immediately in front of the present Vicarage House. The 1634 Terrier also recites "two acres of meadow ground lying in the common meadow of the same Parish." These two acres have since been converted into a strip of ground in the Parish meadow, which now measures less than an acre, situated almost exactly opposite "the Ferry" Inn at Medmenham. The last time any mention is made as to the 4 of an acre is in an old Tithe account book still at the Vicarage, when 10/- rent was paid for it by Mr. E. Micklem. What became of it? The said two (single) acres appear so far back as in the Terrier of 1608. In 1625 Sir Richard (afterwards first Lord) Lovelace granted an annuity of £6 13s. 4d. to the Vicar, still paid. A paper dated Michaelmas, 1730, gives the Vicarial Tithe, rents, &c., including rent of Vicarage House and stables, as £84 10s. 1od., due or paid. In 1782 the Vicarage is described in Bacon's Liber Regis as "a Discharged Living— £6 13s. 61⁄2d. in King's Book, clear yearly value £43: £80 in 1786." In 1802 the dues and profits of the Vicarage were £150; in 1817 £200, though less than that amount in 1837. In 1838 they were £234 13s. 10d.; and in 1843 the Vicarial Tithes were commuted at £250 2s. od., which, together with the Lovelace annuity and £2 rent of glebe land, make up the total income secured to the Living, along with the Vicarage House and grounds which by exchange and an arrangement in money became the Parsonage in 1844, and has since that date been doubled in size so far as the house is concerned. The Great Tithes were commuted in 1843, at £289, in addition to those merged in rent. These are owned by the Lay Impropriator.

"Notes and Queries "

RELATING TO BERKSHIRE.

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Notes.

SOUTH FAWLEY MANOR HOUSE.-There is still standing at South Fawley, about six miles from Wantage, a very picturesque old mansion with gables, embattled parapets, and a fine old Jacobean porch, a few notes on the history of which may not be uninteresting. Like many a forgotten Manor house scattered throughout England, it has now been converted into a residence for the farmer of the Manor lands, or rather in this particular instance into the residence of his bailiff. The house is said to have been built between the years 1614 and 1621 by Sir Francis Moore, of whose family more anon. A considerable part of the original building appears to have been taken down, and additions made to the remaining portion for the purposes of modern occupation. One of the principal features of the house is a very handsome staircase of dark polished oak, with well-carved spandrels and pendants, massive newels and balustrade. Much of the carved oak panelling which enriched the walls has been removed, but several of the rooms retain the original wainscoting, with carved pilasters and cornices executed with considerable delicacy, the foliage of the oak with the acorn being frequently introduced. One of the upper chambers is said to have been used as an oratory (the Moores having been a Roman Catholic family), and its panels still retain the faded outlines of ornamental painting. A secret staircase in the wall leads from the ground floor of the house to this chamber, and it contains cupboards, very possibly used for the custody of sacred vessels, vestments, etc. The pleasant garden with terraced walk and bowling green can easily be discerned on the South side of the house, and is partly surrounded by an old and partially dilapidated ivy-mantled stone-coped wall. From a mound within the grounds a very good echo may be heard, repeating distinctly three or four syllables. There is also a well some 250 feet deep connected with the house, from which the water is drawn by a huge wooden wheel 12 ft. in diameter, which used to be set in motion by a donkey walking inside the wheel and imitating the action of a squirrel in its cage. A couple of men now take the place of the donkey, and the lifting of a bucket of water takes some 7 or 8 minutes.

The family of Moore, with which this fine old house is identified, came originally from Burghfield where they were settled at an early period. Omitting some earlier members of the family of whom little is known, we come to a certain Edward Moore, who married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Hall, Esq., of Tilehurst, by whom he had one son, the celebrated lawyer Sir Francis Moore, who was born at East Ilsley in 1558, and of whom the following particulars are given by Anthony à Wood, in his Athenæ Oxonienses 1815. He was born "at East Hildersley or Ildesley, near to Wantage educated in grammar-learning at Reading, entered a Commoner at St. John's College (Oxford) 1574, or thereabouts, continued there till near Batchelor's standing, and then he retired to the Middle Temple In the latter end of Queen Elizabeth and beginning of King James, he was several times elected a Burgess to sit in Parliament, in which he was a frequent speaker. Afterwards he was Counsellor and Understeward for several years in this University, the members of which conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts in 1612. Two years after he was made Serjeant-at-law, and in 1616, March 17th, received the honour of knighthood at Theobald's from his Majesty King James I.

F. Moore was a member of that Parliament, as it seems, wherin the Statute concerning Charitable Uses was made, and was, as 'tis further added, the penner thereof. At length paying the last debt of nature on the 20th of November, 1621, aged 63, he was buried in a vault under the Church of Great Fawley near to Wantage, before mentioned, in which vault his posterity (who are Baronets living in that parish) have been since and are hitherto interred, as I have been instructed by his grandson, Sir Henry Moore, Bart." Sir Francis Moore had married Annie, heiress of William Twitty, Esq., of Boreham, Essex, by whom he had three sons and four daughters. Henry, the eldest son, was created a Baronet 21st May, 1627; he died in 1633, meeting his death by drowning, as appears by the following extract from the Parish Register of Fawley: "1633, Sir Henry Moore was buried the first day of March. He was drowned the 22nd February." He was succeeded in the title and estates by his son Henry, who died about 1690, and was succeeded by his grandson, Sir Richard Francis, 3rd Baronet, who died 10th December, 1737, and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, of the same name as 4th Baronet. He died unmarried in 1739 and was succeeded by his brother, Sir John Moore, 5th Baronet, who sold the Manor of Fawley in 1765 to Henry Vansittart, Esq., M.P. for Reading, sometime Governor of Bengal, of whose family it was purchased by Bartholomew Tipping, Esq., through whom it came to its present possessor Philip Wroughton, Esq., M.P. The family of Moore was not related to that of Sir Thomas Moore as is sometimes supposed. While removing the materials of the old Church at Fawley, which was pulled down about 1866, the Moore vault was opened and the bodies found in perfect preservation, having been embalmed. The bodies were deposited on oaken shelves, one of which, having rotted at one extremity, had sunk and many of the bodies had fallen on the floor. On the breast of Sir Francis' wife was a glass bottle, which was removed by some sacrilegious hand. The bottle was supposed by the peasantry of Fawley to have contained some valuable nostrum by which wealth had been gained. Others believed that Sir Francis had made a fortune by the sale of Moore's Almanack, of which they supposed him to have been the originator, an idea it is needless to say totally devoid of foundation. The family is now extinct, the 6th and last Baronet having been Sir Thomas Moore, who resided

in Hampshire and died at his seat, Bruton House in that county, on the 10th April, 1807.-EDWARD R. GARDINER.

A few months ago while some workmen were engaged in executing some work on the bank of a stream close to Betterton, in the parish of Lockinge, on the estate of Lord Wantage, they came across a skeleton in a crouching position some 7 feet under ground. It was unfortunately much damaged by the workmen's tools. From the ornaments found in its immediate neighbourhood it was supposed to be that of a female. It is much to be regretted that the bones were not properly examined by an expert at the time instead of being, as they were, immediately reinterred at the same spot. The ornaments, which are now in the possession of Lord Wantage, consisted of a plain ring broken into three pieces, made either of copper or gold, it is uncertain which; two circular brooches or links, I inches in diameter, with the remains of pins; a glass bead of a bluish colour, perforated, the hole on one side larger than that on the other, with eight grooved indentations cut in it; a small bone, probably part of a finger. Some of our readers may be able to throw some light on these relics.— EDWARD R. GARDINER.

CARDINAL WOLSEY AT READING.-The Bishop of London, in a speech delivered at the Reading School, referred to the supposed connection of Cardinal Wolsey with the School. Archbishop Parker, in his De Antiquitate Britannica Ecclesia, states that " Wolsey, when Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, being expelled for some depredations upon the College chest, retired to Reading, when he opened a grammar school," Dr. Doran, the historian of Reading, says "The fiction of Cardinal Wolsey having been expelled from Magdalen College, Oxford, has been long since exploded. Though many have placed him at the head of the list of masters of the free school from a belief in the above story on the authority of Archbishop Parker, there is no doubt of Long [John Long, 1503] having been appointed to that office."-EDITOR.

LUCAS'S HOSPITAL, WOKINGHAM.-The history of this hospital has been recently investigated by the Rev. J. Stratton, the present master, and the results of his researches he has kindly given in a lecture delivered at Wokingham in October. Lucas, the founder, was descended from a Suffolk family. After his career at Cambridge he entered the Middle Temple in 1605, became Secretary to the Earl of Holland, M.P. for Cambridge University in 1640, sat in the Short and Long Parliaments, and died in 1663, being buried in the Temple Church. He left in his will his library to the University of Cambridge, and £7,000 to found a hospital in Berks for a chaplain and “as many poor old men of the forest district as may be conveniently provided for." We regret that want of space prevents us from publishing at present Mr. Stratton's lecture in extenso. The history of the hospital has for many years been buried in oblivion, and the present master has most diligently gathered a store of information with regard to the past annals of the institution over which he presides.-EDitor. Henry, Lord Clarendon, married Flower, daughter of Backhouse, of Swallowfield, widow of Willm. Bishop, who died 1658.--Heralds, Vis. Berks, 1664-5. Thus the Backhouses were connected by marriage with the Royal Family. The Christian name Flower is uncommon. I have only once seen it before; that is a single instance in our Sulhamstead register, perhaps derived from a surname. As a surname it was known in Pangbourne, and survives in "Flower's Farm."-E. E. THOYTS.

MRS. MACAULAY GRAHAM.—Since I sent you the short account of Mrs. Macaulay Graham which was inserted in the Quarterly Journal for October last, I have found two more references to her. In the life of the celebrated quack-doctor, James Graham, given in the National Dictionary of Biography (Vol. 22, p. 324), I find it stated that: 'In January, 1777, he began to practise at Bath, where he met Catherine Macaulay, who afterwards married his younger brother William; he gained, as he admits, his first start by his treatment of her." In the second volume of T. Hearne's Remains there is a note added by the editor, Dr. Philip Bliss, to an entry by Hearne in his diary on March 2nd, 1726-7, that "On Tuesday last called upon me Mr. Wilson, bach. of arts of Christ Church, son of Dr. Wilson, bp. of Man." To which Dr. Bliss appended a note that "this Mr. Wilson, after he had graduated as a D.D, at Christ Church, removed to St. Mary's Hall, where is a good whole-length portrait of him. He was an eccentric but very benevolent man, a furious politican, the friend of Wilkes, and a great admirer of Mrs. Macaulay." This throws some light on P. Pindar's dubious couplet, quoted in my former note :

"Not Dr. Wilson, child of am'rous folly,

When young Mac Clyster bore off Kate Macaulay."

Dr. Wilson died at Bath. Is it possible that by young Mac Clyster' Dr. Wolcot intended to invent a nickname for William Graham, the younger brother of the Scotch quack-doctor, the moerens conjux of the Binfield Epitaph ?— C. W. PENNY, Wellington College.

Mrs. Macaulay-Graham, born 1730, daughter of John Sawbridge, Esq., of Olantigh, Wye, near Ashford, Kent, her brother being noted as Alderman Sawbridge, of the City of London, and Lord Mayor, 1775. Catherine Sawbridge married, 1760, Geo. Macaulay, M.D., a London physician, but soon became a widow. In 1778 she married Mr. Graham, a clergyman, brother to Dr. Graham. In 1785 she went to America for the purpose of visiting Washington, with whom she maintained a correspondence. Her "History of England" was published between 1763 and 1782 in 9 vols. quarto, with her portrait attached to it, finely engraved as a medallion. Died 1791.

Refer to Maunder's Biographical Treasury; Brayley's Beauties of England, vol. viii.; History and Topography of Wye, 1842, Morris, p. 46—R. J. FYNMORE, Sandgate, Kent. Oct. 16th, 1891.

Queries.

Can anyone suggest a probable explanation for the extraordinary name of a copse at Padworth called "Aqua vitæ." I have not seen it written, but suppose it is spelt as above ?-E. E. THOYTS.

BANASTRE FAMILY.-I should be glad to receive any information concerning this old Berkshire family. I do not think that they first settled in Lancashire, as recently stated. Robert Banastre came into England with the Conqueror, and obtained the Manor of Prestaton, in Englefield, Berks; his son removed to Lancashire. A branch of the family were Lords of the Manor of Finchampstead from the 12th century. What is the modern name of the Manor of Prestaton ? -W. LYON.