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The next work in order of date mentioned by Zedler is "Catalogum Romanorum et Germanicorum Imperatorum." Wittenberg, 1562, 8vo. It is probably chronogrammatic; but I have not met with a copy. The last of the works of Joseph à Pinu, mentioned by Zedler, is a small rare tract of thirty-five leaves-" Carmina Cæsarum, Regum, et Archiducum aliquot ex familia Austriaca natales et obitus numeris indicantia. Authore Jos à Pinu. Poë: coronato. MDLXXXII." (1582.) It contains epigrams and poems in honour of various distinguished persons, and fourteen chronograms of the birth or death of German emperors from Rudolph in 1291 to Maximilian II. in 1527, in hexameter and pentameter distichs. All are to be seen transcribed in my volume, "Chronograms, 1882," p. 121. This and the first-mentioned tracts are in the library of the Rev. Walter Begley. I know not of any other copies.

The rarity of tracts of a chronogrammatic character may be accounted for on the

1 Sebastian Munster, German rabbinical scholar and 2 Jacob Sturm, German magistrate and diplomatist.

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supposition that only a limited number were printed, compared with what would be done in the present day; it is well understood also that such tracts were produced for gratuitous distribution among the patrons and friends of the authors, rather than for sale to the public. We find also that they were usually put forth as pamphlets with or without paper covers to protect them from destruction. recent writer, Mr. Bernard Quaritch, tells us of his experience on this point, concluding with these words: "Without binding there can be no salvation"-" for want of binding myriads of authors have perished, leaving many deplorable gaps in the literature of the past." It thus becomes the duty of the Antiquary to record the existence or recovery of whatever belongs to our present subject.

Among other examples of the printing of chonograms without distinguishing the date letters, is a book described in my published volume, "Chronograms Continued," pp. 134152; it bears this title: "Rerum Bohemitheologian.

3 Lucas Cranach, German painter.

" Johann Cornarius, German physician and writer.

5 Justus Jonas, German Lutheran divine and writer.

carum Ephemeris, sive Kalendarium historicum ex reconditis veterum annalium monumentis erutum. Authore M. Procopio Lupacio. Pragæ 1574." Another is by Nicholas Reusner: "Icones sive imagines virorum literis illustrium." Printed at Augsburg, 1590. Both works are in the British Museum library. (To be continued.)

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The King's Confessors.

By REV. C. F. R. PALMER.
(Continued from p. 120.)

F. JOHN DE WARFELD. OR several years he was attached to the household of Edward, Prince of Wales, being the companion of F. John de Lenham. He is first mentioned by name March 18, 1302-3, when 14s. was paid for two red serges for their beds. In 1307 he was with the prince in Scotland, and on the death of Edward I. accompanied his royal patron (now king) from the Scottish borders towards London, being September 4 at Carlisle, when he conveyed the royal alms of 15s. to the FriarPreachers of that city, and 18s. to the FriarMinors there; and October 16 he went from Northampton to London, and stayed at the Blackfriars for some days on business of the Order, having Ios. for the hire of a hack, shoeing, and other small necessaries. Edward II. had just established the FriarPreachers at King's Langley in a place called Little London, which he made over to them, December 21, 1308, as their habitation, till regular monastic buildings were erected on a site already prepared for them. F. John de Warfeld was appointed the first prior, and as such frequently received, from December 3, 1308, to March 6, 1314-15, the state-pension with which the king munificently endowed the foundation. In 1314 he was tarrying in London with Lenham, when he received, July 3 and 17, 40s. each time for their joint expenses there, and July 23 the £9 for Lenham's horse. In the autumn of 1315 he

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became confessor to Edward II., but did not long fulfil that charge, for he died in the following year, and was probably buried at King's Langley, for, June 25, the king gave 67. os. 18d.' to the Friar-Preachers of London and Langley for wax and other funeral expenses on the day of his exequies.

F. ROBERT De Duffeld.

The second prior of King's Langley, F. Robert de Duffeld, now became the king's confessor. As prior, in 1316, he was sent to the master-general of the Order, with royal letters of commendation dated October 27, on matters concerning himself, and on the welfare of his convent, which the king had greatly at heart; and he received the statepension for his house in 1319. As confessor,

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he had a companion as usual; and they had a fee of 40s. a year to find themselves in saddles, boots, and other necessaries, and were provided with new habits and new bedclothes and coverlets every year at Pentecost and All Saints'. Four valets or garçons, with four horses, attended them: these servants were John de Montgomery, John de Holt, William Prest, and Walter de Takeley, whom the king provided with clothing at an expense of 40s. a year, besides their summer and winter shoes. In 1326 William de Bokkyng had become garçon in room of Prest. sides the charge of the royal conscience, the confessor had many other casual employments on the king's behalf. He received, May 2, 1320, 100s. for F. John de Bristol, his provincial, who had come to the king at King's Langley, and was going back whence he came. In June following he was sent, with all his retinue, from Canterbury to London, to superintend the burial of John Knokyn, a royal valet, at the Blackfriars, for whose exequies the king paid £21 4s. 2d., besides £7 16s. 4d. for the travelling, and after an absence of eleven days he rejoined the king at Pynkeny (Picquigny), passing the sea from Dover to Whytsand (Wissant); at London a bay horse was bought for £4 13s. 4d. for the use of the companion. The confessor received from the exchequer £20 June 19, and £12 June 21, and paid back the surplus July 1 at Amiens. Shortly after he went from Thatcham to Stamford, to assist in the provincial chapter of his Order

held there, at the Assumption, and his expenses (reimbursed October 29) during twenty eight days of absence came to £4 17s. 4d. At Christmas he was sent from Marlborough to Langley on some matter or other, and returned, January 2, to the court at Westminster, his own and his companion's expenses, paid January 27, 1320-1, being 14s. In July, 1321, the alms which he had distributed to the poor, at the king's command, in the past twelvemonth, came to 79s. IId. At court he kept his religious rule strictly, especially as to silence. The king, October 8, 1321, at Porchester, wrote and solicited the pope to allow him to converse at table, and to give license to his brethren also to talk in his presence, thus conceding to him in the matter a royal and an episcopal privilege. From January 5 to 28, 1323-4, he was out of the court, on secret service for the king, and his expenses, paid February 3, at Berkeley Castle, were 51s. 8d. In 1324 he was sent from London, June 17, to King's Langley with the royal alms of 100s., for the anniversary of Sir Piers Gaveston, who was buried in the convent church there; and the same day a bay sumpter horse was purchased for £4 to carry the confessor's bed in the royal progresses; and July 7, he had 47s. 8d. for thus going to King's Langley, celebrating the anniversary of Gaveston (June 19), and afterwards riding from Tunbridge to Hertford, which occupied him from June 27 to July 6, to the Countess of Pembroke, on a private matter for the king. In 1325, April 24, he was with the court at Beaulieu; and towards the close of the year went from Chippenham to London, to treat with the lord treasurer and the chancellor on the king's behalf; and thence to Chalcombe, for the burial of John de Segrave, banneret, when the travelling expenses amounted to 66s. 8d., and came, November 23, from the exchequer. In 1326 he went on secret service to the parts of Oxford, with his retinue, and September 28 received 425. 7 d. for the journey. On the deposition of Edward II., he probably retired from the court, to end his days in his cloister.

F. NICHOLAS DE HERLEY. When Edward III. was Prince of Wales, F. John de Dunstable was in his household,

and was made companion of the royal confessor, but after the prince ascended the throne he withdrew to King's Langley, with an allowance of 40s. a year to supply himself with habits, and became prior there, dying probably soon after June 6, 1342, when he last received that pension. It is probable that F. Nicholas de Herley was the confessor of Prince Edward; at all events, he held the office immediately that the prince became Edward III. About June, 1327, 6s. 8d. was advanced to him out of the exchequer for some expenses. He had the usual supply of clothing, etc., from the king's wardrobe, for himself and his companion; and by a few of their receipts for the same, dating from December 6, 1329, to December, 1337, it is apparent that they were at London October 2, 1330, and March 20 following, and at York July 12, 1333, and March 24, 1333-4. His first companion was F. Thomas de Lenn, who, in 1335, forsook the court to betake himself to the Holy Land; and on his leaving, the king, April 25, at Brunne, made a gift of 40s. to him. To Lenn succeeded F. John de Rodiard, to whom the king, September 25, paid 6s. 8d. for his expenses in going from Berwick-on-Tweed to the town of St. John of Perth, there to join the society of F. Nicholas de Herley in the king's army. F. Nicholas had special alms of one mark, March 3, 1334-5, at York; and a mark was given to him, April 24, 1338, for going and returning on some secret affairs which had been committed to him by the king and royal council. In 1339 he was sent, with William de Resseby, to Valenciennes, to seek for some of the king's jewels and book of the wardrobe, in the house of the FriarPreachers there; and the journey, with a cart and four horses, occupied seven days, from October 28 to November 3, and cost 113s. 6d., paid on the 17th following. Shortly after he went back into his cloister; and all that is farther recorded of him is, that the king gave him an alms of 20s. 6d., December 18, 1353, and 205. April 20 following, to purchase some necessaries.

F. ROGER DE QUERNDON.

It is probable that F. Roger de Querndon was confessor to Edward III. from 1339 to 1342, but dates are wanting to fix the exact

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HE city of Bath has a curious and somewhat comic tradition (which is noticed in its local guide-books), that the old British King Bladud (father of King Lear or Leal), being reduced by leprosy to the condition of a swineherd, discovered the medicinal virtues of the hot springs of Bath, while noticing that his pigs which bathed therein were cured of sundry diseases prevailing among them. Warner, one chief writer on the history of Bath, quotes this tradition at large from Wood, a local topographer of the preceding century, who gives it without authority. Warner states that, although the legend may appear absurd, it is noticed and credited by most British antiquaries of antiquity. N. and Q., 2 S., ix. 45.

The following epigram on the "Bristol Hogs" is by the Rev. Groves, of Claver

ton:

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When Bladud once espied some Hogs
Lie wallowing in the steaming bogs,
Where issue forth those sulphurous springs,
Since honor'd by more potent Kings,
Vex'd at the brutes alone possessing
What ought t' have been a common blessing,
He drove them thence in mighty wrath,
And built the mighty Town of Bath.
The hogs thus banished by their Prince,
Have liv'd in Bristol ever since.

Ibid., 289.

WEMBDON, ST. JOHN'S WELL.

There was, in 1464, a well in this parish called St. John's Well, to which an immense concourse of people resorted, and many who had for years laboured under various bodily diseases, and had found no benefit from physic and physicians, were, by the use of these waters, after paying their due offerings, restored to their pristine health.

DULVERTON, HOLY WELL.

It was customary on Holy Thursday to carry persons here afflicted with disease.

STAFFORDSHIRE.

DUNSTALL: WULFRUNA'S WELL.

This beautiful spring was a favourite resort of the Lady Wulfruna, the foundress of the old Collegiate Church at Wolverhampton; and from this association with her sanctity, it acquired the reputation of possessing some miraculous virtues, which were much in request by the devotees of subsequent times, who named it "Wulfruna's Well." This was also a Druidical appropriation: for with that order of men all running streams which took a direction from west to east were accounted sacred. It supplies the water to Dunstall Hall, near which it is situated, the home of the Hill family.

BILSTON WULFRUNA'S WELL.

Mr. Lamby, however, in the Midland Weekly News, has assigned a somewhat different site to this ancient well. He considers that it was situated at Spring Vale, near Bilston. In an old document belonging to Bilston occurs the following reference to it:

"To ye South of Wolferhamtune is a famous springe, called Ladie Wulfrune's Spryng, where shee usyd to come and washe. Ye legende tells us yt ye ladie Wulfrune prayede for yt God woude endue ye well wyth powers of noe ordinarie vyrtue, inasmoche as yt hath curyd manie, ye weake and impotent, and dyvers sufferyng fro mortall diseases, as manie their bee yt cann testifie."

It would be interesting to know the site of a well possessing such valuable powers; but though tradition has not left anything on record by which we can sufficiently localize it, its former existence is still preserved in the name of Spring Vale, by which the district is still known. Further, a street in

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Cann Lane, lying in the direction of Spring Vale, at its northern end, is known by the name of Holywell Street.

The custom of well-dressing is or was observed here.

BILSTON CRUDELY OR CRUDDLEY WELL.

The town was anciently the possessor of a famous well dedicated to some old Saxon saint. The well in question was known in colloquial phrase as "Crudeley" or "Cruddley" Well, and was situate just off Lichfield Street, near to the entrance to Froud's Lane. In medieval times this well was largely resorted to by not only the townspeople, but by others from the surrounding neighbourhood, on account of its being a "holy" well. It gradually lost its sanctity as the people grew more enlightened (!), and subsequently came under the control of the parish authorities, who kept its winding apparatus in proper repair, as is very clear from the parochial accounts. To show this more clearly, I subjoin the following items taken from the constables' accounts for the several years mentioned therein :

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This latter item, it is most amusing to state, became the subject of an appeal to the Stafford Quarter Sessions, when Edward Wooley (the famous screw manufacturer and hero of the old story of "How Wooley lost his Watch"), John Bowen (the well-known landlord of the Angel Inn, Hallfold), J. B. Whitehead (the blank tray manufacturer), and William Taylor (a former overseer), appealed against the legality of certain items in the accounts of the overseers, of which the repairs of Crudeley Well was one. This well continued to supply the townsfolk of the locality with water until towards 1830, when the supply ceased through the working of the mines, and the shaft was filled up. In the Saxon calendar we have a St. Creadda or Credda, and it was to his memory the well

was in all probability dedicated. This well is said, on the authority of an old manuscript found among the town documents many years ago-which were, unfortunately, sold as waste paper!—on the building of the present Town Hall, to have borne a Latin inscription, running thus:

Qui non dat quod habet
Dæmon infra ridet.

Which has been duly Englished thus:

Who does not here his alms bestow

At him the Demon laughs below. (Midland Weekly News, contributed by G. T. Lamby.)

WOMBOURNE: OUR LADY'S WELL.

Another famous local well, which has fortunately escaped the destructive hand of time, is that near Wombourne, known by the name of "Our Lady's Well," or "Lady Well." It is cut out of the solid rock, which crops out at the top of a lofty hill, situate between Wombourne and Lower Fenn. The well is of considerable antiquity, and several species of cryptogamic plants give to the surface of the stone a venerable appearance. It is supposed to have been sacred to the virgin in mediæval times, and its waters to have possessed curative properties. Here, ages ago, a holy hermit is said to have dwelt, and to have been visited by many persons in search of consolation and instruction.

The well is still a favourite resort of local pleasure-seekers, who go to drink of the cooling and delicious beverage, and ruralize in the adjacent wood.-Ibid.

TIXALL.

Dr. Plott gives us some particulars of a famous well, known as Tixall Well, near the church at that place, which, having survived the superstitious veneration formerly attaching to it, was afterwards used to supply, by some method of forcing, the district around. -Ibid.

MILTON NEW WELL.

The New Well, as it is called, is annually decorated with flowers and boughs, the festivities extending over two days. At noon, each day, a procession is formed at the well, and marched through the village, headed by a band, and followed by the May Queen riding on a gaily-decorated pony, attended by

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