238
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io tu s. in. MARCH 25, 1905.
were presented by action instead of words.
Mrs. Gomrae, however, does not suggest that
children have preserved in the game an old
play but that in this and similar games they
have preserved methods of acting and detail
(now styled traditional), as given in an early
or childish period of the drama, as, for
example, in the mumming plays (see ed. 1898,
vol. ii. pp. 16-25).
In Argyleshire the central figure is called Genesis. The children gather round Genesis, who is lying on the ground, and act as if dressing her dead body. When this is done they carry her some distance, and profess to bury her. While so engaged, they go round about her, weeping and wringing their hands, when, in the middle of the com- motion, Genesis starts up, and all rush off in every direction, shouting "Genesis's ghost ! while Genesis gives chase. The one she catches becomes Genesis, and the game is played over again. (See 'The Games and Diversions of Argyleshire,' by R. C. Maclagan, 1901, p. 121, Folk-lore Society.)
J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.
Dobbin is a provincialism, and by Halli- well's ' Dictionary ' means an old jaded horse; hence the expression "Old Dobbin is dead."
EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.
"PERIT" (10 th S. iii. 166). It turns out that this wordcZoes occur in the document of 1564 to which I called DR. MURRAY'S attention, On fo. 6 I read :
"Inecessarylydevydeadroyteinto ...... peryottes
which I so call because the mynters vse that name .They doe devyde a droyte into 20 peryottes and a peryott into 24 blanckes." This spelling suggests a wild excursion into etymology : that " peryottes " were named as being irepi beyond I'WTOI a jot. ] hope DR. SKKAT will deal mercifully witl m e. ROBT. J. WHITWELL.
Oxford.
NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.
The Chronicle of the English Augustinian Canonesse
Remilar of the Lateran at St. Monica's in Louvain
now at St. Augwt.ine's Priori/, Newton Allot
Devon 154S to 1025. Edited by Dom Adair
Hamilton, O.S.B. (Sands & Co.)
DOM ADAM HAMILTON has done useful work i
editing the 'Chronicle of the English Convent a
Louvain,' and has, moreover, carried out what h
has undertaken very well. The members of thi
house, who returned to the old land some time ago
have exercised a wise judgment in permitting thei
arly annals to be published. The part of thei
uronicle here given extends from 1548 to 1625.
Ve believe the record goes down to a later period.
E so, we trust that in good time the editor will
rint a further portion, which in any case cannot
ail to be of interest, and will in all probability
xtend our knowledge of the great civil war, and
f the madness which goes by the name of " The
'opish Plot." There is a sort of connexion,
hough it is but a shadowy one, between the
Newton Abbot priory and pre-Reformation times,
n 1265 Richard, King of the Romans, founded a
ouse of Augustinian Canonesses at Burnham, in
3uckinghamshire. It was suppressed in 1539, and
n its case the Royal Commissioners bore witness
o the blameless life of the sisterhood. Elizabeth
Voodford, one of the ejected nuns, forms the sole
ink between the old world and the new. She
ivas a daughter of Robert Woodford, of Bright-
^ell. Soon after the suppression of her old home,
A* here, doubtless, she had hoped to end her days in
jeace, she went to live in the house of Dr. Clement,
,vho had some years before married Margaret
jriggs, the adopted daughter of Sir Thomas More.
Jlement, who practised medicine in Essex, remained
,here during the life of Henry VIII., but, as an
ardent Roman Catholic, he could not endure the
state of things which came about when the ministers
of the young king were in power ; so he and his
'amily removed to Louvain, and Elizabeth Wood-
- ord, who had become a regular member of the
Household, accompanied them. Soon after her arrival there she entered a convent of her old order ,n Louvain, which was dedicated to St. Ursula. While residing in the Clements' family, she had been what we should now call the governess of their little daughter Margaret, who in due time became also a nun at St. Ursula's. The mother of Margaret was a noteworthy woman, from her having run great risks in giving succour to the Charterhouse monks in the long torture which they endured before their execution. Margaret would therefore, we may be sure, be received all the more gladly. A legend is given by the editor of how, when dying, the mother saw the Charterhouse monks standing by her bed and summoning her to join them. As time went on, and the penal laws became enforced with greater rigour, the daughters of several English families who still clung to the proscribed form of worship joined the Augustinian Canonesses. So far as we can make out from the ' Chronicle,' they were kindly treated by their Flemish sisters ; but, as was only natural, the English ladies desired to have a home of their own. This was not accomplished without long and weary waiting. Many delays had to be endured and difficulties overcome, but an English house was provided early in the seventeenth century, and there from time to time the daughters of our old Catholic families were received. Among them are the names of Herbert, Vaughan, Blundel, Allen, Tremain, Pole, Bedinfield, and Copley ; and many others of the same class will be encountered by those who care to glance at the index.
Dom Adam Hamilton has divided the original into chapters, and compiled a preface for each. These additions contain valuable information, and also illustrate matters which, had we the original alone at hand, might have been regarded as obscure. He has, furthermore, added pedigrees of some of the more important families, members of which are often mentioned in the ' Chronicle.' These we have examined carefully, and have failed to detect any errors. Many side issues are illustrated by
