he sall happen to obtene and conquies heireftir dureing the mariage fre the airis maill to be gottin betwix him & her m'tie bot yai to succeid to the same als weil as to the said dukrie of Orknay. Furthermair it is concludit and accordit be hir ma'tie that all signateurs tres and wrytingis to be subscrivit be hir ma'tie in tyme to cum eftir the completing and solemnization of the said mariage other of gifts dispositiones graces privileges or vtheris sic thingis quhatsumevir sal be alsua subscrivit be the said noble prince and duke for his interesse in signe and taken of his consent and assent y'rto as her ma'ties husband. Likas it is alsua aggreit and accordit be the said noble prince and duke that na signateurs tres nor writingis othir of giftis dispositions graces priviledges or others sic thingis concerning the affairs of the realme sall be subscrivit be him onlie and w'tout hir ma'ties aviss and subscription and giff ony sic thing happin the samyn to be of nane availl. And for observing keiping and fulfilling of the premisses and every poynt and article y'r of the said noble and michte princesse and the said noble prince and duke hes bundin and obleissit thame faithfullie to otheris and ar content and consentis that this present contract be actit and registrat in the buiks of counsale and session ad perpetuam rei memoriam and for acting and registring hereof in the samyn buiks her ma'tie ordains hir advocattis and the said noble prince & duke hes maid and constitute m'rs David Borthuik Alex'r Skeyn his prors con't'lie and sea'tie promittand de rato. In witness of the quhilk thing hir ma'tie and the said noble prince and duke hes subscrivit this present contract with thair hands day yeir and place foirsaids befoir thir witnesses ane maist reverend ffader in God Johnne archbishop of Sant Andrews commendator of paisly & George erll of Huntlie lord Gordon and Badzeneth chencelar of Scotland &c. Dauid erll of Craufurd lord Lindsay Andro erll of Rothes lord Leslie Alexander bishop of Galloway commendator of Inchaffray John bishop of Ross Johnne lord fflemyng Johnne lord Hereiss W'm Maitland of Lethington youngar secretar to our soverane ladie sir Johne Bellanden of Auchnoule kny't justice clerk and M'r Robert Crichton of Elioh advocat to hir hienes with oy's diverss."
(Signed) MARIE Rx.
BILL OF FARE OF 1626
If an actual bill of fare in a gentleman's house, anno 1626, be worth your acceptance, as a pendant to the one prescribed in your fourth number, you are welcome to the following extract from the account book of Sir Edward Dering, Knt. and Bart.:—
"A Dinner att London, made when my Lady Richardson, my sister E Ashbornham, and Kate Ashb,—my brother John Ashb, my cosen Walldron and her sister, and S'r John Skeffington, were with me att Aldersgate streete, December 23, 1626. My sister Fr Ashb and cosen Mary Hill did fayle of coming.
A banquett ready in y'e next room.
Mem'd—we had out of y'e country y'e goose, y'e duckes, y'e capon py, y'e Cake and wardens, and y'e venison; but that is allways p'd for, though given."
The above seems to have been a family dinner. Sir Edward married, for his second wife, a daughter of Sir Ashbornham, as appears by the following entry:—
"1. January 1624/5, beeing Saturday, at sixe of y'e clocke att night, atte Whitehall, in y'e Duke of Buckingham's lodgings, I married Anne Ashbornham, third dâ of Sir Ashbornham, late of Ashbornham, Kt."
In another entry we have—
"… Dec. 1626, being thursday, Elizabeth Lady Ashbornham widor of S'r Jno Ashbornham, was married in S't Giles his Church in y'e feildes, nere London, to S'r Thomas Richardson, K't, then Lo. cheife Justice of y'e common pleas."
The day of the month is torn out. It would almost seem as if this was the wedding dinner, on the occasion of the marriage of the Chief Justice with Lady Dering's mother; at all events the reunion of the family in London was caused by that event.
Banquet was the name given to a dessert, and it was usually set out in another room.
The large baking pear is still called warden in many counties.
Appended to the above is a bill of the items of the "banquet," with the cost of hire for the glass plates; but it is so hopelessly illegible that I will not venture to give it. Many of the items, as far as I can read them, are not to be found in "the books," and are quite new to me.
Having had no small experience in deciphering hopeless scribblings, I think I may pronounce this to be better left alone than given in its present confused state.
Ryarsh Vicarage.
MONETA SANCTÆ HELENÆ
As a subscriber to your valuable publication, allow me to suggest that it might, from time to time, be open to contributions explaining obscure passages or words, which often occur in the works of mediæval writers, and more especially in early English records. So far as English usages and customs are concerned, the Glossary of Du Cange is of comparatively little value to the English student; many terms, indeed, being wrongly interpreted in all editions of that work. Take, for example, the word "tricesima," the explanation of which is truly ridiculous; under "berefellarii," the commentary is positively comic; and many other instances might be cited. At the same time, it would be presumptuous to speak otherwise than in terms of the highest respect and admiration of Du Cange and his labours. The errors to which I allude were the natural consequences of a foreigner's imperfect knowledge of English law and English customs; still it is to be lamented that they should have remained uncorrected in the later editions of the Glossary; and I take it to be our duty to collect and publish, where feasible, materials for an English dictionary of mediæval Latin. It is in your power materially to advance such a work, and under that impression I venture to send the present "Note."
In the Wardrobe Account of the 55th year of Henry the Third, it is stated that among the valuables in the charge of the keeper of the royal wardrobe, there was a silken purse, containing "monetam Sancte Helene." It is well known that, during the middle ages, many and various objects were supposed to possess talismanic virtues. Of this class were the coins attributed to the mother of Constantine, the authenticity of which is questioned by Du Cange, in his treatise "de Inferioris ævi numismatibus." He observes, also, that the same name was given, vulgarly, to almost all the coins of the Byzantine emperors, not only to those bearing the effigies of St. Helena, but indeed to all marked with a cross, which were commonly worn suspended from the neck as phylacteries; "hence," he subjoins, "we find that these coins are generally perforated." It was quite in accordance with the superstitious character of Henry the Third that coins of St. Helena should be preserved in his wardrobe, among numerous other amulets and relics. But what was the peculiar virtue attributed to such coins? Du Cange, in the same treatise, says, on the authority of "Bosius," that they were a remedy against the "comitialem morbum," or epilepsy. The said "Bosius," or rather "Bozius," wrote a ponderous work, "de Signis Ecclesiæ Dei" (a copy of which, by the by, is not to be seen in the library of the British Museum, although there are two editions of it in the Bodleian), in which he discourseth as follows:—"Monetæ adhuc aliquot exstant, quæ in honorem Helenæ Augustæ, et inventæ crucis, cum hujusmodi imaginibus excusæ antiquitus fuerunt. Illis est præsens remedium adversus morbum comitialem: et qui hodie vivit Turcarum Rex Amurathes, quamvis a nobis alienus, vim sanctam illarum expertus solet eas gestare; e morbo namque hujusmodi interdum laborat. Nummi quoque Sancti Ludovici Francorum regis mirifice valent adversus nonnullos morbos."—Lib. xv. sig. 68.
This mention of the sultan Amurath carrying these coins about his person as a precaution against a disease to which he was subject, and indeed the whole passage shows a belief in their efficacy was still prevalent in the sixteenth century, when Bozius wrote. It only remains to add, that Du Cange, in his Glossary, does not enumerate
