Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/157

 9* S. IV. Sept. 23, '99.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 241 LONDON, SATVSDAV, SEPTEMBER tS. 1899. CONTENTS.-No. 91. NOTES :—Birthplace of Bishop John Alcock, 241—Scott's Scottish Dialect, 242—Walpole and his Editors, 243— Family of Frowyk, 244—Charles Lever—Swedenborgianism in Newcastle-upon-Tyne—Village Posters—Statistics of Heraldry, 245—Walworth—" Smokahles "—Davies Gil- bert's 'Cornwall'—Zangwill — Vivian's 'Visitations of Devon ' — Proposed International Postal Concession, 246. QUERIES : — " Indispensable " — " Bard wif " — Edward Howard, Duke of Norfolk—" Grout "—"The gropsing of the evening"—Collection of Biblical Quotations—Herries —Sir E. Wright, 247—Capt. C. Redmond—Mimmes Family — "Orsidue, ' 248—Churches washed away by the Sea— " Swabbers "—Portrait of Speaker Sir Edward Tumour— Merivale's ' Essays on Landscapes'—Beatrice FitzReimund —One of Blake's Flag-Captains—Rimes in Books - Matthew Arnold, 249. REPLIES :- " The Infant's Library "—A Louvre — " Judaeus Apella," 250—'A History of Oxfordshire'—'Book-World ' —Tom Day—"Mumburtget"—Vicars of Walthamstow— " Huzzar "—Gates on Commons—Archbishop Courtenay's Burial-place—"To be aft the gleg," 251—Sonnet on Dry- den—Mummy Peas—"Oof,"252—Bligh—Portraitof Dean Vincent, 253—"Melius superius indumentum"—Van Dyck-Chimneys in Ancient Houses—" Like a thresher " —" Imperium in imperio," 254—Poem Wanted—Hawker MSS. —"That" Elliptical — Napoleon : Marbeuf, 255— Major William Gordon—The Devil's Door—Trade=Road —"Yapp," 256—"Elixir Vita?" in Fiction— " Marsouin " —Pinaseed, 257—'' The unearned increment"—Newcombe of Leir—John Bacon, R.A.—Authors Wanted, 258. NOTES ON BOOKS :-Neilson's 'Annals of the Solway'— Law's ' Kensington Palace ' — Scott's * Dancing in all Ages'—Becke and Jeffery's 'Admiral Phillip'—Duval's ' La Litterature Syriaque.' fjtoif*, THE BIRTHPLACE OF BISHOP JOHN ALCOCK. All the authorities, from Fuller's 'Worthies' to the 'Dictionary of National Biography,' state that Bishop John Alcock was Dora at Beverley. John Leland seems to have ori- ginated the statement. It occurs in his ' Itinerary' (i. 51), in an account of the chapels on the south side of Trinity Church, Hull :— " The 3. is a Chapelle of Stone, made by Bishop Alcock, borne in Beverle: wlieryn Gul. Alcok and Johan, Parentes [of the Bishop], be buried, and ther is a Cantuarie." Fuller, I think, must have seen this passage in Leland. If so, he certainly misunderstood it. Leland's " wheryn " and ther" refer not to Beverley, but to the " Chapelle of Stone " at Hull. Yet Fuller says :— "John Alcocke was born at Beverly, where he built a Chappell, and founded a Chantry for his Parents." —' Worthies,' ed. of 1662, Yorkshire, p. 214. Later writers go the length of saying that Alcock was educated at the Beverley Gram- mar School (Poulson's ' Beverlac,' 480 ; Mr. J. B. Mullinger in ' Diet. Nat. Biog.'). As to the place of Alcock's birth, the late Canon Raine speaks with some hesitation. After mentioning that Alcock "t» said by Leland to have been born at Beverley," he adds :— "His father's will is dated at Hull, but, in addition to the manifold contingencies to which traders are subject, there seems to have been a large migration from Beverley to Hull about this period, and Alcock [the father] may perhaps have shared in it."—'Test. Ebor.,' ii. 42. The italics are mine. The " large migration from Beverley to Hull," I am convinced, is purely mythical. But had Raine ever seen the Alcock entries on the Hull Burgess Rolls he would doubtless have spoken much more strongly. These entries are only five in number, and are as follows :— 1. [1419-20.] Johannes Alkok, mercator. [1420-1.] Robertus Thorkill, mercator, appren- tices Johannis Saunderson. 2. Willelmus Alcok, mercator, apprenticius eius- dem Johannis Saunderson. 3. [1448-9.] Thomas Alcok, per patrem. 4. [1454-5.' Robertus Alcok, per patrem. 5. [1480-1.] Johannes Alcok, per patrem. The dates given in each case represent a municipal year, Michaelmas to Michaelmas. The entry of Thorkill's admission is included to explain "eiusdem" in the following line. I ought to mention that at Hull there were three possible titles to burgess-ship, (1) by purchase, (2) by apprenticeship to a burgess, (3) as the son of a ourgess. All the foregoing names, except perhaps the first, can be identified. The second, William Alcock, was the bishop's father. The third and fourth, Thomas and Robert, were his brothers. The last, John, was his nephew, the son of Thomas. These relation- ships are established by the two Alcock wills printed by Raine in ' Test. Ebor.' (ii. 42, iii. 295). But the most important fact which the above entries establish is that the bishop's father, William Alcock, served an apprentice- ship in Hull to a burgess of Hull, John Saunderson. By virtue of this apprentice- ship he became a burgess of Hull, and as such was entitled to follow the business of a merchant at Hull, but not at Beverley. If his parents were not Hull people, he must have come to Hull as early as 1413 or 1414. On 12 May, 1432, he purchased from John Grymesby of Hull the site on which the school, founded, or rather refounded, by his son, was afterwards built (Hull Corporation Records, 'Bench Book II.,' f. 273). In 1432-3 he was one of the chamberlains of Hull, and had he lived would doubtless in time have become sheriff and mayor. He made his will at Hull on 8 December, 1434, and here he died a few days later, at the age, probably, of not more than thirty-four or thirty-five. His will was proved on 13 January, 1434/5. He and his