Meanwhile, the old hall seems to have served as a lock-up or gaol, and was finally sold in 1653 to a maltster, who would undoubtedly convert the roomy old structure into a malt-house.
The Corpus Christi Hall would appear to have been enlarged when it was fairly in the hands of the civic authorities, not only in the reign of Elizabeth (about the year 1586), but in that of Charles I. Many particulars about the building will be found in the Handbook of Leicester.
The guildhall of Leicester is within one of the most picturesque old structures of the country, and is well described by your correspondent Kt. As you enter, its rude rafters rise directly from the ground on either hand, and embrace over the head of the visitor, forming pointed arches. As you advance along the floor the beams widen, and the Tudor timbering and architectural detail are clearly discernible; two staples still remaining on one of the braces, which tradition says sustained the scenery of the players in the time when theatrical performers were allowed to act there, and when even Shakspeare figured in the histrionic group. Having reached the western end you find yourself in front of the bench on which the mayor and magistrates sit to dispense justice, the ancient gilded frame for the mace (now tenantless) surmounting the chief magistrate's chair. The rich old mantelpiece of the mayor's parlour, and the fragments of painted glass in its windows, enhance and complete the antiquarian attractions of this relic of Edwardian and Elizabethan architecture.
Jaytee.
THE SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON.
Amongst the oddities which cross our path, I recollect one which, at the time it occurred, caused no small surprise to the young, of which I then was one. I think it must be about forty-six years ago, a man travelled about Hampshire professing to cure the blind, sick, and lame; and although he did not belong to the medical order, yet numerous cures were attributed to him, and he had quite a collection of crutches and walking-sticks, left by his patients, who, it was said, no longer required his
or their aid. I well know that he was looked upon by the common sort of people with wonder, and almost awe. The notion prevalent amongst them was, that, being the seventh son of a seventh son, he was endowed by nature with extraordinary healing powers. After a few months his fame, such as it was, evaporated, and I have not heard of him since, nor have I read of any pretender acting like him since then. Can any of your readers enlighten my darkness on the above, or on any other seventh of a seventh? and is there any account or tradition of a similar impostor in any other county of England? Also, if ancient or modern history records any such wonderful attributes in reference to a seventh daughter of a seventh daughter?
The above was written before I saw Mr. Cooper's allusion to the subject, in Vol. iii., p. 148. I hope to be favoured with that gentleman's further notice of the seventh son of a seventh son.
I should esteem it a favour if some one of your numerous and learned readers would inform me if that word denoting seven, which is in such frequent use in the Old and New Testaments, is susceptible of being rendered "several," "many," or some other indefinite quantity?