Page 7.—Beauchamp. Pronounced Beech'-am.
The herse of brass hoops. The word herse (the same as hearse) originally meant a harrow; then a temporary framework, often shaped like a harrow, used for supporting candles at a funeral service, and placed over the coffin; then a kind of frame or cage over an effigy on a tomb; and finally a carriage for bearing a corpse to the grave. For the third meaning (which we have here), compare Ben Jonson's Epitaph on the Countess of Pembroke:—
"Underneath this sable herse
Lies the subject of all verse," etc.
The garter. Showing that he was a Knight of the Garter.
The noble Impe. The word imp originally meant a scion, shoot, or slip of a tree or plant; then, figuratively, human offspring or progeny, as here and in many passages in writers of the time. Holinshed the chronicler speaks of "Prince Edward, that goodlie impe," and Churchyard calls Edward VI. "that impe of grace." Fulwell, addressing Anne Boleyn, refers to Elizabeth as "thy royal impe." As first applied to a young or small devil, the word had this same meaning of offspring, "an imp of Satan" being a child of Satan. How it came later to mean a mischievous urchin I leave the small folk themselves to guess.
Page 10.—The famous "dun cow." This, according to the legend, was "a monstrous wild and cruel beast" which ravaged the country about Dunsmore. Guy also slew a wild boar of "passing might and strength," and a dragon "black as any coal" which was long the terror of Northumberland. Compare the old ballad of Sir Guy:—
"On Dunsmore heath I also slew
A monstrous wild and cruel beast,