8. IX. MARCH 22, 1902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
237
Wherefore I myself wish and firmly give commanc
as long as the aforesaid burgesses hold their
messuages lawfully and in peace and honourably
that they live freely and quietly in field, in plain
and in places elsewhere. 1 have also granted t(
the same burgesses that they hold the aforesaic
messuages from me according to the laws anc
customs and liberties which the burgesses of Salop
hold in their borough. 1 have expressed it as my
wish that the Charter be ratified for the future
And have confirmed [it] by the placing of my sea
and by the subscription of the witnesses John
stranger in blood. Ham' his brother, Helie de fes,
Philip son of William Reginald de he, William de
Verden, Reginald de Hesse and many others."
J. PARRY-JONES,
Mayor of Oswestry
The precise antiquity of any given borough must surely be a most difficult point to ascer- tain. It is more than a mere question of the date of the earliest known charter. Cardiff had a charter from the Earl of Gloucester about the year 1145 probably a few years earlier and its inhabitants were then styled "burgenses." It was at that date certainly a borough in the military sense, and had laid the foundations of its municipality also. (See ' Cardiff Records,' edited by the present writer, vol. i. p. 2.)
JOHN HOBSON MATTHEWS.
Town Hall, Cardiff.
Apparently the question does not apply to " municipal boroughs," strictly so called by the Act of 1835, as no precedence could exist on these terms. This distinction is, however, technical only, and, of course, communities in this country governed their local affairs hundreds of years prior to that date. One means of earning the title of borough was the right of parliamentary representation. In earlier times any walled city was a borough, but if it were under the charge of a borough reeve and owed dues to the sovereign it did not possess self-government. On the side of antiquity the question merges itself into a study of the period when the Roman colonies were formed here, and as these were at first little better than camps, and the earliest were established about the same time, it is impossible to answer the question categorically. There are many interesting side issues to the case, and for these it is worth while to consult works of reference under the words "colony," "borough," and "municipal." ARTHUR MAYALL.
This subject has been exhaustively treated by Mr. Horace Round as a specialist, and he draws attention to the origin of the munici- pality of London in 1191, when Prince John, acting as viceroy for his brother, King Richard, conferred a commune on London,
founded on similar experiences in France
and Flanders. This is two years earlier than
Lancaster, cited as 1193 ; but the first charter
of William the Conqueror recognizes the
burgesses of London as then self-governing,
and exempt from the feudal laws.
ABSENS.
PORTRAITS OF JOANNA BAILLIE (9 th S. ix. 129). In vol. v. of Chambers's 'Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen' (Edin- burgh, 1855) is a memoir of this lady, to which is prefixed a steel engraving repre- senting her, and underneath is inscribed " Masquerier," * H. Robinson," the names of the painter and engraver ; lower down,
- ' Joanna Baillie, from the picture in pos-
session of W. H. Baillie, Esq." Though this does not answer the query, yet it may prove some little guide to its locale. She died at Hampstead, in her ninetieth year, in 1851. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.
Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.
"As MAD AS A TUP" (9 th S. viii. 501 ; ix. 98). Any one who keeps his eyes open in the country in the spring must have noticed the antics of hares at that particular season of the year, rare though these animals now are in many parts, owing to the effects of Sir William Harcourt's Act. Hevwood evidently gave a correct explanation of the proverb.
H.
MUMMERS (9 th S. ix. 87). Besides the references given, H. W. will find accounts of mummers in the following places : 2 nd S. x. 464 ; xii. 487, 493 ; 4 th S. x. 487 ; 5 th S. ii. 505 ; iv. 511 ; x. 484, 489 ; Folk-lore Record, 1881 ; Folk-lore Journal, 1884; 'Shropshire Folk- lore' (Burne and Jackson), part iii. p. 482 sqq. A long list of references is given in the last named to other sources, of which there are many containing isolated accounts. The Plough Monday mummeries noticed in 9 th S. vii. 322 are essentially the same as the ordinary mummers' play. There are also a r ew accounts in Hone's ' Every-Day Book/
E. H. BINNEY.
BIBLE: AUTHORIZED VERSION (9 th S. ix. 147). As accuracy is most desirable in deal- ng with so nice a subject as the history of /he English Bible, I venture to recast MR. ^AYNE'S second query. " Which version," hen, "did the revisers of 1611 take as the basis of their work ? "
The answer is found in No. 1 of the fifteen
ules drawn up for their guidance, probably
under the direction of Archbishop Bancroft :
- The ordinary Bible read in the Church,
ommonly called the Bishops' Bible, to be
