ii s. ix. JUNE 6, i9i4.j NOTES AND QUERIES.
447
Mayor and Commonalty were then taking
in the administration of the Mathematical
School ?
The right of th Woodmongers' Company to license carts plying for hire in the City was the subject of complaint in 1664 and the following year, and there are several broad- sides on the abuse and defence of this privi- lege. It wa,s not apparently known to the historians of Christ Hospital that this power was transferred to the Governors of that foundation, presumably for the purpose of endowing it with the fees., I am familiar with this grant in a folio broadside only :
" Act of Common Council to transfer from the Woodmonger's Company to the Governors of Christ's Hospital the licensing and government of all Carts, &c., and to provide by the several Companies a stack of Coals to prevent sudden dearth. Printed by W. Godbid for the use of Christ's Hospital 1665."
Probably this order was not acted upon, and the privilege remained with the Wood- mongers' Company. ALECK ABRAHAMS.
RICHARD JOHNSON'S EPITAPH. The follow- ing epitaph is on a rectangular brass on the wall near the chancel in the church at Claxby, near Alford, Lincolnshire :
In Memorye of Richard lohnson Esq r
Dovble Reader of the Middle Temple London & his most deare & lovinge
Father who dep'ted this Life the third day of Octob r A D'ni 1607
and of his age the 70 th Isack lohnson his observant and loving sonn hath dedidcated [sic] this monvmet. No bribes covld blind no terror tvrne No favovr f avne no covrse compell fro right No place pvffe vpp nor beavty bvrne Plentvye exceed or poore oppresse w th might These lines men knowe do trvly of him storye Whom God hath call'd & seated now in glorye. This was copied on 26 March, 1914.
The Rector of Claxby informs me that this brass was restored not long ago to Claxby Church through the kindness of the Rev. R. E. H. Duke, Rector of Maltby, Lines, who purchased it from a tradesman in Alford, Lines. JAMES FOSTER, D.C.L. Tathwell Vicarage, Louth, Lincolnshire.
GOVERNOR EYRE : BISHOP WESTCOTT. A few mistakes having been made in the condensed edition of that valuable work ; the ' D.N.B.,' I crave permission to correct two which have fallen under my notice.
1. Edward John Eyre, the celebrated Governor of Jamaica, is described (Second Supplement, vol. i.) as having been born .at Hornsea on o Aug., 1815. But the fact is that his father, my predecessor, was not pre- sented to that benefice till 1831.
2. In the article on B. F. Westcott,
Bishop of Durham, he is said (Second Supple-
ment, vol. iii.) to have "presided at short
notice at the Church Congress at Hull,
owing to the illness of W. D. Maclagan,
Archbishop of York."
For " Maclagan " should be substituted the name of W. Thomson, who died on the following Christmas Day. I was then beneficed in the diocese, and was present at the Congress. E. L. H. TEW.
Upham Rectory, Hants.
NEW ALLUSION TO SHAKESPEARE. In a book entitled ' An Historical History of England and Wales, in Three Parts : I. Geographical ; II. Historical, of the most memorable persons, nobles, scholars, ladies, soldiers, and seamen ; and III. Political/ map, sm. 8vo, printed for Abel Roper, 1692, will be found the following reference to Shakespeare :
"Shakespear (Will) B. at Stratford in War- wick-sh. was in some sort a Compound of three eminent Poets, Martial, Ovid and Plautus the Comedian : His Learning being very little, nature seems to have practised her best Rules in his Production. The Genius of this our Poet was Jocular, by the quickness of his Wit and Invention ; so that HeradUiis himself might afford a smile at his Comedies. Many were the Witty Combats between him and Ben. Johnson. He died 1616 and buried at Stratford."
It is not included in the latest Shakespeare allusion book published in 1909.
MAURICE JONAS.
" STERLING." From a notice of Mr. Fred W. Burgess's ' Chats on Old Coins ' in The Graphic of 2 May I find the author is of opinion that
" ' sterling ' was applied to the quality of the mintage, which was examined periodically at Easter. Hence the term ' Easterling ' or ' Ster- ling ' denoted coins of true weight and value as last attested."
The late Prof. Skeat inclined to think, in 1882, that " sterling " was an abbreviation of " Easterlings," the Hanse merchants who were the first moneyers of England ; he seemed to be unconscious of any paschal connexion. The * N.E.D.' has not yet dealt with st, but I observe that the editors of ' The Concise Oxford Dictionary ' consider the etymology of " sterling " dubious, and say:
" The traditional derivation of Easterling [which ?] is unlikely, s. being found two cc. earlier; perh. = little star, pr=starling, w. ref. to star or bird depicted on coin."
ST. SWITHIN.
