Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/283

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n s. in. APRIL s, mi.] NOTES AND QUERIES.


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appearing in crimson folds about his waist. A copy of this curious print hung for half a century over the parlour fireplace of a tavern in London- derry. It was seen by the author a few years ago, in the possession 'of the late Lieut/Walker of the Royal Navy, who kindly permitted him to have a copy taken of it. About eighty years ago either the original or a copy of Kneller's portrait of the venerable hero was in possession of Mr. Hunter, a painter in Dublin ; from it, tradition says, the likeness of Walker on the tapestry of the Irish House of Lords was taken. It was sold by Mr. Hunter to Mr. Joshua Deane of Palace Row, Dublin, who claimed a collateral descent from Walker. In his house it remained for fifty years, and after his death it was purchased by John Boyd, Esq., by whose permission it is carried annually on the 7th of December to Morrison's Hotel, in Dublin, where a numerous and highly respectable Society of the descendants of the defenders of Londonderry assemble to honour the glorious memory of their ancestors."

The frontispiece to the volume is a portrait of Walker as above described, with the addi- tion of a pistol stuck in the sash, " from the tapestry in the House of Lords & eng d by Kirkwood & Son."

THE EDITOR ' IRISH BOOK LOVER.'

While in London, Walker sat to Kneller by the King's desire, and the engraved portrait has been reproduced by Canon P. Dwyer {' Siege of Londonderry in 1689,' London, 1893), who mentions various relics (p. 135n.). Walker's portrait was also engraved by Peter Vanderbank in 1689, as well as by Loggan, R. White, Schenck, and others.

A. R. BAYLEY.

LADY O'LOONEY'S (MRS. JANE MOLONY'S) EPITAPH (11 S. iii. 108, 154, 190). There are two epitaphs in a like strain at 6 S. ii. 404, where others are referred to.

J. T. F.

RICHARD ROLLE : ' THE PRICK OF CON- SCIENCE ' (11 S. iii. 227). In addition to other MSS. of Richard Rolle of Hampole, there have been at least two of ' The Prick of Conscience ' in the Phillipps Collection, so far as that wonderful library has been dispersed at Sotheby's. I do not know if exact references to these two MSS. will be helpful to Miss ALLEN. They were both fifteenth-century MSS. on vellum.

One was lot 596, 12 June, 1896, and con- sisted of 274 pages in fine preservation, with the following note by the cataloguer :

This manuscript of Harnpole's famous poem differs very considerably from other manuscripts of this work, and Sir Thomas Phillipps suggests that it is a paraphrase of it by Thomas of Arundel."

The second MS. was lot 670, 8 June, 1899, and consisted of 236 pages ; it belonged to


Thomas Bower in 1615. Mr. Quaritch purchased it for 26?., and he may be able to trace the MS. to its present owner.

W. ROBERTS. 18, King's Avenue, Clapham Park, S.W.

A MS. copy of 'The Prick of Conscience, 5 "differing considerably from other MSS.," was sold by Messrs. Sotheby in 1896, and acquired by Mr. Quaritch for 29Z. 10s.

Allibone refers to various sources where the question of authorship is discussed.

S. W. S.

I am not sure of the date, but I think an important manuscript of ' The Prick of Conscience ' was sold about the year 1903 by. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, in whose catalogue it will be found described as being " on vellum in English verse of the end of the fourteenth century." It was formerly the property of the famous Man- chester philanthropist Humphrey Chetham, and was found in a loft at Pennington Hall, near Leigh in Lancashire, the seat of the Hiltons, intimate friends of Chetham. A similar, but less perfect MS. was sold in 1898 for 251. 10s.

In Quaritch's Catalogue (No. 261) it is stated that the two English treatises more especially assigned to Grosseteste viz.,

  • The Prick of Conscience ' and the ' Tract

on the Lord's Prayer ' are almost certainly both the work of Richard Rolle of Hampole. It has not been definitely ascertained that Grosseteste wrote anything in English except a few sermons, and perhaps a translation of Walter of Henley's ' Book of Husbandry.'

" Perhaps the linal test will have to rest on tha evidence of dialect. Hampole wrote in Northum- brian, Mannyng in Lincoln or Middle English, Michel in Kentish. On the whole, the spelling inclines apparently to the Northern dialect, which would attach it to Hampole."

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

HARVEST SUPERSTITIONS : JUDGMENTS ON IMPIETY (11 S. iii. 226). A story closely resembling the second version of the Hert- fordshire legend is current in Lincolnshire. In it the impious farmer sleeps till other people have harvested their corn, when beating rain spoils his crop before he awakes. A shelter has to be built over him, as in the Hertfordshire story.

A few years ago the tale was revived during a showery summer. To my amusement, I was asked if I had heard of the farmer who was asleep and could not be roused because he had spoken lightly of God.

SOUTHUMBRIAN.