"There hangeth an yron collar fastened in the wall, with one linke fit to be put upon a man's neck, without any manner of hurt to the party that weareth it.
"This collar doth every stranger and freshman, the first time that he passeth that way, put upon his neck, which he must weare so long standing till he hath redeemed himself with a competent measure of wine."
Coryat submitted himself to the collar "for novelty sake," and he adds:
"This custome doth carry some kinde of affinity with certain sociable ceremonies that wee have in a place of England, which are performed by that most reuerend Lord Ball of Bagshot, in Hampshire, who doth with many, and indeed more solemne, rites inuest his brothers of his vnhallowed chappell of Basingstone (Basingstoke?) (as all our men of the westerne parts of England do know by deare experience to the smart of their purses), to these merry burgomaisters of Saint Gewere vse to do."
Will any of your readers state whether the custom is remembered in Hampshire, and afford explanation as to the most Rev. Lord Ball? The writers that I have referred to are silent, and I do not find mention of the custom in the pages of Mr. Urban.
J. H. M.
Marcarnes.—In Guillim's Display of Heraldry (6th edit., London, 1724), sect. 2. chap. v. p. 32., occurs the following description of a coat of arms: "Marcarnes, vaire, a pale, sable."
There is no reference to a Heralds' Visitation, or to the locality in which resided the family bearing this name and coat. It is only mentioned as an instance among many others of the pale in heraldry. I have searched many heraldic books, as well as copies of Heralds' Visitations, but cannot find the name elsewhere. Will any herald advise me how to proceed farther in tracing it?
G. R. M.
The Claymore.—What is the original weapon to which belongs the name of claymore (claidh mhor)? Is it the two-handed sword, or the basket-hilted two-edged sword now bearing the appellation? Is the latter kind of sword peculiar to Scotland? They are frequently to be met with in this part of the country. One was found a few years since plunged up to the hilt in the earth on the Cotswold Hills. It was somewhat longer than the Highland broadsword, but exactly similar to a weapon which I have seen, and which belonged to a Lowland Whig gentleman slain at Bothwell Bridge. If these swords be exclusively Scottish, may they not be relics of the unhappy defeat at Worcester?
Francis John Scott.