verdict. By stat. 26 Hen. VIII., c. 4, in case of untrue acquittals by jurors in Wales, they were to be punished by fine and imprisonment by the Lord President and Council of the Marches.-Ellis.]

To the Right Honorable and his very good Lord the Lord Cromwell, Lord Privy Seall.

My dutye remembred to your good Lordshype aduertesynge the same that I have receaved your Letteres dated at the Courte the xxijth daye of February, willing me (that where dyueres complayntes have bene made againste Sir John Hudleston, Knyghte, of the one party, and Sr John Bridges of the other parte, by divers poore men) I should attend to the reformatyon of the same, and to give a vigelent eye, and circomspectely to harken to the ordere and factyones in the County of Gloucester. My good Lord, accordinge to my dutye thes shalbe to enforme the same that S William Sullyard knyghte, Mr John Vernon, and Thomas Holte, were at the Assyses at Gloucester, with the Justycese of Assise, for dyueres causes. Amonge other one was for the tryall of a Cause of Rape comytted by one Roger Morgane, of Wales, with a greate nombre in his companye, in takyng a waye a widowe againste her will out of a Churche, wherin, althoughe pregnante, euidence was gyven to the enquest agaynste the sayd Morgane and his company (as was thought to vs all) yet not withstandynge the sayd mallefactores were acquitted to the euell example of other. And my good Lorde, this is a vice that is and hathe bene comonly vsed in Wales, and hathe moste need of reformatyon (which we entendynge) caused the sayd persones to be brought to tryall, and at suche tyme as the enqueste should have ben empanelled, suche as were of reputacon, and appointed to haue bene of the same enqueste, absented themselues so that we were driven to take meane men and of mean state; and so thoroughe. beringe and secrete labore the sayd partyes were acquitted. And therupon the sayd Jurye was and is bounde to appeare at the nexte assyses; and, in the meane tyme, before the Kynges most honorable Counsell in the Stare Chambere, within x. dayes warnynge to them gyven, yf it shalbe seen to your and their honores.. My Lord, yf this be not looked upon, farewell all good Rule. I have herwth sente vnto your Lordshipe the Coppy of the whole bookes of Evidence to the entente that the same seene and pervsed by your Lordshipe, I may knowe your Lordshipes pleasure, what tyme the said enqueste shall appere, that therupon I maye gyve knowledge thereof to the sayd enqueste, wherof I hartely desyere yor Lordshipp. At these Assyses were viij. condempned, wherof vj. for fellony and ij. for Treason, whose heades and quarters shalbe sent to viij. of the beste townes of the sheir. Those twayne were the Bereward and his ffellowe that were broughte by the Sherife from your Lordshipe; and ij. other for sedytyous words agaynste the Kynges Highnes were sett of the pillorye and had there yeares nayled to the same,

besydes other puneshements accordinge to their desertes. And thas the Holy Trynetye longe contynewe your good Lordshipe in honor. In haste, from Gloucester, the laste day of Februarye. Your Lordshipes moste bounden.

ROLAND CO. ET LICH.

1877.-DEERHURST SAXON CHURCH.-(See No. 1845.) Soon after the letter of the Rev. George Butterworth, describing the discovery of the apsidal chancel of the Saxon church at Deerhurst, was printed in the Gloucestershire Chronicle, the Rev. Alfred H. Cheesman, Curate of All Saints', Gloucester, wrote to that paper, stating that he ventured, with diffidence, to disagree with Mr. Butterworth's statement, that the apse discovered at Deerhurst is the only instance of a pre-Norman apse known in England; and he added: "The Saxon church of Bosham, in Sussex, a representation of the chancel of which appears in the celebrated Bayeux tapestry, was restored in the year 1866; and during the process of restoration the foundations of the apse were discovered (the apse having been removed about the year 1125 by William Warlewast, Bishop of Exeter, when he extended the chancel, in order to give more room for the members of the college of Bosham, for at that time the patronage was vested in the Bishop of Exeter), and the place in the chancel wall has been purposely left to show where the curve of the apse began. This is, of course, herring-bone work, and undoubtedly Saxon. I can vouch for the truth of this, as Bosham is my native place, and the present vicar, Rev. Henry Mitchell, F.S.A., assures me of the fact of having himself seen the foundations of the Saxon apse. To him is mainly due the discretion and good taste with which the restoration was carried out. Bosham should have some interest for Gloucestershire people, for, besides a daughter of Knut-and consequently a relative of the ancestor of the Fitzhardinge family-being buried in the church, since the year 1475 the manor of Bosham has been in the possession of the Lords of Berkeley, and Old Park,' in the parish, was till recently the residence of the Hon. C. P. F. Berkeley, brother of the present Lord Fitzhardinge. Smyth's History of the Manor of Bosham, written in 1637, was printed in vol. x. of the Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archæological Society." To this Mr. Butterworth replied:-"I have read with interest a letter which appeared in your issue of the 2nd inst., and in which a reference was made to a letter of mine giving an account of some excavations recently carried out on the site of the ancient sanctuary of Deerhurst Church. I entertain no doubt whatever as to the correctness of the writer's statement respecting the historical and most interesting church of Bosham; and, indeed, now that I have had the advantage of reading it in your columns, I seem to retain a shadowy recollection of having met before with the facts narrated, although till now

presented to me again they had escaped my memory. My own statement as to Saxon apses (now proved to be wanting in precise exactness) was advanced on the authority of the well-known and venerable Mr. J. C. Buckler, who, in his monograph on Deerhurst Church, printed in vol. xi. of the Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archæological Society, writes thus: A Saxon apse remains to be discovered: it would be an interesting revelation to make at Deerhurst.' Mr. Buckler's masterly treatise is undated; but it may be gathered from internal evidence that it was written shortly after the year 1862. Probably he penned it a little before the foundations of the apse of Bosham Church were successfully traced out in 1866, otherwise he could scarcely have failed to become acquainted with that fact, and to allude to it in his account of Deerhurst Church and Priory." J. H. B.

1878.-RANDWICK CHURCH: MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS, ETC. In 1880 accurate copies were taken of the seventeen inscriptions* (including five brasses on flatstones in the chancel and one brass under memorial window) in the church of St. John, Randwick, near Stroud:

In loving memory of of the Ryelands. He fell years.

1.

Thomas James Raikes Barrow, R.N., | asleep August 25, A.D. 1863, | aged 50

2.

Sarah Cooke, wife of Henry Cooke, Clothier, and daugh | ter of Lawrence Dutton, Gent, died | Jan. ye 1, 1726, aged 46 years. | Henry, their son, died Feb. ye 12, 1726, aged 18 years. Samuel, their son, died August ye 5, 1725, aged 4 yrs. Henry Cooke, died the 16th of Jan', | 1755, aged 76 years.

3.

In memory of Richard Cooke, of Lodgmore, in the Parish of Stroud, who departed this life Sep 4th, 1769, | aged 57 years. Also of Richard, his son, and Ann, his wife. She died May 24th 1772, aged 26. He [died] Novem" 12th, 1774, aged 36. | Also of Thomas, their son, who died in Augst, 1774, aged 1 year & 2 months.

4.

In memory of Henry Cooke, of Farmhill, in the Parish of Stroud, who departed this life the 30th day of April, 1792, aged 58 years. Also of Sarah, his wife, and daughter of Richard | King, of Alkerton, in the Parish of Eastington, in this County, Gent, who departed this life the 14th day of June, 1783, | aged 48 years.

To the memory of died February 6th, 1847,

5.

Richard Cooke, Esqre, of Farm Hill, who aged 80 years. | Also of Elizabeth, wife

• An index has been given in vol. i., p. 144.

of the above, who died February 17th, 1834, aged 61 years. | Also in memory of Elizabeth Anne, their only child, and wife of Joseph Cripps, Esqre, who died March 9th, 1844, aged 47 years, whose remains are deposited in the Parish Church of Cirencester.

6.

In affectionate remembrance of Martha, the beloved wife of John Elliott, M.A., | who died March 19th, 1872, in her 81st year. [Space left.]

Also of five of their children. Martha, who died April 16th, 1825, aged 3 years. John Wells, who died April 18th, 1825, aged 1 year. Ann Elizabeth, who died March 15th, 1827, aged 11 months []. A still-born son, April 6th, 1834. | John, who died Septr 21st, 1837, aged 8 years.

7.

In memory of Thomas Little, who died the 15 of October, 1726, aged 56 years. | Also of Margaret, his wife, who died the | 24th day of April, 1743, aged 75 years. | Elizabeth Little, their dau, died Sep. 27, 1761, aged 58. 8.

In memory of Grace, wife of John Little, who died Feb. the 24, 1754, æt. 55. | In memory of John Little, who died Decemb ye 21st, 1773, æt. 79. And also of Thomas, their son, who died January the 19th, 1778, aged 49 years. | Ann, relict of the above Thomas Little, died Jany 11th, 1805, in the 66th year of her age. | Mary Little, daughter of John and Grace | Little, died April the 18th, 1798, aged 73 years.

9.

In memory of James Mitchell, Gent, Lord of Randwick, and Mary, his wife. He died June the 16th, 1758. aged 64 years. And she died May the 4th, 1767, aged 70 [?]. Also of eleven of their children. | James, died March 16th, 1760, æt. 44. | Betty Hogg, died March 31st, 1780, æt. 65. | Thomas, died July

*The following newspaper cuttings relative to Mr. Elliott, of whom mention has been made ante, vol. i., pp. 388-90, will not here be out of place:

A VENERABLE GLOUCESTERSHIRE CLERGYMAN -On Thursday next, the 19th December, the Rev. John Elliott, vicar of Randwick, rear Gloucester, will enter upon his ninety-ninth year! Should he live until the 30th of January next he will then have completed the seventy first year of his incumbency of Randwick. Mr. Elliott graduated in 1818, was ordained deacon and priest in that year by Bishop Ryder, and was presented to Randwick in 1819-the year which saw the birth of her Majesty the Queen. We offer Mr. Elliott our congratulations. The venerable gentleman still takes part in the ministerial duties of his parish, and his name is appended to the protest addressed to the Bishop [of the diocese] in reference to the decision of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the trial of the Bishop of Lincoln,-Gloucestershire Chronicle, December 14, 1889.

Once more I believe that I am able to identify "the oldest clergyman in the Church of England" in the person of the Rev. John Elliott, vicar of Randwick, near Stroud. Mr. Elliott was born on the 19th December, 1791, and has, therefore, lately entered upon his 99th year. He has held the vicarage of Randwick for over 70 years, the sole clerical charge of his prolonged life. During his vicariate six bishops have in succession ruled the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol (the present bishop, Dr. Ellicott, has held the mitre for seven-andtwenty years of the time). Mr. Bartholomew Edwards, who died in the spring of last year (1889), was born March 2nd, 1788. Archdeacon Philpott and Archdeacon Jones, both lately deceased, were born respectively on January 9th and October 5th in the following year, 1789.Bristol Times and Mirror (from the World), January 1, 1890.

28, 1768, aged 46. Mary, died Novembr 4th, 1760, æt. 38. | Sarah, died Jan 24, 1751, aged 25 yrs. John, died July 30, 1788, aged 63. Hanah Pegler, died Oct 8th, 1794, æt. 64. Esther Aldridge, died Nov 19th, 1764, æt. 34. Charles, died Septemb 7th, 1774, æt. 42. | William, died Decembr 30th, 1773, æt. 40. | Samuel, died Jan 16th, 1738, t. 3.

10.

In memory of Thos Ridler | (& Pheby, his wife). He died | July 31st, 1779, aged 38 years. She died April 4th, 1787, aged 39 yrs. And also 4 of their children. Mary, died Dec 15th [no year given], aged 7 yrs. | John, | Rebekah, Saralı,

11.

Sacred to the memory of Ann, wife of Thomas White, of Stonehouse, Esq, and daughter of Mr John Little, of Paganhill, in the Parish of Stroud. She had the happiness of being brought up from a child in the paths of religion and virtue by parents of the most exemplary piety. To her family she was a most invaluable friend, to the distressed a liberal benefactress, and to all an example of patience, humility, and true religion. She bore a long and severe affliction with Christian | fortitude and resignation. Thus prepared for a glorious immortality, she calmly resigned her soul into the hands of her merciful Redeemer on Sunday, the 11th of January, 1784, aged 58. | Also of the aforesaid Thomas White, Esq', who departed this life June 17th, 1801, aged 81 years.

12.

(This and the following four are on flatstones.)

Here resteth the body of Ann, the wife of Nathaniel | Iles, Clothier, of this Parish, and daughter of George Townesend, of Rowell, Gent, who departed this life ye 9th day of November, Anno Dom. 1702.

13.

In memory of Elizabeth, the daughter of Nathaniel Iles, Clothier, of this Parish, who departed this life the 28th day of December, Anno Dom. 1708. | In memory also of John, the sonn of Nathaniel Iles, Clothier, of this Parish, who departed this life the 18th day of May, Anno Dom. 1710.

14.

Also of the above Nath' | Iles, who died Feb. 22, 1740, aged 75. And of Ann, his 2d | wife, and daughter of Edwd | Pierce, of the Devizes, Gent, who died July 1st, 1747, aged 65. Likewise of Jane, their daughter, who died March | 7th, 1750, aged 32.

15.

Beneath this stone are interred | the remains of Sarah, daughter of Nathaniel Iles; she died Decr the 5th, 1784, aged 74 years..