256
NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. m. APRIL i, 1911.
In point of time the Seekers preceded the
Quakers. They were, however, entirely dis-
tinct from the Quakers, comprehending men
of every shade of belief, Protestant, Roman
Catholic, and even infidel. The Quakers were
at first called " Seekers " because they with-
drew from the communion of ever^ visible
Church to " seek the Lord in retirement."
After the rise of Quakerism the original
" Seekers " became known as Ranters. There
are numerous references to the original
" Seekers," but no very full or clear account
of them. See ' Baxter's Life and Times,'
Barclay's ' Anarchy of the Ranters,' and
- The Life and Death of Sir Henry Vane,'
1662.
For an account of religious sects during the Commonwealth, perhaps the American edition of Neal's ' History of the Puritans,' published in 1844, and bringing down the history to 1688, might be helpful. O.
INDEXES LOCORUM TO PRINTED PARISH REGISTERS (US. iii. 186). Indices Locorum are printed to all the issues of the Parish Register Society, and the Register Societies of Durham and Northumberland, Salop, Bucks, and most other county societies.
W. BRADBROOK, Hon. Sec. Bucks Par. Reg. Soc.
The Lancashire Parish Register Society has published 36 volumes of registers, and in every one of them is an Index of Places as well as of Names, and in nearly all there is a third Index, entitled ' Trades, and Miscellaneous Entries.'
The last index is found to be of great value, enabling the reader to see at a glance any peculiar entries without wading through the volume. By means of this index you can find out what were the trades or occupa- tions of the people of the parish and stray entries often of local interest. The follow- ing few samples from one small register (1606-1701) will illustrate this: Fustian weaver, milner, plumber, schoolmaster, Sir (parson), right of way acknowledged, god- parents, nativities cast, nicknames, &c.
HENRY FISHWICK.
The Heights, Rochdale.
Countless literary workers, including the undersigned, would warmly welcome the general adoption of the practice of includ ing place-names in parish-register indexes, although a shortsighted policy se< ms hitherto to 'have banned them as irrelevant. The circumstance that registers are usually printed in the interests of genealogists is not
an adequate answer to the present com-
Dlaint, for every pedigree worker will admit
- hat names associated with given localities
often possess a significance they totally lack when occurring in a distant county without any intimation of locality. Hence much . valuable information is, for practical pur- Doses, lost sight of, or non-existent, for ack of topographical indexes. I am aware that many registers are issued without 'ndexes of any kind, the extra expense being no inconsiderable matter in connexion with what are usually unrermmerative under- takings. But in those cases where printed registers are accompanied by indexes, I can scarcely conceive that the question of the small additional outlay operates to the ex- clusion of place-names, preferring to believe that it is partially a matter of unfortunate precedent, and partially ignorance of the really high importance of such a feature.
Personally, I have spent many days, that might otherwise have been saved, in perusing printed registers in search of topographical references. If this correspondence should lead to an amendment in future register indexes, there will be something to bo thank- ful for. A. STAPLETON. 39, Burford Road, Nottingham.
ATREBATUM (11 S. iii. 189). Atrebatum in Belgia is Arras, which was formerly in the province of Flanders.
LUDWIG ROSENTHAL.
Munich, Hildegard Str. 14.
PLAISTOW AND ITS PRODUCTS (11 S. iii. 208). The verses inquired for by MR. GLENNY appeared in The London Magazine for January, 1734, and are signed " Quin- tillanus Icenus." They are printed in full in the fourth edition of my ' Old Plaistow.' Except as a description of Plaistow in the eighteenth century, they have no value.
J. SPENCER CURWEN.
JORDAN NOT A TYPE or BAPTISM (11 S. iii. 184). Perhaps the connexion in thought between Jordan and baptism is partly explained by the words in the English Baptismal Office immediately following those- referring to the passage of the Red Sea. Iii the 1549 book they run : ' " And by the baptisme of thy welbeloved sone Jesus Christ, thou diddest sanctify the flud Jordan, and aT other waters, to this mistical washing away of sinne." In modern editions the sentence is altered to "by the baptism. . . .in Jordan didst sanctify water." There may be some
