Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/362

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

XL MAY 2, IMS.

'Supplementary English Glossary,' mb we.; Oox and Hope, * Chronicles of All Saints', Derby,' 68: John Russell, 'The Haigs of Bemersyde,' 357 ; Charles Fleet, ' Glimpses of our Ancestors in Sussex,' 45.

A friend who is an English solicitor tells me that he was concerned a few years ago for a client who lives in Italy with the sale of some property in the island of Capri, and on that occasion the inch of candle was used. EDWARD PEACOCK.

GENERAL EDWARD MATHEW (9 th S. x. 87). The query about this officer in August last has not been answered up to this. Very pro- bably the author of the ' Life of Major Andre* ' referred inaccurately to the General Matthews who was made prisoner by Tippu Sultan when Bednore capitulated on 3 May, 1783, and who died of poison administered a year later in prison. Major Andre was hanged as a spy at Tappan, New York State, 2 October, 1780, which is almost at the antipodes of Bangalore. For further particulars see Bow- ring's ' Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan ' in the " Rulers of India " series. M.

Mangalore.

PHRASE IN POEM WANTED (9 th S. xi. 289). VALTYNE will find " the sacrament of morn- ing" in Mrs. Browning's poem 'A Sabbath Morning at Sea,' stanza vi. last line.

F. H. PERRY COSTE.

SENESCHAL (9 th S. xi. 248). MR. SMYTH will find a great deal of information in Du Cange, s.v. * Senescalcus.' Q. V.

See Pierre Carpentier, ' Glossarium,' 1766 Du Cange, 'Gloss.,' 1736, v. 'Senescalcus' Diderot, 'Encycl. des Sciences,' 1765, torn, xv Tomlins's 'Law Diet.,' 1797; Littre' ; Fos- broke's 'Encycl. of Antiq.,' 1840, p. 509; Chambers's ' Cyclop, of Arts and Sciences,' 1786; and C. James's 'Military Diet.,' 1816, and Froissart, liv. iv. p. 274, quoted by

Llttr J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

CHURCH BELLS (9 th S.xi. 268). The follow- ing extract from ' The Laws relating to the u u a u d Cler Sy ' (Cripps) explains that the churchwardens are responsible (although indirectly) for the proper use of church bells :

"The churchwardens have also the custody of the keys of the belfry, and are to take care that the bells are not rung without proper cause ; but the minister conjointly with them is to be the judge of the proper cause. They would seem, therefore, to have a clear right to interfere in the belfry, or in the ordering of ringers. For the custody of the key implies that the belfry is to be opened or not at their discretion and the property of the bell- ropes is in them ; and it is not the same case as with the body of the church, which is to be opened at stated times

for divine service ; and if the bells were improperly rung, the churchwardens, according to the canon, would be the responsible parties."

The italics are mine.

HASTINGS SHADDICK The Athenseum, Barnstaple.

I have always believed, and still believe, that the incumbent has an exclusive right over the bells of a church. Are they not formally handed over to his custody, inter alia, at his induction? Apropos of the use of church bells at the funeral of Nonconformists, the editor of the Christian World (21 June, 1900), after quoting the sixty-seventh canon, added the following note :

" This canon embodies the parishioners' right in the bell-tolling ; and no bishop nor vicar can de- prive them of it. Indeed, the tolling of the bell being part of the sexton's duty, he must perform the duty, even if the incumbent object."

JOHN T. PAGE.

G. W.'s question would be more appropriate in a law paper. The undoubted law is that, except for the purposes mentioned in the Book of Common Prayer, the ringing of church bells is wholly in the control of the incumbent. For many generations it had been the custom to ring the bells at Chester- field on the occasion of the annual races. In 1829 the vicar forbad the ringing. In 1830 a large town's meeting was held, summoned, on requisition, by the mayor, in order to protest against and, if possible, to overturn the vicar's decision. Legal opinions were obtained, and threats were used (e.g., of with- holding some of the vicar's dues), but the vicar remained firm, " and the bells have not since been rung in celebration of the races " ('Hist, of Chesterfield,' 1839, pp. 72-6). It seems as reasonable to play the organ in church as to ring the bells at the times of races, elections, and the like. W. C. B.

In the case of Redhead, clerk, v. Wayte and others, tried in the Ecclesiastical Courts in the winter of 1861-2, it was ruled that the vicar has absolute control of the church bells, and can forbid their being rung for any pur- pose of which he does not approve.

NORTH MIDLAND.

BRITTANY AND ITS PEOPLE (9 th S. xi. MR. LYNN'S papers are always suggestive. May I here suggest an earlier reference to ! Caesar, ' B. G.,' iii. 9, where the Veneti "invite auxiliaries from Britain, which is situated opposite " 1 This is called the first reference to us in Roman history, and it is clear that, just as the Atrebates colonized to the East, so the Armoricans had peopled Cornwall and South Wales. We write of the white cliffs of