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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. xn. OCT. 3, 1003.

may perhaps be said that, if these remarks should catch his eye, Capt. Markham may possibly feel disposed to make restitution, and let Canon Henson enshrine upon his mantelpiece the old brass bell-handle belong- ing to this building.

There is one very interesting room on the ground floor which has been during late years converted into a small chapel, capable of seat- ing from thirty to forty persons. In the east wall there is a pretty arched recess, in which the altar has been placed, the arch being of a very ancient date and of considerable beauty of moulding, &c. ; indeed, there is little doubt that this wall was a portion of the Prior's House, or lodgings, as will be seen by reference to the plan of Westminster Abbey and its precincts about 1535, given as a frontispiece in Dean Stanley's * Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey,' 1 868. This portion of the eastern side of Dean's Yard, the learned author states, had a long line of buildings which were

"occupied by the live lesser dignitaries of the Abbey the Prior, the Sub-prior, the Prior of the Cloister, and the two inferior Sub-priors, or spies of the Cloister, whose duty it was to keep guard over the behaviour of the monks."

W. E. HARLAND-OXLEY. C2, The Alraahouses, Rochester Row, S.W.

ENCOURAGEMENT BY ENGLAND OF THE IRON- MAKING INDUSTRY IN AMERICA. The follow- ing transcript of a rare broadside issued, I should say, about the year 1720 will, I think, interest many of the readers of ' N. & Q.,' not only as bringing to mind the commercial relations between this country and its colonies a couple of centuries ago, but also as affording some food for reflection to students of fiscal problems at the present day :

" Reasons Humbly Offered for the Encouragement of making Iron in His Majesty's Plantations of America. 1 he Swedes of all Nations in Europe in proportion to their Trade carry the greatest Quantities of (iold and Silver from England, yet no other Kingdom has endeavoured to impose on us as they have done.

"Within this Twenty Years the Government and Company of Stockholm Engrossed all the Tar which they obliged us to take at extravagant Prices- and had not the Parliament of England prudently provided against their Monopoly, by encouraging the making that Commodity in our own Plantations it's hard to judge what Difficulties they might have put us to by this Time.

"The Necessity the present Parliament was under to prohibit Trade with them has raised Iron nearly . r jO per cent., and if it should be to be opened again they are preparing a new Imposition to be laid on it of near 25 per cent., which we must pay provided no other Supply can be found out. The English plantations in America abound with Wood

Iron-Oar and other Materials for making Iron ; and if suitable Encouragement was given, we might be supplied with great Quantities from thence.

" This would engage the people in those Colonies to employ themselves in making Iron, and enable them to make Returns for purchasing Woollen Manufactures and other productions of England, to supply their Wants, and prevent their falling on our Manufactures, which their Necessities (if not otherwise provided for) will force them to. Since we can be so well supplied by our own Subjects, who will be paid for their Iron by the Manufactures of England, we shall prevent the ill Treatment we have received from Sweden, encourage our own Navigation, keep our Money at home, and save the great Expence of fitting out a Royal Navy to protect our Trade. The Bounty on Pitch and Tar has already so well established those Manufactures in our own Plantations, that England has pitch enough for their own Consumption from thence and export great Quantities to Holland, Hamburgh, Portugal, Spain, &e. And 'tis to be hoped those Manufactures will be so well established in a short Time, that they will support themselves.

"Such considerable Sums must be laid out to erect Iron- Works, that when once built, will engage the proprietors to proceed on making Iron, which is a Security to the Government that the Encourage- ment will answer the End proposed.

"Note. That the granting the Bounty on Plan- tation Pitch and Tar has supplied us with such Quantities from thence that the price of pitch is brought down to 6-s-. per cwt. or under, whereas formerly we paid for Swedish pitch 16.$. per cwt., and the price of Tar to 14s. per Barrel, for which we formerly gave the Swedes 31. per Barrel. Great Sums of Money have been paid by way of Bounty : yet it is presumed it does not amount to so much (allowing the Bounty to be Part of the first Cost) as the extraordinary Price the Swedes would have had from us for the Pitch and Tar used by the Navy ; and 'tis to be doubted whether they would have supplied us with all we wanted for our Money."

J. ELIOT HODGKIN.

DR. EDMOND HALLEY. (See 9 th S. x. 361 ; xi. 85, 205, 366, 463, 496 ; xii. 125, 185.) I am indebted to Mr. Ralph J. Beevor, M.A., for reference to a statement that among the manuscripts of the Earl of Ashburnham are "original letters addressed to John Anstis, Esq., Garter King - at - Arms, between the years 1715 and 1746, by Edmund Halley, Thomas Hearne, &c.," folio. Op. Eighth Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Appendix, Part III. col. 12b. section 35 (London, 1881). It seems not unlikely that Halley, following Newton's example in this as in some other instances, may have filed a pedigree in the College of Arms.

John Aubrey gives the coat armorial of the Halley family in colours : " Sable, a fret and a canton argent." Cp. Aubrey's 4 Brief Lives,' Clark, i. 282 (Oxford, 1898). There are of published record other coats arrnoria] of families named Halley,