when the name of Mr. James Russell Lowell figures in the introduction; but it is nevertheless a fact. W. F. PRIDEAUX, Calcutta.

MS, SERVICE BOOK: HYDE FAMILY.

Amongst the advantages enjoyed by those who take an interest in tracing out their pedigree are the kindness and courtesy it developes in friends and others who become aware of the object of the search. A friend, knowing my hobby, informed me that he had seen in the City an ancient Missal, in which were recorded many particulars respecting persons of the name of Hyde. In a very short time afterwards I had the pleasure of calling upon the Rev. John C. Jackson, 11, Angel Court, E.C., who most courteously allowed me to inspect the MS. I wanted to see. It far exceeded my most sanguine expectations. It was the Great Antiphoner of Salisbury and Norwich, being the entire Breviary, with all the musical notes, the Kalendar being in the middle. It consists of 359 large folio leaves, and is written on vellum, apparently about the beginning of the fifteenth century. It had evidently been the service book used in Denchworth Church, Berkshire, and had been in use in the reign of Henry VIII., because the word "Pope" was erased, in compliance with his orders, and also the name of St. Thomas of Canterbury, whom the king considered to have been a traitor. In addition to these, several erasions have been made by a line ruling through the words, which does not interfere with their legibility.

Written upon blank spaces in the Kalendar were the dates of the birth and death of many members of the Hyde family, who lived for centuries at Denchworth, and built the church. These are the most numerous. There are, however, several other names mentioned, and in addition is a memorandum, copied below, which seems of earlier date than 1135, when the death of John Hyde, Esq., is recorded in the last year of Henry I. Written in a blank space in January, evidently by a regular scribe, is :

"Mem. quod etiam tenentes hujus ville de Denchworth tenentur tenere anniversarium cujusdam Johannis Bernardi proxima dominica Post Festum Epiphaniæ pro quo tenendo predicti tenentes habebunt unam vaccam ex ordinatione predicti Joh. Bernard et predicti tenentur solido le belman id, ibidem qui pro tempore fidit annatim et cuicumque vicario ibidem qui pro tempore fidit dicenti placebo et dirige iid. ac clerico ibidem pulsanti le Knylle annatim id. ac offerandum dominica die predicta ad altam missam ibidem pro anima dicti Johannis ac aliorum benefactorum Suorum iiid. Pro hac materia quære si vis in le Courte Rowll de tenura de Denchworth Secunda linea post conquestum."

The book being a large folio, and a page given for each month, frequent blank spaces occur between the days, some of the lines being only partly

filled. In these spaces were entered the births and deaths which the church desired to remember on their particular days. The Kalendar, being in the centre of the book, could be easily turned to by the priest when performing the service. The entries are made sometimes between the lines, rendering it difficult to determine whether they belonged to month is given in the entry. They come accordsay the 11th or 12th; in such cases the day of the ing to the days of the month; in the following list I give them chronologically :

Henrici primi Anno Millmo Cmo Trigisme Vto."

13 July. "Obitus Johannis Hyde Armiger. ultimo

Sept. 9. "Obitus Rodulphi Hyde Armigeri An° D'n Millis Co L° vi a Reg. Reg. Henrici 2nd 30"

Jan. 11. "Obitus Richardi Hyde Militis Millmo come Septisago viii Anno Regni Regis Edwardi 1" Septimo."

May 13. "Obitus Johannis Hyde anno domini Mill ccccxvi et anno Regis Henrici quarti post Conquest quarto."

July 21. "Obitus Johannis Hyde Armiger anno domini Millmo cccc° xlvii anno regni Regis Henrici Sexti post conquestum Angliæ vicessimo sexto litera dominicalis F." cccclxviii anno regis Edwardi quarti post conquestum May 29. Obitus Agnetis Hyde anno dom' M. Angliæ xviii."

Sept. 18. "Obitus Johnnis HydeArmiger A° Do' Millimo cccclxxxvii et anno regni Regis Henrici Sept' post conquestum Angliæ 3 Litera Domin. G." Mil'imo mo xyto et an° Regni Regis Henrici Octavi October 4, "Obitus Oliveri Hide Armiger. Ao D'ni Septimo Vidt quarto die Octobris Litera Domin" G."

April 2. "Willmus Hyde filius et Heres Wyllmi Hyde Suam Accipit peregrinationem in hunc mundum anno nostre salutis M Veento xviii et anno Regni Regis Octavi 9mo videlicet 2nd die mensis Aprilis."

Feb. 29. "Obitus Bartholomie Yate mercatoris Ville Stapule Calisie an° Dni. M ccccc vicessimo viz. ultimo die mensis Februarii Cujus Animæ propicietur Deus. Amen litera dominicalis H [sic]."

May 5. "Obitus Agnetis Hyde anno domini M cccccxxiii et anno regis Henrici Octavi XV Videlicet quinto die mensis Maii tunc litera Dominicalis D. Cujus Animæ propinetur Deus. Amen.”

The last entry with a date is :

May 3. "Obitus Willmi Hyde Anno D'ni Msmo ccccclvii anno regni Maria tercio Videlicet tercio die

mensis Maii tunc litera dominicalis D."

There are several births registered of Hyde children; and also, but without date other than that of the month :

24 Jan. "Obitus Wilhelmi Wyblyn et Marion Uxoris Suæ et Solutum pro dirige et Missa."

26 Jan. "Obitus Johannis Wyblyn et Willi Marcer et dirige et Missa."

On a tombstone in Denchworth Churchyard it is stated that the Wyblyns were in that parish for five hundred years.

15 Oct. "Will' Yong obitus."

A man of that name witnessed one of the Hyde deeds mentioned in Clarke's 'Hundred of Wanting,' p. 98, A.D. 1398.

"12 Maij. Obitus Rogeri Merlow xii Mayi anno Regis Edwardi quarti post Conquestum 2do [1462].”

He witnessed a deed at p. 99 of Clarke's 'Hundred of Wanting,' A.D. 1448.

The church registers commence with 1538, between which date and 1557 no entry has been made. Probably the book was brought into use again in Queen Mary's reign, and was not used afterwards. It seems as if when this new book was purchased the entries up to 1446 were copied into it from the old book, and that the subsequent records were written as they occurred. Bartholomew Yate, merchant of the Staple of the town of Calais, was probably father or uncle of the Rev. Peter Yate, M.A., the vicar, who was instituted on May 16, 1514, and resigned, his successor being instituted on January 2, 1521.

I presume that this service book would still be legal evidence of the facts it records. It is not often that men can see the actual entries recording the death of ancestors up to twenty, and probably twenty-five generations, as in all likelihood John Hyde (1135) and Rodolph Hyde (1156) were ancestors of Sir Richard Hyde, whose descendant

I am.

If any of your readers can give me information respecting John Bernard, John Hyde (1135), and Rodolph Hyde (1156), I shall be greatly obliged. HENRY BARRY HYDE.

5, Eaton Rise, Ealing, W.

corre

'THE DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY.' (See 6th S. xi. 105, 443; xii. 321; 7th S. i. 25, 82, 342, 378; ii. 102, 324, 355; iii. 101, 382; iv. 123, 325, 422.) If your correspondent W. C. B. will be good enough to look again at my article upon Crabbe, he will see that I have mentioned the poet's father, George Crabbe, who was the saltmaster at Aldeburgh. I must confess, however, that the passage is a little obscure, owing to the identity of name between the poet, his father, and his grandfather. Whilst I am writing, may I say that I am much ohliged to W. C. B. and to other spondents who have pointed out errata or omissions in the 'Dictionary'? The errata shall be put right at the first opportunity. In regard to the omissions, I would make another suggestion. It is very difficult to make sure that one has noted all the passages bearing upon any life to which a reference might properly be given. I will confess, for example, that I was not aware that Watts had said anything about Cowley; though I may add that, had I known it, I am not sure that I should have thought it worth mentioning. It would be a great advantage to us if gentlemen would send us beforehand any references which are likely to be overlooked. I would take care they should be properly attended to. We are now employed upon the letter G; but there would also be time to insert references for F, E, or the greater part of D. If, therefore, any one who can give us hints for lives in that part of the

alphabet would communicate them to me, or (if you would allow it) to you, for publication in your columns, it would make the book more perfect, and do us a real service. If I remember rightly, PROF. MAYOR made such a suggestion in your pages when we were starting, and I should be very glad if it could be taken up. LESLIE STEPHEN. 15, Waterloo Place.

TREES AS BOUNDARIES.-In the museum at Carlisle is a small piece of wood labelled "Piece of the last tree of Inglewood Forest, a noble old oak which for upwards of 600 years was recognized as the boundary mark between the manors of the Duke of Devonshire and the Dean and Chapter of Carlisle, also the parishes of Hesket and St. Cuthbert's, Carlisle." In the same collection there is also a sketch of the capon tree, a branchless trunk, perfectly bare, and without a twig or leaf. It was situate near to Brampton, and in olden times it was customary for the High Sheriff of Cumberland to meet the Judges of Assize, when they partook of a luncheon beneath its spreading branches. The sketch of the old tree was taken so long since as the year 1833, by the Rev. W. Ford, B. A., the author of Ford's Guide to the Lakes.' There can be little doubt but that this practice of defining boundaries is a surviual, or rather a continuation, of customs introduced into this country by the Roman colonists. There is ample testimony in authenticated writings of their surveyors to this fact. Trees were among the objects frequently devoted to terminal uses, and were naturally selected from those in the immediate neighbourhood; for example, at Constantinople, date, almond, and quince were the trees planted, and in Carthage and its vicinity the olive and elder are among those selected. The oak, the yew, and others indigenous to the soil would naturally be those devoted to such a purpose in the province of Britain. An isolated tree would form a terminus; this circumstance would of itself give to it a distinct appropriation. Tree worshipping by the Romans is referred to by many writers of olden time; the superstition has descended, and finds an illustration in the yew tree, so common in the churchyards of our own day. It was ever associated with death and the passage of the soul of the departed to its new abode. The oak is thoroughly our own. It is referred to, with others, in the laws of the Christian emperors. Statius, too, writes

Nota per Arcadias felici robore sylvas Quercus erat, Trivia quam desacraverat ipsa.* It would be extremely interesting to have a record of other illustrations in this country of the application of trees to such a purpose, for there are doubtless many. JOHN E. PRICE, F.S. A.

*Theb.' lib. 9, v. 585.