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HOLYWELL, HUNTINGDONSHIRE. The parish church is a gem in its way for any person of an ecclesiological taste, and greatly resembles in form those so frequently observable in Kent. It has a square tower, but no spire, has a regular nave, lateral aisles, and a perfect chancel. The piercings for the windows are much like those we see in the ruined abbey and church walls, which had their day some six or seven centuries since. A pointed arch forms the windows, but a stone mullion in the centre divides it into two light lancet arches within. In the chancel there are three very narrow windows on the south side, and two on the north. The other windows are of elegant formation, while the fretted quoins and mullions have a venerable aspect. The exterior walls are covered with a yellowish kind of lichen; and the roof seems tanned as it were by the effects of Sol's rays during the lapse of centuries. On one of the beams of the roof, in the interior, is the date 1595. The pews have a coarse old appearance, and are mostly all open. The font is large, and has an aperture at bottom, but was evidently constructed for the dipping of children, in accordance with the general practice in England, until with Calvin's dogmas of faith, sprinkling or affusion was substituted.

Is there any known legend or tradition in connection with the well that gives name to the parish of Holywell, similar as it might be premised to that of the famous well of St. Winifred, that supplies the name to the parish of Holywell in Flintshire? The well here, with a view to its preservation, is now enclosed by a newly constructed wall, and partly covered over. Whatever was the legendary story, it seems now to be wholly unknown to the present generation of the inhabitants. Can any reader of Current Notes supply any facts in reference to this legend?

Downpatrick, Dec. 18.

JAMES A. PILSON.

WALLINGTON'S JOURNAL.-In Notes and Queries, vol. v. p. 489, is an inquiry respecting a manuscript journal of Nehemiah Wallington, 1618-36, that was sold at the dispersion of Gulston's library in 1784. At that sale it was purchased by Mr. George Baker of St. Paul's Churchyard, and in 1824, if not before, passed into the Upcott Collection, from which it was purchased for the Corporation Library, Guildhall, London, for Twenty-five pounds.

CONTINENTAL SIGNS AND SIGN-BOARDS.

The good old custom of placing a sign above the shop by way of distinction, from the very general mode of numbering now adopted, has been rendered unnecessary in England, and is with us almost extinct. It is only in our hostelries that signs have been retained, and in many instances these are becoming superseded in the grander Hotels; however, we still in general look for real comfort and good old English cheer at the Tabard or at the Boar.

All persons who have visited foreign parts must have noticed that signboards though rare with us, are commonly in use abroad; and the peculiarities of these

countries, their past history, or legendary lore are there retained in their original and quaint guise.

The employments of the districts which find markets for their goods in particular cities or towns, are readily perceptible in the signs which hang over the shop doors. In North France, they are resplendent in colour and gilding; in Holland they are quaint and sober; in Germany they are generally substantial, and often wildly imaginative; and in Belgium, a mixture of each of these countries, with an air of pasteboard and negligé, not very inviting, however attractive or good may be the contents of the shop. This classification may of course be carried into the provinces and minor divisions, where the neighbourhood of the cloth manufactory, or spinning. wheel, the hop-ground, or the flax-field is perceptibly stamped with tolerable plainness in the signs of the principal towns; but nowhere are signs and signboards seen to better advantage than at Lille, the centre of a fertile and rich district, the market of a busy and industrious people, the chief city in North France, and in truth, the paradise of good shops and polite merchants.

Bordering on Flanders, the old historical memories of the land of artizans and people-power remain on the signs. Lille, indeed, is still the capital of a little manufacturing kingdom, rendered by its own industry and natural fertility tolerably independent.

The golden signs predominate in Lille, as indeed they do in all parts of French Flanders, and in their ludicrous connection with the commonest articles of every-day life, they bring back the story of Midas's touch of gold, and its unfortunate results.

Small and common as it may seem, the sketch of the Green Knight

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made by me from a sign, while rambling in the streets of Lille, n August last; serves to awaken some few historical reflections. The Flander's mare,' clumsy, fleshy, and thick set, reminds one of Cuyp's pastures. and the remark in connection of Anne of Cleves, and her sometime lord and master, our own bluff Harry, while the Knight who bestrides the prancing steed, with his cloud formed cloak and sword almost as long as himself, smacks somewhat of the Spanish occupation. The sign subscribed LE CHEVALIER. VERT., is in date probably of that awful period in the history of the Netherlands, whose annals are inscribed in letters of

blood.

Dec. 4.

T. HARWOOD PATTISON.

ROYAL LICENCE FOR IMPRESSMENT OF SURGEONS.

The following inedited document of authority affords good evidence of the low condition of the surgical practice in the metropolis on the accession of Queen Elizabeth, and cannot be perused without exciting consider

able interest.

Holbein, on whose skill as a painter, Du Fresnov thus expatiates-his execution surpassed even that of Raffaelle, and I have seen a portrait of his painting, with which one of Titian's could not come in competition; has in his glorious picture of king Henry the Eighth granting the Charter to the Barber Surgeons' Company, eternised the portrait of Thomas Vicary, the Queen's Serjeant Surgeon; it is to him, the burly monarch and father of Her Majesty is delivering the charter as the chief of the company.

The Great seal has been torn from the original licence, but there are remains to prove that it was formerly attached

J. J. H.

Lee Road, Blackheath. ELIZABETH, by the grace of God, Quene of Englond, Fraunce, and Irelonde, Defender of the faith, etc.

To All Mayours, Sheriffs, Baylliffs, Constables, and all other our Offycers, Mynisters and Subiects thees our Lettres hearinge or seinge, and to euery of them greetinge.

We lett you wete, that for certeyn consideracions us mouinge we haue by theise presents auctorised and lycensed oure Trustie and Welbeloued Seruaunte THOMAS VYCARY, Sergeant of our Surgions and the Wardens of the Fellowshipp of the said Surgeons within our Cytie of London that now be or hereafter shalbe, that they by themselfs, or their assigne, bearer hereof, shal and may from hensforth, take and reteyne at our wages as well within the Cytie of London, as elsewhere within any other Cytie, Towne, Boroughe or other place within this our Realme, as well franchised and privileged as not franchised nor privileged, suche and as many Surgions as they shall thinke mete and able from tyme to tyme to doe unto us seruyce in the scyence of Surgerie at any season hereafter as well by sea as lande, and further that the Sergeant and Wardeyns aforesaide shal or maye take of suche as be not able to serve, suche instruments and other stuff of Surgerie as they shal thinke mete to same, agreinge and payinge therfor, to all suche of whom any suche instruments or stuff shal be taken.

Wherfore We woll and comaunde you, and euy of you that unto our saide Sergiant and the Wardeyns aforesaid, and their assigne, bearer hereof, in the due execucion of this our aucthoritie and lycense, Ye be aydinge, helpinge and assistinge as ofte as the case shal require without any your denyall, lett, or contradycion, as ye and cũy of you tender our pleasure and woll auoide the contrary at your peril.

In Witness whereof, We have caused theis our Lettres of Commissyon to be sealed with our Greate Seale. Wytness ourself at Westmynstre, the [torn by fold] th day of December [1559] the seconde yere of our Reigne.

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The local historians state that the barton and manor of Pengersick, was in the reign of Henry the Eighth, purchased in his son's name by-Milliton, a gentleman, who having by accident or otherwise committed murder, immured himself in a private chamber in the tower of the castle, and was so effectually concealed from any judicial inquiry, that except to a few friends, nothing was known respecting him, until upon his death, his retreat was discovered.

Whether this castellated mansion, the family seat of the Millitons was built by them, or previously, is not recorded. In 1547, Job Milliton, the son above noticed, was appointed governor of St. Michael's Mount, in place of Humphrey Arundell, who was executed for rebellion. William Milliton, his only son, who had the honour of being Sheriff of Cornwall, died without issue, in 1595, when the family estate was divided among six sisters, who became his heiresses.

his

Sir Nicholas Hals, Knight, on his first coming into Cornwall, from Efford, in Devonshire, purchased a portion of the lands, and occasionally resided at Pengersick and Trewinard, till he removed to Fintongollen. John Hals the thriftless son and heir to Sir Nicholas, by his imprudence, caused all the growing timber at Pengersick, of which according to tradition, there was great store,' to be cut down and sold. Some portion of the lands passed to the Duke of Leeds, as the representative of the Godolphin family.

The tower of the castle consists of three stories, a passage of winding steps leads to the roof, from which there is a pleasing though not extensive prospect.

On the ground floor, the walls are pierced with loop

* Pen-gar-wick, also Pen-gars-wick otherwise Pengweras-ike. See Gilbert's Cornwall.

holes, and many of the apartments have fallen in. Those which remain are used by a farmer as haylofts and granaries. On the wainscot of the upper story, elaborately carved and painted, are some quaint verses, now nearly effaced. The following are specimens:

The one nedith the other ys helpe

The laime wyche lacketh for to goo,
Is borne upon the blynde is back,

So mutually between them twoo :
The one supplieth the other's luck;

The blynde to laime doth lend his might,
The laime to blynde doth yeld his sight.

desperation these events caused, excited the energies of many persons whose characters stand forth magnificently illustrious in English History, but to none can Englishmen point with greater pride than to Ethelfleda, the youngest daughter of Alfred; the sister of Edward, surnamed the elder, who every inch a king,' majestically supported the functions of the monarch; and the wife of Ethelred, then Ealdorman of Mercia, which, by its absorption with other states, had then ceased to be a kingdom. In her person, emphatically styled 'the Lady' of Mercia, Ethelfleda appears to have characteristically embodied the soul-moving Heroine of Romance, to have

These lines have reference to a painting of a blind- been embued with the sturdy valour of Ariosto's Braman, bearing one who is lame on his back."

PERSEVERANCE.

What thing is harder than a rock?
What softer is than water clear?
But will the same with often drop

The hard rock pierce as doth appear,
Even so nothing so hard to attayne,

But may be had with labour and payne. The arms of the Milliton family were from a supposed punning allusion to their name, a chevron, between three millot fishes hariant or erected, whereas Milliton is a mill-town.

Penzance, Dec. 2.

ETHELFLEDA, THE LADY' OF MERCIA.

England, notwithstanding the supposed ignorance of geographical knowledge manifested by most nations in the earlier annals of the world, appears to have been the golden land,' to which the most ruthless migratory inroads by hordes of barbarian northmen were ostensibly directed and though attacked successively by armed hosts sufficiently caparisoned and inured to military evolutions, that on any other soil, would have served to annihilate the very character and name of its aborigines, still their innate bravery, and the irresistible pluck of the natives, has ever served to sustain their indomitable genius, which like hope was and is ever directed to the future, constantly undaunted in the conflict, and unconquered in death.'

At the period of Alfred's accession, the Danes by their brutal ferocity, had caused great devastation, and the Angles partially depressed by the innumerable hosts of their assailants, experienced extreme misery and privation. Mercia, wholly in the power of the Danes, was most mercilessly ravaged, the greater part of the nobility-had either fallen in battle, or had been driven from their homes, and few but the peasantry or churls remained, to undergo oppression and plunder by Ceolwulf, a Thane, who was advanced by the Danes to be for a time, their king or governor of Mercia. The

Ceolwulf, is said to have been the minister of Burgred, who when the latter was driven from his throne by the Danes, seized on the government, for a short time, till his own expulsion in 87 terminated the independence. The coins struck by Ceolwulf are the last of that Saxon kingdom.

damante; and to have shewn on all occasions, the prowess of the bold Virago' as she was termed by all the monkish writers; nor was her decision or prudence inferior to her bravery.

Chester, that had been strongly fortified by the Romans, and after the Roman period, successively occupied by the Britons and the Anglo-Saxons, was during the invasions of this period, abandoned by the latter; but the Danes in 894, occupied it as a place of succour against the advances of Alfred; they in their turn, were driven thence; and in 908, Ethelred having possession restored much of the ruined buildings, and walled it about, enclosing the castle which till then had been beyond its limits.

In 912, Ethelred died, and the rule in Mercia devolved upon his widow Ethelfleda, who, having been taught by experience that much of the Danish success in their depredations was in great part owing to their rent irregularity, they effectually carried on war by defensive fortifications, and that amidst all their appasystem; adopted the same course of strategy; and every place or point that could be rendered defensible, she promptly secured. Worcester, her capital, had been fortified by Ethelred. Hovenden, and other chroniclers

In

mention her proceeding with a large force, on May 6, 913, to Sceargate, or Shiregate, and there built a strong castle; and another on the west bank of the Severn, called Bridge, otherwise Bridgenorth, in Shropshire. In the spring of 914, she went to Tamworth, restored Matthew of Westminster, and Florence of Worcester, the town, and built the castle; thence, according to she proceeded to Stafford, and repaired that castle. bury, and fortified Warwick; and in 916, as Florence 915, as Hovenden records, she built Edesbury or Eddesof Worcester relates, she built Cherbury, which he designates Cyriebyrig; Runcorn and other places were also successfully protected by the ramparts which she Each year of her sovereignty was characterised In 917, occurred by bold and well-directed measures. the memorable assault on Brecanmere, or Brecknock, designated by the Welsh-Gweyth y Dinas Newydh, i.c. the battle of the new city. Johannies Castoreus thus narrates the particulars.

raised.

Huganus, Lord of West Wales, perceiving king Edward to be occupied far enough from him, in the Danish war; gathered an army of Britons, and entered the

been pledged in the reign of Charles II. or James II
princes of no remarkable regularity in their financial
operations.
What became of these jewels, and what was their
value?
J. A. P.

SURNAMES ENDING IN WELL.

king's territories. Ethelfleda, king Edward's sister, upon hearing this, advanced with a strong army to Wales, and fought the rebellious Welshmen at Brecknock, where having put Huganus and his followers to flight, she took as captives the wife of Huganus, with thirty-four of his men, and led them with her into Mercia. Huganus thus discomfited, fled to Derby, where being of the people peaceably received, he in 918 with Whence the origin and signification of the termination fifteen men at arms, and two hundred well appointed sol'well,' to names of Places and Families, such as Biddiers, joined king Edward's adversaries, the Danes. The well, Boswell, Carswell, Creswell, Faxwell, Harewell, men of Derby having certified this to the dauntless Leapingwell, Maxwell, Tanswell, Tregonwell, Tugwell, Ethelfleda, she followed him with a powerful force, to etc.? I have thought it a corruption of the Norman the gates of that town, and four of her chief officersville,' but shall be glad to receive some definite inforwere there slain; but her steward, Gwyane, Lord of mation on the subject from any of your correspondents. the Isle of Ely; having set fire to, and burned the Inner Temple, Dec. 1. T. P. LANGMEAD. gates, the Britons being vigorously assaulted, Huganus overmatched, and choosing to die by the sword, rather than yield himself unto a woman, was there slain.

By the capture of Derby, and of Leicester in 919, were achieved great advantages, and having forced the Danes to a capitulation, Ethelfleda thus regained important portions of the old Mercian territory, and the

submission of the Danish hosts stationed in and near these towns comprised her authority.

Ethelfleda died at Tamworth, in 919, soon after these successful assaults, and was buried by the side of her husband, in St. Peter's porch, in the cathedral of Gloucester, having ensculptered on her tomb, the following lines:

O ELFLEDA potens, ô terror virgo virorum,
O ELFLEDA potens, nomine digna viri.
Te quoque splendidior fecit natura puellam,
Te probitas fecit nomen habere viri.
Te mutare decet sed solum nomina sexus,
Tu regina potens rexque trophea parans.
Iam nec Ca sareos tantùm mirere triumphos,
Cesare splendidior virgo, virago vale!

When the old foundations of St Peter's church were being excavated for the building of the present edifice, the bodies of Ethelred and Ethelfleda were found toge

ther and entire.

A woodcut nearly three centuries old, proffers an imaginary portrait of this celebrated Lady. Her face to the right, a richly flowing mantle on the shoulders. Her necklace and bracelets are studded with pearls or jewels, and on her head is placed a radiant diadem or coronet. In her right hand, is a sceptre; and in her left, are flowers-that beautiful emblem, the Forget me Not, serving as a memento for remembrance to future ages-thus bloom for ever the actions of the Just. Virago Vale! Brave Lady, Farewell!

E. P. S.

JEWELS DISCOVERED IN THE EXCHEQUER OFFICE.

A quantity of jewels was discovered there in 1841, and was at the time the subject of much conversation. The treasure thus recovered, was said to be of considerable value, and according to appearances had been hidden 150 years or more. The surmise was, the jewels had

Hereditary surnames are said to have been adopted in the kingdoms of the Saxon Heptarchy prior to the Norman Conquest. The terminationville' equivalent to our ton' is frequent among the Norman names, and in the Battel Abbey roll. Noble held such terminations as conclusive evidence, the persons so named were Normans. The termination ville, has in frequent instances been changed or perverted into well, as Bosseville to Boswell, Fretchville to Freshwell and Fretwell, Rosseville to Roswell. Hareville, a name found in Leland's copy of the Battel Abbey roll, appears in Holinshed's more modern version as Harewell.

Verstegan in 1605, descanting on English Surnames, observes on those terminating in well, our Ancestors according to the different issue of waters, did term them differently, and among others, that which rose bubbling out of the earth, they called well-water, as if they had said, bubbling water; but this name of well grew afterward among us to be the name of the bourne-pit where out the water is drawn. In Brabant, a well is called a bourne-pit. Sundry persons coming to possess places which were near unto wells of especial note, having gotten thereby the name of such and such a well, became after them to be so called, as Staniwell, of his dwelling at a well, so named of the stoniness thereof; and Moswell, of a well where much moss did grow.

well, as a termination attached to some names: and that

Camden, in his Notes on English Surnames, merely notices

ville had been corruptly turned as champ into feld or field, as Baskerville into Baskerfeld or Baskerfield, and Somer

ville into Somerfield.

From Boswell is derived Bothwell; Verstegan in 1605, quoting the relation of some traveller in Palestine, relates a romantic fact, that passing through a town near Jerusalem, the relater heard a woman seated at a door nursing her child, singing as a lullaby,

Bothwel bank thou bloomest fayre; surprised at the sound, he accosted her, when she, equally delighted as himself, told him she was a Scotswoman, who had passed first from Scotland to Venice, and from Venice thither, her husband being then an officer under the Turk. Robert Chambers, in his Collection of Scottish Songs, Edinb. 1829, vol. i. p. 239, has there printed John Pinkerton's song, entitled Bothwell Bank, to the Tune of Bothwell bank thou bloomest fair; it appears to have had its origin in the line quoted as that of the tune to which it was purposed to be sung; but where are to be found the words of the ori ginal Bothwell bank?

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One Doctor single, like the sculler plies,
The Patient struggles, and by inches dies:
But two Physicians, like a pair of oars,
Waft him right smoothly to the Stygian shores.
Unicus ægrotum dum tractat, remigis instar,
Paulatim Medicus disperiisse videt,
Navigio celeri Stygias defertur ad undas

Cui duo dant Medici, dira viremis, opem.
T. W. B.

• In re Kirkman Lane, Solicitor, see The Times, Nov. 25, p. 11, col. 3. The whole proceedings there reported, gave occasion to the epigram having the most crowning effect.

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The burial register, has the entry, Mr. Erasmus Rice of Happisburgh, was buried here, Jan. 23, 1715-16. THEO. RICE, Rector.

Can any of your correspondents inform me to what family of the Rices, these parties belonged? Coleford, Dec. 2. J. LAWSON SISSON.

• Happisburgh or Hapsburgh, a vicarage in Happing Hundred, see Blomefield's Norfolk, continued by Parkin, Vol. V., Lynn, 1775, pp. 853-854.

Blomefield, Vol. I. p. 584, notices Henry Ryce, rector of Merton, from May 6, 1580, till 1590, when he was deprived. Again, in the same volume, p. 574, Henry Rice, is noticed as rector of Ovington, 1601-3.

Theophilus Rice appears to have held the rectory of Edingthorpe, on presentation by Queen Anne, from 1710

till 1748.

WILLFORD'S MICRO CHRONICON, 1651. Lately I picked up at an old book stall, a duodecimo Manuscript volume of the 17th century, pp. 240, neatly and well written, and entitled-A genuine Description and Vse of the Perpetual Kalendar. Secondly, a Temporary Table for Twenty-two Years to come. Thirdly, an Appendix fore shewing the effects of Eclipses and Prognostications of the Weather by the Planets; the litigious Termes and Returnes; a Table of the Norman Kings; the Marts and Faires in England and Wales; with a Micro-Chronicon of Memorable Things, all re:.dered facile by THOMAS WILLFORD, Philomathesis.

After the title-page, which is too long to insert in full, follows an address― To the Ingeniously Wise and Beneuolent Reader,' in which Willford refers to his Bookes of Astronomie,' and his Meteorrologicall Prognostications." A Micro-Chronicon, or Abstract of Historicall Computations collected chiefly from our English Annalls, declaring many Memorable Accidents, Remarkable Events, and Things of Note, since Cæsar invaded Britaine, continued unto the yeare of Grace, 1650, commences at p. 135. This is by far the most interesting portion of the book, and especially that part

of the Chronicle which treats of events during the reigns of James and Charles the First; many of the notices under these periods appearing to be original.

Under 1612, is the following reference to the then current suspicions of poisoning-Vpon the 6th day of Nouember, Prince Henry died, hauing liu'd so long as he could, but yett, generally thought not so long as he might haue done.

From various passages it is apparent Willford was a Papist and a Royalist. The Gunpowder Treason he describes as that senceless and inhuman conspiracie,' which cast an aspersion vpon the Catholikes in generall, and raised a persecution.' He continues,

God direct all Christians from such horrid designes and preserue the worst of men from sudden and miserable ends, and all my enemies (if I haue any) from violent deaths!"

Notices of earthquakes and tempests abound; and also of Omens and Portents dire: e. g.-In Februarie, 1644, there appeared in the north part of the Horizon, a fiery impression, like a stand of Pikes, these after half an houres space vanish'd, and then as many more did rise in the West. Vpon the second of March, the Scots came ouer the River Tyne, at which time there appeared a Meteor ouer the Citty of Yorke, representing the forme of a St. Andrew's crosse. Vpon the second daye of July was the battle of Marston-Moore neere Yorke, etc.

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The Regall Table' terminates with this observation-January 30, 1649, was the period to our Monarchs, and the originall of our State, so now I must not here insert Charles the Second, by the Grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland,

etc.

The Micro-Chronicon is continued through most part

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