[From Manx Note Book, vol iii, 1887]

THOMAS STANLEY, BISHOP OF SODOR & MANN.— I shall be obliged by your inserting the following queries in your next issue: (i), When, where, and to what See was Thomas Stanley, illegitimate son of Edward Stanley, first Lord Monteagle, consecrated? (2), Is there any proof of his alleged deposition" and "restoration"; at what date and under what circumstances? If not, when did he become Bishop of Mann? (3), Is there any trustworthy evidence that, being Bishop of Mann, he was ever made Governor of the Island? If so, at what date, and by whom? (4), Is there any trustworthy evidence that any other member of the House of Stanley had any connection with the Bishopric of the Island, whether by nomination or other appointment, or by occupation, in the course of the 16th century?

J. W. LEA.

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THE PRACTICE OF RE-BURYING SKULLS FOUND IN MANX BARROWS.—Feeling sure that the practice of reburying skulls found in Manx barrows, &c., is injurious to the interests of archeology, I took upon myself to write to Professor W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., and to ask his opinion on the subject. I enclose his kind reply for publication :— Anyone who could bring together in one museum the ancient Manx crania from the cairns and burial mounds would do a great service to the ancient history of the Island. If any of those which are as a rule re-buried can be rescued, I shall have great pleasure in either making out the race of people to whom they belong, or of finding someone who can do so. I need hardly write how I sympathise with you in the attempt to make out the ancient history of the Island."

Backed by such an authority I beg to suggest that all skulls found in ancient graves, etc., should be carefully preserved—care being taken to note from whence they come, style and contents of grave, etc.— and should be kept for the Museum. It would be well not to let the kind offer of Professor Boyd Dawkins fall to the ground, but to have those skulls which have been reburied dug out again and either forwarded to him or put aside for future examination. If something in this way is not done, the opening of these ancient graves is worse than useless. I think, in a purely scientific matter such as this, that all weak sentimentality should be ignored.

FREDERICK SWINNERTON.

WINDING THE CLOCK AND HOISTING THE FLAG AT CASTLE RUSHEN.—In reply to ‘Q’s" query, at page 592, of your 8th issue, I beg to state that the cost of winding the clock and hoisting the flag at Castle Rushen is not defrayed by the City of Chester, but by the Treasurer of the Isle of Mann.

H. S.

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WATTERSON AND CHODERE (Vol. I. p. 72).—I wish to suggest the following explanation of the use of the names of WATTERSON and CHODERE by the same family. To my mind it is the simplest and most conclusive, and may be of interest to not a few of the subscribers to your most valuable and interesting publication. I consider CHODERE to be the Manx form of the French GAULTIER or GAUTIER. Now GAULTIER has been introduced into the English tongue as WALTER (just as QUERRE became WAR, and QUILLAUME, WILLIAM). Then Walter is commonly contracted~ to WAT and WATTY, hence arose WATSON, WATTISON, and in my opinion WALTERSON or WATTERSON. Being the grandson of a CHODERE and son of a WATTERSON of the Ballabeg, I am obviously interested in the solution of the problem.

JOHN H. WATTERSON.

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BISHOP HILDESLEY’S CIRCULAR TO THE CLERGY CONCERNING PREACHING IN MANX.—" Whereas I find some doubts have arisen among some of the clergy concerning the sense in which they are to observe my late injunctions to instruct the people in a Language they best understand, I here think fit more explicitly to declare my meaning to be not that every sermon preached in the Country Churches should be in the Manx tongue but that the Sundays thro-out the year the English and Manx shall be proportioned to the capacities and talents of the Congregation, for each respectively as near as the Minister can be able to compute from his knowledge or enquiry. This I take to be righteous, and the excess either way, if considerable, both cruel and unjust, and for which I might appeal to the conscience of any equitable person whatever, that does not think that respect of persons, in spiritual dispensations, is to be had according to the temporal possessions or stations they hold in the external appearances of this world.—Mark Sodor & Man.—Octr 2, 1761."

CLERICUS.

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BOOKS RECEIVED. - Mr Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster Row, London, E.C., continues his series of "County Histories" with Berkshire, by Lieut.-Col. Cooper King, F.G.S., and his very tasteful Book-Lover’s Library" is enriched by The Dedication of Books, by Henry B. Wheatley, F. S.A., and Modern Methods of Illustrating Books, by H. Trueman Wood. "Some Historical Notices of the O’Meaghers of Ikerrin," by Joseph Casimir O’Meagher, issued by the same publisher (with colored illustrations), is a model of family history and a charming specimen of the printer’s art.