This anecdote will perhaps be of use in directing attention to Cambrian pedigrees, and leading it from Dr. Whitaker's "Old King Cole" to "the noble race of Shenkin."
J. T. A.
Haybands in Seals (Vol. iii., p. 186.).—The practice mentioned by Mr. Lower, of inserting haybands, or rather slips of rush, in the seals of feoffments, was common in all counties; and it certainly was not confined to the humbler classes. Hundreds of feoffments of the fifteenth century, and earlier, have passed through my hands with the seals as described by Mr. Lower, relating to various counties, and executed by parties of all degrees. In these instances, a little blade of rush is generally neatly inserted round the inner rim of the impression, and evidently must have been so done while the wax was soft. In some instances, these blades of rush overlay the whole seal; in others, a slip of it is merely tied round the label. In delivering seisin under a feoffment, the grantor, or his attorney, handed over to the grantee, together with the deed, a piece of turf, or a twig, or something plucked from the soil, in token of his giving full and complete possession. I have generally supposed that these strips of rush were the tokens of possession so handed over, as part and parcel of the soil, by the grantor; and that they were attached to the seal, as it were, "in perpetuam rei memoriam." In default of better information, I venture to suggest this explanation, but will not presume to vouch for its correctness.
L. B. L.
Notes on Newspapers (vol. iii., p. 164.).—John Houghton, the editor of the periodical noticed by your correspondent, A Collection for the Improvement of Husbandry and Trade, was one of those meritorious men who well deserve commemoration, though his name is not to be found in any biography that I am acquainted with. He was an apothecary, and became a dealer in tea, coffee, and chocolate. He was in politics a loyalist, or Tory, and was admitted a member of the Royal Society in 1679-80. He began to publish his Letters on Husbandry and Trade in 1681. No. 1. is dated Thursday, September 8, 1681. The first collection ended June, 1684, and consists of two vols. 4to. In November, 1691, Houghton determined to resume his old plan of publishing papers on Husbandry and Trade. His abilities and industry were warmly recommended by several members of the Royal Society: Sir Peter Pott, John Evelyn, Dr. Hugh Chamberlain, and others. The recommendation is prefixed to the first number of this second collection. The first paper is dated Wednesday, March 30, 1692; and the second Wednesday, April 6, 1692; they were continued every succeeding Wednesday. The concluding paper was published September 24, 1703. There were 583 numbers, in 19 vols., of the folio papers. The last number contains an "Epitome" of the 19 vols. and a "Farewell," which gives his reason for discontinuing the paper, and thanks to his assistants, "wishing that knowledge may cover the earth as the water covers the sea." A selection from these papers was published in 1727, by Richard Bradley, F.R.S., in three vols. 8vo., to which a fourth was afterwards added in 1728, 8vo.
Houghton also published An Account of the Acres and Houses, with the proportional Tax, &c. of each County in England and Wales. Lond. 1693, on a broadside. Also, Book of Funds, 1694, 4to. Alteration of the Coin, with a feasible Method to it 1695. 4to.
James Crossley.
Duncan Campbell (Vol. i., p. 186.).—There seems to be no doubt that Duncan Campbell, whose life was written by Defoe, was a real person. See Tatler, vol. i. p. 156. edit. 1786, 8vo.; Spectator, No. 560.; Wilson's Life of Defoe, vol. iii. p. 476. His house was "in Buckingham Court, over against Old Man's Coffee House, at Charing
Cross," and at another period of his life in Monmouth Court. He is reported to have amassed a large fortune from practising upon the credulity of the public, and was the grand answerer of "Queries" in his day. Defoe's entertaining pieces relating to him are evidently novels founded upon fact.
Jas. Crossley.