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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[9 th S. II. OCT. 15, '

been answered Ipresumethat what is known as the " badge of Ulster " is intended. If MR. SLATER will refer to the introductory notice to the " Baronetage " in Mr. Joseph Foster's ' Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage of the British Empire' (my copy is for 1881), he will find that this badge (Argent, a sinister hand, erect, open, and couped at the wrist, gules, being the arms of the pro- vince of Ulster) was granted by royal decree, 28 May, 1612, to be borne by the baronets in a " canton " or " escutcheon " on their coats of arms. The " canton " is a square (usually somewhat smaller than a quarter of the shield), and, by the " rules of heraldry," is placed in the dexter chief of the shield, unless its position be otherwise specified. An " escutcheon " or, as borne singly, it should perhaps be more properly styled an "in- escutcheon "is the small shield borne upon the centre or the fesse point of a coat of arms. MR. SLATER will thus see the two positions in which this badge is usually and rightfully placed. J. S. UDAL.

' BUONDELMONTI'S BRIDE ' (9 th S. i. 489 ; ii. 48). MR. ST. CLAIR BADDELEY'S and HADJI'S notices about the well-known affair by the old bridge in Florence are perfectly correct, except in the spelling of the name of the victim. That " gentle and splendid cavalier " was called Buondelmonte de' Buondelmonti, or Buondelmonte of the house of the Buondel- monti, so that it is absolutely incorrect to apply to the singular individual the plural used for the family name. MYRMIDON.

ERKENWALp(9 th S. ii. 249). Thomas Wright, M.A., in the introduction to his 'Biographia Britannica Literaria,' after dealing with the origin of the romances of the Anglo-Saxon period, says :

" Thus the romance of Offa was founded on the marriage of a king with a wood-nymph, and the hatred with which she was regarded by his mother, a story frequently reproduced in the romances of the

thirteenth century It was in this way that the

Ongles, or Angles, settled at an earlier period near Sleswic, became by degrees confounded with the East Angles in England ; and thus the romance o Offa, one of the ancient Angle princes or ' heroes, was, under the hand of the historian Matthew Paris transformed into a life of Offa, King of the Angles in our island."

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

According to Anderson's and Betham's 1 Genealogical Tables,' Erkenwald, Bishop o London, 675-97, was the son of Anna, King of East Anglia, son of Guido, Emy or Ennius son Titil also king, son of Uffa, the first King of East Anglia. Stow's ' Survey of London,

612, says he was born at Stallingborough, in jindsey. Goodwin's ' Catalogue of Bishops,' 615, and Weaver in his ' Funeral Monu- nents,' 1631, tell us he was the son of Offa, ing of the East Saxons. No king of that name reigned over East Anglia. There is no ntimation that Offa, King of Essex, left ssue, and it seems to be most probable that he first statement is correct.

JOHN EADCLIFFE.

Bishop Stubbs, in Smith's ' Christian Bio- graphy, ^thus speaks of Erkenwald and his supposititious father :

" On the early life of Erkenwald we have no his- orical light, but the legendary biographers assert hat he was born at Stallingborough, in Lindsey, nd was connected by birth with the family of Offa, iing of the East Angles, by which statement pro- >ably the ' Uffings,' the family denomination of the

ast Anglian kings, is denoted (Capgrave, f. 130)."

EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M.A.

Bishop Stubbs ('Dictionary of Christian Biograpny') thinks that Offa was not a name of one particular king of East Anglia, but a generic name for the family of the Uffings, ind that Erkenwald belonged to that family. This, if true, will show the reasonableness of MR. WILLIAMS'S question, and will also supply the true answer to it. W. BENHAM.

ALFREY MICKEFER (9 th S. ii. 249). Being particularly interested in all Russians who have been educated at Oxford, I should be very grateful to MR. FYSON for any other informa- tion he may have about Alfrey Mickefer. It certainly is neither a Russian Christian name nor surname, and, of course, has nothing to do with any royal or imperial family. But how could this "young Russian," sent by Peter the Great to England for his education, hold a living in Cambridgeshire ? This com- bination is quite beyond me. Is he supposed to have changed his name and religion and to have remained in England, or what 1

MYRMIDON.

On pp. 37, &c., pt. ii. of Wandsworth Notes and Queries will be found some account of the aforesaid, in the note headed 'Thirteen Descendants of the Russian Czars in Wands- worth.' EDITOR OF 'W. N. AND Q.'

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. The Poxburghe Ballad*. Edited by J. Woodfall

Ebsworth, M.A., F.S.A. Part XX'VI. Vol. VIII.

(Ballad Society.)

As was intimated in our notice of the previous part of 'The Roxburghe Ballads' (see 8 th S. xii. 298), the publications of the Ballad Society are not yet