144
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9< s. x. AUG. 23, 1902.
on the night of the 23rd September, 1651. The
inscription on the tablet commemorates this fact,
and Mr. Milverton, marble mason, of Bridport, who
has done all the tablets, experienced considerable
difficulty in placing it in position, owing to the old
walls being a species of rubble, composed of stones
and foxmould. Again the day was fortunately fine,
and a fairly large gathering of spectators was
present at the ceremony."
The proceedings were opened by the Rev. G. C. Hutchings, vicar of Broad Windsor a place which is interesting as having had for a prior incumbent the famous Thomas Fuller, author of ' The Worthies of England 'after which the Mayor of Taunton unveiled the tablet by withdrawing the Union Jack which covered it.
At the luncheon at the "George Hotel" which followed, Mr. Broad ley, in again stating the occasion of the proceedings, referred to the local incidents connected with the king's visit. In commenting on the connexion of Thomas Fuller with Broad Windsor he pro- duced, in addition to a fine portrait of the author, several of his minor works, which he stated to be very rare in particular, a copy of his sermon called ' Jacob's Vow,' which he preached before King Charles I. at St. Mary's, Oxford, on 10 May, 1644, and of which, it was asserted, no copy was known in the British Museum or the Bodleian Library, nor was it known to Mr. Pickering, who com- piled the bibliography in Russell's 'Life of Thomas Fuller.' At a subsequent adjourn- ment to the vicarage Mr. Broadley's fine collection of broadsides, portraits, medals, <fec., was submitted for inspection.
I may add that Mr. Broadley in the course of his remarks was, as on former occasions, most courteous in his references to myself, " to whom," he stated, " the credit of having first called public attention to the deep interest which belongs to the Dorset portion of the flight of the king must always be attributed." And this recognition was ren- dered still more graceful by his having sent me, on the 250th anniversary of " Worcester Fight," one of two facsimiles which, with the consent of the authorities of the Bod- leian Library, he had had reproduced at his own expense of the famous letter of Capt. William Ellesdon to the Earl of Clarendon, already alluded to. This letter, of fourteen pages, in exceptionally good and clear handwriting for the time, is exceed- ingly well reproduced by the photographers of the Clarendon Press.
There only now remains the final tablet to be erected in Bridport at the premises of Mr. Beach, chemist, which premises occupy the site, and, indeed, form part of the old "George
Inn," where Charles's ready wit alone saved
the whole party from the most imminent
risk of discovery. May I express a hope
that it will not be long before this memorial
is also erected, and that the good work
already done by the loyal county of Dorset
in commemoration of the share which it
had in the preservation of the fugitive king
may be followed by many other parts of the
country ?
I cannot imagine a better way of spending one of those excellent "field-days" which so many of our county natural history and antiquarian societies set apart every summer for the pleasure and instruction of their members and their friends, than by making them the occasion of such cele- brations. Our great metropolis, through the Society of Arts, has for many years past placed such fitting memorials on those buildings which have sheltered its illustrious dead. In this Coronation year surely the country districts should not be backward in doing their share.
The only matter for regret that I have in the work already carried out in West Dorset is that it should practically have been the work of one man. The great thing to be desired in these matters is accuracy, both historical and topographical, and this cannot always be relied upon when the work is initiated and carried out by a single man, however able and willing he may be. At all events, the imprimatur of a public body or a learned society is much to be desired in such matters, and I am personally very sorry that such a competent body as the Dorset Field Club, which numbers amongst its executive many men of scientific and archaeological attainments,* should not have come forward, as invited, and have taken up the burden of and responsibility for that which has been done by private hands. Other promoters may not be so fortunate in having the way so carefully prepared for them as it has been in the case of Dorset.
J. S. UDAL, F.S.A.
Antigua, W.I.
- On King Charles's Day (29 May) the news has
come to me of the death of the president of this society, Mr. J. C. Mansel-Pleydell, the well known naturalist and geologist, and author of many works upon Dorset flora and fauna, in his eighty- fourth year an old and much revered friend of mine who had been its president ever since the institution of the society, now nearly thirty years ago. To him, and to General Pitt-Rivers, who did not long predecease his old friend and fellow-worker, must mainly be attributed the high position to which of late years the county of Dorset has attained in archseological research.
