10 th S. I. JAN. 2, 1904.]
NOTES AND QUERIES.
17
which his studies were scandalized." Dr.
Dee's methods must have been highly
approved of by these two long-headed com-
missioners, for the queen afterwards sent
Dee 100 marks by the hands of Sir Thomas
Gorges. THORNE GEORGE.
CROWNS is TOWER OR SPIRE OF CHURCH (9 th S. xii. 485). The spire of St. Nicholas's, Newcastle (a cathedral since 1882), built in 1474, is 200ft. high, and, being supported by flying buttresses, is a unique feature in Eng- lish cathedral churches. It seems to have inspired the similar spires at St. Giles's, Edinburgh ; the Tron Church, Glasgow ; King's College, Aberdeen ; and Wren's poor copy at St. Dunstan's-in-the-East, London. The still existing towers of Linlithgow and Haddington once possessed other editions of this Newcastle crown. The south-western tower of Rouen Cathedral, the Tour de Beurre, is surmounted by an octagonal lan- tern, which in its turn is finished by a carved parapet, said to represent the ducal coronet of Normandy. A beautiful drawing of this tower exists, made by Ruskin in 1835 under the influence of Prout. Begun in 1487
- and completed in 1507 by Jacques le
lloux the Tour de Beurre contained the great bell " Georges d'Amboise," the largest out- side Russia, which cracked with grief in 1786 at being called upon to ring for Louis XVI.
A. R. BAYLEY.
[R. B R mentions the spires at Newcastle and Aberdeen.]
" GOD'S SILLY VASSAL" (9 th S. xii. 447). In September; 1593, when, after the Reforma- tion, things were unsettled, the Provincial Assembly of the Church of Scotland met at St. Andrews and excommunicated the Catholic lords, who a year afterwards fled from Scotland, but were recalled in 1596. The General Assembly, suspecting that James VI. favoured the lords, resolved to learn the truth from himself, and in Sep- tember commissioned Andrew Melville (Rec- tor of the University of St. Andrews) and others to appear before his Majesty at Falk- land Palace. The king received them, but .plainly showed he was in no mood to brook interference, and declared their coming to be without warrant and seditious. This was more than the redoubtable Andrew could submit to. James Melville, who was present, says in his ' Autobiography and Diary ' {Edinburgh, 1842) that thereupon Mr. Andrew " brak put upon the king in sa aealus and unresistible a maner, that, how- beit the king used his authority in a most eolerik maner, Mr. Andrew bore him down,"
and declared his warrant to be from the
mighty God, calling the king but God's silly
vassal, and, taking him by the sleeve, told
him, in no measured language, that there
were two kings and two kingdoms in Scot-
land. There was Christ Jesus the King and
his kingdom the Kirk, whose subject King
James was, and of which kingdom he was
not a king, nor a lord, nor a head, but a mere
member. He also told the king that when
he was in his 4i swadling-cloutes " the Kirk
ever looked after his welfare, and would not
permit him now to be drawn to his own
destruction by the " devillische and maist per-
nicius Counsall " he had about him ; and much
more to the like effect. In the end the king
gave way, and dismissed them pleasantly,
and protested that the lords would get no
grace at his hands till they had satisfied the
Kirk. J. L. ANDERSON.
See P. Hume Brown's ' Hist, of Scotland,' ii. 224, and J. R. Green's 'Short History,' sec. v. chap. viii. C. S. WARD.
[Replies also from MR. T. P. ARMSTRONG and G. H. W.]
BEADNELL (9 th S. xii. 469). I suggest that MR. SANDFORD should write to the members of the Beadnell family whose names he already possesses. Other references are : William H. Beadnell, picture-frame maker, Glasgow ; James Beadnell, tailor, Leeds ; William Ernest Beadnell, mechanic. Leeds ; Charles Marsh Beadnell, M.R.C.S. Eng., L.R.C.P. Lond., L.S.A. (1895), surgeon in the Royal Navy ; and George David Beadnell, M.R.C.S. Eng., LR.C.P. Edin. (1872), in prac- tice at Denman Island, British Columbia. CHAS. F. FORSHAW, LL.D., F.R Hist.S.
This name does not occur in any directory I have been able to consult before 1839.
In the ' Royal Blue Books ' for the years 1839 to 1842 are these entries :
" Beadnell, John, Esq. 2 Lombard b : ; Totten- ham, Middx. ; Castel-y-l)ale, near Xewtown, Mont- gomeryshire."
"Beadnell, George, Esq. 2 Lombard S : : Myfod, Montgomeryshire."
In the 'Royal Blue Books' for 1S43 and 1844 George Beadnell appears as above, but John Beadnell's only address is Tottenham. In 1845 neither name occurs.
JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.
I remember a Mr. Henry Beadnell, a proof- reader in the office of Messrs. Cox t Wyman, Great Queen Street, printers to the East India Company. He was a man of some culture, and published some works on typo- graphy, and a small volume of original verse and translations. There is a Mr. H. J.
