May-day Custom.—Can any of your correspondents inform me of the origin of a singular custom which prevails in Huntingdonshire on May 1, viz. that of suspending from a rope, which is hung across the road in every village, a doll with pieces of gay-coloured silk and ribbon, and no matter what, attached to it; candlesticks and snuffers, spoons and forks, being parts of those I saw the other day in Summersham, St. Ives, and several other places.
Henrietta M. Cole.
3. Gloucester Crescent, Hyde Park.
Maydenburi.—The seal with which I close my letter was purchased some years ago on the west coast of Wales. It is engraved on brass; the upper part being much beaten down, as if struck with a hammer when used, but the face is perfect. The legend is, "S. IONIS. DE MAYDENBVRI:" but being engraved in the usual direction, it reads on the impression from right to left. The "s." may be read either as "sanctus" or "sigillum." The figure is that of St. Christopher, bearing Christ across a running stream.
I have not been able to discover the locality of Maydenburi, and therefore my questions to such of your readers as are more skilled in mediæval lore than myself, are, Where is this place situated, and what was its previous destination, monastic or otherwise? and who was the original proprietor of the seal?
H. E. S.
Tewkesbury.
Richard Fitz-Alan, ninth Earl of Arundel.—Can any one tell me why Richard Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel and Surrey, who married Eleanora, daughter of Henry Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster, relict of Henry Lord Beaumont, received the sobriquet of "Richard with the Copped Hat?"
H. M.
French Refugees.—During the time of the French Revolution, 1789-1800, many families emigrated to England, and received shelter and support at an hospital then situate in Spital Fields. I should feel obliged for any information relating to the books or registers of that hospital wherein would be found the names of the emigrants, and also whether there is any publication relating to them.