"In liberatione constitutâ portarii de Hereford, 30s. 5d."
Again, in Pipe 3 Joh.
"In liberatione constitutâ portario de Hereford, 30s. 5d."
A similar entry is to be found in other rolls, as well printed as inedited. I could indulge some other criticisms on the communication of your correspondent in Spring Gardens, but I prefer encouraging him to make further inquiries, and to produce from the records in his custody some more satisfactory solution of the difficulty. In the meantime, let me refer to a Survey of Wrigmore Castle in the Lansdowne Collection, No. 40. fo. 82. The surveyor there reports, that the paling, rails, &c. of the park are much decayed in many and sundry places, and he estimates the repairs, with allowance of timber from the wood there, "by good surveye and oversight of the poker and other officers of the said parke," at 4l. The date of the survey is 13 May, 1584.
Comparing this notice of the office with the receiver's accounts tempore Hen. VII. and Hen. VIII. (antè, p. 269.), in which the officer is called "pocarius omnium boscorum," I cannot doubt that his duty, or at least one of his duties, was that of woodward, and that, as such, he assigned timber for repair of the premises. How he came by his local title and style of poker is a mystery on which we have all hitherto failed to throw any light.
E.S.
Vox Populi Vox Dei,—about the origin of which saying "QUÆSITOR" asks (No. 21. p. 321.),—were the words chosen by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Simon Mepham, as his text for the sermon which he preached when Edward III. was called to the throne, from which the nation had pulled down his father, Edward II. This we learn from Walsingham, who says:
"Archiepiscopus verò Cantuariæ præsenti consensit electioni, ut omnes prælati et archiepiscopus quidem assumpto themate, Vox populi Vox Dei, sermonem fecit populo, exhortans omnes ut apud regem regum intercederent pro electo."—Tho. Walsingham, Hist. Angl. ed. Camden, p. 126.
DANIEL ROCK.
A living Dog better than a dead Lion.—I no not know whether your correspondent (No. 22. p. 352.) ever goes to church; but if he is not prevented by rain next St. Swithin's day, he will learn who was the author of this proverb. It will be a good thing, if your work should sometimes lead your readers to search the Scriptures, and give them credit for wisdom that has flowed from them so long, and far, and wide, that its source is forgotten; but this is not the place for a sermon, and I now only add, "here endeth the first lesson" from