Notes and Queries, Vol. IV, Number 107, November 15, 1851: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. — John Shaqi
Notes and Queries, Vol. IV, Number 107, November 15, 1851: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.Various
History
Notes and Queries, Vol. IV, Number 107, November 15, 1851: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.
Various
Questions and answers -- Periodicals
Did the Romans throw corn, pulse, or beans on the flames of the funeral
pile (_rogus_), or deposit them with the bones and ashes of the deceased
in their sepulchres? The Query is suggested by a quantity of, to all
appearance, calcined small field beans having recently been found by me,
in small heaps, among a deposit of ashes embedded in sand, in the
perpendicular cutting of a sand-pit at Comb Wood, near Kingston. The
deposit is black, reduced to a fine powder, and, with the exception of
the beans, homogeneous: it was perfectly distinct from the surrounding
sand, and was about two feet under the surface of the soil. For
centuries past Roman remains have been from time to time discovered at
Comb Wood, and it is known to have been a Roman station. The locality in
which I found the deposit is said to have been the sepulchre of the
station; and from an intelligent person, engaged in excavating the sand,
I learned that he occasionally came upon deposits similar to that in
question, containing baked, but unglazed, clay vessels; some, of an oval
form, about a yard in circumference and nearly a foot in depth, and
others of the size and somewhat of the form of a flower-pot. These
vessels fall to pieces after two or three days, through exposure to the
air. He had also found pieces of copper or brass about an inch square,
and of the thickness of a penny, as also coins.
Authorities (Virg. _Æn._ VI. 225.; _Stat. Theb._ VI. 126.; Lucan, IX.
175.) may be cited, showing that perfumes, cups of oil, ornaments,
clothes, dishes of food, and other things supposed to be agreeable to
the deceased, were thrown upon the flames; but I do not find corn or
beans specifically mentioned as having been used on these occasions.
I may add, that the field containing the sand-pit (which is the property
of His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge) is close to the road
leading by Putney Heath to Kingston, and on the brow of the declivity of
Comb Hill, overlooking that ancient Saxon seat of royalty which is
stated to have been built out of the remains of the adjoining Roman
station.
JOHN AP WILLIAM AP JOHN.
Inner Temple, Nov. 1. 1851.
DACRES OF THE NORTH.
William Lord Dacre, of the North, had four sons: 1. Thomas; 2. Leonard;
3. Edward; 4. Francis. The eldest son Thomas married, and died in his
father's lifetime; leaving a son George, and three daughters, all under
age. This George, on his grandfather's death, became Lord Dacre; and was
in ward to the Duke of Norfolk during his minority, and his mother
became the Duke's second wife. George Lord Dacre was accidentally killed
before he attained his majority, leaving his three sisters his
coheiresses-at-law. Two of the coheiresses were married to the Duke's
two sons, the Earl of Arundel and Lord William Howard. Can any of your
readers state what became of the third sister?
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