What Irish Common Prayer-Book is here meant? I have the books issued by the late Ecclesiastical History Society, but do not see the service among them. Could the prayer referred to be transferred to "N. & Q.;" or where is the said Irish Prayer-Book to be found? THOMAS LAWRENCE. Ashby-de-la-Zouch. [The Book of Common Prayer according to the use of the Church of Ireland, we believe, may frequently be met with. An edition in folio, 1740, is in the British Museum, containing "The Form of Prayer for the Visitation of Prisoners, treated upon by the Archbishops and Bishops, and the rest of the Clergy of Ireland, and agreed upon by Her Majesty's License in their Synod, holden at Dublin in the Year 1711." We are inclined to think that Mrs. Berkeley must have intended its beautiful exhortation--not the prayer--for the use of the poor. See "N. & Q.," Vol. vi., p. 246.] * * * * * REPLIES. EDMUND SPENSER, AND SPENSERS, OR SPENCERS, OF HURSTWOOD. (Vol. vii., pp. 303. 362.) Without entering on the question as to possible connexion of the poet with the family above mentioned, the discussion may be simplified by solving a difficulty suggested by CLIVIGER (p. 362.), arising from Hurstwood Hall (_another estate in Hurstwood_) having been possessed by Townley, and by explaining, 1st, The identity of the tenement once owned by Spencers; 2ndly, The seeming cause of Whitaker's silence; and, 3rdly, The certainty of possession by the Spencers. I. The former estate of the Spencers in Hurstwood is a tenement which was purchased by the late Rev. John Hargreaves from the representatives of William Ormerod, of Foxstones, in Cliviger, in 1803, and which had been conveyed in 1690, by John Spencer, then of Marsden, to Oliver Ormerod of Hurstwood, and his son Laurence; the former of these being youngest son, by a second marriage, of Peter Ormerod of Ormerod, and co-executor of his will in 1650. So much for the locality. II. As for Dr. Whitaker's silence, I know, from correspondence with him (1808-1816), that, from an irregularity in the Prerogative Office, he was not aware of this will, and uninformed as to this second marriage, or the connexion of this purchaser's family with the parent house; and I think it as probable that he was as unaware of the ancient possession of the purchased tenement by Spencers, as it is certain that this theory as to the connexion of the poet with it was _then_ unknown. If otherwise, he would doubtless have extended his scale, and included it. III. As to the certainty of possession by Spencers, I have brief extracts from deeds as to this tenement as follows:-- 1677. Indenture of covenants for a fine, between _John Spencer the elder_, and Oliver Ormerod of Cliviger, and note of fine. 1687. Will of same _John Spencer_, late of Hurstwood, mentioning possession of this tenement as the inheritance of his _great-grandfather_, _Edmund Spencer_.