Oxford.
Female Dress (Vol. ix., p. 271.).—I have dresses from 1768 to the present time, two or three years only missing, from pocket-books, which I have carefully arranged and had bound in a volume. On referring to it I find that hoops ceased after 1786, excepting for court days. The ladies at that time wore large hats, the same shape young people and children have at the present day. Powder went out at the time of the scarcity, patches before hoops, and high-heeled shoes when short waists came in fashion.
I have a small engraving of their Majesties, attended by the lord chamberlain, &c., together with the Princess Royal, Prince Edward, and the Princess Elizabeth, in their boxes at the opera in the year 1782. The queen in a very large hoop, each with their hair full powdered; and the celebrated Mademoiselle Theodore, in the favourite comic ballad called "Les Petits Reins," the same year, with a large hoop, hair well powdered, a little hat at the back of her head with long strings, very short petticoats, and shoes with buckles.
Julia R. Bockett.
Southcote Lodge.
Office of Sexton held by one Family (Vol. ix., p. 171.).—A search into parish registers would, I think, show that the office of clerk was often a hereditary one. In Worcestershire, for example, the family of Rose at Bromsgrove, and the family of Osborne at Belbroughton, have supplied hereditary clerks to those parishes through many generations. In the latter case, also, the trade of a tailor has also been hereditary to an Osborne, in conjunction with his duties as clerk. The Mr. Tristram, who was the patron of the living of Belbroughton (afterwards sold to St. John's College, Oxford), states, in a letter to the bishop (Lyttelton), that the Osbornes were tailors in Belbroughton in the reign of Henry VIII. They are tailors, as well as clerks, to this day, but they can trace their descent to a period of more than
three centuries before Henry VIII. The office of parish clerk and sexton has also been hereditary in the parishes of Hope and King's Norton, Worcestershire.
Cuthbert Bede, B. A.
Lyra's Commentary (Vol. ix., p. 323.).—The human figure described by Edward Peacock as impressed on one cover of his curious old copy of the Textus biblie, &c., has no glory round the head, or over it, by his account. This would warrant the conclusion that it was not intended for any saint, or it might almost pass for a St. Christopher. But I believe it is meant as emblematic of a Christian generally, in his passage through this life. I suspect that what Mr. Peacock speaks of as a "fence composed of interlaced branches of trees," is intended to represent waves of water by undulating lines. The figure appears to be wading through the waters of the tribulations of this life, by the help of his staff, just as St. Christopher is represented. This may account for the loose appearance of his nether habiliments, which are tucked up, so as to leave the knees bare. The wallet is a very fit accompaniment for the pilgrim's staff. The wicker basket holds his more precious goods; but, to show the insecurity of their tenure, the pilgrim has a sword ready for their defence.
It is not so easy to account for the animals on the other cover. My conjecture is, that at least the four lower ones are meant for the emblematic figures of the four evangelists. The bird may be the eagle, the monkey the man; the dog may, on closer scrutiny, be found to look something like the ox or calf; and the lion speaks for itself. But I can attempt no explanation of the upper figures, which Mr. Peacock says "may be horses." I should much like to see drawings of the whole, both human and animal, having a great predilection for studying such puzzles. But if the above hints prove of any service, it will gratify