i2s. ii. OCT. 21, me.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
331
Wilkinson (1900), has this of North Willing-
ham, near Market Rasen : " the Hall of
North Willingham, the ' Chesney Wold ' of
Sir Leicester Dedlock of Charles Dickens' s
- Bleak House ' " ; and a small illustration of
the Hall, is lettered underneath " Chesney Wold." Is there any authority for the ascription to North Willingham ? " The place in Lincolnshire " was, of course, regarded as a negligible expression of Dickens by those to whom it indicated Rockingham. W. B. H.
DRAWING OF THE MERMAID TAVERN ORIGINALLY BELONGING TO MR. WlLLIAM UPCOTT. Can any reader of ' N. & Q.' inform me where I could see the original of the print of the Mermaid Tavern which appears in Mr. James Walter's ' Shake- speare's True Life,' illustrated by Gerald E. Moira, large paper, 1890 ? On p. 325 it is stated that the sketch was formerly possessed by Mr. Upcott, and traditionally considered to be the noted Mermaid. I have gone through the William Upcott Catalogues of Prints and Drawings (1846), but it does not .appear as having been sold, and therefore I imagine it remains in private hands. I should be very grateful to know where it may be seen. A. W. GOULD.
Sfcaverton, Briar Walk, Putney Park Lane, S.W.
EepUes.
MEWS OR MEWYS FAMILY. (12 S. ii. 26, 93.)
A LIKE query (Were the families Meux of Kingston, I.W. ; Mewes of Winchester, who changed their name to St. John and subse- quently to Mildmay ; and Mew or Mews of Purse Candle, co. Dorset, related, and, if so, how ?) was submitted in an earlier issue of
- N.&Q.' (6 S. xii. 269).
The following illustrative pedigrees set iorth broadly the descent of the main line of the several families, but no family relation- ship between the Isle of Wight and the Dorsetshire Meuxes is shown, and, as far as my knowledge goes, none such has yet been traced.
Of the Kingston Meuxes. The last member of the de Kingston family Sir 'John, living 1356 (' Cal. Pat. R. 1354-60,' p. 165) left an only daughter Eleanor, wife of William Drew, who (her two brothers having died childless) inherited the Kingston estate. The Drew family also ended in Alice, only daughter of William Drew, who married,
before 1441, Lewis Meux or Mewis, a well-
known military commander (idem, 1422-9,
pp. 327, 553 ; 1429-36, pp. 472, 536), son of
Richard of Wanstead, co. Essex, and grand-
son of Sir Walter Meux, buried in the church
of the Augustin Friars. The Meux family
are said to have come from Yorkshire, taking
their name from Meaux Abbey, near Bever-
ley. Alice survived her husband, dying in
1472, and was succeeded by her grandson
William (1) (later Sir William), son of
Thomas Mew, who had died vita matris. Her
other sons were : Henry, who married
Elizabeth, sister of Sir John Savage, and
Ralph, likewise married, both alliances,
apparently, without male issue. Sir
William (1) Meux married Jane, daughter of
Richard Cooke of Rushington, co. Sussex,
and at his death in 1512 (Chanc. Inq. p.m.
Ser. 2, xxii. 10) he left the Kingston estate
to his third and voungest son John ( 1 )
(Anct, D., P.R.O., A. 12439), who married
Jane, daughter of Sir Thomas Blennerh asset,
and, dying s.p. in 1568 (Chanc. Inq. p.m.,
Ser. 2, clii. 143), left the manor to his nephew
William, eldest son of his brother Richard
(the eldest brother William had died abroad
in France, childless) and his wife Dorothy,
daughter of Thomas Cook of Harebridge and
Somerley, co. Hants.
William (2) Meux was next in possession of the manorial estate, and married Eleanor, daughter of Sir Henry Strangeways, and had Issue an only son, Sir John, of whom later, and two daughters Eleanor, wife of William Okoden, and Anne, wife of Edward White of Winchelsey. His two brothers were both married Thomas of Bishopstown,
co. Wilts, to Ellen, widow of Young,
whose family name has not been traced ; and
John to a daughter of Hill of the same
place. Apparently no issue followed these marriages.
Sir John (2) Meux and his two sons, William and Bartholomew, issue of his marriage with Cecilie, daughter of Sir William Button of Alton Priors, co. Wilts, seem in some way to have incurred the dislike of our island worthy, Sir John Oglander, who describes the father, in his ' Memoirs ' written about the time, as being " of a homely behaviour, as nevor havinge anie breedinge or good naturales," and
" the veryest clown (of a gentleman) that evor the Isle of Wight bredd. As he was destitute of learninge, soe of humanitie and civilitie, yet al- though his clownisch humour a good honest man. If you will see ye picture of him, you may truly fynd it in his sonn Bartholomewe. Sir William wase as well quallified a gentleman as anie owre countery bredd, but of no spirite."
