ii s. in. FEB. is, MIL] NOTES AND QUERIES.
133
MB. LANGTON'S query may be explained
plausibly by knowledge of the fact that
what in English we call " prickly pears "
are known in Italy as " prickly figs." They
abound in the island of Capri, and often, on
the voyage of 20 miles separating Capri from
Naples, have I seen the Neapolitan sailors
steep them in buckets of sea-water, and
cautiously draw them out, to extract the
thorns with a clasp knife, when the fig is
cooling and refreshing.
WILLIAM MERCER.
JOHN DE COSINGTON (11 S. iii. 67). In a reply s.v. Guichard d' Angle (ante, p. 73) I referred twice, incidentally, to Stephen de Cosinton. His name appears three times (possibly oftener) in the book to which I there referred, viz., ' Le Prince Noir Poeme du Heraut d'armes Chandos,' Lon- don & Paris, 1883 :
Apres furent li mareschaulx, Qui furent prodhomme et loiaulx. L'uns fut Stephen de Cosinton, Qui moult estoit noble person ; Et 1'autre le bon Guychard d'Angle.
Line 2279.
Sur la main destre fut Chaundos, Qui celi jour acquist grant los ; Estephenes de Cossyngtone, Johan Devereux, noble persone ; Et 1 fut li bon Guychard d'Angle.
Line 3229.
Monsieur Gwichard d'Angle fut mareschal, Et Estephen de Cosinton, qui ot coer loial.
Line 4193.
As to these three extracts see my reply, ante, p. 73. Without correction, according to "Errata" the last two references are 3259, 4223.
Concerning the first extract there is an editorial note (p. 357) in the book referred to :
" Stephen de Cosington we find first mentioned in the retinue of Henry, Earl of Derby, afterwards Duke of Lancaster, in the expedition of 1345. In 1349, he was appointed with Richard Talbot and John de Carleton to renew the oath of fealty in the towns of Flanders. In 1351, he was again appointed with Sir Frank van Hale, knight of the Garter, to treat with Louis, count of Flanders. In 1355, letters of protection were granted him, then in the retinue of the Prince of Wales. Letters of safe-conduct are again addressed to him, in paries transmarinas profecturits, dated the 16th April, 1364, and again on his going into Gascony, the 26th of June, in the same year. He appears to have been at Cre"cy, Poitiers and N&jera."
I think that M. DE LATJRME is in error in saying that the village of Cosington is in Lincolnshire. There is, or was, no village
of that name in Lincolnshire, according to
J. Adams's ' Index Villaris,' 1680 ; Stephen
Whatley's ' England's Gazetteer,' 1751 ;
or Samuel Lewis's * Topographical Dic-
tionary of England,' 1835.
In Leicestershire there are, or were, Cossington, 2| miles S.E. by E. from Mountsorrel, and Coston, 7 miles N.E. by E. from Melton Mowbray.
Also there is, or was, a Cossington or Cos- ton in Somerset, 4J miles N.E. by E. from Bridgwater, as well as Coston in Norfolk, 4 miles N.W. from Wymondham ; also Cossenton in Kent, N.W. from Maidstone ; also Coston in Salop.
William Berry in his ' Encyclopaedia Heraldica ' (no date, circa 1830), vol. ii., con- cerning armorial bearings of families, gives Cossington, Az., a rose or ; Cosington (Hampshire), Az., three roses or.
ROBERT PIERPOINT.
Cossington is a local name both in Leices- tershire and Somerset, but I do not remember hearing of it in Lincolnshire.
ST. SWITHIN.
There is a manor of Cosington in Kent. Hasted (vol. iv. p. 434) says it gave both residence and surname to the family of Cosenton or Cosington. There was a John de Cosington, 5 Edw. II., of this family. R. J. FYNMORE.
A family of this name was of some standing in Kent during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Among them were John, John his son, and Sir Stephen de Cosington, all living in 1345. There were also Costin- tons in Notts. OLD SARUM.
GUICHARD D'ANGLE (11 S. ii. 427, 472, 493 ; iii. 73). In the first reply on p. 472 Guichard is styled " d'Angle or d'Angolesme." It was long supposed that his name was derived from Angouleme, but Beltz, who investigated the family history, found that it was really derived from Angle, a small town near Charenton in Poitou. Guillaume d'Angle, great-grandfather of Guichard, was seigneur of Angle in 1220 (' Memorials of the Order of the Garter,' p. 182).
Although Guichard died without surviving male issue, he was not the last male of the family, as he had a nephew, William d'Angle, to whom he left the lands which he had acquired or might acquire in France, and all his lands in England (ibid., p. 187).
G. H. WHITE.
St. Cross, Harleston, Norfolk.
