3TO
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. XL MAY s, im
name of Landbote. The tenants of Lidford
claimed (by custom) to have such new
grants made to them on every occasion of
death or alienation, in addition to their old
customary tenements.
Can the South Tawton " botemen " have been Venville tenants who had been allowed to make small encroachments on the Dart- moor tract known as " South Tawton Common " ? But if so, why should pay- ments have been made to them ? In the account of 1552-3 there is the item " Rec. of William Home, for pasturing of sheep upon our Comons, vij d " ; and the following evidently refer to beating and marking the boundaries of the parish and its common :
1649. " Pd. for bread and beare when that the parish'ners yewed [sic] the bonds of our parish, vij 1 vij d ."
1752. " Pd. for meat, drink, and other expences in viewing the commons and setting up the bond stons in their proper places."
The word "yewed," by the way, in the 1649 extract, must, I think, be from the old verb yede, to go or wend, though the verb " view " is substituted in that of 1752.
In 1735 we have " pd. the Venville rent as usual, Ss. 4d." ETHEL LEGA-WEEKES.
Sunny Nook, Rugby Mansions, Addison Bridge, W.
CARLYLE AND FKEEMASONKY. Can any reader give me particulars of any writing by Carlyle regarding Freemasons ? It is
- said he wrote a pamphlet, or something of
the kind, all the copies of which were bought up by Freemasons. COLVILL SCOTT.
3, Wellington Mansions, Buckingham Gate.
" OLD ROGER " : " JOLLY ROGER" =THE PIRATE FLAG. All readers of books of ad- venture have long been acquainted with -what Stevenson in ' Treasure Island ' termed " the Jolly Roger the black flag of piracy "; nd it would be of interest to know how the term originated and when it came into common use. The adjective apparently was not always " Jolly," as may be judged from the following paragraph :
" They write from Rhode Island, that 26 of the Pirates, taken on board the Ranger, by Captain Solgard of the Greyhound, were executed there the 26th of July last. Their Black Flag, under which they had committed so many Piracies and Murthers, was affixed to one Corner of the Gallows ; It had in it the Portraiture of Death, with an Hour-Glass in one Hand, and a Dart in the other striking into a Heart ; and 3 drops of Blood delineated as falling from it. This Flag they call'd Old Roger, and used to say They would live, and dye, under it."
This appeared in the various weekly London journals of Saturday, 19 Oct., 1723 ; And it is quaint to add, from The Daily Courant of the previous Monday, that among
he executed pirates was one John Bright.
[t will be seen that not only was the name
of the pirate flag different from that to
which more recent generations have become
accustomed, but that it was of a decidedly
greater elaboration than the skull and cross-
Dones of the traditional " Jolly Roger " ;
and writers as well as readers of stories
of piracy may desire to have some light
thrown on the differences in development.
ALFRED F. ROBBINS.
[The last part issued of the ' N. E. D.,' s.v. 'Roger 2 ,' fourth section, quotes: "1785, Grose, 'Diet. Vulgar T.,' s.v. Roger, 'Jolly roger, a flag hoisted by pirates.' 1867, Smyth, ' Sailor's Word- bk.,' 'Jolly Roger, a pirate's flag ; a white skull in a black field.' " The next quotation is from ' Treasure Island.']
" JOLLY ROGER " INN. Can any of your correspondents inform me what meaning, if any, attaches to the " Jolly Roger " ? It is, I believe, used as the sign of an inn, and it has been suggested that it was the name of the flag flown by certain pirates.
EDITH W. HUTH. 48, Eaton Square, S.W.
[See above.]
TREYSSAC DE VERGY. In 1770 a pamphlet was published called ' The Lovers ; or, The Memoirs of Lady Sarah Bunbury and the Countess Percy,' by M. Treyssac de Vergy, Counsellor in the Parliament of Paris. Is anything known of the author ? The Monthly Review, vol. xli. p. 480, thus refers to him :
" De Vergy is an adventurer from the Con- tinent, who has for some years honoured this country with his presence, and seems to have taken up the trade of scribbling in its most dis- reputable branches."
Again in February, 1776, the same periodical speaks of " the celebrated Treysac de Vergy lately dead."
HORACE BLEACKLEY.
' ECCLESIA MlLITANS ' : MlCHAEL HlLT-
PRAND. I have a small book, the title-page of which is :
" Ecclesia Militans. | Tragi-comcedia Bipartita, Christianse, ejusdemque Catholicae fidei, incre- mentum, persecutiones, hsereses, et alias, ad supremum usque Judicii diem, vicissitudines varias comprehendens ; imprimis Sectariis atque Catholicis lectu et actu tarn jocunda quam utilis Scripta per Michaelum Hiltprandum, Silesium, Grotgaviensem. I.V.S. | Cum gratia et privi- legio Caes. Maiest. | Dilingse | Excudebat Se- baldus Mayer. | M.D.LXXIII."
The tragi-comedy is in the form of two Miracle Plays, if they can be correctly called so, in which actual persons (for example, the Twelve Apostles, the Emperors
