102 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s.ix. AUG. 6,1021.
5. Here we have a seal adorned with the figure of a crowned lady and the motto "Ave Mia reule." What hidden secret lies here? Have we here Mary the Virgin, or is this an example of contemporary trifling with things sacred—a great liberty, though not greater than that sculptured picture of the Fall in the church of Stanley St. Leonard's, where Adam and Eve are represented in the quadrupedal form of two beasts with human faces? But if Mary the Virgin, what becomes of the obtruded reule? Now it so happens that within easy distance of the forest there lived a family named Reule or Rewle or Rewel. The Reules of Reule (Rule) were Staffordshire folk not exactly of knightly rank, yet still of quite gentle origin and standing. What then if, notwithstanding the royal alb-like robe, the crowned head, and the old formula of salutation, the matrix of this seal was designed in honour, not of the Queen of Heaven, but of the queen of the enamoured donor's heart? In that case we must assume that Mary Reule was a famous beauty, the toast of the countryside, and we may feel some regret that we have not her portrait, by some contemporary Sir Joshua, with which to garnish a page of 'N. & Q.' On the other hand, in the absence of the preposition, there may be no secret in the matter, and the reading, somewhat absurdly, may stand thus—"Ave Mia rule(s)"!
Now comes another puzzling seal attached to a deed of Sir Robert de Essington, and showing a stag at bay or dying," and the curious legend " Alas Bowles." At first sight it might seem as if we had here, in Bowles the Stag, an old fable -companion or cousin of Renard the Fox, Bruin the Bear, Puss the Hare, Jenny the Wren, and Robin Redbreast. But that is not so. Bowles was the name of a well-known family, tenants of the fee of Rushall, held, like Essington, as of the Barony of Dudley, and situated within the forest limits only four miles from Hilton as the crow flies. William de Bowles, a Reguarder in Edward I.'s time, was promoted Verderer in Edward II. 's time. His was a rising family, for his son, another William, married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Giffard of Chillington, who was in his father's debt 100. In 1286 William, de " Boweles," with his fellow- Reguarders, failed to make presentments, as in duty bound, of old and new assarts, and was fined 40d. He was also himself an offender in the matter of new assarts, and had been fined more than once and ordered to level his fences. And it may be that he had been brought to bay, too, in the matter of a stag, as a much greater man than himself had been namely, Hugh de Loges, the Chief Warden of the Forest, temp. Hen. III., who did not escape under a less penalty than a round fine of 200 marks. This seal hangs from a deed of Robert de Essington, and Robert de Essington had been presented for waste in his woods at Essington, and certain of his family for new assarts. Neighbours are not always neighbourly, and perhaps Robert de Es- sington in this seal was having a sly dig at neighbour Bowles a conclusion, however, which is only a surmise, a bow drawn at a venture. 7. A deed of late Edw. I. from Philip, son of Robert Walter (Waltare) of Molleslie (Moseley) to John de Swynnerton, Kt., concerning a selion of land at Essington called Holefeld, has a seal displaying a lion rampant and the motto " Sum leo fortis " = " I am the lion strong ! " 8. Again, there is a deed of 1330 of Richard Osberne of Essington to Sir Jno. de Swynnerton, which gives us a hare riding on a dog, a Uporarlus, and the motto " Sohou Roben." 9. Lastly we have another of the same type, but displaying a hare courant only, and the motto " Sohou sohou." This example is paralleled by a seal dated 1307 and quoted in the Oxford Dictionary under Soho, the only difference being that the seal of the latter shows us the hare in her form. The foregoing examples are too interest- ing not to be recorded. Perhaps other contributors can add to the list. There seems to be no connexion between the old coursing cry soho, in which some see the origin of the name of our London Soho, and the exclamatory shoo. But a survival may perhaps be found in the cry soo, common in the Isle of Man many years ago, and perhaps elsewhere. That little kingdom in the sea was always a good coursing country, and the cry was used relatively to dogs and to dogs only. Thus even boys when chasing a cat or hunting a rat would urge on their dog with " Soo, dog, soo ! " And again, with a note of menace in the voice, to drive an unwelcome dog away, a prolonged soo-o-o would be uttered. CHARLES SWYNNERTON. F.S.A.
