Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/507

 0*8. XL JUNE 20, 1903.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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deal with London. The volume before us relates to two shires which differ from each other in almost every respect except one. The work of senseless and wanton destruction has gone on in both with terrible uniformity. We do not think, however, that our Northern friends have ever perpetrated an atrocity quite so disgraceful as the removal of the Guesten Hall at Worcester It was a medieval building unique in its kind, and those who swept it away had not even the excuse of ignorance, for the gentlemen concerned in the transaction were warned and entreated to spare it by some of the highest architectural and historical authorities in England, but took no heed. The late Mr. John Henry Parker's letter, written when all was over, is a most impressive document, which we are glad to have reproduced, as it was written over forty years ago. More than a generation has passed away since the destruction was carried out, and it might give pain to innocent persons if the names of those concerned in the affair were brought again before the public. What took place, how- ever, should not be forgotten, for this is by no means a solitary example of modern Englishmen being found to be so blind to the poetry of history as to take an absolute pleasure in the destruction of things which appeal to the more refined senti- ments of their fellow-creatures in every class of life. Wanton damage sometimes is perpetrated for other reasons, not, it may be, more offensive, but which have a tendency to bring the perpetrators in conflict with the criminal law. An instance is here given of a knightly tomb being defaced for the purpose, as has been suggested, of suppressing evidence regarding a peerage claim.

Though an earlier section has been devoted to popular superstitions, we find here and there in the topographical series facts which have a claim to be regarded as folk - lore embedded among other matter. Here is a curious example : Sir John Fenwick is said to have fallen at Marston Moor, fighting for the royal cause, and his head, we are told, was sent to his wife (who lived at the time at Hexham Abbey), and is still (that is, in 1863) preserved in a black box in the manor office of that town. So it seems that it has at length found a satisfactory resting-place. But a story has been current that the skull had at one time "a favourite room in the abbey of Hexham, to which, if it was removed, it always returned." This is by no means a solitary case of skulls going back to

E laces they affected when they were carried away y officious persons. The existence of the skull is, we imagine, beyond question ; but of whose body it once formed a part is by no means clear to us. How came it to happen, we would ask, that the head only was sent to the widow? Why was not the body conveyed intact? We feel sure that neither Fairfax nor his subordinate officers would have raised any objection. If, for any reason, how- ever, this was found impossible, why was not Sir John Fenwick buried in some neighbouring church or churchyard, or on the field where he fell ? The story calls for re-examination.

The late Rev. J. C. Atkinson, vicar of Danby in Cleveland, the well-known philologist and anti- quary, drew attention about forty years ago to the fact that the churchyard of his parish occupies the same site as a non - Christian burial - ground. It appears that many fragments of earthenware vessels have been found there, all more or less associated with charcoal. They were fragments only, as the

urns and their contents had been broken and dis- turbed by more recent gravediggers. If attention were paid to the subject, it would be found, we think, that no inconsiderable number of our old churches have been built on heathen sites We know from Pope Gregory's letter to Abbot Mellitus (Beda 'Hist. Eccl.? lib. i. cap. xxx.) that the temples where our ancestors worshipped before their conversion were, when suitable, to be turned into churches. We may take it to be almost certain that these older fanes stood in or near the place where the dead worshippers therein had found rest, and that their Christian descendants succeeded them, when their time came, on the same spot.

It is well known to dwellers in country villages that before paint for outside woodwork became common blood mixed with soot or "rud" was often used. Examples of this kind of protection were common on the doors and windows of farm buildings in the middle of last century. So late as 1861 the south door of York Minster was treated with a composition of rud and bullocks' blood.

The account of Sheffield in 1764 will interest every reader. We do not know how many trains run between Sheffield and London each day. The writer tells with a feeling, seemingly, of admiration of " a machine goin; out and coming in from London three times a week in summer and twice in winter." We presume that stage waggons also went occasion- ally to carry goods and poor people who could not afford the luxury of a coach.

" Printer*' Pie ": a Festival Souvenir of the Printers' Pension, Almthome, and Orphan Asylum Corpora- tion, 1903. (The Sphere, Office.) WE give a cordial welcome to this beautiful 'Sou- venir.' " Its mission is," as stated by the originator, Mr. W. Hugh Spottiswoode, " to transfer as many half-crowns as possible from the pockets of the public to the funds of the Printers' Pension Corporation." The book is a marvel of cheapness ; but the mystery is explained by the fact that authors, artists, printers, stationers, ink - makers, and publishers have all done their work gratuitously. Mr. Spottis- woode mentions that " the Corporation was started in 1827 by two compositors who, in setting up the rules of the Watchmakers' Pension Society, thought that their own trade should have a pension fund. They therefore set to work to found one. It went on and grew from year to year, and some 110,000<?. has now been distributed. They have 261 pensioners, a large almshouse, and an asylum for orphans."

The first tale in the ' Souvenir ' is by that old friend of the Corporation, Miss Braddon, followed by Marie Corelli in a characteristic article, 'The "Strong" Book of the Ishbosheth.' Ouida sup- plies 'The Talisman,' a parable on one who "had wasted his day and lost his treasure." Other contributors are F. Anstey, Hall Caine, H. W. Lucy, Vlax Pemberton, A. E. W. Mason, Israel Zangwill, Pett Ridge, B. L. Farjeon, and the Duke of Argyll. Spenser Wilkinson gives, in 'A Spy in Cracow,' a very interesting account of his arrest there in 1887. The illustrations are really choice, and include por- traits of the King and Queen, as good as any we have seen ; the Ladies Maud and Alexandra Duff, taken by the Duchess of Fife ; ' A Tiff',' by Toni Browne ; and 'Superseded,' by John Hassall, specially appro- priate from its having depicted on one side of the picture an old hand-press. The sale of the book should bring in a large sum, for its varied contents will commend it to all purchasers.