"And as to the same heavings, or tremblements de terre, it is sayde, yt in a certaine fielde neare unto ye parish church of Islingtoun, in like manner, did take place a wondrous commotion in uarious partes, ye earthe swellinge, and turninge uppe euery side towards ye midst of ye sayde fielde; and, by tradycion of this, it is obserued yt one Richard de Clouesley lay buryed in or neare yt place, and yt his bodie being restles, on ye score of some sinne by him peraduenture committed, did shewe or seeme to signifye yt religious obseruance should there take place, to quiet his departed spirit; whereupon certaine exorcisers, if wee may so term ym, did at dede of night, nothing lothe, using divers diuine exercises at torche light, set at rest ye unrulie spirit of ye shade Clouesley, and ye earthe did returne aneare to its pristine shape, neuermore commotion procedeing therefrom to this day, and this I know of a verie certaintie."—Nelson's Islington, 4to. 1811, p. 305., or 8vo. 1823, p. 293.
The spelling of this extract seems at least as old as the time of Cloudesley's death (1517), although it would appear to be a translation; and though the exorcism is apparently spoken of as having taken place long before the time of the writer. From these and other circumstances, I am led to suspect that Nelson was the victim of cruel hoax, particularly as I am unable to find any such book as Purlet de Mir. Nat. in the British Museum.
Query, Does any such book exist; and if so, where?
Frideswide.
Islington.
Liveries, Red and Scarlet.—In a Provincial paper, I noticed a paragraph dating the origin of wearing red coats in fox-hunting from a mandate of Henry II., who it appears made fox-hunting a royal sport, and gave to all distributors of foxes the scarlet uniform of the royal household: this also would involve another question as regards the origin of scarlet being the colour of the royal livery. Can any of your sporting or antiquarian correspondents give me any authority for the former, and any information about the latter?
W. E. W. Rumbold.
Dr. Bragge.—I shall be much obliged to any of your correspondents who will give me information respecting Dr. Bragge, who flourished about the year 1756. Who was he? Where did he get his degree? Who were his chief dupes? Where did he live? He appears, from various inscriptions round an engraved portrait, to have been a great duping dealer in pictures.
E. H.
Chauncy, or Chancy.—Any reference to works containing biographical notices of Charles Chauncy, or Chancy, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, circa 1620, will oblige