"D. M.
Ælia Lælia Crispis,
Nec vir, nec mulier,
Nec androgyna
Nec puella, nec juvenis,
Nec anus;
Nec casta, nec meretrix,
Nec pudica;
Sed omnia;
Sublata
Neque fame, neque ferro,
Neque veneno;
Sed omnibus:
Nec cœlo, nec terris,
Nec aquis,
Sed ubique jacet.
Lucius Agatho Priscius,
Nec maritus, nec amator,
Nec necessarius;
Neque mœrens, neque gaudens,
Neque flens;
Hanc,
Nec molem, nec pyramidem,
Nec sepulchrum,
Sed omnia,
Scit et nescit, cui posuerit."
C. Forbes.
Saint Thomas of Lancaster.—The following passage in Fuller's Worthies (of Yorkshire) does not seem to have been noticed by either of your correspondents who replied to Mr. R. M. Milnes' Query in Vol. i., p. 181.:
"Thomas Plantagenet. Before I proceed, I must confess myself formerly at a great loss to understand a passage in an honourable author, speaking of the counterfeit reliques detected and destroyed at the Reformation: 'The Bell of Saint Guthlac, and the Felt of Saint Thomas of Lancaster, both remedies for the headache.' (Vice Lord Herbert's Life of Henry VIII., p. 431.) But I could recover no Saint Thomas (saving him of Canterbury) in any English Martyrology, till since, on enquiry, I find him to be this Thomas Plantagenet. He was Earl of Derby, Lancaster, Leicester, and (in the right of Alice his wife) of Lincoln. A popular person, and great enemy to the two Spencers, minions to King Edward II, who being hated as devils for their pride, no wonder if this Thomas was honored as a Saint and Martyr by the common sort.[[6]] Indeed he must be a very good chymist who can extract martyr out of malefactor; and our chronicles generally behold him put to death for treason against King Edward II. But let him pass for a saint in this shire, though never solemnly canonised, it being true of such local saints, what Servius Honoratus observeth of topical gods, 'ad alias regiones nunquam transibant,' they travelled not so far as to be honored in other countries. His beheading, alias his martyrdom, happened at Pomfret A.D. 1322."
It would appear from the foregoing extract that Thomas of Lancaster was never admitted into the Romish calendar of saints; though his memory was locally revered, especially for his opposition to the two Spencers, or Despensers, as they are called by Hume. This historian had no respect for "the turbulent Lancaster;" but the quaint old Fuller seems to have thought well of him.
As a bell-man I am more interested in the virtues of the bell of Saint Guthlac, than in the hat of Saint Thomas, and I take this opportunity of asking assistance from the readers of "Notes and Queries" towards a collection of curious anecdotes and information about bells, which I am endeavouring to make. Any contributions will be thankfully received by me.
Alfred Gatty.
Ecclesfield.
Footnote 6:[(return)]
"In sanctorum numerum retulit vulgus.—Camden's Brit. in Yorkshire. Amongst other profits received by the abbey of Leicester, in 1348, from oblations at the church of St. Martin in that town, occurs, pes Thomæ Lancastriæ respondebat, 6l. 10s."—History of Leicestershire, vol. i. p. 591.