"From the absence of every allusion on the part of Stow to the common definition of a cockney, a person born within the sound of Bow Bells, the saying would appear to be of somewhat more recent date."
Stow's work was first published in 1598, and the author died in 1605. Fuller, author of the Worthies of England, was born in 1608: and it would seem that during his lifetime the definition of a cockney was well-known; for thus does Fuller speak:—
"[He was born within the sound of Bow Bell.] This is the periphrasis of a Londoner at large, born within the suburbs thereof; the sound of this bell exceeding the extent of the Lord Mayor's mace."
Can any correspondent of "N. & Q." refer me to an earlier writer than Fuller for the same definition?
ALFRED GATTY.
Queries.
ARE OUR LISTS OF ENGLISH SOVEREIGNS COMPLETE?
It must have often occurred to students of English history that the current and usual lists of English sovereigns somewhat arbitrarily reject all mention of some who, though for short periods, have enjoyed the regal position and power in this country. There will at once occur to every reader the names (first) of the Empress Maud, who, in a charter, dated Oxford in 1141, styled herself "Matilda Imperatrix, Henrici regis filia, et Anglorum Domina;" (secondly) the young King Henry, the crowned son of Henry II.; and (thirdly) Lady Jane Grey, who, in a few public and private documents, is cited as "Jane, Queen of England, Domina Jana, Dei Gratia Angliæ, Franciæ et Hiberniæ Regina," &c.
I am desirous now of calling the attention of your historical readers to the second case, my attention to the subject having been specially directed thereto by recently consulting the Chronicon Petroburgense (edited for the Camden Society by Mr. Stapleton), in which occur various notices of Henry, the crowned son of Henry II., as Henry III. I beg to quote these passages. Under the year MCLXIX. the chronicler records that—
"Hic fecit Henricus Rex coronare filium suum ab archiepiscopo Eborum."