Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/66

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. xn. JULY is, im

the usage of addressing mayors of towns as " Right Worshipful," for in Shrewsbury, which is not a cathedral town, the practice has been followed for over two centuries and a half. Prior to 1638, in which year Charles I. granted to the town a new charter, it had been governed by two bailiffs who were always addressed as Right Worshipful, not by the general public only, but in official corre- spondence. Sir Henry Townshend, Knt., for example, whp was a distinguished legal authority in 1584, and recorder of the town, invariably addressed the bailiffs of Salop as the "Right Worshipful my loving friends" (Trans. Shrop. Arch. Soc., Second Series, vol. x. p. 337). When bailiffs were dis- continued and a mayor was appointed by the above-named charter, both he and his successors were designated Right Worshipful. Hundreds of examples might be given from the borough archives, if needed, to prove this. WILLIAM PHILLIPS.

Canonbury, Shrewsbury.

' Whitaker's Titled Persons,' under l Modes of addressing Persons of Title/ gives the title of all mayors as " Worshipful " or " Right Worshipful" ; Lord Mayors, "Right Hon."

When mayor of this borough (1899-1901), at any collection of mayors I was given pre- cedence according to the date of the borough's first charter, without reference to the size or importance of the place. I fancy the principle is the same as holds good respecting peerages. A peer takes precedence according to the date of his patent, not the number of his acres or tenants.

R. BARCLAY- ALLARDICE.

Lostwithiel, Cornwall.

FEES FOR SEARCHING PARISH REGISTERS

(0 th S. x. 148, 394; xi. 130, 252, 453). After obtaining permission from clergymen to inspect their registers, I considered my extracts available only for correcting errors in books of reference or well-known MSS. Col. J. Lemuel Chester, the American anti- quary, wrote to me, 1 February, 1868 :

" I shall, of course, make no public use of the parish register extracts, but beg to say that the clergymen have no prescriptive rights as of fee simple in their registers. They belong to the public, and the clergy are only their custodians, with the privilege of charging certain fees in certain cases. The pretensions of some of the incumbents are simply ridiculous. Strictly, they have no right to make a charge for searching their registers and taking notes. By law they can only make a charge \vhen they actually furnish a certificate. I know that a different impression prevails, but it is a mistaken one."

I know the Act 6 & 7 Will. IV. respecting marriages, and suspect that the colonel was

mistaken. Had he been a native lie would have agitated the question. In conversation he quoted a case where a party requested a clergyman to search and supply a certificate. The clergyman being unable to decipher the entries, the applicant undertook the search for him, and consequently refused to pay for more than the certificate. The clergyman's claim for more was disallowed.

As four correspondents require notice in turn, I must not encroach on space now. Parish registers furnish evidence for truth. Where investigation is impeded by pro- hibitive fees a change is necessary to keep abreast of the times. H. H. D.

GENERAL RICHARD HOPE (9 th S. xi. 329). With reference to this question, I beg to be permitted to mention that the union of Thomas Hope and Anna Maria Delamere, of Killester House, Clontarf, co. Dublin, was blessed with many children. With the exception of one or two, all the sons of the said Thomas Hope went to various parts of the world (to England, to New York, &c.) to seek their fortunes. As I have always understood that Richard Hope (according to an entry in my great-grandfather's Douay Bible, printed in 1764, he was the fourth son, and born on 27 May, 1777) entered the service of the East India Company, I shall indeed be glad to learn if there is any truth in the statement that this friendless Scots- man was rewarded by promotions reaching to general's rank for war services in India. HENRY GERALD HOPE.

119, Elms Road, Clapham. S.W.

"HAGIOSCOPE" OR ORIEL 1 (9 th S. xi. 301, 321, 375, 491). Can LYSART be serious in maintaining that, because a purely English word is Latinized in Domesday, it loses its native source? Bertona stands in Domes- day for Barton. The only connexion between dula and hall is that they have two letters in common. It would be thought that the merest tiro in etymology knew that the initial letter of hall was a radical part of the word, answering, in accordance with Grimm's law, to the initial of Greek KaXia (hut), Latin celare, O. Irish celim (I hide). Aida = Greek avA^, probably from a7?/u (blow). H. P. L.

MR. S. O. ADDY has discussed in a most interesting way the etymon of oriel. It is perhaps impossible to connect the word with oratoriolum, even if the latter diminutive could be shown to have been in use at any time. But it may be worth while to bring into view the Welsh ora=porch or balcony. Oriel College, in Oxford, was founded by