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Mr. Editor, -I inclose copies of advertisements which appear in some old newspapers in my possession, and which in some degree illustrate the history of travelling, and in themselves show, I imagine, the advance made between 1739 and 1767, since I consider that "The Old Constant Froom Flying Waggon," of the former date, was the parent of the "Frome Stage Machine" of the latter.

I notice in the Sherborne paper all public stage coveyances are designated as machines.

Copies of advertisements in The Daily Advertiser of the 9th April, 1739 :

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"The old standing constant Froom Flying Waggon in Three days.

Sets out with Goods and Passengers from Froom for London, every Monday, by One o'clock in the morning, and will be at the King's Arms Inn, at Holborn Bridge, the Wednesday following by Twelve o'clock at Noon; from whence it will set out on Thursday morning, by One o'clock, for Amesbury, Shrewton, Chittern, Heytesbury, Warminster, Froom, and all other places adjacent, and will continue allowing each passenger fourteen pounds, and be at Froom, on Saturday by Twelve at noon.

If any Passengers have Occasion to go from either of the aforesaid Places they shall be supplied with able Horses and a Guide by Joseph Clavey; the Proprietor of the said Flying Waggon. The Waggon calls at the White Bear in Piccadilly coming in and going out.

Note. Attendance is constantly given at the King's

Arms, Holborn Bridge aforesaid, to take in Goods and Passengers' names; but no Money, Plate, Bank Notes, or Jewels will be insured unless delivered as such, perform'd by JOSEPH CLAVEY. N. B. His other Waggons keep their Stages as usual."

From Cruttwell's Sherborne, Shaftesbury, and Dorchester Journal, or Yeovil, Taunton, and Bridgewater Chronicle, of Friday, February 6th, 12th, and 20th, 1767.

"Taunton Flying Machine,

Hung on Steel Springs, in Two Days.

Sets out from the Saracen's Head Inn in Friday Street, London, and Taunton, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, at Three o'clock in the morning; and returns every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, lays at the Antelope in Salisbury, going Up and Down: To carry Six inside Passengers, each to pay

To Taunton Ilminster Yeovil Sherborne Shaftesbury

£ s.

d. 1 16 0

1 14 0

180

160

140

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The Proprietors of the
FROME STAGE MACHINE,

In Order to make it more agreeable to their Friends in the West, have engaged to set out Post Chaises from the Christopher Inn, in Wells, every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday Evenings, at Five o'clock, to stop at the George Inn, at Shepton Mallet, and set out from thence at a Quarter past Six, to carry Passengers and Parcels to Frome, to be forwarded from thence to London in the One Day Flying Machine, which began on Sunday the 12th of April, 1767: Also a Chaise from Frome every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Evenings to Shepton and Wells, as soon as the Coach arrives from London, if any Passengers, &c. go down, at the following prices: - from Wells to Frome Four Shillings, from Shepton Three Shillings, small Parcels from Wells to Frome 6d. each, from Shepton 41., large ditto a Halfpenny per Pound from each place. All Passengers who intend taking the Advantage of this method of travelling, are desired to take their Places at the above Inns in Wells and Shepton as follows: viz, those who intend going on Sunday enter the Tuesday before their going, those who go on Tuesday enter the Thursday before, and for Thursday the Sunday before, that proper notice may be given at Frome to secure the places: If at any time

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more than three Passengers an extra Chaise to be provided.

Fare to and from London £1 8s. Od. Trowbridge, £1 6s. Od. Devizes, £1 2s. 6d. One half to be paid at Booking, the other at entering the machine. Inside passengers allowed 10lb. wt., all above Three Halfpence per pound from Frome as usual. The Coach will set out from the Crown Inn in Frome, at Ten o'clock in the evening of every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday; and from the Bull Inn, in Holborne, London, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Evening, at the same Hour. Books are kept, Places taken, and Parcels received, at the Christopher in Wells, the George in Shepton, the Crown in Frome, the Woolpack in Trowbridge, and the Bull in Holborne, London; calls going in and coming out, at the White Bear Inn, Piccadilly, and the new White Horse Cellar.

Perform'd by

R. MESSETER, at the Crown, at Thatcham, and

executed the following Day: Mr. Oxenton, the Gaoler, who keeps an Inn opposite to the Prison, went into the Gaol about four a Clock in the Morning, as was his Custom, attended by three Men, to see if all was safe, and, having lock'd the outward Door, sent one of his Men down to the Dungeon, where the four Felons had found means to disengage themselves from the Pillar and Chain to which they had been lock'd down, and one of them, viz. Bacon-Face, had got off both his Hand-Cuffs and Fetters; on opening the Door they disabled the Man and all rush'd out; then coming up Stairs they met the Gaoler and his other two Men, of whom they demanded the Keys, threatening to murder them if their request was not immediately comply'd with: they then forced his men into the Yard beyond the Hatchway, and a Battle ensu'd, in which the Gaoler behav'd so manfully, tho' he had but one Man to assist him, that he maintain'd the Possession of his Keys till he was heard by his Wife, then in Bed, to call out for Assistance, who fortunately having another

J. HITCHCOCK, at the Catherine Wheel, Beckhampton. Key to the Gaol, ran to rescue him; the Fellows saw

"N. B. No Jewels, Plate, Money, Writings, or other things of Value, will be paid for if lost, unless enter'd as such, and paid for accordingly."

With regard to G. G.'s Query as to the time occupied in the journey of Schultz from Colchester to London, do not the circumstances sufficiently prove that by some means six must have been written for sixteen? Sixteen hours would give a rate of travelling nearer the average of those days, and was about the time occupied on the return to Colchester. For if we allow a due time after twelve for dinner, settling accounts, and going to the inn whence the "Stäts-Kutsche" started, and for partaking of the meal there provided, we shall very easily get to seven or eight in the evening; sixteen hours after that time would be "towards noon" in the following day.

A. D. M.

PRISON DISCIPLINE AND EXECUTION OF JUSTICE.

Sir, I am glad that you devote some part of your columns to the good work of bringing forward facts and anecdotes which, though not generally known, your readers individually may have happened to notice, and which illustrate the manners of our ancestors. I dare say few of your correspondents have met with the London Magazine

for the year 1741. An imperfect copy fell into | my hands when a lad; ever since which time I have been in a state of great wonderment at the story contained in the leaf which I enclose. I need hardly say that the italics are mine; and perhaps they are hardly necessary. Yours, &c., BETA.

"TUESDAY, 21 [June].

"A very extraordinary Affair happen'd at the County Gaol in Hertford, where four Highwaymen, very stout lusty Fellows, viz. Theophilus Dean, Charles Cox (alias Bacon-Face), James Smith, and Luke Humphrys, lay under Sentence of Death, pass'd on them the last Assizes, and were intended to have been

her coming and demanded her Key, threatening to murder her if she offer'd to assist her Husband: By this Time the Neighbourhood was alarm'd, and several Persons got to the Gaol Door, when Mrs. Oxenton, notwithstanding their Threats, at the utmost Hazard of her Life, open'd the same and caught hold of her Husband, who was almost spent, and, with the Assistance of some Persons, got him out and lock'd the Door without suffering the Fellows to escape: They continued cursing and swearing that they would murder the first Man that attempted to enter the Gaol. In the mean Time Robert Hadsley, Esq., High-Sheriff, who lives about a Mile from the Town, was sent for, and came immediately; he parly'd with them some Time to no Purpose, then order'd Fire-Arms to be brought, and, in case they would not submit, to shoot at them, which these Desperadoes refusing to do, they accordingly fired on them, and Theophilus Dean receiving a Shot in the Groin, dropt; then they surrender'd, and the Sheriff instantly caus'd Bacon-Face to be hang'd on the Arch of the Sign Iron belonging to the Gaoler's House, in the Sight of his Companions and great Numbers of People; the other three were directly put into a Cart and carried to the usual Place of Execution, and there hang'd before seven a Clock that Morning." - Lond. Mag. July, 1741, p. 360.

SATIRICAL MEDAL OF THE PRETENDER.

I am well acquainted with the medal described by Mr. Nightingale, and can confirm his statement of the difficulties which numismatists have experienced in attempting to explain the circumstances alluded to by the lobster which is the badge of "the order of the pretended Prince of Wales," and upon which, on the other side of the medal, Father Petre is represented as riding with the young prince in his arms. Upon other medals also the Jesuit appears carrying the prince, who is decorated, or amusing himself, with a windmill. There is likewise a medal on which a Jesuit is represented concealed within a closet or altar, and raising or pushing up through the top the young prince to the view of the people, while Truth is opening the door and exposing the imposition. Similar representations of the Jesuit's interference occur upon caricatures and satirical prints executed in Holland. Upon one, entitled "Arlequin sur l'Hippogryphe, a la croisade Lojoliste," the lobster on which the Jesuit is mounted carries a book in each claw; the young prince's head is decorated with a windmill. All these intimate the influence of Father Petre upon the proceedings of James II. and of the Jesuits in general in the imposition, as was by many supposed, of the pretended prince. The imputation upon the legitimacy of the young child was occasioned in a great degree, and almost justified, by the pilgrimages and superstitious fooleries of his grandmother, increased by his mother's choosing St. Francis Xavier as one of her ecclesiastical patrons, and with her family attributing the birth of the prince to his miraculous interference. This may have provoked the opposers of popery to take every means of satirising the Jesuits; and the following circumstances related in the Life of Xavier probably suggested the idea of making the lobster one of the symbols of the superstitions and impositions of the Jesuits, and a means of discrediting the the birth of the prince by ridiculing communce by nity by whose impositions they asserted the fraud to have been contrived and executed.

The account is given by a Portuguese, called Fausto Rodriguez, who was a witness of the fact, has deposed it upon oath, and whose juridical testimony is in the process of the Saint's canoni

zation.

"We were at sea,' says Rodriguez, Father Francis, John Raposo, and myself, when there arose a tempest which alarmed all the mariners. Then the Father

sorrow from us.

This loss

drew from his bosom a little crucifix, which he always carried about him, and leaning over deck, intended have dipt it into the sea; but the crucifix dropt out of his hand, and was carried off by the waves. very sensibly afflicted him, and he concealed not his The next morning we landed on the Island of Baranura; from the time when the crucifix was lost, to that of our landing, it was near twentyfour hours, during which we were in perpetual danger. Being on shore, Father Francis and I walked along by the sea-side, towards the town of Tamalo, and had already walked about 500 paces, when both of us beheld, arising out of the sea, a crab-fish, which carried betwixt his claws the same crucifix raised on high. I saw the crab-fish come directly to the Father, by whose side I was, and stopped before him. The Father, falling on his knees, took his crucifix, after which the crabfish returned into the sea. But the Father still continuing in the same humble posture, hugging and kissing the crucifix, was half an hour praying with his hands across his breast, and myself joining with him in thanksgiving to God for so evident a miracle; after which we arose and continued on our way.' Thus you

have the relation of Rodriguez."- Dryden's Life of St. Francis Xavier, book iii.

JOHN AUBREY.

EDW. HAWKINS.

As the biographer and editor of that amiable and zealous antiquary JOHN AUBREY, I noticed with peculiar interest the statement of your correspondent, that the date of your first publication coincided with the anniversary of his birthday; but, unhappily, the coincidence is imaginary. Your correspondent has, on that point, adopted a careless reading of the first chapter of Aubrey's Miscellanies, whereby the 3rd of November, the birthday of the Duke of York, afterwards James the Second, has been frequently stated as that of the antiquary himself. See my Memoir of Aubrey, 4to. 1845, p. 123. In the same volume, p. 13., will be found an engraving of the horoscope of his nativity, from a sketch in his own hand. So far as his authority is of any value, that curious sketch proves incontestably that "the Native" was born at 14 minutes and 49 seconds past 17 o'clock (astronomical time) on the 11th of March, 1625-6; that is, at 14 minutes and 49 seconds past 5 o'clock A. M. on the 12th of March, instead of the 3rd of November.

Few things can be more mortifying to a biographer, or an antiquary, than the perpetuation of an error which he has successfully laboured to correct. It is an evil, however, to which he is often subjected, and which your valuable publication will go far to remedy. In the present case it is, doubtless, to be ascribed to the peculiar nature of my Memoir of Aubrey, of which but a limited number of copies were printed for the Wiltshire T Topographical Society. The time and labour which I bestowed upon the work, the interesting character of its contents, and the approbation of able and impartial public critics, justify me in saying that it deserves a far more extensive circulation.

After this allusion to John Aubrey, I think I cannot better evince my sympathy with your exertions than by requesting the insertion of a Query respecting one of his manuscripts. I allude to his Monumenta Britannica, in four folio volumes - a dissertation on Avebury, Stonehenge, and other stone circles, barrows, and similar Druidical monuments which has disappeared within the last thirty years. Fortunately a large portion of its contents has been preserved, in extracts made by Mr. Hutchins, the historian of Dorsetshire, and by the late Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Bart.; but the manuscript certainly contained much more of great local interest, and some matters which were worthy of publication. In the Memoir already mentioned, p. 87., the history of the manuscript down to the time of its disappear

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Sir John Suckling's Verses.

I am confirm'd a woman can
Love this, or that, or any other man :
This day she's melting hot,
To-morrow swears she knows you not;
If she but a new object find,
Then straight she's of another mind;
Then hang me, Ladies, at your door,
If e'er I doat upon you more.

Yet still I'll love the fairsome (why? -
For nothing but to please my eye);
And so the fat and soft-skinned dame
I'll flatter to appease my flame;
For she that's musical I'll long,
When I am sad, to sing a song;
Then hang me, Ladies, at your door,
If e'er I doat upon you more.

I'll give my fancy leave to range
Through every where to find out change;
The black, the brown, the fair shall be
But objects of variety.

I'll court you all to serve my turn,
But with such flames as shall not burn;
Then hang me, Ladies, at your door,
If e'er I doat upon you more.

WHITE GLOVES AT A MAIDEN ASSIZE.

A. D.

The practice of giving white gloves to judges at maiden assizes is one of the few relics of that symbolism so observable in the early laws of this as of all other countries; and its origin is doubtless to be found in the fact of the hand being, in the early Gernanic law, a symbol of power. By the hand property was delivered over or reclaimed, hand joined in hand to strike a bargain and to celebrate

espousals, &c. That this symbolism should sometimes be transferred from the hand to the glove (the hand-schuh of the Germans) is but natural, and it is in this transfer that we shall find the origin of the white gloves in question. At a maiden assize no criminal has been called upon to plead, or, to use the words of Blackstone, "called upon by name to hold up his hand;" in short, no guilty hand has been held up, and, therefore, after the rising of the court our judges (instead of receiving, as they did in Germany, an entertainment at which the bread, the glasses, the food, the linen -every thing, in short-was white) have been accustomed to receive a pair of white gloves. The Spaniards have a proverb, "white hands never offend;" but in their gallantry they use it only in

reference to the softer sex: the Teutonic races,

however, would seem to have embodied the idea, and to have extended its application.

WILLIAM J. THOMS.

A LIMB OF THE LAW, to a portion of whose Query, in No. 2. (p. 29.), the above is intended as a reply, may consult, on the symbolism of the Hand and Glove, Grimm Deutsches Rechtsaltherthümer, pp. 137. and 152., and on the symbolical use of white in judicial proceedings, and the after feastings consequent thereon, pp. 137. 381. and 869. of the same learned work.

[On this subject we have received a communication from F. G. S., referring to Brand's Popular Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 79., ed. 1841, for a passage from Fuller's Mixed Contemplations, London, 1660, which proves the existence of the practice at that time; and to another in Clavell's Recantation of an Ill-led Life, London, 1634, to show that prisoners, who received pardon after condemnation, were accustomed to present gloves to the judges:

"Those pardon'd men who taste their prince's loves, (As married to new life) do give you gloves."]

Mr. Editor, - "Anciently it was prohibited the Judges to wear gloves on the Bench; and at present in the stables of most princes it is not safe going in without pulling off the gloves." - Chambers Cyclopædia, A.D. MDCCXLI.

Was the presentation of the gloves a sign that the Judge was not required to sit upon the Bench - their colour significant that there would be no occasion for capital punishment? Embroidered gloves were introduced about the year 1580 into England.

"This

Or were gloves proscribed as the remembrancers of the gauntlet cast down as a challenge? is the form of a trial by battle; a trial which the tenant or defendant in a writ of right has it in his election at this day to demand, and which was the only decision of such writ of right after the Conquest, till Henry II., by consent of Parliament, introduced the Grand Assise, a peculiar species of trial by jury." - Blackstone, Commentaries,

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Sir, -Have the following contradictions in Cervantes' account of Sancho's ass "Dapple" ever been noticed or accounted for?

In Don Quixote, Part 1. chap. 23., we find Dapple's abduction at night by Gines de Passamonte; only a few lines afterwards lo! Sancho is seated on her back, sideways, like a woman, eating his breakfast. In spite of which, chap. 25. proves that she is still missing. Sancho tacitly admits the fact, by invoking "blessings on the head of the man who had saved him the trouble of unharnessing her." Chap. 30. contains her rescue from Passamonte.

Doctor Dove, of Doncaster.

MELANION.

The names of "Doctor Dove, of Doncaster," and his steed "Nobbs," must be familiar to all the admirers, in another word, to all the readers, of Southey's Doctor.

Many years ago there was published at Canterbury a periodical work called The Kentish Register. In the No. for September, 1793, there is a ludi

crous

letter, signed John Sinclair, then President of the Royal Agricultural Society; and in that letter there is frequent mention made of "Doctor Dobbs, of Don

"Agricola," addressed to Sir

caster, and his horse Nobbs." This coincidence

appears to be too remarkable to have been merely accidental; and it seems probable that, in the course of his multifarious reading, Southey had met with the work in question, had been struck with the comical absurdity of these names, and had unconsciously retained them in his memory. P. C. S. S.

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MS. of English Gesta Romanorum. Your work, which has so promising a commencement, may be regarded, as in one department, a depository of anecdotes of books. Under this head I should be disposed to place Notes of former possessors of curious or important volumes: and, as a contribution of this kind, I transmit a Note on the former possessors of the MS. of the Gesta Romanorum in English, which was presented to the British Museum in 1832, by the Rev. W. D. Conybeare, now Dean of Llandaff, and has been printed at the expense of a member of the Roxburgh Club. It is No. 9066 of the MSS. called Additional.

Looking at it some years ago, when I had some slight intention of attacking the various MSS. of the Gesta in the Museum, I observed the names of Gervase Lee and Edward Lee, written on a flyleaf, in the way in which persons usually inscribe their names in books belonging to them; and it immediately occurred to me that these could be no other Lees than members of the family of Lee of Southwell, in Nottinghamshire, who claimed to

descend from a kinsman of Edward Lee, who was Archbishop of York in the reign of Henry VIII., and who is so unmercifully handled by Erasmus. The name of Gervase was much used by this family

of Lee, and as there was in it an Edward Lee who had curious books in the time of Charles II., about whose reign the name appears to have been written, there can, I think, be little reasonable doubt that this most curious MS. formed a part of his library, and of his grandfather or father, Gervase Lee, before him.

Edward Lee, who seems to have been the last of the name who lived in the neighbourhood of Southwell, died on the 23rd of April, 1712, aged 76.

That he possessed rare books I collect from this: that the author of Grammatica Reformata, 12mo. 1683, namely John Twells, Master of the Free School at Newark, says, in his preface, that he owed the opportunity of perusing Matthew of Westminster "to the kindness of that learned patron of learning, William Lee, of Norwell, Esquire." And now, having given you a Note, I will add

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