Let him answer the questions I put in my former letter-(1) What evidence is there that the author of the Metrical Chronicle was called Robert of Gloucester before 1580? and (2) What evidence is there that he was an eye-witness of the departure of Simon de Monfort from Hereford just before the battle of Evesham and I shall be greatly obliged to him. But I must decline to accept the story of "The Three Black Crows" as a model of historical narrative. W. ALDIS WRIGHT.

1632. THE LIST OF FUST FAMILY PORTRAITS: AMENDMENTS. (See No. 1578.) If the reader happens to detect any mistakes of commission or omission in the notes attached to the list of the abovenamed family portraits, he is requested to make them known to the Editor. Two communications have been lately received, which are as follows:

No. 16.

"The said Elton married Sir John Anderson, of Saint Ives," etc. On a reference to the pedigree of Anderson of Eyworth, at page 75 of the Harl. Society's issue of the Visitation of Bedfordshire in 1634, Sir John Anderson, Knight and Baronet, third son of Sir Francis, is mentioned as having died "without yssue," and no mention is made of his marriage. In Burke's Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies, 1844, p. 9, it is stated that John Anderson, Esq., of St. Ives, in Huntingdonshire, who was created a baronet 3rd January, 1628, died without issue in 1630, and that the title became extinct. I shall be glad to hear of some confirmation of this marriage, and to be informed to which of the numerous daughters of Ambrose Elton the statement refers. Long Burton Vicarage, Sherborne, Dorset.

No. 26.

C. H. MAYO.

Bishop Gilbert Ironside, of Bristol, a cadet of the Ironsides of Houghton-le-Spring, Durham, was born 1588, and died 1671. His next brother, Ralph Ironside, rector of Long Bredy and archdeacon of Dorset, was born 1590, and in 1632 married Margaret, daughter of John Strode, of Dorsetshire: she died 2 March, 1683, and her husband three days after, and both were buried at the same time. Their fourth son, Ralph Ironside, M.D., was first husband of Margaret Fust. He was nephew, not "brother," of the above Bishop Ironside. The arms of Ironside of Houghton are: Per pale az, and gu., a cross patoncée, or. For particulars of the family see Surtees's History of Durham, Hutchins's History of Dorset, and Gloucestershire Notes and Queries, iii. 530.

Mon Plaisir Villa, Guernsey.

HENRY LOFTUS TOTTENHAM.

1633.-FRAMPTON: MISS ANN WICKS'S BEQUESTS.-(Replies to No. 1607.) The late William Vizard, Esq., of Lincoln's Inn

Fields, my cousin, was employed to procure the communion plate for Frampton-on-Severn Church, and he told me some interesting facts connected with it. The sum of £1,000 was directed by Miss Wicks's will to be spent upon it. The Vice-Chancellor objected to the use of precious stones; therefore the plate was to be of solid gold. For its protection in the church, which is at a little distance from the village, a strong iron safe was built into the tower wall. Soon after, one Sunday morning the safe was discovered to have been forced open, and was empty; and empty fortunately the burglars had found it, the plate for greater security having been kept at the vicarage. It is needless to dwell on the feelings of the burglars at the result of their week's hard labour.

A. W. CORNELIUS HALLEN, M.A., Editor of Northern Notes and Queries.

The Parsonage, Alloa, N.B.

From p. 34 of the Digest of Endowed Charities (County of Gloucester), which was "ordered, by the House of Commons, to be printed, 15 July, 1868," it appears that Ann Wicks's bequest for the poor (under her will of 1830) amounted to £3,938 19s. 4d. Consols, and £3,968 ls. 5d. Reduced; the two sums producing a gross annual income of £237 4s. 2d. With regard to the plate, it is stated that the sum of £1,000 was "invested in Consols, and accumulating until required to be expended." In 1858 the stock amounted to £948 1s. 3d. Consols.

EDITOR.

1634. THE BUTLER TOWER OF BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.—The following remarks are from a sermon preached on Sunday, June 17, 1888, in a church in the neighbourhood of the cathedral, on "Some of the Difficulties of Religion." The preacher briefly noticed the festival services which had been held ten days before, and the completion of the two towers, and then proceeded to say:-One of these western towers was built with a special fund raised for the purpose of doing honour to the memory of a most distinguished man-Bishop Butler-who many years ago presided over the see of Bristol. About a hundred and fifty years have passed away since he exercised authority in this diocese, but that his name and fame remain is proved by the fact that several thousand pounds have been raised for the special purpose of honouring him in the way I have described. That lofty tower built four square to the winds and resting in its firm foundations, will stand for many generations as a monument to the great bishop; but firm and secure as it may stand, it is not more secure in its foundations than the fame of Bishop Butler is in the estimation of Christian men. Now, what is it that has secured him this high place in the records of our people? He was not like some bishops of these times-a popular preacher; he did not, like the late bishop of Manchester, to whom a statue has recently been erected, specially interest himself in all

that concerned the well-being of the working classes; he did not found either a college or a school, an almshouse or an hospital; but he gained his never-dying reputation by a noteworthy book which he wrote, a book which treats of the most important subject that can occupy the mind of man,- -a book to be read carefully and studied devoutly,—a book which is deservedly looked upon as one of the noblest offsprings of the human intellect. Let me notice briefly the nature of this remarkable book, and the purpose for which it was written. To understand this I must tell you that there were in Bishop Butler's time, as there are now, many who are greatly disturbed by the difficulties they meet with in religion. These difficulties of the Bible are a stumbling block to some which they cannot surmount. In consequence of this they sometimes reject religion altogether, and thus deprive themselves of what should be to us all a source of the greatest comfort and peace. It was for people of this way of thinking that the book I am speaking of was written. In it the wise bishop makes use of the aid of sweet reason and plain common sense for the purpose of removing from our path those stumbling blocks in the way of religion which our minds sometimes create. He does this by examining the various difficulties of religion, and by showing that we have to encounter similar difficulties when we contemplate the works of nature. He argues that if we deny that Holy Scripture comes from God, we may as well deny that the world came from Him; and that if we believe that the works of nature had God for their author, so must we believe that Scripture is the revelation of God-for that there is indeed a close analogy between God's revelation to us in nature and His revelation to us in the written word. That Bishop Butler was successful in the task he undertook is evident from the fact of the high reputation which his book has secured for itself-a reputation which it gained among earnestminded men almost as soon as it was written, and which it has maintained to this day. It is impossible to estimate the vast service which it has rendered to the cause of religion during the generations that are past, and I feel sure that in the generations to come it will prove of as great service as in the times gone by, for it is founded on arguments which have stood the test of long examination and careful inquiry by minds the most acute and vigorous. Most fitting is it, then, that Bishop Butler's name should receive that testimony to its worth which the memorial now completed will afford. The Butler tower, on which I saw the mason two or three weeks ago raising the pinnacles, will be a visible emblem to every passer by of the arguments of his great book, which will stand firm and secure as a fortress of religion in spite of all the attacks which the enemies of our faith may level against it.

The remains of Bishop Butler were buried in the choir of the cathedral, June 20, 1752, and this epitaph (written by his chaplain, Nathaniel Forster, D.D.) is on a mural brass near his grave:

H. S. | Reverendus admodum in Christo Pater | Josephus Butler, LL.D., hujusce primo Dioceseos, deinde Dunelmensis, Episcopus. Qualis quantusque Vir erat | sua libentissime agnovit ætas; et siquid Præsuli aut Scriptori ad famam valent | mens altissima, ingenii perspicacis, et subsacti vis, animusq pius, simplex, candidus, liberalis, mortui haud facile evanescet memoria. Obiit Bathonia | XVI Kal. Jul., A.D. MDCCLII, | annos natus LX. | Juxta jacet.*

There is another memorial, "erected by subscription, A.D. MDCCCXXXIV," in the south transept, with this inscription by Robert Southey :

Sacred to the memory of Joseph Butler, D.C.L., | twelve years Bishop of this Diocese [1738-1750], | and | afterwards Bishop of Durham, whose mortal part is deposited in the choir of this Cathedral. Others had established the historical and prophetical grounds of the Christian religion, and that sure testimony of its truth, which is found in its perfect adaptation | to the heart of man. It was reserved for him to develope its analogy to the constitution and course of nature; and, laying his strong foundations in the depth of that great argument, there to construct another and irrefragable proof; thus rendering philosophy subservient to faith; and finding in outward and visible things the type and evidence of those within the veil. | Born, A. D. 1692: Died, 1752.

"He who believes the Scripture to have proceeded from Him who is the author of nature, may well expect to find the same sort of difficulties in it as are found in the constitution of nature." ORIGEN. Philocal., p. 23.

G. A. W.

1635.-A STRANGE SUPERSTITION REGARDING EAGLES.-In a small volume which I possess, entitled The Life of that Incomparable Princess, Mary, our late Sovereign Lady, etc. (London, 1695), this passage occurs, p. 76:-"From Bristol we have a certain account that a keeper of Sir John Smith's Park shot an eagle flying some very few days before the Queen's death, being a bird of that extraordinary size, that her extended wings reached three yards wanting two inches; and what adds to the surprize and wonder of this relation, is, that the very same keeper shot another eagle of very large dimension in the Duke of Bolton's Park three days before King Charles the Second his death." I shall be glad to be informed of any similar cases. ABHBA.

But

The Rev. Thomas Bartlett, in his Memoirs of the Life, Character, and Writings of Bishop Butler (London, 1839), with reference to this epitaph has noted:-"The date of his decease [June 16] is here erroneously written July, instead of June. His academic degree is also inaccurately stated. It was D.C.L., and not LL.D. In the books of the registry at Bristol, containing a list of the bishops of the see, Bishop Butler is entered as D.D." Mr. Bartlett has himself made a mistake with reference to the date, which is correctly given. The Rev. William (afterwards Bishop) Fitzgerald, in a note prefixed to his Life of Butler (Dublin, 1849), informs his readers with regard to the degree:-"I have in the title-page written Butler's academic title LL.D., in conformity with his own invariable practice; but I suppose the correct designation is D.C.L." The insertion of D.D. in the books of the registry at Bristol is undoubtedly wrong.

1636.-"THE WISE WOMEN OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE."—A question has arisen in a small literary society round Bredon Hill as to who were the wise women of Gloucestershire spoken of in mediæval works. Can you kindly tell us? Were they spiritual descendants of the Druid priestesses who are said to have lived in community on Cleeve Cloud? A. MERCIER, Sec. Bric-a-Brac Society.

Kemerton Rectory.

1637.-FRY'S HOUSE OF MERCY, BRISTOL.-I shall be glad of any information regarding William Fry who erected this refuge for eight old women. I have learned from the Charity Commissioners' 8th Report (1822) that it was founded in 1779, and that the founder was probably the William Fry who benefitted Pile St. School while he was churchwarden of Redcliff parish. This, taken in connection with one of the conditions of entrance, that the old women were to be "of the communion of the Church of England," tends to show that William Fry was not a member of the Society of Friends. I should be glad to know when and where he died, and any particulars of his ancestors or descendants.

Yarty, King's Norton.

E. A. FRY.

1638.-THOMAS SCUDAMORE, OF WESTERLEIGH, 1640.-I should like very much to find some clue to Thomas Scudamore (now Skidmore here), who came from Westerleigh, in Gloucestershire, to Cambridge, N. E., circa 1640, with wife Ellen and children, including a son Thomas. E. N. SHEPPARD.

649, Jersey Avenue, Jersey City, U.S.A.

1639.—THE DRAGON OF GLOUCESTER.-My object in writing is, if possible, to ascertain why the Earls of Gloucester adopted the dragon, which was also the emblem of the standard of Gloucester. The vicar of Deerhurst, in his recent history of that parish, tells us of an old legend in which a dragon is largely concerned.* A gentleman recently showed me several tiles, which were dug up at Keynsham, and some of which bore the figure of the dragon, not the Red Dragon, but the colour may, I presume, have perished, the lines of the figure being hollow, as though some pigment which had once filled them had been lost. Now, William, Earl of Gloucester, founded Keynsham Abbey, A.D. 1166, and Robert, his son, died at Cardiff, "and was buried at Keynsham Priory, which the earl now newly repaired and endowed, making it an abbey of canons regular, to the memory of his son, at whose request he had founded it." Can anyone tell me if the Gloucester Dragon was derived from the Welsh Red Dragon, and how the earls came to adopt it, bearing in mind the descent of Earl Robert, illegitimately,

* See ante, p. 84.-ED.