JOHN PLAIFERE, RECTOR OF DEBDEN.

The following account of John Plaifere, B.D., sometime Fellow of Sidney-Sussex Col., in Cambridge, and late Rector of Debden, in Suffolk, is written on the fly-leaf of my copy (1651) of the author's " Appello Evangelium for the True Doctrine of the Divine Predestination, concorded with the Orthodox Doctrine of God's Free Grace and Man's Free Will.". J. J. RAVEN.

Johannes Plaiferus Londini in Plateâ cui nomen a vicino Thamesi honestis parentibus natus est Anno Domini 1577. Puer in Scholâ præcipuè Cantuariensi bonaru' literarum posuit rudimenta, donec annu' ætatis 17mu' attigisset; Inde Academia' Cantabrigiense' concedens, primo Collegii Em'anuelis factus est scholaris dein Sydneyani electus socius; in utroq' undecim annorum curriculum absolvit tandem Ecclesiæ Depdenensis in agro Suffolciensi Rector institutus, vitæ quod erat reliquum (hoc est annos 26) officiu' pastorale graviter obeundo impendit. Postremo multis lucubrationibus emaciato confectoq' corpore divinissima' anima' cœlo reddidit Anno à Christo nato 1631mo, ab ipso nato 54to. Vir erat, quoad sacra, in Theologiâ Scholasticâ summi acuminis, in Concionatoriá miræ eloquentiæ, in utrâq' nervosus juxta et elegans; tam incredibilis vero diligentiæ, ut toto illo viginti et sex annorum spatio vix totidem dies passus est elabi Dominicos; in quibus commissu' illi Christi gregem cœlesti pabulo, binis sc. concionibus, singulari pietate perfusis, multiplici eruditione et labore perpolitis, non refecerit: quoad cœtera, tam insignis gravitatis, prudentiæ in rebus agendis, dexteritatis ingenii morumq' suavitatis, vitæ denique probitatis; ut gratissimam memoriam et trisstissinum hic desiderium apud omnes probos reliquerit.

CHAMBER OVER THE PORCH.

Various uses to which this chamber might be applied have been already mentioned; as for instance, a library, a school room, an oratory, or a residence for chaplain or sacristan. But I do not ever remember to have seen it suggested that it might be employed as a prison, a theory which seems confirmed by the example at Bildestone. This room is lighted only by one small window thickly barred with iron, and entered thro' a double door, of which the inner one is very strong and heavy, and closed by spring bolts and bars, of most complicated construction though now somewhat out of order. The whole apartment was once lined with iron throughout and a staple for a chain fastened in the wall. The only means of access was by a heavy wooden staircase carried up in the interior of the church, adorned with miniature buttresses and battlements, of Perpendicular character, the same date as the rest of the building. The whole was in excellent preservation and shewed traces of painting, still under multitudinous coatings of whitewash. It is much to to be regretted that this possibly unique specimen of workmanship was removed about two years since, at the wish of the Rector, simply because it blocked up the lower part of one light of a window at the end of the aisle-and this in a church where the glare of light streaming thro' the many lofty windows is on a summer's day quite distressing. It is however right to add that the woodwork was not altogether destroyed, but made up into a sort of bin for the reception of coals and brooms. To these prison like appearances I may add an additional proof furnished by an item in the Churchwardens' Accounts for

1639

"Laid out to Sargant for mending the stoks in the church and eyron and nayles, 16s. 8d."

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I shall be glad if any other correspondent can furnish me with instances of similar usage. It may also be remarked that in most of the larger Perpendicular churches in this neighbourhood, where the porch is not divided into two stories, there is a similar room over the vestry; as at Hadleigh, Hitcham, and Rattlesden, the latter destroyed.-F. S. GROWSE.

PULPITS. (p. 7).

Since the account was printed of the small octangular pulpit, in Stoke by Clare Church, Suffolk, I have had an opportunity of ascertaining that its interior diameter is only 20 inches, which I believe will verify my assertion that it is the "smallest in the county." Perhaps some of your readers will supply measurements of other small pulpits for comparison.-A. L. requests notes of all the pulpits in the East Anglian district, prior to the present century.

ANSWERS TO QUERIES.

WICK AND WICH. (p. 11.)

There is generally no distinction between the terminations wick, wich. They are merely corruptions from A. S. wie, wyo, a dwelling place, habitation, street, village, monastery, convent, castle, fortress for soldiers, camp, station, creek, bay. The synon. words in the Dan. are vig, a bay, ford, viig, a cove,, Sw. vilk, a cove, creek, Ice. vik, a little bay. Plat. wik, D. wyk. Fries. wic, O. G. wik, wick, weich, a town, castle, monastery, bay. When the name is of Scandinavian origin, we generally find the place on a bay, creek, or cove, but whether this is the original meaning of the word is doubtful as the L. vicus would seem to be the root of all these words.

I understand Wich in Essex means also a small dairy-house, “and according to Cowel, "a ferm or farm, which in the N. parts is called a Tacke, in Lancashire a Form-holl, is in Essex called a Wike or Wyke."R. S. CHARNOCK.

CADE OF HERRINGS, &c. (p. 23.)

According to Cowel (Law Dict.), a cade of herrings is 500; of sprats 1000. Book of Rates, fol. 45. Yet I find anciently, 600 made the "Cade of Herrings, six score to the hundred, which is called Magnum Centum. Cade (Cadus) is found in Bailey and Webster. The bequest means simply that a cade or barrel is to be given away each year in Lent, for succssive years.-R. S. CHARNOCK.

Shallow Recesses in Churches.-I do not quite understand what description of shallow recesses T. S. refers to. There are aumbries, recesses for altars, altar tombs, coped slabs, Easter sepulchres, piscina, statuettes, &c. These are often very shallow. In some of them I have found mural painting or fresco; and no doubt it was very generally if not invariably applied in each of them.-K.

Catholicon, (p. 10.)-Webster defines Catholicon [Greek, kaÐоXIKOV Lapa, universal remedy] a remedy for diseases; a universal remedy; a remedy supposed to be efficacious in purging away all humors; a panacea; a kind of soft purgative electuary, so called. The word is found in Bailey. -R. S. CHARNOCK.

Origin of the word Bonfire, (No. 1, p. 11.)-In eply to this Query, which has since been addressed to the Notes and Queries, the Editor says:

"Whatever may have been the nature of John Dale's contribution, there can be no doubt that the word Bon in bonfire, is from the Danish Baun, a beacon. See Tin Magnnsen's Essay on the Danish Calendar. Den forst November og den forste August, in which he speaks continually of festlege Bauner for festal Bonfires. Dr. Richardson, in his Dictionary, adopts that of Skinner, Ignis bonus, q. d. bonus, vet ben ominatus."—Notes and Queries, Nov. 6, 1858.

Busturn, (No. 1, p. 10; No. 2, p. 19), is probably "bustian," or "fustian; as in the inventory of St. Mary's, Cambridge,-"1503, Itm. a vestament of white bustian olde wth all the apparell," and in inventory. of St. Margaret's, Southwark,-"1485, Itm. a festement of wyght fostyan for Lent; "but may not "busturn," have been misread for "buckram ?" -W. C. LUKIS.

Library in Lavenham Church.-One of your correspondents conjectures that the Library in Lavenham Church, was founded by Dr. Bray. I am one of Dr. Bray's associates, and can inform him that the only Libraries founded by him in East Anglia, of which we have any record, are Dullingham, in Cambridgeshire, and North Walsham, in Norfolk.-E. C. A.

QUERIES.

Permit me to enquire in your pages.

1st. The form and material of the black raven banner of the Danes. 2nd. Whether the Gage family are acquainted with the precise place of sepulture of Sir Henry Gage, the Cavalier; who fell at Culham Bridge, Abingdon, Jan. 11, 1645.

3rd. Whether at Hoxne, where St. Edmund was killed, the Bridge is still called Gold-bridge, and the prejudice of brides and bride-grooms to crossing it still exists; also whether any precise spot is indicated by tradition as that of the murder.

4th. Whether there are any traces by inter-marriage or otherwise of my family, located at Rendlesham in the sixteenth Century, under the name of Higate, or Highgate, or Heygate.

Arms, Gules, two bars, Ar., on a bend, Or, a torteaux, between two leopards faces Az. Crest, A wolf's head, erased, Gules.

5th. Whether the last days of the famous Cavalier Sir Thomas Glenham, or Glemham are known; and who are his heirs?-W. E. HEYGATE, Southond, Essex.

BURGH CASTLE.

Can any of your correspondents oblige the proprietor of Burgh Castle, in Suffolk-the Garianonum of the Romans-with authentic information of any coins or other relics of the time of the Saxons discovered there? or of any notices of the occupation of that side by the Saxons in our old Chronicles or writers? I am only aware of two Saxon coins found there: a Sceatta, and a coin of the king of the Mercians; and I know of no Saxon remains of any other description.

Rapin (vol. i. folio, p. 66.) mentions a monastery at Cnobersburgh, said to be Burgh, found by the Saxons. And Ives, in his Garianonum (p. 42.), quotes Bede (Hist. Eccl. lib. iii. cap. 19.) for the same fact, and that Cnobersburgh was "Cunoberi Urbs, from a Saxon chief who formerly resided here."-JOHN P. BOILEAU, Ketteringham, Wymondham, Norfolk.

BURIAL CUSTOMS.

I am collecting materials for notices of Burial Customs, &c., in England, in ancient and modern times, and I should feel exceedingly obliged for any particulars derived either from books, or from personal observation, with which I might be favoured.

I am also desirous of adding to the curious details I have collected respecting the dislike to be buried in the "backside," commonly the north side of the churchyard. Was this, as is said, sometimes left unconsecrated?

I will add that any particulars, however trivial, will be gladly received. It is only by kind and extensive co-operation that I can hope to record many interesting details.-B. BADHAM, Kimbolton.

How did the Britons obtain their Gold, &c?-As it is well known the early Britons possessed many articles of Gold, particularly Torques, now of the value of £40, and upwards, Armlets and Fibulas, of the same metal, with other reliques;-How did the early natives become possessed of such valuables? was it by barter with the Phonecians, with whom the most part of their commerce was carried on with tin, cattle, raw hides, and such other articles as they could produce. Six or seven Torques have been discovered in Norfolk, and the large hoard of the silver coins of the Iceni, amounting to three or four hundred pounds, at Weston, in this county, tends to show that a considerable quantity of the precious metals was known at this early period. How, and by what mode of traffic were these valuables obtained ?-G. J.

S. Leonard's Chapel, Bildestone.-A misprint in this Query may possibly retard an answer-for Gidinton read Erdington. The phrase stating that a thing existed before the memory of man, is in law language always taken to imply that it existed before the commencement of the reign of Richard the First (1189.)-F. S. GROWSE.

Flummicking. Our old nurse in discussing the merits of narrow and broad bordered ladies nightcaps, has just said "the broad borders are so flummicking." As I cannot find the word either in Forby or Moor, may I trouble some of your correspondents for an explanation.-E. C. A.

On the south front of the fine old Perpendicular church at Lavenham (a church which contains specimens of almost all the ornamental adjuncts usual to ecclesiastical architecture), there stands a handsome sun dial, worthy of notice in the pages of the East Anglian; as I have not yet seen any allusion to this kind of antiquities in your Notes and Queries, perhaps, some member of the Archaeological Society which you represent, would kindly take up the subject, and investigate why, and when the Gnomon was first placed on ecclesiastical edifices; and more particularly on any of those in the three counties so ably chronicled by your Magazine. The Gnomon, I believe, was meant to be an indicator of far more valuable information than simply to convey to the eye the progress of time. It was to be the index to the religious thoughts of man's hearta symbol of the Deity himself, who sits high above the heavens, ruling the universe, by the revolution of the planets, through time and through eternity; He who is, and was, and is to come-Very and Eternal God.

Sun dials are said to have been invented by Aximander, 559 before Christ; but they were not set up in churches till the early part of the 7th century, after the Christian era. And in the next century, 760, Paul the First, Pope at Rome, sent to Pepin, king of France, the first clock of which

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