Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/424

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350


NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. VIIL NOV. 2, 1907.


ARCHBISHOP BLACKBURN. I am anxious for information on the subject of Arch- bishop Blackburn, of York, circa Charles II. What was his Christian name ? Who were his parents ? To which branch of the family did he belong ? And whom did he marry ?

His son, Henry Blackburne, of Carricke- nagh now Rockville, co. Roscommon was an Archdeacon (of what diocese ?). This Henry had an only child and heiress, Susanna, who, marrying Owen Lloyd in 1740, brought Rockville into that family, where it has remained till the present day. KATHLEEN WARD.

Castle Ward, Downpatrick.

PLACE-NAMES IN OLD MAP. In an old map (1637) of Richmond Park some flat ground between Beverley Brook and Robin Hood Gate is lettered in old English " dun- dage groundes." Can any one explain what were " dundage grounds " ? Is " dundage " the same as the " dunnage " of the ' Oxford Dictionary ' ?

In the same map the site of the present steep Broomfield Hill is marked " The Great Sleyte." Nowadays the flat surface south of the Pen Ponds is termed the Pond Slade. Is there any connexion between " sleyte " and this word " slade " ?

A. B.

BRASS AS A SURNAME. What is the meaning of the name Brass ? There are a few families of this name in Orkney, but in one of them, at least, the tradition is that their progenitor was a French sailor wrecked on the coast of Sand wick four or five gene- rations ago. Is the name common in any part of France ? ALEX. RUSSELL, M.A.

Stromness, Orkney.

WESTMINSTER SANCTUARY. I shall be glad of any information as to the real extent of the Sanctuary at Westminster. I pre- sume that there was nothing to the east, and very little to the south, of the Abbey precincts, and that it was only towards the west and north that the liberties extended. Was the whole or any portion of the district known as the Almonry included in it ? and did the liberties of the Sanctuary take in any portion of the old King Street area towards Whitehall? Is there any easily accessible work bearing upon this subject? I find it hardly mentioned at least so far as the topographical aspect is concerned in many of the ordinary works of reference I have been able to see.

A. W. COOPER.

230, Navarino Mansions, Dalston Rise, N.E.


FLEET STREET, No. 7. (10 S. viii. 248.)

RICHARD TOTTEL, at the sign of the Hand and Star, appears to have been the earliest settler on this spot so early, indeed, as 1553, the year in which he published his irst production (I think it was his first), ' Natura Breuium,' octavo. Dick's Coffee- House was wholly or in part his original printing office. He was law printer to Edward VI. and Queens Mary and Eliza- beth : " the premises," says Timbs, " were attached to No. 7, Fleet Street, where Tottel lived, and published the law and other works that he printed " (' Curiosities of London,' 1868, p. 264). No. 7 was subse- quently occupied by Jaggard. There Tottel published the ' Dialogue of Comfort,' by Sir Thomas More, in 1553, and Lydgate's ' Lyfe of our Ladye ' in 1554. In 1557, as one learns from the colophon, Tottel's celebrated poetical 'Miscellany,' was printed here ; and ' Ciceroes Dueties ' (translated by N. Gri- maldi) in 1568. Tottel had licences for printing all manner of books relating to the common law ; but in a list of 78 of his productions to be found in J. Johnson's ' Typographia,' 1824, vol. i. pp. 563-4, his law publications are only about half that number.

Tottel's device is probably a representa- tion of his sign. It is placed under an arch supported by columns ornamented in the Etruscan style. On each side of the circle is a scroll containing between them the words "Cum Priui. . . .legio," and beneath is a shield bearing a very intricate monogram, with hills and flowers in the background. On a tablet which occupies the whole breadth of the cut is engraven along the bottom " Richard Tottell " in large Roman capitals.

Tottel and his son reigned at the Hand and Star from 1553 to 1594. Apparently their last dated production was Grassi's ' Arte of Defence,' quarto, 1594. In that year Charles Yetsweirt, bookseller, and afterwards his widow Jane Yetsweirt, had a press here. Charles was the son of Nicasius Yetsweirt, and was French Secretary and Clerk of the Signet to Queen Elizabeth. He had a patent granted him, for thirty years to come, for printing all books concerning the laws. He continued in the law-printer's business for one year only, 1594, when his widow carried on the business, but not without opposition from the Stationers' Company, which occa- sioned her to complain to the Lord Keeper