Notes and Queries, No. 179. Saturday, April 2, 1853. | Page 9

there any better or other account of this priory, church, and chapel than that given in the Monasticon? Judging by the statement copied by Mr. Lysons from the original entry in the books of the College of Arms, the chapel must have been a splendid building. Sir Thomas Lovel was buried there on the 8th June, 1525, "in a tombe of whyte marbell which both hit and the chappell were founded by hym, and it stondeth on the southe syde of the quyre of the saide churche." At his funeral there were present the Bishop of London, Lord St. John, Sir Richard Wyngfield, and many others, nobles and gentlemen. The Abbot of Waltham, the Prior of St. Mary Spital, four orders of friars, the Mayor and all the aldermen of London, the gentlemen of the Inns of Court, the Lord Steward, and all the clerks of London, &c., also attended. What a contrast to the present condition of the place, now a scavenger's yard, once the apparently last resting-place of the councillor of a mighty sovereign! "They that did feed delicately, that were brought up in scarlet, embrace dunghills. The holy house where our fathers worshipped is laid waste."
WARDEN S. HENDRY.
P. S.--Part of the chapel is now to be found under the floor of the "Old King John," Holywell Lane. The stone doorway into the porter's lodge of the priory still exists; but, from the accumulation of earth, the crown of the arch is six feet below the ground. I took a sketch of it, and some other remains of the priory, also under ground, about ten years ago.
W. S. H.
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MINOR QUERIES WITH ANSWERS.
Sir John Thompson.--What are the crest, arms, motto, and supporters of Sir John Thompson, Bart., created Baron Haversham, of Haversham and Newport Pagnel, about the eighth year of William III.?
R. P. D.
[Or, on a fesse indented az. three etoiles ar.; on a canton of the second, a sun in his glory, ppr.--Crest, an arm, erect, vested gu. cuff ar. holding in the hand ppr. five ears of wheat or. Motto, "In lumine luce."--Robson's British Herald, vol. ii. s. v.; and for the plate, vol. iii. pl. 50.]
Ring, the Marriage.--When and how did the use of the ring, in the marriage ceremony, originate? Is it of Christian origin; or is it derived from the Jews, or from the Greeks or Romans?
JONATHAN PIM.
[Brand quotes Vallancey and Leo Modena for the use of the marriage ring among the Jews (Popular Antiq., vol. ii. p. 103. edit. 1849). Wheatly, however, has given the most detailed account of its origin:--"The reason," he says, "why a ring was pitched upon for the pledge rather than anything else was, because anciently the ring was a seal, by which all orders were signed, and things of value secured (Gen. xxxviii. 18., Esther iii. 10. 12., 1 Maccab. vi. 15.); and therefore the delivery of it was a sign that the person to whom {333} it was given was admitted into the highest friendship and trust (Gen. xli. 42.). For which reason it was adopted as a ceremony in marriage to denote that the wife, in consideration of her being espoused to the man, was admitted as a sharer in her husband's counsels, and a joint-partner in his honour and estate: and therefore we find that not only the ring, but the keys also were in former times delivered to her at the marriage. That the ring was in use among the old Romans, we have several undoubted testimonies (Juvenal, Sat. vi. ver. 26, 27.; Plin. Hist. Nat., lib. iii. c. i.; Tertull. Apol., c. vi. p. 7. A.). Pliny, indeed, tells us, that in his time the Romans used an iron ring without any jewel; but Tertullian hints, that in the former ages it was a ring of gold."--Rational Illustration of the Common Prayer, p. 390. edit. 1759.]
Amusive.--Is this word peculiar to Thomson, or is it made use of by other poets? Its meaning does not appear to be very definite. In the Spring it is applied to the rooks, with their "ceaseless caws amusive;" in the Summer to the thistledown, which "amusive floats;" and in the Autumn, the theory of the supposed cause of mountain springs is called an "amusive dream." Thomson seems to have been partial to these kind of adjectives, "effusive," "diffusive," "prelusive," &c.
CUTHBERT BEDE, B.A.
[A reference to Richardson's Dictionary will show that, however fond Thomson may have been of this word, it is not one peculiar to him. Whitehead says:
"To me 'twas given to wake th' amusive reed,"
and Chandler, in his Travels in Greece, speaks of the wind "murmuring amusively among the pines."]
Belfry Towers separate from the Body of the Church.--At Mylor, near Falmouth, there is an old tower for the bells (where they are rung every