for several days at the Blue Boar Inn, then kept by Mrs. | declared that "for his part he did Mrs. Clarke no harm, Clarke. He there fell in speech with Alice Grumbold, nor did so much as think to kill or hurt her, but what a maid of the house, in the way of marriage. Where- Bradshaw did he knew not; for to his knowledge, she upon, she told him, "her mistress had great store of was living at their going away." He added, Alice money in her house, and bade him come again some Grumbold, "the maid, was the only setter of the match, night and bring a secret friend with him she might trust, for they had not dealt therein but by her procurement." and there would be means made to get some of her She however protested, that although she could not clear money." Harrison proceeded to Lichfield, and took into herself from the robbery and consenting thereto, she was his confidence Adami Bonus, who communicated the plan clear from the murder of her mistress, and asserted "in of the robbery to one Edward Bradshaw, and they ar- her conscience Bradshaw did murder her." ranged to meet at Leicester, and carry it into effect. Accordingly, Harrison and Bradshaw, on Friday, February 1, 1604, rode to Leicester, and on the following day, they removed with their horses to the Blue Boar Inn, lay there all night, and staid all day, on Sunday. In the mean time Bonus, who had appointed to meet the others at the Blue Boar, came on Saturday to Leicester, and after some conversation with Alice Grumbold, in the absence of Harrison and Bradshaw, determined not to take part in the intended robbery; and in fact after the murder, he turned king's evidence.' The plunder borne off by these robbers was never recovered, they declared they did not know what the bags contained, silver or gold, for in their flight, it was hidden by them in the bank of a ditch near Pooley park, in Warwickshire, but they believed, if it consisted of silver, there was from three to five hundred pounds. Being apprehended on some other charge and imprisoned, Bradshaw, through the instrumentality of Lord Stafford,* was bailed, and on his going to the ditch side for the money, found it had been removed. They were subsequently apprehended on the charge of the murder of Mrs. Clarke, and brought to Leicester. The result of the trial appears on record among our Hall papers, in the following notice, on a slip of parchment : Our Assizes holden at Leicester upon Tuesday, March 25, 1606, before Sir Peter Warburton, Knt.; at which Assizes Edward Bradshaw was executed for murthering Mrs. Clarke, and Alice Grumbolde burned for the same murther.' Harrison's fate is not recorded. The particulars of the murder are these-Alice Grumbold deposed, that about ten o'clock on Sunday night, Feb. 3, she and her fellow servant, Waters, went into the stable with provender for the horses, and that Bradshaw and Harrison followed them; she then went to the well to draw water for the horses, Bradshaw at the same time returning to the house, where they had left the mistress all alone. On returning to the stable, she found her fellow-servant bound, and Harrison, doubtless ac- Twysden, it is evident, errs in the date assigned by cording to previous arrangement, seized and bound her him, and two, not seven men were concerned with the also. She was soon however, unbound, and seemingly maid Alice, in this diabolical act. The particulars adby force taken by them into the house, to open her mis-vanced however establish the tradition as based on fact. tress's coffers, the first of which was full of linen; the second, full of writings; and the third, contained money. From this last, they took out several bags of money, most of which, having previously brought out their horses, they fastened to the pommels of their saddles. Alice would gladly have gone away with them, whereat they swore by God's wounds, if thou comest with us, thou wilt both hang us and thyself." They then took her into the hall, and there bound her; Harrison at the same time gave her a linen cloth, wherein was money and other things, and said he would in ten days, come again, to fetch her and it. The money she had was 427. 17s., beside two silver rings, and a gold ring. In her second examination, she added, that after she was left bound in the chimney in the hall, her legs not being fast bound, she got up, and went into the buttery to see how her mistress did, where, being unable to get out again, she lay till morning, when one of the neighbours came into the house to light a candle, and unbound her. Beside the plunder carried off, it appears there were seven or eight bags of money or gold,' and certain plate were left behind on Mrs. Clarke's bed. As to the actual perpetration of the murder, no direct evidence appears, possibly the account as narrated by Sir Roger Twisden, may be the fact, and the circumstance of the maid's choaking her mistress, may probably be true. Harrison The story of King Richard's bedstead, and the discovery of the treasure secreted within it, rests wholly on tradition. That, now recognized as King Richard's bedstead, is indisputably a fine specimen of the late Elizabethan style, and has no concurrent similitude with those constructed more than a century before. Twysden's statement that "from a low condition Clarke soon became rich, and in the course of a few years, Mayor of the Town," would seem to be a recapitulation of some locally accredited belief, while it affords no evidence as to the discovery of the gold in the way related by those who placed credence in the tradition. Thomas Clarke mine host of the Blue Boar Inn, from the mode in which the money and valuables was garnered by Mrs. Clarke, was possibly of thrifty habit, might have inherited property from relations, or from his long and constant success as an innkeeper; still, certain it is that Thomas Clarke was mayor of Leicester, in 1598-9, and was an illiterate character, unable to subscribe his name. By his will, dated June 15, 1603, he bequeathed part of his property to charitable uses, and died a few days later in that month. Search has been made in the Archdeaconry Court for his will, in the hope that the inventory attached to it would afford some fact illustrative of the history of Edward Stafford, the third baron, who died in 1625. the bedstead, but the roll for that year is missing. These facts are suggestive, that Clarke during his mayoralty might have had this bedstead constructed for his use; and on his year of official greatness expiring, it was moved to his inn. The murder of his widow in February, 1604, doubtless placed the inn in other hands, and they possibly to draw custom created the fable of Richard having sought repose in that inn, and as any bedstead would answer the purpose, exhibit that on which possibly the ex-mayor died in 1603. This was a period of poetical fancies, the story of Dick Whittington and his Cat had its origin at this time; these romances spread far and wide, and were as eagerly credited by all classes of persons, the more incredible and strange they were in their purport, they were found to be vastly more agreeable, and in some panegyrical lines by an anonymous writer, prefixed to Tom Coryate's Crudities, printed in 1611; there are recounted among the 'penny sights' then popular in England, in London, and elsewhere, the following: The lance of John o'Gaunt, and Brandon's still i'the Tower, Drake's ship at Deptford, King Richard's bed sted i Leyster, The bedstead, after having been for several generations in the family of Babington, of Rothley, has lately passed by purchase into the possession of W. Perry Herrick, Esq., of Beaumanor Park, in this county. There are some other curious matters connected with the subject which would have been worth noting, irrespective of King Richard; among them, the charge of treason, which a few years previously had been brought against Mrs. Clarke, when Mayoress, for having said, 'the Queen deserved a rope, etc.,' as also, the particulars of the attempt to procure by bribery, through Lord Stafford, a pardon for Bradshaw. Leicester, May 10. WILLIAM KELLY. VESPASIAN.-The March number of Current Notes, p. 27, notices the discovery of a gold coin of Vespasian at Inveresk; the legend on the reverse, reading Cos ITER TR. POT. Last month, another of identically the same type, and in fine condition, was dug up on the site of a camp near Hawick. The fact of these two coins being discovered within three weeks, in different parts of Scotland, appears to be deserving of note. Edinburgh. BARRON GRAHAME, F.S.A., Scotland. STONE CARVING IN GLASGOW CATHEDRAL. Your Correspondent's notice in Current Notes, p. 39, of the curious corbel in Brechin cathedral, reminds me of a stone carving in one of the crypts of the cathedral at Glasgow; and at this time when the north-landers are apparently about to repair their beautiful church, it may not be altogether useless to caution them not to deal too carelessly with the fragmentary stones lying in the crypts, now wisely left there for inspection, and perhaps might be so placed, that visitors might study them with more convenience. The stone, of which the enclosed is a correct sketch NOTES BY A NUMISMATIST. ROMAN MINT AT ARLES CALLED CONSTANTINA. In the Sale Catalogue of the Collection of the late Mr. H. P. Borrell, of Smyrna, to lot 834, consisting of twenty-five varieties of third brass coins of the period of the Constantine Family, is the following note On one of the coins of Fausta, the exergual or mint letters are CONS. The Baron Marchant remarked a similar example, which he thought singular, because Fausta died before Byzantium was called Constantinople; but the late Mr. Borrell, in his numismatic correspondence with the writer, expressed an opinion that these coins were struck at Arles; for Le Beau, in his History of the Lower empire, expressly tells us that in 316, Constantine visited Gaul, and having conferred many benefits upon the City of Arles, it took the name of Constantine in gratitude to its benefactor; moreover, Constantine Junior, the eldest son of Constantine and Fausta, was born there in the same year, or fourteen years before Byzantium was called Constantinople. As to these coins having been struck in her honour, after her death, except indeed by her sons, that is not probable. The desire to direct attention to this note, has induced me to transcribe it, in order to avail myself of the occasion to add, that I have recently obtained a coin of Crispus, of the same module, with precisely the same letters on the exergue of the reverse-a discovery, which in my opinion, goes far undoubtedly to corroborate the probability of the hypothesis here suggested. ST. ANDREW PENNY OF EGBERT, KING OF WESSEX. Among the numismatic treasures of the Anglo-Saxon period in the National Collection, is a penny assigned to Egbert, king of Wessex, the first so called sole monarch of England. The coin having on the obverse, the portrait of the king, with the legend ECGBEORHT RE, and on the reverse, the legend + SCS ANDREAI is engraved in Hawkins' Silver Coins of England, plate XII, fig. 158; and at p. 55, it is simply described type 7, without comment. The peculiarity, however of the legend on the reverse, induced Mr. Haigh to suggest that as the cathedral of Rochester is dedicated to St. Andrew, the coin was probably minted at that city after the battle of Ellandene in 823, when Egbert routed the Mercians, and followed up his victory by the conquest of the tributary kingdom of Kent. Mr. Haigh's hypothesis it must be observed, rests entirely on the assumption that the name of St. Andrew bears relation to the city in which the coin was struck; but, even assuming that fact as a basis of classification, it must be borne in mind that the cathedral of Wells in Somersetshire was also dedicated to St. Andrew; and in reference to that fine old structure, that it was built by Ina, king of the West Saxons, and that several other of the West Saxon kings endowed it. It may therefore be fairly presumed, that as Wells was situated within the original territories of Egbert, the coin in question is much more likely to have been struck there, than at Rochester, a city that was only acquired by conquest, in the twenty-fourth year of the reign of the monarch whose effigy and name it bears. May 9. it attracted the notice of Burns, who observed he would have given ten pounds to have been the author. About 1842, several letters passed between the late Captain Charles Gray and myself on this subject, whence an abstract may be seen at p. 373, of the Book of Scottish Song, printed for Blackie and Son, at Glasgow, in 1843. The lyric is there printed with some additional lines by my correspondent. George Pickering was born in or about 1758, at Simonburn, in Northumberland. In 1777, he was clerk to Mr. Davidson, solicitor in Newcastle, and shortly after, had the management of the Stamp-Office for Northumberland, Newcastle and Berwick; but being unfortunate, he quitted the north of England, and after residing some time in Norfolk, in 1798 he went abroad. Twenty-five years afterward, he returned to Newcastle, and resided with his sister, at Chimney-Mills, where he died in 1826. He was buried toward the west corner of the churchyard at Lamesley, in the County of Durham, where a stone bears this inscription— Sacred to the Memory of GEORGE PICKERING, OF SIMONBURN, Erected by his sister ELIZABETH PICKERING, much beloved and esteemed brother. NOTES ON THE AUTHOR OF WAVERLEY. I have been again much gratified by perusing the second letter of Sir Walter Scott, printed in Current Notes, pp. 21, 22.* Mr. Ellis presented to me, the copy of the Poems by Bedingfeld and Pickering, which I still possess. Probably, the most attractive piece in the volume is the fragment of Scottish Song, said to have been written by the latter, beginning Keen blaws the wind o'er Donnocht head; If, in Current Notes, p. 14, I was mistaken in the observation relative to the Lines on North Tyne, I was led to the error from Scott's mention of Drayton, to whose principal work, the Marriage of the Coquet and Alwine has direct reference, and none whatever to the lines in question. I also overlooked Mr. Fenwick's tract, and now thank E. H. A., for the light he has thrown upon the subject. what Mr. Ellis, of Otterburn, told me himself. On Sept. 25, 1812, Mr. Scott, for he was not then a baronet, visited Mr. Ellis, at Otterburn. He was on his way to Rokeby, and occupied in the composition of his poem of that name. Mrs. Scott and two children were with him, and they remained at Otterburn for one night only. Next morning Mr. Ellis accompanied his distinguished guest on the road through Woodburn, when they walked over the Roman station of Habitancum, commonly called Risingham, and ascending the hill to the south-cast, they saw the figure of Robin of Redesdale sculptured on the face of a huge stone, which Scott examined with great attention. The result of the observations made that morning, may be seen in Rokeby. Subsequently, when the stone bearing the figure was *To this visit I have alluded more particularly in the History of the Battle of Otterburn, now in the press. broken, Mr. Ellis communicated all the particulars to Mr. Scott, to which the latter replied, dealing out some sarcastic remarks on the perpetrator of the deed. Nothing more on this matter transpired till 1819, when on the publication of Ivanhoe, Mr. Ellis by referring to Scott's letter, detected towards the close of the Introductory Epistle to that novel, clear and most conclusive proof that he alone was the author. In these early days, I well remember with what avidity, I read every work that came from the hand of the Great Minstrel. After perusing all his poetry to which I had access, and duly weighing in my own mind, the writer's remarkable genius, on reading the novels, I had not the slightest doubt, they emanated from the same source. In his prose fictions, Scott commanded a wider stage for the performance of his dramatis persona, introducing many peculiar characters who became known to him among his own countrymen, and who were suitable for a novel, though unfit for a poem. But the same careful individuality was in each preserved-the same creative power every where evident; the effective grouping together of all ranks, and the appropriate names employed the striking force of the descriptive portions, and above all, in every instance, the complement and framing of a tale that every reader could comprehend, were not to be mistaken. In short, judging from what I saw of current literature, my opinion was that no other individual of the time could have produced them. Retrospectively glancing over the circumstance of Scott's frequent denial of being the author, we ought to remember, that he was not only possessed of profound sagacity, but that he was a very proud man. In his day, none could better fathom the human mind both in its strength and weakness, and being aware how public curiosity becomes excited in proportion to the impenetrable silence with which a great secret is kept, this very point told most effectively on the popularity of these works of fiction. Again, as he himself said, he was by birth, a gentleman, and if it was openly avowed he wrote novels, the circumstance might detract from his dignity. In this respect, he was not alone, for about the commencement of the seventeenth century, a still greater man, alluding to the plays he had written, which ultimately crowned him with immortal honour, observed— Thence comes it that my name receives a brand, so, the dread of such debasement undoubtedly influenced Scott to keep his own counsel when he wrote the Novels; and he seems to have made up his mind to repel most pointedly every attempt of prying impertinence to get beyond him. When his position in a business point of view rendered longer concealment impossible, he gave way; but had this not occurred, and had it not been that those works had then acquired a world-wide fame, the probability is, that he had never confessed the authorship; and when he mildly allowed the mask to be withdrawn, his unfading laurels were already won they encircled the venerable temples and white hairs of that old man, whom to have seen was almost worth a king's ransom, and who hath left behind him a lesson impressive as Solomon's of the vanity of terrestrial things. ROBERT WHITE. Newcastle-on-Tyne, May 9. Scott's having abandoned poetical description for prose narrative, as a wider field for display of character appears never to have led to any attempt of a drama for theatrical representation, of which it would seem he entertained some dread. On the rebuilding of Drury Lane Theatre, among other projects of the proprietary for points of attractive advertisement, was one of obtaining at any cost, a play from the Northern Bard; and Elliston was deputed to make the application; it failed wholly. Scott in January, 1812, after five years gratuitous service as a clerk of Session entered upon the salary attached of 13007. a-year; and might therefore be considered as less anxious to profit by the produce of his pen, but on the contrary, it appears to have been a settled principle that led to the avoidance of all association with the drama, as the autograph letter addressed to Elliston, and now before the writer, is conclusive evidence. Sir, I am favour'd with your letter, and am much obliged to you for the polite expressions it contains, as well as for your supposing me capable of advancing in any degree, the dramatic art, or the advantage of its professors. As I am very fond of the Stage, which is the only public amusement that I ever indulge in, I have at times, from my own inclination, or at the solicitation of friends, partial like yourself, to my other productions been tempted to consider the subject your letter proposes to me. But upon a mature consideration of my own powers such as they are, and of the probable consequences of any attempt to write for the Theatre, which might fall short of complete success, I have come to the determination of declining every overture of the kind, of which I have received several. I therefore have only to express my regret that it is not in my power to assist your exertions, which I have no doubt, the public favour, and your own talents, will render successful without such aid, and I am very glad, I have been indirectly the means of supplying new subjects for your Theatre, and am very much, Sir, your obedient servant, Edinb. January 6, 1812. WALTER SCOTT. IPSWICH TOWN ARMORIAL INSIGNIA. I enclose drawings, with rubbings of the arms of Ipswich, from monumental brasses in the churches of that Town. The arms on these examples are differently represented, and yet not one is in accordance with the description of the coat particularized in Clarencieux's confirmation in 1561; if that record was correctly copied, of this fact however, no means of ascertaining remains, as the original is believed to have been long since destroyed. Harvey's confirmation, printed wholly in Current Notes, October, 1855, p. 80; describes the lion rampant as regardant. Possibly, it would be of interest to notice this addition to the Curiosities of Heraldry, and therefore, with the drawings and rubbings, have attached an heraldic description of each shield. I. Arms of Ipswich, from the brass in the church of St. Mary Tower; of Thomas Drayle, Portman, 1500. Per pale, three demi-lions guardant in pale, joined to as many demi-hulks of ships. II. Arms of Ipswich, from the brass in the church of St. Mary Key; of Thomas Pownder, 1525. The Pownder brass in mode of emblazonment bears conclusive evidence of its foreign fabrication. Only one demi-hull appears on the shield, and the coat is reversed, in order apparently to turn the lion towards the centre of the subject, a perversion not unfrequently assumed in Flemish, German, and other continental heraldry. III. Arms of Ipswich, also in the church of St. Mary Key, on the brass of Henry Toolye, 1551. Party per pale; on the dexter side, a lion rampant guardant; on the sinister, three demi-hulls joined to the impaled line. The arms as described in the confirmation by William Harvey Clarencieux, August 22, 1561, are Party per pale gules and azure; in the first, a lion rampant regardant, gold armed and langued azure; in the second, three demy-botes of the third. III. IV. IV. Arms of Ipswich, in the church of St. Clement, on the brass of John Toye, 1583. Per pale; in the dexter, a lion rampant; on the sinister, three demi-hulls joined to the impaled line. Lee Road, Blackheath. J. J. HOWARD. COLONIAL PUBLIC LIBRARIES. A letter dated Melbourne, Feb. 16, affords some intimation of the progress of the public free library of Australia. On Monday, the 11th inst., the public library was opened by his Excellency, the officer administering the Government. It is a free library, and we owe its existence to the exertions of Judge Barry, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court. He took the Legislature in time when the revenue had increased from less than 300,000l., to more than three millions, and people thought it never would come to an end. He thus obtained money for the building, and for about three thousand volumes. Last year, there was a vote for 3000l., but it lapsed for want of money. This year, that sum is again on the estimates, and as the colony is flourishing, and the revenue is improving, the amount will no doubt be voted and paid. The best colonial library is at Cape Town, but an annual payment for admission is required. The library at Quebec, is also good, but that is not free. Ours will be emphatically a public institution, and I fully expect that in eight or ten years, it will be the finest colonial library under the British Crown. That of the Legislative Council also presents the beginning of a splendid library-but that will of course be confined to the members of both Houses. We adopt the American custom of a joint library instead of the English custom of a library for each House. FEMININE DELUSION. The enclosed letter was written by Lord Eldon, in reply to one addressed to him by the aged wife of a Yorkshire Vicar, whose husband had long been engaged in a vexatious Tithe suit in Chancery. The request was to aid her by moving on the slow machinery of that very slow court-she, poor woman, thought that as she was a native of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and had known and visited the Scott family there, the member of that family who then occupied the Woolsack, would for the sake of Newcastle, etc., use his influence in some powerful manner, to drive on Chancery to decide the case. To enable her husband to carry on the suit, her private property had been mortgaged, and the family had suffered greatly in consequence of the protracted litigation-she therefore in the anguish of her mind wrote the letter to the Chancellor, which drew from him the enclosed reply. Madam-I have received your letter. With respect to making any application to Lord Lyndhurst, it cannot be made by me; I am sure that as a Judge, he would not permit me to have any conversation with him, relative to a cause which may come judicially before him; and having myself been long in a judicial situation, I could not permit myself to speak to him upon such a subject. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has nothing to do with anything respecting Tithes. Lord Lyndhurst is the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, who, with other Judges hears Tithe Causes, but no Judge will permit himself to be told anything respecting a cause but in open Court. I am, Madam, Your obedt. Servt. ELDON. I may add, that the dilatoriness of the reverend gen |