are remembered in literary clubs. He was born in Philadelphia in 1824, spent three years at the Universities of Heidelberg and Munich, and fought as a private in the American Civil War. Of his numerous writings, many have been reviewed in our columns.

THE Rev. R. M. Spence, D.D., Presbyterian minister of Arbuthnott, died on the 3rd inst. in his seventy-seventh year. He was a fine Shakespearian scholar, and during recent years a frequent con- tributor to our columns. An Orcadian by birth, he was educated at Kirkwall, Marischal College, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh, and had occupied the Manse at Arbuthnott for over half a century, refusing all temptations to quit. He is described as a good elocutionist and of fine presence.

WE hail with pleasure the promise, by Messrs. James MacLehose & Sons, of a complete edition of Hakluyt's collection of ' The Principal Navigations, Voyages, and Discoveries of the English.' It is to be in twelve volumes, the first of which is nearly ready. We know no work for the republication of which there is more justification or which deserves a warmer welcome.