parish, and the neat produce of the said lands to be distributed at Christmas yearly to twelve such poor persons as have no relief from the parish, by the minister and churchwardens for the time being. 1758.

Mr. Thos. Davis, of Wickwar, left the sum of £200, to be invested in the public stocks of Great Britain, and the dividends arising therefrom to be applied in apprenticing poor orphan boys, born in this parish, to creditable trades by the minister and churchwardens for the time being. 1850.

ABHBA.

1631.-ROBERT OF GLOUCESTER, THE ENGLISH CHRONICLER. (Continued from No. 1605.)

As a sequel to what has appeared upon this subject the following communications, taken from the Athenæum, June 30 and July 14, 1888, are inserted :

The publication of a new edition of the Metrical Chronicle without the promised biography caused disappointment to several, including myself, as my researches for the parochial history of Herefordshire had made me familiar with the portions of the work in which the events in that county during the Wars of the Barons are so accurately narrated, that I have been long of opinion the author was not only an eye-witness, but must have been personally known to Prince Edward and the prominent men of each faction in that civil strife. That the clerical author of this history, consisting of 12,000 lines, could have lived and died unknown to, and unfriended by, the episcopacy of his time seems to me incredible, and a statement I am unable to accept, whilst the preparation and publication of the work on vellum would necessitate an outlay beyond the usual pecuniary resources of a monk. Collation to a cathedral office would be the obvious and acceptable mode of episcopal patronage, providing income free from duties embarrassing to literary research and poetical composition.

The episcopal records at Hereford testify that during a period of forty years previous to his decease in 1321, a Robert of Gloucester enjoyed the esteem and patronage of several bishops of that diocese, whilst there is neither suggestion nor proof that the historian survived that date or had died previously.

Every incident relating to Robert of Gloucester, chancellor of Hereford, harmonizes with events during the lifetime of the historian, and their identity can be accepted by such circumstantial coincidences in the absence of a living witness. The duties of commissary at Worcester in 1300, and at Canterbury in 1304, were evidently discharged by the trusted and intelligent chancellor of Hereford, who, like the Cerberus of Mrs. Malaprop, was three gentlemen in one.

A circumstance not to be overlooked in this controversy is that

in the time of the historian the portion of Gloucestershire including the Forest of Dean, on the right bank of the Severn, was in the diocese of Hereford, and the larger part of the county belonged to the see of Worcester. Recent search in the latter diocese has been attended with no result, and it is, therefore, a matter of surprise that the inquiry was not continued on the opposite bank of the river, especially as we learn that "Robert of Gloucester, chancellor of Hereford, was one of the many will-o'-the-wisps pursued to no purpose by the indefatigable editor of this recent edition (Athenæum, No. 3160). The localities through which this pursuit was prosecuted are not disclosed; but had inquiry been made of the diocesan registrar in Hereford, that gentleman could have furnished biographical information which ought to satisfy even the scruples of a college bursar, that the author of this chronicle was the chancellor of that church, who was also at the time of his death (1321) a canon of Wells Cathedral.

W. H. COOKE, F.S.A.

July 8, 1888.

MR. COOKE has taken six weeks to reply to my letter on the subject of Robert of Gloucester, but his six weeks of reflection have brought him no nearer to an appreciation of the question at issue. He gives not a tittle of evidence on which to found even the very slightest probability that Robert of Gloucester, chancellor of Hereford, was the author of the Metrical Chronicle. But instead of doing this he argues in the following curious fashion. The author of the Chronicle could not have lived and died unknown to, and unfriended by, the episcopacy of his time; therefore he must have been collated to a cathedral office. Robert of Gloucester, chancellor of Hereford, was not unknown to, and unfriended by, the episcopacy of his time, and he was collated to more than one cathedral office. Argal, Robert of Gloucester, chancellor of Hereford, wrote the Metrical Chronicle.

One sentence of Mr. Cooke's letter, which I have only just seen, is an indication of the utter confusion which exists in his mind on the subject. He says: "Every incident relating to Robert of Gloucester, chancellor of Hereford, harmonizes with events during the lifetime of the historian, and their identity can be accepted (?) by such circumstantial coincidences in the absence of a living witness." Why, if two men are contemporaries the same events happen in their lifetime, but that does not prove them to be identical.

I shall certainly act upon Mr. Cooke's suggestion, and inquire of the diocesan registrar at Hereford, and I shall be agreeably surprised if the courtesy of that gentleman furnishes me with "biographical information which ought to satisfy even the scruples of a college bursar," though I fail to see why a college bursar should be less scrupulous in a matter of historical investigation than an F.S.A. But Mr. Cooke is evidently a master of the irrelevant.

Let him answer the questions I put in my former letter-(1) What evidence is there that the author of the Metrical Chronicle was called Robert of Gloucester before 1580? and (2) What evidence is there that he was eye-witness of the departure of Simon de Monfort from Hereford just before the battle of Evesham and I shall be greatly obliged to him. But I must decline to accept the story of "The Three Black Crows" as a model of historical narrative. W. ALDIS WRIGHT.

1632. THE LIST OF FUST FAMILY PORTRAITS: AMENDMENTS.(See No. 1578.) If the reader happens to detect any mistakes of commission or omission in the notes attached to the list of the abovenamed family portraits, he is requested to make them known to the Editor. Two communications have been lately received, which are as follows:

No. 16.

"The said Elton married Sir John Anderson, of Saint Ives," etc. On a reference to the pedigree of Anderson of Eyworth, at page 75 of the Harl. Society's issue of the Visitation of Bedfordshire in 1634, Sir John Anderson, Knight and Baronet, third son of Sir Francis, is mentioned as having died "without yssue," and no mention is made of his marriage. In Burke's

Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies, 1844, p. 9, it is stated that John Anderson, Esq., of St. Ives, in Huntingdonshire, who was created a baronet 3rd January, 1628, died without issue in 1630, and that the title became extinct. I shall be glad to hear of some confirmation of this marriage, and to be informed to which of the numerous daughters of Ambrose Elton the statement refers. Long Burton Vicarage, Sherborne, Dorset.

No. 26.

C. H. MAYO.

Bishop Gilbert Ironside, of Bristol, a cadet of the Ironsides of Houghton-le-Spring, Durham, was born 1588, and died 1671. His next brother, Ralph Ironside, rector of Long Bredy and archdeacon of Dorset, was born 1590, and in 1632 married Margaret, daughter of John Strode, of Dorsetshire: she died 2 March, 1683, and her husband three days after, and both were buried at the same time. Their fourth son, Ralph Ironside, M.D., was first husband of Margaret Fust. He was nephew, not "brother," of the above Bishop Ironside. The arms of Ironside of Houghton are: Per pale az. and gu., a cross patoncée, or. For particulars of the family see Surtees's History of Durham, Hutchins's History of Dorset, and Gloucestershire Notes and Queries, iii. 530.

Mon Plaisir Villa, Guernsey.

:

HENRY LOFTUS TOTTENHAM.

1633.-FRAMPTON MISS ANN WICKS'S BEQUESTS.-(Replies to No. 1607.) The late William Vizard, Esq., of Lincoln's Inn

Fields, my cousin, was employed to procure the communion plate for Frampton-on-Severn Church, and he told me some interesting facts connected with it. The sum of £1,000 was directed by Miss Wicks's will to be spent upon it. The Vice-Chancellor objected to the use of precious stones; therefore the plate was to be of solid gold. For its protection in the church, which is at a little distance from the village, a strong iron safe was built into the tower wall. Soon after, one Sunday morning the safe was discovered to have been forced open, and was empty; and empty fortunately the burglars had found it, the plate for greater security having been kept at the vicarage. It is needless to dwell on the feelings of the burglars at the result of their week's hard labour.

A. W. CORNELIUS HALLEN, M.A., Editor of Northern Notes and Queries.

The Parsonage, Alloa, N.B.

From p. 34 of the Digest of Endowed Charities (County of Gloucester), which was "ordered, by the House of Commons, to be printed, 15 July, 1868," it appears that Ann Wicks's bequest for the poor (under her will of 1830) amounted to £3,938 19s. 4d. Consols, and £3,968 18. 5d. Reduced; the two sums producing a gross annual income of £237 48. 2d. With regard to the plate, it is stated that the sum of £1,000 was "invested in Consols, and accumulating until required to be expended." In 1858 the stock amounted to £948 1s. 3d. Consols. EDITOR.

1634. THE BUTLER TOWER OF BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.-The following remarks are from a sermon preached on Sunday, June 17, 1888, in a church in the neighbourhood of the cathedral, on "Some of the Difficulties of Religion." The preacher briefly noticed the festival services which had been held ten days before, and the completion of the two towers, and then proceeded to say :-One of these western towers was built with a special fund raised for the purpose of doing honour to the memory of a most distinguished man-Bishop Butler-who many years ago presided over the see of Bristol. About a hundred and fifty years have passed away since he exercised authority in this diocese, but that his name and fame remain is proved by the fact that several thousand pounds have been raised for the special purpose of honouring him in the way I have described. That lofty tower built four square to the winds and resting in its firm foundations, will stand for many generations as a monument to the great bishop; but firm and secure as it may stand, it is not more secure in its foundations than the fame of Bishop Butler is in the estimation of Christian men. Now, what is it that has secured him this high place in the records of our people? He was not like some bishops of these times a popular preacher; he did not, like the late bishop of Manchester, to whom a statue has recently been erected, specially interest himself in all

that concerned the well-being of the working classes; he did not found either a college or a school, an almshouse or an hospital; but he gained his never-dying reputation by a noteworthy book which he wrote, a book which treats of the most important subject that can occupy the mind of man,- -a book to be read carefully and studied devoutly, a book which is deservedly looked upon as one of the noblest offsprings of the human intellect. Let me notice briefly the nature of this remarkable book, and the purpose for which it was written. To understand this I must tell you that there were in Bishop Butler's time, as there are now, many who are greatly disturbed by the difficulties they meet with in religion. These difficulties of the Bible are a stumbling block to some which they cannot surmount. In consequence of this they sometimes reject religion altogether, and thus deprive themselves of what should be to us all a source of the greatest comfort and peace. It was for people of this way of thinking that the book I am speaking of was written. In it the wise bishop makes use of the aid of sweet reason and plain common sense for the purpose of removing from our path those stumbling blocks in the way of religion which our minds sometimes create. He does this by examining the various difficulties of religion, and by showing that we have to encounter similar difficulties when we contemplate the works of nature. He argues that if we deny that Holy Scripture comes from God, we may as well deny that the world came from Him; and that if we believe that the works of nature had God for their author, so must we believe that Scripture is the revelation of God-for that there is indeed a close analogy between God's revelation to us in nature and His revelation to us in the written word. That Bishop Butler was successful in the task he undertook is evident from the fact of the high reputation which his book has secured for itself-a reputation which it gained among earnestminded men almost as soon as it was written, and which it has maintained to this day. It is impossible to estimate the vast service which it has rendered to the cause of religion during the generations that are past, and I feel sure that in the generations to come it will prove of as great service as in the times gone by, for it is founded on arguments which have stood the test of long examination and careful inquiry by minds the most acute and vigorous. Most fitting is it, then, that Bishop Butler's name should receive that testimony to its worth which the memorial now completed will afford. The Butler tower, on which I saw the mason two or three weeks ago raising the pinnacles, will be a visible emblem to every passer by of the arguments of his great book, which will stand firm and secure as a fortress of religion in spite of all the attacks which the enemies of our faith may level against it.

The remains of Bishop Butler were buried in the choir of the cathedral, June 20, 1752, and this epitaph (written by his chaplain, Nathaniel Forster, D.D.) is on a mural brass near his grave:—