In old times when a church became too small for the parish, the ordinary custom was to build an additional part to it in such a way that the old church, after the alteration, formed an aisle to the new part, which henceforth because the nave. Until the Reformation the altar in the old chancel would probably remain after the new chancel was built, and be used as an inferior altar, while the new altar would be used for high mass; under these circumstances the rector's right in the chancel would probably remain untouched, and his obligation to keep it in repair undisputed. But when, at the Reformation, all but high altars were taken away, which chancel was accounted the rector's, the new, or the old, or both? This question has just arisen in an adjoining county.
H. C. K.
—— Rectory, Hereford.
Duchess of Lancaster.
—Can any of your correspondents inform us whether the Queen is really Duchess of Lancaster? The Lancastrians have always rather prided themselves on that circumstance, but some wise person has lately made the discovery that William III. never created himself Duke of Lancaster, nor any of the Hanoverian dynasty, and that consequently the title remains with the Stuarts, although the duchy privileges belong to the Crown. Is this really the truth?
A LANCASTRIAN.
Cheke's Clock.
—Strype, in his Life of Sir John Cheke, mentions that among other presents bestowed on him by the king, was his own clock, which after his death came into the possession of Dr. Edwin Sandys, Bishop of Worcester, who, about 1563, gave it as a new year's gift to Cecil the Secretary. Can any of your readers give a description of this clock, or what became of it after coming into Cecil's possession?
C. B. T.