LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 3, 1893.

CONTENT 8,- N° 75.

"Chouse"-Sir John Falstaff, 425-Sir T. Jones-" Grass

Mandragora, 429.

widow"-Cornish or Chinese?-Tennysoniana, 426-Mayday-False Dice, 427. QUERIES:-Picture by Jacques Jordaens-" Fimble "-Sir T. Robinson-Austrian Flag at Acre-Brigadier-General Philipps, 427-Epitaph-Portrait by Kneller-Church Patronage Trust-Maple Cups-J. H. Mortimer-"Spurnpoint"-Cobblers-Barclay's English Dictionary'-M. Yates-Rhyme on Calvinism-How to remove Varnish Christ Cross Row Alphabet, 428" Nomenclator Navalis" -Lyn Family-"Shedbarschemoth"-Hawisia de Ferrers -Royal Lusitanian Legion-Sir Cornelius Vermuyden REPLIES:-Metre of 'In Memoriam'-Massacre of Scio, 430-Powell of Caer-Howell-Furye Family-John of Gaunt, 431-Silver in Bells-Joan of Arc-Chaucer's "Stilbon," 432-Folk-tale-"Looking from under Brent Hill," 433-Dr. Todd-Motto for Theatrical ManagersAmbrose Gwinett-Tying Straw to a Door-Tithe-Barns, 434-Preposition followed by a Clause-W. WestallEpiphany Offering-Kilburn Wells-One Pound ScotsThe Pleasant History,' &c.-Lindsay and CrawfordMonastic Rules, 435 Ale-daggers"-Judges' Robes Old Gloves-Misuse of Scientific Terms, 436-Penal Laws -"Dimanche de Quasimodo"-"Engendrure"-Novel Notions of Heraldry, 437-Postil-Westmorland and Cumberland Wills-"Engines with Paddles "-Dibdin's Songs -Works of King Alfred-Silver Swan, 438. NOTES ON BOOKS:-Symonds's 'Walt Whitman'

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Gower's 'Joan of Arc-Thompson's Handbook of Palæography'- Cox's 'Cinderella'- Pennells' Sentimental Journey'-Dowden's Introduction to Shakespeare' Eivind's Finnish Legend'-Basile's • Pentamerone M'Knight's Lydiard Manor.' Notices to Correspondents.

Hotes.

OUR PUBLIC RECORDS.
(Continued from p. 382.)

Quite as important as the records of Chancery, treated of in the two preceding articles, are those of the Exchequer a word derived from the chequered cloth, resembling a chess-board, which covered a table in the room or chamber of the royal palace where the sovereign's revenue was anciently dealt with. On this chequered cloth the king's accounts were made up, the sums being marked or scored by counters.

The Exchequer consisted of two branches, the Administrative, which managed the revenue, and the Judicial, the primary intention of which was to call the king's debtors to account; this last being again subdivided into a Court of Equity and Court of Common Law. In process of time actions of every kind, and in which the sovereign was in no way concerned, came to be brought in the Exchequer, though-by a legal fiction-the plaintiffs were all supposed to be the sovereign's debtors, and, by the matters complained of, less able to answer their debts.

Let us speak first of the records on the Administrative side of the Exchequer, chiefly in the nature of accounts. The value of these documents is, I think, appreciated only by persons familiar with the contents of the Public Record Office, and

middle of the twelfth century until well on in the nineteenth we have a perfect account of the Crown revenue, rendered by the sheriffs of the different counties. Have historians, in whose works are many pages bearing eloquent dissertations on the financial state of England at different periods of history, made as much use as they might of these valuable records? I think not, and hope that even this feeble bringing forward of their many-sided importance may do something towards promoting a more liberal use of them in the future.

The Pipe Rolls were prepared in the office of the Pipe-an office known by this somewhat unofficial sounding name not from its convivial nature, but from the diversity of the business there transacted, "for," says an old writer,

"as water is conveyed from many fountains and springs, by a pipe, into the cistern of a house......so this golden and silver stream [of money] is drawn from several courts [as fountains of justice and other springs of revenue], reduced and collected into one pipe, and by that conveyed into the cistern of his Majesty's receipt."

There is a Pipe Roll for each year from 2 Henry II. to the reign of William IV., and, as a rule, each roll consists of an account from every county; these, often containing two or three skins of parchment, are fastened together at the head and rolled, the end of the longest account being utilized as an outer cover for the roll. It is wasting words to describe the contents of these documents. The Pipe Roll Society (secretary, C. Trice Martin, F.S. A., Public Record Office) has printed in extenso the first few rolls, and from this work the reader can see the arrangement of the entries, which is practically the same to the end of the series. What are known as the Chancellor's Rolls are really duplicates of the Pipe Rolls; they exist from 36 Hen. III. to 3 William IV.

The Foreign Accounts, which are somewhat akin to the Pipe Rolls, received the title "Foreign' as being foreign to the ordinary jurisdiction of the sheriff, and the accounts of which they consist may be described more as occasional than regular -such as issues from escheats. Besides these, the rolls consist of accounts rendered by the Custodes Cambii, the Keepers of the Royal Wardrobe, of the Treasurers of Ireland, and a number of other miscellaneous accounts. There are twenty-three distinct rolls of "Foreign" Accounts, extending from the time of Henry III. to that of Henry VI.; but the earlier accounts will be found at the end of the Pipe Roll. There is at present no calendar to the entries on the Foreign Accounts.

The next most important series of Exchequer records is that known as "Ministers' Accounts." In this vast series are included, and rendered often

in the most minute detail, the accounts of bailiffs, farmers, reeves, collectors, and receivers of the various property, &c., which came into the Crown's hands by reason of escheat, forfeiture, or otherwise. At first these appeared in rolls of Foreign Accounts; but as time went on they became too bulky to be thus incorporated, and were formed into a class by themselves.

It will be readily understood, by any one who considers the matter, how greatly the mass of Ministers' Accounts must have been increased by the dissolution of the monasteries-that wonderful stroke of policy that placed half the land in England and Wales in the royal hands. What is known as the "first" Minister's Account of the possessions of any particular religious house is generally a very important document, giving what is practically a verbal survey of the possessions of that house.

The Ministers' Accounts are now divided into two series-that which has been christened the "Territorial," extending from the reign of Henry III. to that of Richard III., and that christened the "Chronological" series, Henry VII. to Charles II. There is no particularly satisfactory calendar to either series; but the former is honoured with a printed inventory, arranged under counties and somewhat confusing in form, whilst the latter has an exceedingly meagre MS. inventory, giving only the title of the first account on the roll.

It should, perhaps, be particularly mentioned that the accounts in which were answered the issues from the alien priories-religious houses in England established by, or subordinate to, foreign monasteries-are included in the "Territorial " series. The accounts of the issues of bishoprics whilst in the Crown's hands during vacancy or seizure are included, such as are prior in date to the reign of Henry VII., in the "Territorial" series of Ministers' Accounts; those of Henry VII.'s reign and later are still to be found in a class of documents known as Bishops' Temporalities, which include sundry miscellaneous records relating to episcopal lands-extents, inquisitions, &c., of considerable value. There is a MS. calendar to this class, placed in the Literary Search Room. Whilst on the subject, it may be mentioned that the deeds of sale of the Church lands, made after the outbreak of the Civil War, are enrolled on the Close Rolls, and referred to by a special MS. Calendar and Index (Palmer's 'Indices,' vols. lxxx, and lxxxi.). Allusion to this ought to have been made in the first of these articles, when speaking of the Close Rolls.

It is quite impossible, within limited space, to give any details of the numerous classes of documents which are to be found amongst the records of the Administrative side of the Exchequer; but, to mention some, other than those already spoken of, there are the subsidy and muster returns. The

subsidy returns, lay and clerical, extending from the time of Henry III. to that of Charles II., are made on rolls and referred to by a MS. Calendar. They give (or some of them give, for many furnish only the sum total assessed) the names of those on whom the subsidy was levied and the amount of the levy. Hence we get a most valuable help from them in the compilation of pedigrees. Amongst these returns will be found many that I may term "historic" taxations, such as the Poll Tax, the contribution for raising forces to resist the Armada, the levy of ship-money, &c. Nearly akin to the subsidies" are the Muster Rolls or Certificates made during the regin of Henry VIII., which furnish the names of able-bodied men in the different counties between the ages of sixteen and sixty.

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I said at the outset of this paper that the records of the Administrative side of the Exchequer were chiefly in the nature of accounts; but I must not conclude it without calling attention to the very valuable collections of surveys and rentals of properties permanently or temporarily in the Crown's hands to be found amongst these Exchequer records, especially in those of that subdivision of it known as the "Court of Augmentations of the Revenues of the Crown," which was founded in 27 Henry VIII., and which was necessitated by the huge increase in the royal possessions, caused by the general confiscation of Church property. In this class will be found the well-known "Parliamentary Surveys," or surveys taken between 1649 and 1653 of the lands of "King Charlas I., his Queen and Prince." There is a temporary MS. Calendar to Surveys placed in the Literary Search Room. W. J. HARDY.

(To be continued.)

THE REBELLION OF '98.

Mr. Lecky, in the smaller edition of his ‘History of Ireland,' has brought together in an accessible form the accounts of the several historians who have written on this subject, now seldom to be met with outside a public library. With his fourth volume as a guide-book I recently went over the localities in Wexford, with a view to seeing what places and buildings can now be identified with the incidents of the rebellion. A "note" of the result may possibly be found interesting to some of your readers.

Scullabogue House is still standing, two or three hundred yards off the high road leading from Wexford to New Ross, about five miles from the latter town, at the foot of Carrick-burne—a large white house, of some pretensions, with six windows in a row on two floors, and garrets in the roof, considerably above the rank of an ordinary Irish farmhouse. In 1798 it belonged to, and was occupied by, a family of the name of King, but at

The barn at the back, in which the great tragedy of the rebellion was enacted, totally consumed by fire at the time, has never been rebuilt. Its site was pointed out to me, now occupied by a fragant crop of last year's hay. How many prisoners perished in the flames in this barn was never accurately known. Taylor, in his history, written at that time, and almost on the spot, puts the number at 184, and gives the names of several of them. When Bagenal Harvey saw the ruins, immediately after the fire, the charred bodies could be seen in a standing position closely packed together. The site of the building is, however, only eleven yards by five, and this, with two persons to a square yard, would not give more than 110 victims. The barn must, therefore, have been very closely packed indeed if what Taylor tells us is true, that 184 "skeletons" were cleared out from the ruins the following Saturday, as at least three persons are understood to have escaped. It is well known that Bagenal Harvey never recovered from the shock of this sight, or the anguish of mind it caused him, and after Scullabogue he seemed to lose all heart and all hope in the rising. It would be difficult to find in the whole of Ireland a spot with so tragic a history as the site of Scullabogue barn.

In the neighbouring town of New Ross, the wooden bridge over the Barrow, on and near which the battle on June 5 raged the whole day, was destroyed by ice some years ago, and has been replaced by a handsome structure of granite and iron, which the inhabitants proudly point to as "the finest in Ireland." It may be so; but I should have preferred the old wooden erection, built by Lemuel Cox, with the history attaching to it. Traces are to be found of some of the old gates (it was near the Three-Bullet Gate that Lord Mountjoy was killed), but the streets have been rebuilt, and the only interest in them now is in their names. Curiously enough, the present, and principal, inn in the town stands exactly on the same spot as the old one, and in elevation is not unlike it, according to the plan and drawing given in Musgrave. Twice on June 5 was this town taken by the rebels under Bagenal Harvey, and: wice lost by them under General John Barleycorn. It

is odd how often it happens that insurrection, successful at the outset, is ruined by drink. Possession of New Ross would have given the rebels the bridge to Kilkenny, and access down the river it crosses to Waterford, both counties ripe for reGovernment could have got together at the time could have stamped out the rebellion before the French landed at Killala two months later, which would inevitably have led to Ireland changing masters; and who can say for how long? But, fortunately for us, the Irish drank the English out of this dangerous crisis, and whilst in their second bout of intoxication the royalist troops crept back into the town, and took it, and kept it; and the opportunity thus lost to the rebels never recurred.

By far the most interesting and tangible relic is at Enniscorthy, where Vinegar Hill rises near the suburbs of the town, with its old historic windmill near the summit-not quite on the highest point, but still standing out well against the sky-line. It must have been a massive structure at the time, as the walls in the basement are nearly a yard in thickness. The old doorway is still in existence, with one old grey granite step leading into it, worn with the marks of many feet. I failed to find any trace of the second doorway mentioned by Taylor, who says that " to all windmills there are two doorways, one opposite the other "- —a point that is new to me, and which I take the liberty of doubting. There are now only twelve or fifteen feet of this windmill left, and there is a small and increasing hole in the side of it, from which the stones are slowly dropping. A few shillings in cement and a pound in labour would make the ruins safe for many years to come, without which I doubt if the tower, exposed as it is to every wind that blows, will last out the present century. The Enniscorthians do not seem to set much store on the undoubted historic relic they have at their doors, as in the whole town I was unable to meet with a photograph of it, or any person to take one, and eventually had to send a photographer over from Wexford specially for the purpose. The same difficulty applied to Scullabogue House, the Three Rocks, and Vinegar Hill. From this spot there is an extensive view on a clear day of the neighbouring country and surrounding hills, Carrigrua, Carrick-byrne, the Three Rocks, Oulart, all within a day's march of this bill, and all with a history. Here the rebels under Father John Murphy held their camp for some weeks, and many were the atrocities committed on it by his orders. The summit of Vinegar Hill comprises several acres, and therefore it cannot be said, comparing surface with surface, to be "the most blood-stained spot in Ireland," as the palm in that respect must indisputably be given to the site of Scullabogue barn; but buried beneath its turf there must now be lying thousands of human bones. Cynical Sir

In the neighbouring towns of Arklow and Gorey there is absolutely nothing to be traced now connected with the rebellion, so far as I could see or learn, and even the roads do not seem to run in the old directions, the explanation of which, I believe, is that some of the present ones are famine roads. I noticed this particularly one day driving to Oulart Hill. It was at Arklow that the rebels were beaten back from the road to Dublin, and that Father Michael Murphy was killed-the priest who boasted he could catch Protestant bullets in his hands without harm.

In the town of Wexford the local interest centred on another wooden bridge, also built by Lemuel Cox, with some eighty narrow arches or thereabouts, across the estuary, the scene of the ruthless massacres by Dixon and his wife. This bridge is no longer standing; but the stone causeway or pier leading to it from the town is still left, and forms a convenient promenade for the nautical population. This bridge was the scene of many a foul murder at the time of the rebellion, afterwards interspersed, now and again, with an Occasional judicial murder at the hands of the royalists; Cornelius Grogan, for instance, made to hobble to his death here on crutches, in his flannels and gout, concerning whom it was said at the time that nothing was quite certain except his wealth. There is a very fair engraving of this bridge given in Taylor, with the massacres in progress, the only one I have seen showing the bridge as it stood at that date. Also a terribly realistic one in Maxwell, drawn by Cruikshank. Mr. Lecky more than once alludes to the executions of rebels and others as taking place "off" the bridge, as if over the parapet; but nothing can be more certain than that they took place "on" it,-" On the entrance to the bridge," says Hay, the rebel historian, "on an ornamental iron arch, intended for lamps, and springing from the two wooden piers of the gate, next the town." And Hay ought to know, as his brother John Hay, the rebel general, was hanged there, and he himself narrowly escaped the same fate and on the same spot.

Near this bridge was moored the old and rotten sloop used as a guard-ship, where Lord Kingsborough who had been picked up at sea by the rebels prowling about in an open boat, was brought and confined terribly incommoded by rats. The

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Close by Wexford are the Three Rocks, where the rebels under Father Philip Roche, their only general with brains, encamped for some time, and whence one day they poured down on General Fawcett's unsuspecting troops and caused great havoc. A clump of trees close to the high road, at the foot of these rocks, is still pointed out as the burial-place of the royalist soldiers.

The weather unfortunately prevented me making a personal investigation of the Saltee Islands, which lie off the Wexford coast, where Bagenal Harvey, with John Colclough, and the wife and child of the latter, took refuge in a cave, provisioned for some months, with their plate and valuables, hoping to get away to France. They were betrayed, as is well known, by the trickling of soapsuds from the mouth of the cave, and were brought to the quay at Wexford, near which Harvey and Colclough, with Cornelius Grogan, were afterwards executed, "on the bridge over the river, in which all of them were large shareholders." Barrington in his 'Memoirs' makes fun at the futile endeavours of an English judge (Lord Redesdale) to pronounce the name "Colclough." I was told at Wexford the proper pronunciation is "Coakley." A word as to the historians of the rebellion. Musgrave's quarto is a painstaking work, but spoilt by strong royalist and Protestant bias. From it he reaped but small profit, much controversy, Castlereagh's contempt, Barrington's sneers, and a duel that brought him nearly to death's door. But his plans are excellent; and whatever may be said as to Sir Richard's facts, there is no reason for doubting the accuracy of his plans. Hay, the chief historian on the rebel side, seems a truthful, but rather tedious writer, and gives, what is valuable a good map of the rebellion district, and Taylor a rabid Protestant (a Methodist preacher, I think), one of the bridge at Wexford as it stood in those days. From these three, taken together, representing both sides of the story, and Cruikshank's drawings as given in Maxwell, a very fair idea of