name

the painted bust was brought by a member of the
Grenville family from Spain, as it is known they
had considerable intercourse with that country.
The pedestal is an early eighteenth century con-
struction of wood, evidently English, in which the
terra-cotta is fixed. The inscription, as quoted by
your correspondent, is in roman capitals (the
"Donatello" being in outrageously mispro-
portioned letters) of, say, about 1720 to 1740.
The "gentleman from the South Kensington
Museum" stated distinctly his belief that the
work was not by Donatello, and his opinion was
afterwards confirmed by the fact that the owner
of the busts exhibited at the Trocadéro Palace
simply described them as Italian," and evidently
did not regard them as by Donatello; as he would
have been but too glad to have ascribed them to
that master if he could have done so truly.
GEORGE WALLIS, F.S.A.

South Kensington Museum.

Whitwood, wth severall other lands & leases of very conWestrid' of Yorkshire in the six & thirtieth yeare of siderable yearly Revenue, was Justice of Peace in the Raigne of Queen Elizabeth of famous memory, married Dorothy, daughter of the Right Honble Lord Wentworth of the South, widow & relict of S Witton Widmerpoole, Knt., who survived him, and was after married to St John Savile, Knt., one of the Barons of had noe issue, left his whole Estate to Captain Peter the Exchequer at Westminster, but the said St Martin Frobisher his kinsman.*

"It is reported that whilst he was at Sea he made his willt & devised all his Estate to his kinsman Captain publishing of his said will an old officer under him Peter Frobisher, who then was wth him and upon the desired him to consider well thereof, for his kinsman was a weake man & not fit to manage the Estate, that he had other kindred as near as he was, and more able of parts to manage it. To the weh he replyd, My will shall stand. Itt (meaning his Estate) was gotten at Sea, it will never thrive long at Land; wch proved too true.

Captain Peter Frobisher was son of John, eldest brother of Sir Martin.

"Peter Frobisher, Esq., cozen & adopted heire unto S Martin, was Justice of peace in the Westriding of Yorkshire, the fifth year of King James of happy memory, married in London, but had noe issue, conSIR MARTIN FROBISHER (6th S. iii. 108).-Assumed & sold all his estate left him by Sr Martin Froto the birthplace and parentage of this celebrated bisher his kinsman, & dyed in or about the city of English navigator, I do not know that C. B. can London very necessitous obscurely." do better than refer to Hunter's South Yorkshire, vol. i. p. 32, and to the excellent biography by Rev. Frank Jones, B.A., of Glossop (8vo., Longmans, 1878). It had been presumed that this naval hero was a native of Doncaster from the fact of the surname frequently appearing in the early registers of the parish church; but Hunter writes, there seems no reason to deprive the little village of Altofts, near Wakefield, of the honour of having produced this truly eminent man." It is very certain the family had been for several generations farming the Crown lands there, and that these were held under leases by Sir Martin at his death. Mr. Hunter further remarks:"In some genealogical memoranda of nearly contemporary date it is stated that Bernard was the father of Sir Martin by a daughter of appear in the Visitation, but it receives some corrobora

66

York. This does not

tion from the circumstance that Sir Martin is known to have had a sister named Margaret, and the baptism, on Feb. 10, 1541, of Margaret, daughter of Bernard Frobisher, is registered at Normanton, in which parish Altofts is situated. Bernard is named in the Visitation

of Yorkshire, 1563, as second son of John Frobisher, of Altofts (by daughter of Richard Friston, of Altofts), son of another John by, according to Hopkinson, Joan, daughter of William Scargill, of Thorpe-Stapleton, near Leeds, whereby the relationship of Sir Martin to George Gascoigne the poet is accounted for."

Further, Sir Martin was one of the supervisors nominated in the will of his kinsman John Fryston, of Altofts and Gray's Inn, dated Nov. 26, 37 Eliz. In Harl. MS. 4630, f. 190, are the following particulars about him worth transcribing:

"Sr Martin Frobisher was seised in fee farme of the Lordshipp of Altoftes, where he builded a house near the Parke, the mannors of Warmfield cum Heath &

* A capital messuage in Altofts called Frobisher Hall, as we learn from the Inq. p.m.

It has been supposed that the navigator was a native of Finningley, Notts, because a Martin, son of William Frobisher, Esq., was baptized there Oct. 6, 1591. This William was son of Francis Frobisher, Recorder of Doncaster, first cousin of Sir Martin if son of Bernard, which there can be no reason to doubt. Lands in Finningley had been bought by Sir Martin, but I do not know that there was any prior connexion of the family with this place. Frobishers or Furbishours were to be found in Wakefield and its neighbourhood as early as the time of Richard II.; so Hopkinson's pedigree, bringing them from Chirk, in North Wales, is rather improbable. Perhaps the original "furbishour" of armour from whom the family had its name lived and plied his craft in that very town. A. S. ELLIS.

Westminster.

There are numerous entries of the Frobisher family in the parish registers of Wakefield and Normanton, Yorkshire. There was also a family of that name living in Crofton, a parish about three miles from Wakefield, only a few years ago; most likely they are there now. They believed themselves to be the direct descendants of Sir Martin, and, so far as I recollect, at one time intended to prove their right to some property in the neighbourhood, but gave up the attempt on discovering that some pages in the parish registers

*Here follows the character given of him by Fuller in his English Worthies.

His will was made and signed at sea, Aug. 4, 1594. Mr. Jones printed it as an appendix to his book.

21. 2s. I bought a very fine large copy, 1478, a few years ago for two guineas. About the same time I bought an excellent copy of Koburger's Bible, 1477, in the original monastic binding, with clasps and corners quite perfect, for four guineas. Koburger was a fine printer, but his productions are more plentiful than those of any other early printer whatever. An excellent plan for H. P. to get to know the value of his book would be to put it in a sale at Sotheby's with a reserve upon it. They would describe it accurately in their catalogue, and if of any value, from rarity of edition or any other reason, some bookseller would bid the value of it. This would cost very little.

I know MR. PLATT is wrong when he calls attention to the "three English editions of this work," for the excellent reason that I have another edition besides those mentioned, printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1512. Unfortunately it wants twelve or fourteen leaves, for any one of which I should be most happy to give a guinea, or twenty guineas for the whole fourteen. If any reader of "N. & Q." can tell me of another imperfect copy I shall take it as a very great favour. It has the rare title. R. R.

Boston, Lincolnshire.

BOYS EXECUTED IN ENGLAND SIXTY YEARS

AGO (6th S. iii. 148).-I suppose that down to the passing of Sir Robert Peel's Acts, 4 to 10 George IV. 1824-9, boys would be liable to be executed in the same lavish way that they were less than fifty years before that time. It may be remembered that Samuel Rogers saw a cartful of young girls on their way to be executed at Tyburn for the part they had taken in the Gordon riots, and that he said :

"Greville was present at one of the trials consequent their own excessive amazement, to be hanged. Never, on those riots, and heard several boys sentenced, to said Greville, with great naïveté, did I see boys cry so.' -Table Talk, pp. 181-2. ST. SWITHIN.

The following passage from Blackstone may help to elucidate this subject :--

"Thus also, in still later times, a boy of ten years old was convicted on his own confession of murdering his bedfellow, there appearing in his whole behaviour plain tokens of a mischievous discretion; and as the sparing this boy merely on account of his tender years might be of dangerous consequence to the public, by propagating a notion that children might commit such atrocious the judges that he was a proper subject of capital crimes with impunity, it was unanimously agreed by all

The marginal reference is to Foster, 72. See also Archbold's Criminal Pleadings, pp. 17, 18, ed. 1878.

EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M.A.

"JACK SPRAT" (6th S. iii. 149).—It does one good to learn that enthusiasts in folk-lore have been able to discern in the old rhyme "an emblem of a rapacious clergy and an equally greedy aris-punishment."-4 Bl. Com., 24. tocracy devouring the substance of the commons," for it seems very unlikely that even the author of the lines himself was at all aware of the very deep meaning that was latent in them. I say this Allow me to mention the following circumbecause latter-day research warrants the belief that the original story had reference to the stance in illustration of this subject, though it On March domestic economy of individuals, and not to the took place almost a decade earlier. rapacity of any class or classes whatsoever. It is 24, 1812, the factory at Westhoughton, in Lancanot so many years ago since some literary journal-membered, were the days when the Orders in shire, was burnt by rioters. Those, be it rewas it the Athenæum ?-contained a paragraph Council prevailed, and everything was up at very attractive to the scissors of newspaper comfamine price. pilers, which identified Jack Sprat; and woe is me that I have forgotten with whom. An early version of the rhyme, from Howell's Collection of Proverbs, published 1659, is given by Halliwell in Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales, p. 17. It

runs:

"Archdeacon Pratt would eat no fatt,
His wife would eat no lean;
'Twixt Archdeacon Pratt and Joan his wife
The meat was eat up clean."

ST. SWITHIN.

The earliest form of the rhyme which I know is :

"Archdeacon Spratt could eat no fatt, his wife could eat no lean, and

"Twixt Archdeacon Pratt and Joan his wife the meat was eat up clean."

"Topical Proverbs" in J. Howell's Proverbs, p. 20, Lon., 1659.

Several were tried by a special commission at Lancaster for the offence on June 1 the same year. Five concerned in the riot were sentenced to death, four of whom were adults and one of them a boy of only twelve years of age, named Abraham Charlesworth. He went on crutches to the place of execution at Lancaster, on June 11, 1812, and is said to have cried when there for his mother (see Manchester Guardian, "Notes and Queries" column, No. 623, Jan. 25, 1875). JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

MERSHELL, WATCHMAKER (6th S. iii. 149). -The only Mershell or Marshall, for the name is the same, during the time mentioned by your correspondent MR. DOWLING, of whose identity the wills in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury afford any proof, was Samuel Marshall, Citizen

66

314

66

was presented to Mr. Cunningham by the poet's brother, while C. R. R. says the gift was made by Mrs. Burns. I am not aware that the extract now given has ever appeared. I have also a newspaper with the account of a presentation made to the widow of the poet, of a pair of silver candlesticks, tray, snuffers, &c.; as also a succeeding number of the same paper, containing Mrs. Burns's letter of thanks. I shall be glad to give extracts, if of any ALFRED CHAS. JONAS. interest.

and Clockmaker of London." Will dated Oct. 8, 1747, and proved by John Newbery, the executor named in the will, Nov. 13, 1750 (Greenly, 363). He mentions my brother-in-law John Aris," my half brothers William Marshall and George Marshall, and my half sister Mary Whittle." He was buried at St. Bride's, Fleet Street, Nov. 11, "John Aris and Sarah 1750, aged fifty-three. Marshall" were married at Somerset House Chapel in 1736. Swansea. The will of his grandmother, Mary Marshall, of "A LIVERPOOL GENTLEMAN," &c. (6th S. iii. St. Bride's, widow, is dated Oct. 13, 1742. Gives a Liverpool gentleman," 148). I have heard of " pepper-box and marrow-spoon to George (sic); "all a Manchester man,' a Houdham [an Oldham] my clothes to Mary Whittle, my daughter, and to my grand-daughter Mary Marshall, share and share alike"; mentions son William Marshall chap," and "a Rachdill felly [Rochdale fellow]." The origin of such distinctions seems obvious (I suppose the father of Samuel the clockmaker); enough to a certain extent, at any rate. Liverto John Whittle, sen., three ells of cloth for a shirt; same to John Whittle and his brother Peter pool's merchant princes and their sons are more commonly gentlemen than is your Manchester if enough; same to Sam. Marshall, "my grand-business man." In other Lancashire towns the

son."
Jan. 27, 1742, James West, of the parish of
St. Bridget, otherwise Bride's, London, clockmaker,
made oath that on October 13 last Mary Mar-
shall, of the parish of St. Bride's aforesaid, widow,
deceased, sent for him to take down her mind to
make her children easy after she was dead.
Deceased meant by George her son George.
Administration in P.C.C. to George Marshall, the
son, Feb. 4, 1742 (Boycott, 48).

There were other Marshalls in St. Bride's about this period, very likely related to these people. Administration of goods of Edward Marshall, of parish of St. Bride's, London, was granted to Sarah his relict, Nov. 15, 1714, in the Commissary Court of London. The will of Samuel Marshall, of St. Bride's, London, was proved in that court by Hannah Marshall his relict, August 24, 1732. If your correspondent will take the trouble to follow out the clues above given I fancy he will be able to identify his watchmaker with certainty.

GEORGE W. MARSHALL.

SOME POETICAL PAMPHLETS (6th S. iii. 107).With regard to Mr. A. Cunningham, Burns, and his punch-bowl, the following may be of some interest. It is from the Courier, April 21, 1814:— "The Bowl is of Black or Inverary Marble, and is elegantly mounted in Silver, around the rim the following verse is engraven :

'Ye whom social pleasure charms,

Whose heart the tide of Kindness Warms,
Who hold your being on the terms,
"Each aid the others,"

Come to my Bowl! come to my Arms

My friends, my brothers!'

This valued and social relic had been presented, by the
Brother of Burns, to one of the most esteemed of the
Bard's surviving friends; and in consequence of that
gentleman's death is now for sale at Mr. Morton's,
Jeweller, Princes Street, Edinburgh."

"British workmen run so thick that they are
than their few resident
thought of rather
"fellow" may be, I
between a "chap" and a
66
that a
employers, though what the precise difference
chap" is
cannot say; but should suppose
J. T. F.
a "fellow" of a rougher sort.

Bp. Hatfield's Hall, Durham.

I have been told that the origin of these distinctions is as follows:-Old Herbert, a member of the firm of Jones & Herbert, of Chester, was driver and part owner of the coach between Chester and Birkenhead. One day in the summer of 1838, or thereabouts, on his return from Birkenhead, he pulled up, as usual, at Backford, about two and a half miles from Chester, and went into the inn. He was asked by some one in the barparlour whom he had with him. He replied that he had "four of 'em, a gen'leman from Liverpool, a man from Manchester, a fella from Wigan, and a chap from Bowton [Bolton]." I should doubt, though, myself, whether Herbert did more than to put into neat collocation four already current G. GLEADOWwe. local terms.

95, Mount Street, W.

AN EARLY SPELLING REFORMER (6th S. iii. 166). -The Arrainment of Christendom is by George Fox, the founder of Quakerism, and it has already been referred to in "N. & Q." The advantages to be obtained by the improved spelling will be found set forth in "N. & Q.," 5th S. ix. 105. MR. MACALISTER seems surprised that spelling reform should have been attempted so long ago. A whole library of books on the subject had, however, been published before Fox joined the reformers.

H. B. W.

CHURCHES POLLUTED BY MURDER (6th S. ii. 466). -The canon law originally provided for the reconFrom this extract it appears Burns's punch-bowl | secration of a church after bloodshed (which meant