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NOTES AND QUERIES. [*" s. xn. SEPT. 5, 1903.

evidently also used by King Edward VII, when as Prince of Wales he laid the founda- tion stone of Truro Cathedral on 20 May, 1880. In Church Bells of 17 July is an article on 'Truro and its Cathedral,' wherein is given a copy of the inscription contained on a silver plate affixed to the mallet. This I transcribe as follows :

"By order of the Most Worshipful the Grand Master, his Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, and W.M. of the Lodge of Antiquity, and with the concurrence of the brethren of the lodge, this plate has been engraven and affixed to this mallet, A.L. 5831, A.D. 1827, to commemorate that this, being the same mallet [with] which his Majesty King Charles II. laid the foundation stone of St. Paul's Cathedral, A.L. 5679, A.I>. 1675, was presented to the old Lodge of St. Paul, the Lodge of Antiquity, by Brother Sir Christopher Wren, R.W.D.G.M., W.M. of this lodge, and architect of the edifice."

JOHN T. PAGE. West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

ENGLISH CARDINALS (9 th S. xii. 105). MR. BOBBINS has overlooked Edward Henry. Cardinal Howard, who was created cardinal- priest in 1877, and cardinal-bishop of Frascati in 1881, and died in 1892.

JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

THE GROTTO AT MARGATE (9 th S. xii. 14, 75). Judging by the communications which have appeared on this subject, it would seem not to be generally known that at the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth it was not uncommon for the owners of property to ornament their grounds with a grotto of shells. A very excellent specimen of this kind of structure may be seen at Combehay Park, near Bath ; two others are or were at Prior Park ; and a third, on a more ambitious scale, at Ponty- pool, Wales. They were the work of a man named Stephen Gunston Titt, who appears to have combined with this occupation that of a landscape gardener. He died in 1816. Doubtless there were others who followed the vocation of grotto building. W. T.

FEES FOR SEARCHING PARISH REGISTERS

(9 th S. x. 148, 394 ; xi. 130, 252, 453 ; xii. 58). Readers of * N. ct Q.' have been under frequent obligation to MR. HEMS, but his statement that the learned rector of Ring- more " is the acknowledged authority in the West Country upon its local registers" is rather venturous. Had such been the case, or had he been a county genealogist of repute, I should have known it. As to the Episcopal Registers, according to Mr. Ralph Barnes, I first followed Dr. Oliver in examining them, perhaps years before the learned rector who has supplied an admirable index to those of

Bishop Grandison, which, however, is no palliative.

As paid custodian of records legally acces- sible to all within reasonable hours, the REV. F. JARRATT ought not to complain if his office is not a sinecure, nor should a clergyman require an introduction from one who incurs both inconvenience and expense to serve the public in search of truth. '* Histories anima est veritas." One naturally counts on assistance, not obstruction, from the clergy. I imagine no expert, unless one paid for his time, would take six hours (from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. inclusive) to run through the Barnstaple registers. I know that the late Sir Wm. Drake, F.S.A., a Barnstaple man, collected materials at great cost for family history, and his amicable controversy with myself is illustrative.

Sir William relied on Prince's * Worthies of Devon.' I told him that Sir Bernard Drake was buried at Crediton, not at Musbury, as Prince stated, and that his monument in the church was a cenotaph ; that Prince's oft- quoted quarrel between Sir Bernard and Sir Francis Drake was fabricated ; that Sir Francis's branch bore both the quadruped and waver dragon when Sir Bernard's bore halberts ; that the Shardeloes Drakes owed their position to the patronage of Sir Francis, whom they regarded superciliously ; and though he (Sir William) descended from a Henry and Ann Drake, the pair was dis- tinct from another that he appropriated of the same names in Sir Bernard's line, and he might depend on my authorities.

Sir William was furious. He wrote forth- with to the vicar of Crediton, who flatly con- tradicted me, and Sir William, triumphant, promised me a castigation in 5 th S. ii. 372, which never appeared. I went to Crediton in self-defence, and read out the entry, which was illegible to the vicar, who at once posted a certificate and apology to Sir William. I proved all my assertions by reference to MSS., Chancery Proceedings (temp. Eliz.), wills, and various registers, which I might not have clone had I been met at every turn with the sordid demand, Pay, pay, pay, that is happily growing obsolete. H. H. D.

GAU TIER'S 'VOYAGE EN ITALIE' (9 th S. ix.. 507).!. ' Smarra ' is the name of a story by Charles Nodier. I append an extract (1832 edition of his works, vol. iii. p. 99) from the story, which fully explains the allusion, viz. :

"Toutes les chauves-souris du crepuscule m'ef- ileuroient caressantes, en me disant : Prends dea ailes ! et je commenqois a battre avec effort je