George Clynt had of hys owne and of Humfrey Stafford, the Shyreefe, Walter Scull, Willm. Jenetts, Shyld, of the wyfe of Wode, of the Baylifes, and of Willm. Botyller, and Thomas Gaye. Margery Wyherd had of her owne and Thomas Throckmorton, of Whittenton, Roger Sharpe, and Thomas Warre. "Jone Shrene." Note (in later handwriting.) "At ye top of ye other page these names are said to be copied from a Bailiff's roll, made in ye time of Ed. I. From several of these names I am convinced ye transcribers wrote Ed. 1st for Ed. 4th. Many of ye persons here mentioned flourish'd at that time in this county, but few do we meet with so early as ye reign of Ed. I. Besides, at that time most men added de to their names, whereas here is not one with that addition; so that I cannot allow The ancient chapel at Droitwich, forthis roll to be older than Ed. 3, tho' I high road passing through it, is alluded to merly standing on the bridge, with the rather believe Ed. ye 4th.-C. L.” in the chapter on Martin Hussingtree thus: 66 Now to looke a little backe on the Rudinges (formerly lords of the manor of Martin Hussingtree). This hath byn an ancient family, whose armes somewhat battered appeared at Wich, in the chapell on the bridge, and have byn flourished on the coaches and monuments of honorable and riche men, who I would to God they would cast downe theyre cies on thease poore gentlemen, the Rudinges, so belowe there coates of armes as they have scarce coates to clothe them." Worcester, October, 1856. COLLEGE. J. NOAKE. -as astronomy, law, divinity, music, and geometry. The college, in which the lectures on these subjects were originally held, occupied a spot of ground, situate between Broad-street and Bishopsgate-street; but, in the year 1768, during the administration of the Duke of Grafton, and soon after the dissensions between the court and the city, an act of parliament was passed, whereby the Gresham trustees were forced to give up to the government the site of their college, for a rent of £500 a-year. The lectures were after this delivered in a room in the Royal-Exchange, capable of holding not more than fifty persons. At last, the trustees, with a public spirit for which they cannot receive too much credit, determined on rebuilding the college, and that in such a manner, as to afford far greater accommodation than hitherto. The situation which the college at present occupies was chosen, and those of the public who have attended the various lectures are the best judges as to whether the intentions of its munificent founder are fully carried out, as far as is in the power of the trustees. But we must now see what the government has done with the property on which it had seized in 1768, for the purpose of building a miserable excise-office. Three years ago it was determined that this office should be removed to SomersetHouse, in consequence of which the old site of Gresham College was sold. By this transaction the government realized a sum of one hundred and nine thousand five hundred pounds; or, in other words, by selling that for which it had given five hundred a-year, it raised a capital which would bring in, at a moderate interest, nearly five thousand. One would have thought that some assistance might have been afforded by the government towards an endowment which it had so much illtreated in former times, and by which it had profited so largely; especially as the funds, now in the hands of the trustees, are by no means sufficient for doing justice to the institution. A good library is required, and the lectures on astronomy and geometry are not complete without suitable apparatus for the purpose of illus tration. In fact, a very large sum is needed, to place this venerable establishment on a footing worthy of the name of its founder. And I am sure, Mr. Urban, you will agree with me in saying that Gresham College has very large claims on government. A commissioner was sent down a short time since, to inquire into its present condition: whether the government intends to make some reparation for its past conduct, or to utterly annihilate the college and carry off the professors bodily, I am unable to say. Time will shew. Certain it is, that the fate of Sir Thomas Gresham's legacy to his country is awaited by many with the greatest anxiety. I beg to remain, yours most sincerely, December 1st, 1856. AN OLD FRIEND. MILFORD-HAVEN AND THE SOUTH WALES RAILWAY. MR. URBAN,-Your readers are doubtless well acquainted with the immense advantages possessed by the great natural harbour of Milford-Haven, which may be safely pronounced to be one of the finest, if not the finest, harbour of the world. Nevertheless, it may be useful at the present time to recall attention to the subject. This harbour is spacious enough to contain the whole British navy, which might there ride in safety from every wind, and with free ingress and egress at all times. It is situated also in the most convenient spot that could well have been contrived for carrying on the trade with the south of Ireland and with America. The high land at its mouth is the first land that is seen from the deck or the mast-head of vessels arriving from the western world, which might sail straight into this magnificent harbour, and thereby avoid all the dangers of the channel navigation, and at the same time save a day in the voyage to London. It might naturally be expected that this harbour would carry away a large part of the trade both of Liverpool and of Bristol. Why, then, has it so long been neglected? Several causes have contributed to this neglect; cious, the sale of Pembroke dockyard to a commercial company. This may appear a bold proposal, but a little consideration will shew it to be a very reasonable one. As a naval dockyard for ships of war it is perfectly useless, it is not at all required, we have plenty of naval dockyards without it, and this one has been chiefly distinguished as one continued series of parliamentary jobs. Up to the present moment every vessel that is built there is obliged to be sent round the Land's-End and the coast of Cornwall to Plymouth, or Portsmouth, or Chatham, to have its masts, and rigging, and stores put in; why may not the hulls be just as well built in those dockyards also? A commercial company, with sufficient capital, would at once give life and activity to the harbour and to the trade of the district, as well as great facilities to the whole trade of England with the West. Even if this great object cannot be effected, considerable good may be done by calling public attention to the management of the South Wales Railway. Any thing more mean, and penurious, and shortsighted than their present policy can hardly be imagined. The station, which forms the terminus of the line on the bank of this noble harbour, is a mere shed, without any sort of accommodation for passengers, -no hotel, no refreshment-room, scarcely even a waiting-room. The only communication with the dockyard, or with the town of Pembroke, is an open boat, across a harbour three quarters of a mile wide! Suppose a party of ladies going from London on a visit to Earl Cawdor, at Stackpoole Court. They leave town immediately after an early breakfast, and are expected to dinner; the weather is wet and stormy-they are obliged to shut up the windows of the first-class carriage to keep out the wind and the rain; after a tedious journey they arrive at the terminus, but not until after dark; the wind continues boisterous, the rain comes down in buckets-full, as it commonly does in Milford-Haven; there is no shelter for them; heated and fatigued as they are, they must proceed at once to embark in an open boat, and with the help of four stout rowers they cross the harbour. They arrive at the opposite bank, drenched to the skin, and scramble on shore in the dark as well as they can. As they belong to the favoured class, Lord Cawdor's carriage has been permitted to enter the dockyard, and they have not far to walk; if they had not been expected, or did not belong to the aristocracy, they would not have been so favoured; they must then have walked through the dockyard to the omnibus for Pembroke, stationed outside the gates, a notice being stuck upon the gates that private carriages only are admitted within the dockyard. What right has any Jackin-office to make such a regulation? Who pays for the dockyard? Why should not the omnibus be allowed to approach as near to the harbour as a private carriage? Who is responsible for this abuse? This grievance, however, does not affect the Railway Company, but I have not yet done with the directors. They announce publicly, and invite the public to purchase, TOURIST-TICKETS. Let not the public be deceived-they are a regular swindle. Few lines possess greater attraction for a TOURIST than the South Wales Railway; within sight, or within easy reach of every station, is some interesting ruin of a castle, an abbey, or a church; a TOURIST naturally wishes to take his time, and stop at every station. Oh no, say the Directors, you must only stop at those stations which we choose to dictate to you. We will take care to select those stations where there is the least to be seen, and you must pay the full fare from those stations we have selected to any others that you wish to stop at. So that, eventually, the TOURIST finds that he has paid more than if he had not bought a TOURIST-TICKET at all. It is obvious that it can make no real difference to the Company how often the TOURIST stops, provided he does not go twice over the same ground in the same direction; and this regulation is scarcely compatible with common honesty. Its injustice is so evident, that, when I was there last summer, the officers of the Company, at several stations, were ashamed to take the money, saying that the TOURIST-TICKET was sufficient; but when I presumed upon this at other stations, a different view of the matter was taken there, and the money demanded, even with some degree of rudeness. Surely the shareholders should insist upon the directors cancelling so disgraceful a regulation as this. If these TOURISTS'-TICKETS were treated in a liberal manner, a large number of persons would be induced to visit this beautiful line of country in the summer months.-Your obedient servant, A TOURIST. MR. URBAN,- While strolling on the Kentish coast last summer I halted at a roadside inn, in what I found was styled "West end of Heme." I inquired, among other matters, the distance to Whitstable, and received the desired information from the portly, good natured-looking mistress, with the addition, "Ah, sir, that's a queer place; you'll see all the houses stuck up and down the hill, just as the devil dropped 'em, as folk say here." I naturally asked the particulars of this diabolical feat, and in answer was favoured with the following tale, which I do not give in the good lady's own words, lest I should wound the amour propre of the respected citizens of Durovernum, for, according to her, "it was all along of the wickedness of the Canterbury people," of which some instances were supplied. Canterbury, as all the world of Kent knows, is "no mean city" now; but six centuries ago, when it was the resort of thousands of pilgrims, it was so glorious that it excited the wrath of the foul fiend, and its inhabitants being as bad as Jerome describes the people of Jerusalem to have been when that city too was famous for pilgrimages, he sought and obtained permission to cast it into the sea, if the service of prayer and praise usually performed by night and by day at the tomb of St. Thomas the Martyr should be once suspended. Long and eagerly did Satan watch, but though the people grew worse and worse daily, the religious were faithful to their duties, and he almost gave up the hope of submerging the proud city. At length, however, his time came. great festival had been held, at which the chaplains at the saint's tomb had of course borne a prominent part, and when night came, utterly exhausted, they slept,-all, and every one. A The glory of Canterbury was now gone for ever. Down pounced the fiend, and endeavoured to grasp the city in his arms, but, though provided with claws proverbially long, he was unable to embrace one-half, so vast was its size. A portion, however, he seized, and having, with a few strokes of his wings reached the open sea, he cast in his evil burden. Thrice he repeated his journey, portion after portion was sunk, and the city was all but annihilated, when the prayers of the neglected St. Thomas prevailed, and an angelic vision was sent to brother Hubert, the sacristan, which roused and directed him what to do. He rushed into the church, and seizing the bell-rope, he pulled vigorously. The great bell Harry, which gives its name to the centre tower of the minster, ordinarily required the exertions of ten men to set it in motion, but it now yielded to the touch of one, and a loud boom from its consecrated metal scared the fiend just as he reached the verge of the sea; in despair he dropped his prey and fled, and Canterbury has never since excited his envy by its splendour. There was a remarkable difference in the fate of the different parts of Satan's last armful, from which a great moral lesson was justly drawn by my informant. Those very few houses in which more good than bad were found were preserved from destruction by falling on the hill-side, and they thus gave rise to the thriving port of Whitstable; while the majority, where the proportions were reversed, dropped into the sea a mile off, and there their remains are still to be seen; but antiquaries, if ignorant of the facts of the case, have mistaken them for the ruins of Roman edifices submerged by the encroaching ocean. It is to be hoped that they will suffer the invaluable guide, local tradition, to set them right. THE MEADE FAMILY. MR. URBAN, - The Meade altar-tomb, against the north wall of the chancel at Elindon, Essex, is late Perpendicular work, but very rich in detail; the material is a greenish sort of Purbeck marble. It bears the following inscription : "Thomæ Meade armigero, secundo justiciario de banco, hic humato, fidelis-ima sua conjux Johanna posuit obiit Maii 1585." On it are the following arms, many times repeated, but no colours given. Meade, a chevron between three pelicans vulning, (the colours should be sab. ** a chevron between three pelicans or, vulned gu.) also two other coats. 1. On a fess between three storks; as many cross-crosslets. 2. On a chevron between three colts' heads couped, two chevronels. Crest of Meade. On a ducal coronet an eagle displayed, with two necks. I subjoin a pedigree of the Meade family, so far as the county of Essex is concerned. The name is spelt indifferently Meade and Mede. Elmdon and Wendon-Lofts, though sepa rate parishes, form one village. The ancient mansion of the Meades, now belonging to the Wilkes' family, is in the latter parish. The church, now rebuilt, adjoins the house. There are several flat stones with inscriptions to the Medes in Wendon-Lofts church, but no arms; their dates are worked into the accompanying pedigree. issue, one daughter. =2. Johanna Clamp, widow of Huntingdon. Thomas Meade, Esq., = 1. the first of the family who settled in Essex, at Elmdon. He was second Justice of the King's Bench. Died 1585. Monument in Elmdon Church, as described. Jane and Margaret sold the manor of Wendon Lofts to Richard Chamberlayne, Esq., citizen and mercer of London; Sheriff of Essex in 1721. Faithfully yours, JOHN H. SPERLING. PROPOSED REGISTRATION OF ARMS. MR. URBAN,-A visitation of arms, to be regularly made by heralds, is of course a thing now utterly impracticable, however great the advantages to be gained from it; if nothing else, the expense would entirely preclude such a scheme. That such would bear good fruit, and be of the greatest value, must be evident to all; forming, indeed, a portion of our national annals, it would be a mine to the historian and genealogist, and would, no doubt, in after years, solve many questions of succession and relationship. My plan for attaining this great end seems to me so utterly simple, that I feel sure all who are aware of the advantages to be gained will assist in urging the use of means so easy and apparent. The assessed tax papers are sent round to every householder in Great Britain, and among other items is a charge for "armorial bearings."-Now I propose that these forms, for one year, should be printed on a whole sheet of paper,-the fly-leaf to have such a heading as might be decided on,to be filled up with name, residence, &c.; and that the householder should be requested to fill up in this blank sheet a proper description of his armorial bearings, if he have any. As many would think the having arms would make them liable to pay the tax, I should propose that it be stated whether the party uses the arms or not, and thus ensure information. I would also suggest that when the party addressed happens to be a younger member of some known family, he should, in addition to his descrip |