336
NOTES AND QUERIES. [10* s. n. OCT. 22,
in stating that " the need for parish con-
stables has long ceased to exist"? I trow
not ; for I am aware that they still fill a very
useful position in every village in this locality.
The Parish Councils are obliged to recom-
mend a man annually from a list of those
qualified to fill the office, and the man so
recommended, if approved by the magis-
trates, is bound to serve. His duties consist
in carrying out the work of a police con-
stable at any time that officer may be absent
from the village, either on his beat or on
holiday, and also personally communicating
with the coroner and empanelling a jury in
cases of sudden death or suicide. He has in
his possession a pair of handcuffs and an
official staff. Our parish constable here died
recently, and within a week or two of accept-
ing his office his successor had, in the absence
on holiday of the police constable stationed
here, to take a drunken man to the
lock-up and summon coroner and jury to
hold an inquest on a man who was acci-
dentally killed. The office of parish con-
stable is certainly no sinecure in many
villages. JOHN T. PAGE.
West Haddon, Northamptonshire.
MR. HOLCOMBE INGLEBY seems to infer that the overseers at Heacham only appoint the parish constable in accordance with ancient custom, and that it is merely a survival of an old-time usage. Such, how- ever, is not the case. There is still in existence an Act of Parliament, which is rigidly enforced in this and other neighbour- hoods, whereby it is essential that a certain number of honorary special or parish con- stables shall be sworn in as such in October of every year.
MR. INGLEBY would be interested in the article on 'Constable' in the 'National Encyclopaedia,' and I draw his special atten- tion to 5 & 6 Viet. c. 109, stat. 1 & 2 William IV c. 41, and the 83rd section of the Municipal Keform Act ; also the Act 5 & 6 William IV, c. 43, and 1 & 2 Viet. c. 80. I had a note on this subject at 8 th S. vi. 488.
In connexion with Pindars, Way- Ward ens Dyke-Reeves, &c., the custom obtains to th< present day throughout the whole of England and in a few weeks' time one will scarcely get hold of a newspaper without seeing som account of the different Courts Leet having hojden their meetings for the election of the officers in question and many others.
CHAS. F. FORSHAW, LL.D.
Baltimore House, Bradford.
FONT CONSECRATION (10 th S. ii. 269). Th form for the benediction of a font is printei
!.#.) in the 'York Manual,' Surtees Society,
ol. Ixiii. pp. 10-16. W. C. B.
The ritual for the benediction of a font nay be seen in Maskell's ' Monumenta litualia Ecclesise Anglicanae/ edition of 1846, ol. i. pp. 13-21. EDWARD PEACOCK.
In reply to Q. W. V., I may state that here is no such ceremony as the "consecra- ion " of a font. The font is not consecrated, ut the water for baptism is blessed. The lessing takes place on Holy Saturday and >n Whitsun-eve, during the ceremony known as the "Blessing of the Font" though the ont itself is not blessed. For full informa- ion, vide 'The Liturgical Year' (Passion tide- and ^Holy Week ; Holy Saturday, morning service), by Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B.,, Abbot of Solesmes. Should this water, how- ever, not be available, there is a special 'blessing" to be found in the Roman Ritual "or use extra tempus. See 'Rituale Romanum/ under the heading " Benedictio Fontis Bap- ismi, extra Sabbatum Paschse et Pentecostes,. cum aqua consecrata non habetur." B. W.
I do not think Q. W. V. can do better than consult the * Cseremoniale Episcoporum ' for a description of the ceremony of consecrating, a font. JOHN HOBSON MATTHEWS.
Monmouth.
The benediction of the font will be found in Mabillon's 'Vetus Missale Gallicanum/
C. 25, p. 362. J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.
HOLY MAID OF KENT (10 th S. ii. 268). We- have an engraving by Taylor from the picture by A. Tresham, published by Bowyer in 1796~ The size is 11 in. by 8 in., and the price 5s. WHITEHOUSE JAMES.
49, Knight abridge, S.W.
See 'Richard Masters, Parson of Aldyngton, 1514 to 1558,' by A. D. Cheney, in Journal of the British Archaeological Association^, April, 1904, pp. 15-28.
HERBERT SOUTHAM.
Innellan, Shrewsbury.
If your correspondent will turn to vol. ff.
L609 of 'Granger's Wonderful Museum/ ndon, 1804, he will find a long account of Elizabeth Barton, born at Aldington, Kent, in 1505, and for some time a menial servant to a farmer there. She was subject to hysteric fits, and the priests set her up as- a person inspired by the Holy Ghost, which she was foolish enough to believe. The Holy Maid and her accomplices were tried for high treason at the Court of Star Chamber,, where they confessed the whole trick. Accordingly the Court ordered them to suffer
