Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/242

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NOTES AND QUERIES. W* s. vm. SEPT. u, 1901.

down his guard, and would have cloven him from shoulder to belt but that his wife had sewn on his shoulders in the lining of his tunic a couple of steel curb chains, one of which broke the force of the slash. The incident so impressed the military authorities in India that what is now known as the Luck 9r 'lucky' shoulder-curb was soon after- wards introduced."

I believe, however, that steel chain was always to a certain extent used for protective purposes by our Indian cavalry regiments.

C. S. HARRIS.

"ALEHOUSE LETTICE": "ADMIRE" (9 th S. viii. 83). In olden times alehouse windows were frequently open windows, with a trellis or lattice to prevent passers - by from looking in. This lattice was generally painted red. In 'King Henry IV.' Pistol says :

" He called me, even now, my lord, through a red lattice, and I could see no part of his face from the windows."

In the * Last Will and Testament of Law- rence Lucifer,' 1604, is the following passage :

"Watched sometimes ten hours together in an alehouse, ever and anon peeping forth and sampling thy nose with the red lattice."

Again in 'The Miseries of Inforc'd Mar- riage,' 1G07 :

"'Tis treason to the red lattice, enemy to the signpost."

In the 'Christmas Ordinary,' London 1682 :

Where the Red Lettice doth shine 'Tis an outward sign Good ale is a traffic within.

In the end red lattice became synonymous with alehouse. In Marston's 'Antonio anc Mallina'[1602], 1633:

"As well known by my wit as an alehouse by a red lattice."

And in 'Tom Brown's Works ' :

" Trusty Rachel was drinking burnt brandy, with a couple of tinder-box cryers at the next rec jattice."

For further references see Camden Hotten's ' History of Signboards ' ; Brand's ' Popular Antiquities' ; 'Folk Etymology,' by the Rev A. Sraythe Palmer, 1882 ; Dyce's 'Glossary to the Works of William Shakespeare'; ' Die tionary of Phrase and Fable,' by Dr. Brewer

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

MERLIN (9 th S. viii 103). The best work I have seen on the above is ' The Life of Merlin surnamed Ambrosius : his Prophecies anc Predictions Interpreted,' &c., Lond., 1813 The address to the reader is signed by Thomas Hey wood. Whether this is an exact reprinl of Thomas Hey wood's work with the same

itle printed in 1641 I am unable to decide. It gives a history of England from Brute to King Charles L, interspersed with selections Tom the predictions, and explains the ful- filment of them, showing how the figures used in the prophecies appertain to the per- sons living during the period mentioned.

JOHN RADCLIFFE.

The edition of Merlin which MR. R. B. MARSTON is inquiring after is clearly that referred to in a letter which appeared in the Times of 25 August, 1801. This curious letter is reprinted in the Times of. Saturday, 24 August last. I think the edition must be imaginary, as I failed to find any record of it.

W. ROBERTS.

LAVINGTON IN SUSSEX (9 th S. viii. 16). Peter Lombard in the Church Times for 14 June corrected the inaccuracy con- tained in his previous week's note, which MR. GEORGE ANGUS pointed out in your issue of 6 July. It may, however, perhaps interest some of your readers to know how the estate at Wool Lavington descended to the bishop, whose son now holds it. It was purchased in 1589 by Giles Garton, a citizen of London, and passed successively to his son, Sir Peter Garton, Knt., who died 1624, and to his grandson, Henry Garton, M.P. for Arundel in 1640 : the latter, who died soon after the meeting of the Long Parliament, left an only child, Mary Garton, who married Robert Orme, of Peterborough, and their son Robert Orme, M.P. for Midhurst 1705 and 1710-11, who died in 1711, and his son Garton Orme, M.P. for Arundel 1739-54, inherited the estate in due succession. The last named left an only child, Charlotte Orme, who in- herited Wool Lavington, and married Richard Bettesworth, of Petworth, co. Sussex, and from this union the only issue was a daughter, Charlotte Bettesworth, who married John Sargent,* M.P. for Seaford, Queenborough, and Bodmin from 1790 to 1806, and held the estate until her death, 31 March, 1841. Her eldest son was the Rev. John Sargent, rector of Lavington, the friend and biographer of Henry Marty n, who died vita matris 3 May, 1833, having married 29 November, 1804, Mary Smith, only child of Abel Smith, of Wilford, co. Nottingham, elder brother of Robert Smith, first Lord Carrington. Then- children were two sons, who died unmarried the younger, Henry Martyn Sargent, died 13 June, 1836, while an undergraduate at Balliol College, Oxford, his brother having predeceased him and five daughters, the

329, 432).
 * See Sargent of Lavington, co. Sussex (9 th S. vii.