Lady Fanshawe in her memoirs. Lord 72, Philbeach Gardens, S.W. COUNTY COATS OF ARMS: ARMS OF Co. SOMERSET.-Would any reader who is interested in heraldry inform me whether each county in England possesses a coat of arms, and what the arms of the county of Somerset are? BLADUD. [County badges were discussed at length at 7 S. i., ii., iii., and viii.] CORONER OF THE VERGE.-When was this royal office abolished, and what were the duties attached to it? I do not find it mentioned in John Chamberlayne's 'Present State of Britain,' 1723; but in Cowel's Interpreter' it is thus noticed, 8.v. · Coroner' "Note, there be certain special Coroners within divers Liberties, as well as those ordinary Officers in every County, as the Coroner of the Verge, which is a certain compass about the King's Court, whom Cromp, in his Jurisd.,' fol. 102, calleth the Coroner of the King's House, of whose Authority, see Co. Rep. fol. 4, lib, 46." I believe that a verge, as used in the royal household, was a stick or rod whereby a person was admitted tenant to a lord of the manor. In The Weekly Journal of 5 October, 1723, is the following paragraph, illustrating perhaps a late usage of the office : Mr. White, the present Coroner of the Verge of his Majesty's Houshold, is appointed, by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, to be Coroner for that City and Liberty, in the Room of Mr. Turton, deceased." J. HOLDEN MACMICHAEL. 6 CROWE FAMILIES OF NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK.-Carthew's Hundred of Launditch contains a pedigree of Crowes from the fifteenth century to the eighteenth. Arms: a gyronny of eight sable and or; on a chief of the first, two leopards' faces of the second (granted 1614). There was also a Suffolk family of the name who bore Gules, a chevron between three cocks arg. (granted 1584). Information is desired in continuation of Carthew's pedigree, also generally about the Suffolk family. Are there any representatives of either now living? case. Replies. POOR SOULS' LIGHT: (11 S. ii. 448.) THE query by J. D. refers to a very interesting subject, on which there is plenty of literature, with about fifteen theories of explanation, but no single one is satisfactory in every but I want what is often difficult, and in I have a large quantity of material, many cases impossible, to get evidence on certain points to elucidate a certain theory. In this respect J. D., while givingto me at all events-something new, omits what is important evidence, probably from want of knowledge of the literature on the subject, which has engaged my attention for some years. Let me state my position as clearly as I can, not only as a help to J. D., but also to obtain evidence one way or the other as to my theory. not only in Great Britain, but also on the There are several peculiarities in churches, Roman Catholic edifices, which I have Continent, and not confined to Protestant or treated as local manifestations of a general controlling principle. always coincide with that of the chancel, there being a greater or less deflection of the latter to north or south. There are four theories to account for this. 1. The axial line of the nave does not 2. There are certain perforations in the walls of churches, outer or inner, or both, which have been called Low Side Windows, though a few are High; Leper Windows, Lychnoscopes, Hagioscopes, and the old English word Squint, which is more descriptive than any other, and commits us to no theory. They are mostly rectangular and narrow, but some are oval or round. Some are square with the wall, but generally they are aslant and splayed. They all have a common characteristic, whatever their shape or size or position-their axial line points to the high altar. There are, as I have said, fifteen explanations of these openings, not one of which is satisfactory in every case. To these I have ventured to add another, and for it I am collecting evidence. My theory is that these openings are connected with orientation. To give full references would take half a number of N. & Q.,' W. ROBERTS CROW. and to many readers they would be un There were two mayors of Norwich at the end of the eighteenth century, James and William Crowe of Lakenham, who bore the former arms. Can any reader tell me who they were ? necessary, the subject having been discussed that in the time of the Druids the ancient in previous volumes. As a guide to J. D. and others, it may be permissible to say that for deflection of chancels, see 2 S. xi. 55; 10 S. viii. 392; Seroux d'Agincourt, History of Art by its Monuments,' vol. ii., pl. xiv., xvii.; vol. iii. pl. xxvii., xcviii., cxxxiv., cliv.; Lasham, Three Surrey Churches,' pp. 88109; Planché, A Corner of Kent,' pp. 410-12; Atkinson, Memorials of Old Whitby,' pp. 104, 110, 124, 126, 129, 147-8, 149-51. For the other points see 2 S. x. 68, 118, 253, 312, 357, 393; xi. 34, 55, 412; 7 S. i. 387, 435; vii. 251, 470; Arch. Journal, iii. 299, 308; iv. 314-26; The Reliquary, ix. 9-16; The Ecclesiologist, New Series, vii. 65-75, 101-2, 141-2; viii. 166-71, 288-90, 374-5; ix. 113-17, 187-9, 252-3, 348-52. It would assist materially if J. D. could supply a fuller description of the two churches he mentions, or give references to where descriptions can be obtained. For instance, according to a gazetteer I consulted, there are about a dozen Rothenburgs in Germany and Switzerland. A. RHODES. [We cannot afford space for the further discussion of such a wide subject, but will forward any letters to MR. RHODES.] When I was visiting Garway Church in Herefordshire several years ago, an opening high up in the wall of the part connecting the church with the tower was pointed out to me as an example of a "poor souls' light." R. B-R. South Shields. Father Thurston, S.J., in 'The Catholic Encyclopædia,' iii. 507, writes : "A curious feature found in many churchyards from the twelfth to the fourteenth century, especially in France, is the so-called lanterne des morts, a stone erection sometimes 20 or 30 feet high, surmounted by a lantern, and presenting a general resemblance to a small lighthouse. The lantern seems to have been lighted only on certain feasts or vigils, and in particular on All Souls' Day. An altar is commonly found at the foot of the column. Various theories have been suggested to explain these remarkable objects, but no one of them can be considered satisfactory.' One may compare the French and Italian custom of putting lighted candles on graves on All Souls' Eve. Mr. Leopold Wagner, in his Manners, Customs, and Observances,' p. 270, states Irish prayed to Saman, the Lord of Death, in front of their lighted candles, for the souls of their departed relatives. Father Thurston in 'The Catholic Encyclopædia,' iii. 247, says: "St. Cyprian in 258 was buried prælucentibus ceris." At the present day, at all solemn Requiem Masses, lighted tapers are held in the hands of some or all of those who assist, both among those who follow the Byzantine Rite and among those who follow the Latin. JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT. Mueller and Mothes in their (German) TodtenArchæological Dictionary,' 8.v. leuchte,' quote the following passage from Petrus Venerabilis (died 1156) to explain the use of these lights : "Obtinet medium cimeterii locum structura quædam lapidea, habens in summitate sua quantitatem unius lampadis coparum quæ ob reverentiam fidelium ibi quiescentium totis noctibus fulgore suo locum illum sacratum illustrat." According to the same authors, such lights were either burnt on isolated columns or in stone lamps attached to church walls. Examples of the former kind are still extant in France (12th century) and Germany (13th to 16th centuries). In Germany their use was abandoned about the latter date. Illustrations are given in the book of an isolated light in Freistadt (Upper Austria) dating from about A.D. 1488, and of an attached lantern against the wall of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna (A.D. 1502). Other examples mentioned are those at Schulpforta (13th century), Regensburg (Cathedral, 14th century), and Klosterneuburg (A.D. 1381), the last being about 30 feet high. Others are to be found in Austria and Westphalia, but the localities are not given. Tapers and lamps are nowadays still burnt on graves in Roman Catholic cemeteries on the Continent, but only on one evening in the year, viz., on All Souls' Eve. L. L. K. 66 A Totenlaterne " is to be distinguished tity." Dr. Norman Moore in 'D.N.B.' from an Ewige Lampe." An Ewige gives a far juster estimate. One piece of Lampe is lighted and placed before the eccentricity at least should be remembered picture of a deceased near relation. The to his credit. An Englishman holding praying before the "Eternal Lamp has a benefice in Wales, Wotton learnt the the same object as the reading of masses for language of the country and published a the souls of the departed, i.e., the hope of Welsh sermon. EDWARD BENSLY. shortening the time the departed has to spend in Purgatory. H. G. WARD. EARLY GRADUATION : GILBERT BURNET, JOHN BALFOUR (11 S. ii. 427).—Mr. P. J. ANDERSON, after instancing the case of a student who graduated at Aberdeen when just under thirteen years and six months old, asks whether that record can be broken. It can. A southern university has seen an example of still greater precocity. COLANI AND THE REFORMATION (11 S. ii. 488). Though born in France, Timothée Colani (1824-88) received his religious education in Germany, and subsequently settled at Geneva, where he assisted in the publication of a paper called La Réformation au dix-neuvième Siècle. As a college thesis he had already written a vindication of Christianity against the views contained in Strauss's Life of Jesus.' In 1850 he adopted the German critical method of inquiry, and with Scherer and other theologians founded the Revue de Théologie, which at once created a stir among French Protestants, and led to the formation of the Nouvelle École, or liberal party in that Church, of which party Colani became the acknowledged leader. He undertook a vigorous campaign against religious despotism, publishing at different times several important tracts, besides writing critical articles on eclecticism and the philosophy of Leibnitz, Kant, and Hegel. As a preacher he suffered much from the attacks of the orthodox French Protestants. In 1864 he was appointed to the Chair of Theology at Strassburg; but after the war of 1870 he removed to Paris and devoted himself to literary pursuits, becoming Librarian of the Sorbonne. His other works include some volumes of sermons, a review of Renan's 'Vie de Jésus,' and in particular his own Jésus Christ et les croyances messianiques de son temps.' His religious opinions underwent material change at different stages of his career. For details see the articles in Brockhaus and Larousse. N. W. HILL. William Wotton of St. Catharine's College, Cambridge, afterwards Fellow of St. John's, who was born on 13 August, 1666, was only twelve years and five months old when he commenced Bachelor in January [1679] (Hist. of St. Cath. College,' by Dr. G. Forrest Browne, Bishop of Bristol). Although at this early age a year one way or the other makes a real difference, there is some discrepancy among writers who have referred to Wotton's juvenile success. J. H. Monk in his Life of Richard Bentley,' vol. i. p. 10, 2nd ed., speaks of Wotton at the time of his degree as a boy of thirteen." The 'D.N.B.' life of Bentley, by Sir Richard Jebb, says that Wotton "became a bachelor of arts at the age of fourteen." The published lists of Graduati Cantabrigienses' from 1659 to 1787 and from 1659 to 1823 give 1679 as the year in which Bentley as well as Wotton graduated. Now Bentley, who as Timothée Colani's 'Exposition critique an undergraduate was Wotton's contem-sur la philosophie de la religion de Kant' porary, appears to have taken his degree was printed as his thesis in 1846. His first on 23 January, 1680. Can January, 1679, two sermons, which appeared in 1856, were when Wotton became a B.A., be the historical L'Individualisme Chrétien' and 'Le Saceryear 1680 ? In either case, it may be doce Universel.' The Premier et Deuxième observed, Wotton was younger than John Recueil' of sermons in French, mostly Balfour when he proceeded to his first delivered at Strasburg (but some of them degree. Nor was Wotton without distinction at Nîmes), were printed in 1860 in 2 vols., in later life. Sir H. Craik treats him with a copy of which I have before me. They singular harshness in his 'Life of Jonathan were translated, with the author's sanction, Swift,' 1882, p. 66: "He faded into a by A. V. Richard into German, and printed maturity of eccentric and licentious nonen- at Dresden, under the title Predigten in ་ HENRY OF NAVARRE AND THE THREEHANDLED CUP (11 S. ii. 408, 457).-In the Suermondt Museum in Aachen are two specimens of Raeren pottery made before the birth of the Emperor Charles V. in 1500, or at any rate during his childhood. As both of these are three-handled, and as the Raeren usage of making cups, or rather jugs (Krüge), with three handles, is certainly older than the existing specimens of Steinzeug, it would seem that the story about Charles V. and the three-handled cup quoted by MR. HOWARD PEARSON from Mr. Solon's Art Stoneware' is a popular attempt at explaining the origin of this peculiarity of the "Raerener Steinzeug.' Steinzeug, for which there is no English word, is a kind of stoneware, but made of a much harder clay which cannot be melted. The two objects made of Steinzeug older than Charles V. are: of the nineteenth the Raeren potters produced nothing of any value. 66 Raeren (pronounced Raren, older form Roren) was formerly in the Duchy of Limburg, and is now a village with about 4,000 inhabitants in Rhenish Prussia. It consists of a lower and upper village, and lies between Aachen and Eupen, with both of which towns it is connected by an electric tramway. Here a peculiar kind of Low German is spoken, called "Raerener Platt," which is quite different from "Aachener Platt' or from Eupener Platt." Although Raeren was formerly in the Duchy of Limburg, the Raerener have, partly for linguistic reasons, always looked upon themselves as Germans. The Raeren potters in order to make their wares more acceptable in the Low Countries, their chief customers, sometimes used to put on their jugs Flemish inscriptions, with which language they were not unacquainted. This fact led some assume without warrant that writers to the remaining inscriptions, which were in 'Raerener Platt," were also Flemish. this reason, and also because the first specimens of "Raerener Steinzeug were sold in the Low Countries, some writers have exaggerated the certainly very small Flemish influence in Raeren pottery and in Rhenish pottery as a whole, which also includes that of Cologne-Frechen, Siegburg, and Westerwald. H. G. WARD. Aachen. 66 For for 1. A three-handled jug with bearded faces between each of the three handles. This Raeren jug is certainly not later than 1500. Its great age may be seen by its rough make GORDONS AT WESTMINSTER SCHOOL (11 S. and its awkward form. Besides the speci-ii. 389, 437).-'The Clerical__ Guide men in the Aachen Museum, there is one 1829, printed for C. J. G. and F. Rivington, exactly like it in the Cologne Museum, which mentions four William Gordons, one of whom may be seen in Otto von Falke's excellent is in all probability the person G. F. R. B. is book on 'Das rheinische Steinzeug,' vol. ii. inquiring about. p. 4. 2. A funnel-shaped brown cup with three small handles. There is another specimen of the same pattern in the Hetjens Collection described in Falke's work, vol. ii. p. 5. In the Suermondt Museum are three other three-handled jugs, good specimens of Raeren pottery, but of later date than the two mentioned above. These jugs made of Steinzeug are: 1. Three-handled jug of the first half of the sixteenth century. 2. Threehandled jug of the second half of the sixteenth century. 3. Three-handled jug dated 1596, with grey glazing. On it are the arms of Wilhelm von Nesselrode and of his wife Wilhelmine von Stadthagen. The family of Nesselrode is one of the oldest Rhenish families, and still exists. From the middle of the seventeenth century till the eighties William Gordon, M.A. (No. 1), was the Prebendary of Offley's vicar in Lichfield Cathedral. No. 2 was appointed Rector of Spaxton, at that time being the Rev. Wm. Gordon. Somerset, in 1820, the patron of the living No. 3 was in 1789 appointed perpetual curate of Darlington by the Marquis of Cleveland. No. 4 became Rector of Speldhurst, Kent, in 1816, the patron of the living being Robert Burgess, Esq. John Gordon was in 1825, according to The Clerical Guide' for 1829, appointed to the Vicarage of Bierton, with Buckland Curacy and Stoke Mandeville Curacy, Bucks, by the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln; and in 1827 to the Rectory of St. Antholin and St. John Baptist, Watling Street, London, by the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's. According to Lipscomb's History of Bucks,' published in 1847, he held the Bucks livings for two years only, his successor Thomas Smith, B.D., being appointed Vicar of Bierton, &c., in 1827. It does not mention how the living became vacant. The information in The Clerical Guide' for 1829 was evidently not brought well up to date, although in an advertisement at the beginning of the work, dated 23 March, 1829, the proprietors offer their best acknowledgments to the numerous gentlemen who have supplied them with information of the changes and alterations that had taken place since the publication of the second edition. Amersham. L. H. CHAMBERS. SIR WALTER RALEIGH AND TOBACCO (11 S. ii. 489).—See Arber's reprint of King James I.'s 'Counterblaste to Tobacco (pp. 81-94), where the whole story of the introduction of tobacco into England is told. The earliest known authority for the Raleigh story is The British Apollo, in the 43rd number of the first volume of which (published 7 July, 1708) it occurs. The story had previously been told of Tarleton and an anonymous Welshman. In their case the extinguisher employed was water-in Raleigh's, ale. The British Mercury introduces the story by the statement that Raleigh was the first person who brought tobaccosmoking into use in England, which is not true. The probability is that, so far as he is concerned at any rate, the story is equally untrue. C. C. B. "YOUNG FOLKS' (11 S. ii. 450, 511).— It is extremely interesting to find this publication being so pleasantly recalled by many. I have a specially kindly recollection of it in respect that it was the first periodical that, as a small boy, I bought, in 1873, and continued to buy for some years. then the Young Folks Budget, and its special charm at that time lay in the adventures of Tim Pippin and Princess Primrose, a story written by "Roland Quiz" It was (Richard Quittenton), illustrated with woodcuts by John Proctor. The periodical is now very difficult to come by, for remarkably few copies seem to have been preserved. Although I have tried to obtain it, I have been unsuccessful so far, and have had to be content with a reprint, which is different. 6 R. L. Stevenson's connexion with the periodical was due to the late Alexander H. Japp, and has been set down once for all by Dr. Japp in his 'Robert Louis Stevenson: a Record, an Estimate, and a Memorial.' (The writing of the story is told by Stevenson himself in the section' My First Book,' in Essays in the Art of Writing.') The story was written by Stevenson while he was resident at The Cottage, Braemar, in 1881. Japp visited him there, and carried off to London a portion of the manuscript of 'The Sea Cook (as the story was then named), and showed it to Henderson, proprietor of the Young Folks Budget-not the Young Folks Paper, as Japp calls it, unless the name had been changed. It The details of the matter are, of course, may too weil known to call for further remark. in June, 1910, a polished granite memorial not be so well known, however, that bearing the inscription:slab was placed on The Cottage, Braemar, 1881, and wrote Treasure Island,' his first great Here R. L. Stevenson spent the summer of work." The credit of erecting this memorial-of a character of which we have so few in this part of the country-is due to the Braemar Mutual Improvement Association. Cottage stands at the south end of what is known as Castleton Terrace, Braemar. G. M. FRASER. Public Library, Aberdeen. The Young Folks Paper, to give it its full name, continued to be published weekly till some time early in 1891, when it changed its appearance and name, and was continued under the title of Old and Young. Old and Young appeared till towards the end of 1896. The last number was dated either 24 or 31 October in that year, its place being taken by Folks at Home, a paper which, under a different guise, contained most of the familiar features of Old and Young. Folks at Home died in the spring of 1897, and had no G. L. APPERSON. successor. ITINERANT TAILORS (11 S. ii. 505).—I well remember one of these who, sixty odd years ago, came to "our house," mended up my father's clothes, made two or three " pairs of gaiters," and cut out from cloth bought |