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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. VIL JUNE 22, 1907.
WE must request correspondents desiring in-
formation on family matters of only private interest
to affix their names and addresses to their queries,
in order that answers may be sent to them direct.
' LORNA DOONE.' I have undertaken to
edit and illustrate a new issue of ' Lorna
Doone,' which is to be published in the
autumn by Messrs. Sampson Low & Co.,
Blackmore's original publishers. May I
appeal to your readers for unpublished
evidence, or for reference to published notes
which one is likely to have missed, on the
following points ?
1. The historical facts regarding the Doones. The principal theories are : (a) that they are distorted memories of Danes, of the time of Alfred the Great ; (6) that they were outlaws from the coast of Wales, across the Bristol Channel ; (c) that they were a miscellaneous crowd of outlaws (Western men and men from further up country), of whom the remnants died at the beginning of the last century ; and (d) that they were a Scottish party, of the time of Charles I., who remained in Devon for more than half a century, and then returned to their own land. It is possible that there is some truth in more than one of these theories.
2. The Doone legends earlier than the publication of * Lorna Doone.' The stories that can be clearly established seem to be of outrages : (a) near Minehead, a house sacked, but no person harmed at the time, though in consequence of the death of a young Doone, who had been wounded at the house, his comrades returned and slew every one in the house. (6) At Exford, where the Doones killed (and in one version ate) a child, saying :
If any one asks who killed thee, Tell 'em 'twas the Doones of Badgeworthy. Blackmore lays the scene of this at Martin- hoe, and adds the abduction of Chris. Badcock's wife, (c) Parsonage Farm(?), Oare, Amaid (or the mother) hastily hid, leaving a child. The Doones said, " Prick the calf, and the old cow '11 bellow," and pricked the child with their swords until it died, but the woman did not appear. (d) Yen worthy, a farm near Oare, was attacked, when a woman fired a " long gun," wounding one of the Doones so that his blood was tracked in the snow for miles.
So far as I know, (c) is unpublished, except by myself. It is a genuinely old story, gathered from the old folk, and seems
like a variant of (6). Can any one give
me other stories or other versions, with
assurance that they were known before
1869 ? I am particularly anxious to know
of any old suggestion as to the final fate of
the Doones, and stories of atrocities which
are said to have stirred the country-side
to their extinction.
3. Proofs of the legendary existence of others of Blackmore's characters before he wrote of them. Tom Faggus, Mother Melldrum, De Wichehalse, and certain other characters are well known in history or legend ; but the originals of Jan Ridd, John Fry, Jeremy Stickles, and others are more difficult, though there have been claims of descent from Jan Ridd, and of relationship to " girt Jan," in plenty since ' Lorna Doone ' was written. Of course,, there are many Ridds (Redds or Rudds) descended from those of the same name who lived in Exmoor in the time of Black- more, or in the time with which he dealt in his story ; but what one needs is to be quite sure which Jan Ridd was in Black- more's mind, and whether any " girt Jan' T really existed in tradition before 1869.
Any other suggestion elucidating the bases of the story will be gratefully received,, followed up, and acknowledged.
Replies should be sent to me direct.
H. SNOWDEN WARD.
Golden Green, Hadlow, Kent.
[The Rev. Dr. Cox and others had some articles on the subject in The Athenccum in 1905. See the numbers for 26 August and 2, 9, and 16 September.)
BARTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL, WESTMOR- LAND. Wanted, for a history of the school, notes of careers of masters subsequent to leaving the school, viz., John Martin, Thomas Preston, and Christopher Mickleton, between 1649 and 1673.
The years in the following instances denote the dates of leaving : Thomas Myers (1798), John Webster (1804), Henry Hogarth (1811), John Mattinson (1812), Henry Thompson (1822), Thomas Stockham (1862).
All but Stockham were, I believe, clergy- men. HENRY BRIERLEY.
Thornhill, Wigan.
CHIGWELL SCHOOL. In ' Chigwell ; or, Prseteritos Annos,' a poem by James Smith, joint author of ' Rejected Addresses,' re- cording the memories of his schooldays, the following names of his schoolfellows occur : Belson, Chamberlaine, Black, Bates, Jack Cumberlege, Yates, Charles and Walter Burrell, Bolton, Cowel, Parker, Ware, Medley, and Roberts. The two Burrells were
