better tymes. Given under or signet at or Crt at Oxford, the fourth day of July in the nineteenth yeare of or raigne. [1643.] "To our trusty and welbeloved Sr Robert Heath, Kt, Cheife Justice of our Bench, and Justice of Assize for or Counties of Berks, Oxon., Gloucester, Monmouth, Hereford, Wygorn, Salop, and Stafford." GREAT FIRE OF LONDON. Our popular histories of England, generally, contain very indefinite statements respecting the extent of destruction wrought upon the city of London by the Great Fire. The following is copied from a volume of tracts, printed 1679 to 1681; chiefly" Narratives" of judicial and other proceedings relating to the (so called) "Popish Plots" in the reign of Charles II., and purports to be "extracted from the Certificates of the Surveyors soon after appointed to survey the Ruins." "That the fire that began in London upon the second of September, 1666, at one Mr. Farryner's house, a baker in Pudding Lane, between the hours of one and two in the morning, and continued burning until the sixth of that month, did overrun the space of three hundred and seventy-three acres within the walls of the city of London, and sixty-three acres three roods without the walls. There remained seventy-five acres three roods standing within the walls unburnt. Eighty-nine parish churches, besides chappels burnt. Eleven parishes within the walls standing. Houses burnt, Thirteen thousand two hundred. In the Minutes of Evidence taken by the Select Committee on the British Museum, in May, 1836, p. 208., mention is made of "a paper giving an account of the landing of Perkin Warbeck, signed by Sir Henry Wentworth, and dated 16th [17th] Sept. 1497," as of historical value. This "paper" was at that time in the possession of the late Mr. Upcott; and when I drew up for the Society of Antiquaries the article on "Perkin Warbeck's History," printed in the Archeologia, vol. xxvii. pp. 153-210., I had no opportunity of seeing it, and therefore merely made a brief reference to it in a foot-note. The document subsequently passed, together with a large and valuable portion of Upcott's collection, into the hands of M. Donnadieu, and at the recent sale of that gentleman's collection of autographs was purchased for the British Museum. It is a letter from Sir Harry Wentworth of Nettlested, co. Suffolk (ancestor of the Barons Wentworth), addressed to Sir William Calverley, of Calverley in Yorkshire, from whom descended the extinct baronets of that name. The letter is not of great historical importance, yet, as furnishing some notices of the measures taken by the king, on learning that Perkin had landed in Cornwall, on the 7th of September (only ten days previous), it will not be read without interest. The letter is written on a strip of paper measuring eleven inches by four inches, and is signed only by Sir Harry Wentworth. "Right wourshipfulle cosin, I recommend me vnto you. And where* it fortuned me in my retourne home from Westchestre, to meit my lord Darby, my lord Strange, and other at Whalley abbey, by whome I had the sight of suche lettres as were directed vnto theme frome the kinges grace; apperceyuing by the same that Perkin Warbeke is londid in the west parties, in Cornevelle, wherfore I wolle pray you, and allso in the kinges name aduertise you, to be in aredynest in your owin persone, with suche company as you make, to serue his highnes, vpon an our‡ warnyng, when his grace shalle calle vpone you. For the which I doubte not but his highnes shalle geve you thankes accordinge. As our lord knoith, who preserue you ! Wretin in the kinges castelle of Knaresburght, the xvij dey of Septembre. Addressed your [frend] and cosyne, syr To his wourshipfulle cosin syr William Caluerley, knight, in haste." The Lord Strange mentioned in the above letter was the third son of the Earl of Derby, and died at Derby House, London, on the 5th Dec. 1497, less than three months after the letter was written. F. MADDEN. * Whereas. † readiness. hour's. CONFESSOR TO THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. D'Israeli, in his Commentaries on Life and Reign of Charles I., describing the difficulties which Elizabeth and James had to contend with in relation to their Catholic subjects, says: "So obscure, so cautious, and so undetermined were the first steps to withdraw from the ancient Papistical customs, that Elizabeth would not forgive a bishop for marrying; and auricular confession, however condemned as a point of Popery, was still adhered to by many. Bishop Andrews would loiter in the aisles of St. Paul's to afford his spiritual comfort to the unburtheners of their conscience." And he then adds this note: "This last remains of Popery may still be traced among us; for, since the days of our Eighth Henry, the place of confessor to the royal household has never been abolished." The office is connected with the Chapel Royal, St. James's, and is at present held by Dr. Charles Wesley, who is also sub-dean. The appointment is by the Dean of the Chapel Royal, the Bishop of London. The confessor (sometimes called chaplain) officiates at the early morning prayers, so punctually attended by the late Duke of Wellington. Chamberlayne, in the Magnæ Britanniæ Notitia, p. 97., edit. 1755, has the following notice of the Chapel Royal: "For the ecclesiastical government of the King's court, there is first a dean of the Chapel Royal, who is usually some grave, learned prelate, chosen by the King, and who, as dean, acknowledgeth no superior but the King; for as the King's palace is exempt from all inferior temporal jurisdiction, so is his chapel from all spiritual. It is called Capella Dominica, the domain chapel; is not within the jurisdiction or diocese of any bishop; but, as a regal peculiar, exempt and reserved to the visitation and immediate. government of the King, who is supreme ordinary, as it were, over all England. By the dean are chosen all other officers of the chapel, namely, a sub-dean, or præcentor capella, thirty-two gentlemen of the chapel, whereof twelve are priests, and one of them is confessor to the King's household, whose office is to read prayers every morning to the family, to visit the sick, to examine and prepare communicants, to inform such as desire advice in any case of conscience or point of religion," &c. AUTOGRAPH OF EDWARD OF LANCASTER, SON OF HENRY VI. In the Museum of Antiquities at Rouen is preserved an original document, thus designated, "Lettre d'Edouard, Prince de Galles (1471)." It is kept under a glass case, and shown as an "undoubted autograph of the Black Prince." It is as follows: "Chers et bons amis, nous avons entendu, que ung nostre homme lige subject, natif de nostre pays de Galles, est occupé et détenu es prisons de la ville de Diepe, pour la mort d'un homme d'icelle ville, dont pour le dict cas autres ont esté exécutez. Et pour ce que nostre dict subject estoit clerc, a esté et est encores en suspens, parce qu'il a esté requis par les officiers de nostre très cher et aimé cousin l'archevesque de Rouen, afin qu'il leur fut rendu, ainsi que de droict; pourquoy nous vous prions, que icelui nostre homme et subject vous veuillez bailler et delivrer aux gens et officiers de mon dict cousin, sans en ce faire difficulté. Et nous vous en saurons un très grant gré, et nous ferez ung essingulier plaisir. Car monseigneur le roy de France nous a autorisez faire grace en semblable cas que celui de mon dict subject, duquel desirons fort la delivrance. Escript à Rouen, le onziesme jour de Janvier. (Signed) EDUARD. (Countersigned) MARTIN.' The error of assigning this signature to Edward the Black Prince is sufficiently obvious, and somewhat surprising, since we here have an undoubted, and, we believe, unique autograph of Edward of Lancaster, Prince of Wales, only son of Henry VI. by Margaret of Anjou. He was born at Westminster, October 13th, 1453, and was therefore, in January, 1471 (no doubt the true date of the docu ment), in the eighteenth year of his age. He had sought refuge from the Yorkists, in France, with his mother, ever since the year 1462, and in the preceding July or August, 1470, had been affianced to Anne Neville, the youngest daughter of the Earl of Warwick. At the period when this letter was written at Rouen, Margaret of Anjou was meditating the descent into England which proved so fatal to herself and son, whose life was taken away with such barbarity on the field at Tewksbury, in the month of May following. The letter is addressed, apparently, to the magistrates of Rouen or Dieppe, to request the liberation of a native of Wales (imprisoned for the crime of having slain a man), and his delivery to the officers of the Archbishop of Rouen, on the plea of his being a clerk. The prince adds, that he was authorised by the King of France (Louis XI.) to grant grace in similar cases. As the signature of this unfortunate prince is at present quite unknown in the series of English royal autographs, it would be very desirable that an accurate fac-simile should be made of it by some competent artist; and perhaps the art of photography might in this instance be most advantageously and successfully used to obtain a perfect copy of the entire document. F. MADDEN. THE SISTER OF GEORGE III. The following interesting cutting is from The Times of January 27, 1852: "The Sister of George III.-The official journal of Copenhagen of the 17th instant gives an interesting document, hitherto unpublished, the original of which is in the secret archives of the State of Copenhagen. It is the letter which Queen Caroline Matilda, wife of Christian VII., King of Denmark, wrote during her exile, and on the day of her death, to her brother, George III. of England. The letter is as follows: "Sire,-In the solemn hour of death I address myself to you, my royal brother, in order to mauifest to you my feelings of gratitude for the kindness you have shown me during my life, and particularly during my long misfortunes. I die willingly, for there is nothing to |