Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 9.djvu/255

 9" 8. IX. MARCH 29, 1902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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considered the most purely Teutonic dark individuals, and dark families of the tall or short type, are to be found. Not infrequently these people inherit a mental quickness which differentiates them from their rather stolid neighbours ; but then, again, this very quality may appear in a blue-eyed, fair- haired person showing no outward trace of non-Teutonic ancestry. Has any one ever attempted to estimate the number of strains of foreign blood which came into England at, and after, the Conquest? This blood must have considerably leavened the English, Danish, Celtic, and pre-Celtic stock. English poets have frequently sprung from families more or less affected by neurotic taint, which adds to the difficulty of deciding what manner of men they truly were ; but when they were healthy themselves, and of healthy kindred, researches into their ancestry in all lines might prove of great scientific value. EASTWARD Ho !

IMAGINARY CHURCH-LORE. Is there any foundation for this piece of church-lore from 1 The Mighty Atom' 1

"'Just watch these 'ere gates as I pull 'em to and fro. Do what ye will wi' 'em, they won't shut see!' and he proved the fact beyond dispute. ' That shows they was made 'fore the days of Cromwell. For in they times all the gates of the altars was copied arter the pattern of Scripture which sez " An' the gates o' heaven shall never be shut either by day or by night." Then when Crom- well came an' broke up the statues an' tore down the picters or whited them wheresever they was on the walls, the altars was made different wi' gates that shut an' locked I spose 'e was that singler afraid of idolatry that 'e thought the folks might go an' worship fh' Communion cup on th' Lord's table. So now ye '11 be able to tell when ye sees the inside of a church, whether the altar gates is old or new by this one thing if they can't shut they're 'fore Cromwell's day if they can they're wots called Jacobean gim-crackery.'" P. 97.

Imagine any altars, " different " or other- wise, or any chancel screens, with gates that locked, or even without gates, being made in Cromwell's time, or any "Communion cups" being suffered to remain on any Lord's tables behind chancel screens during his dictator- ship. For by the "altar gates" are meant the gates in the chancel screen of Combe Martin Church, which screen, of course, dates from pre-Reformation times. " Pre-Reformation " apparently means, according to Reuben Dale or the author, "'fore the days of Crom- well." It is interesting to know also of this infallible test for the date of a screen, and to earn that Jacobean woodwork is "gim- crackery," and that it dates from after the time of Cromwell. There was danger of idolatry, apparently, only from the cup, not

from the Host. This sexton was too intelli- gent. But has his notion that chancel gates were, as a piece of symbolism illustrating a Scripture text, purposely made not to shut properly ever been heard of before, or has it any foundation in fact? Antiquity and warping of the wood might perhaps claim to have some voice in the matter.

I must confess to being sceptical as to the genuineness of this " lore " ; also as to whether Combe Martin Church really has a " weeping chancel." It is not very apparent : " The ancient roof with its crookedly planned out architecture of the very earliest English style of architecture" (p. 77). Ecclesiastical lore is hardly, I should imagine, the author's strong point or accuracy in regard to it: " Ecclesiastes the Preacher and his incessant cry of Vanitas Vanitatem" [sic] (p. 15) Was " the real old chest " in the vestry ever used for Peter's pence 1 The "few old bits of tar- nished silver lying at the bottom [of this chest], the fragments of a long-disused Com- munion service" I took to be pewter, but I may have been mistaken. And why should Bishop Heber's hymn, "Holy, Holy, Holy," "allus" have been sung in the church on harvest thanksgiving, instead of on Trinity Sunday, as usual elsewhere (p. 100) ?

J. P. L.

[Miss Corelli's verger and his traditions formed the subject of a query in 9 th S. i. 428, and the resulting discussion ran through the next two volumes.]

LAUDERDALE FAMILY. John Maitland, third son of John, fifth Earl of Lauderdale (died 1710), was, according to Douglas's 'Peerage of Scotland,' "a colonel in the Guards." Can any one tell me if he married, and if he had a daughter Margaret? When did Col. John die? L. G. P.

COUNTESS OF DENBIGH. The Countess of Denbigh died in January, 1725/6, in Cavendish Square, London. Is the house she died in still in existence ; and if so, on which side of the square is it, and what number does it now bear ? Will COL. PRIDEAUX, REV. WM. LOFTIE, MR. PHILIP NORMAN, MR. WHEATLEY, or any other antiquary learned in Old London kindly help me? I may mention that I applied at the Vestry Hall of St. Marylebone parish for permission to consult the rate-book in order to find the reply to this query ; that I was informed in reply the fee would be one guinea ; and that I would not be allowed to examine the book myself, but that a clerk would do so ! A guinea is a very heavy fee for such a trifle of trouble, and in these days a prohibitive one. I may further mention