Dunham Mascy, co. Chester; (3) Venables, of Bollin, co. Chester; (4) Whitney; (5) Fitton, of Bollin, co. Chester; (6) Orreby, of Gawsworth, co. Chester; (7) Thornton, of Thornton, co. Chester; (8) Helsby, of Helsby, co. Chester; (9) Montfort, of Bescote, co. Stafford; (10) Ashton, of Ashton-under-Lyne, co. Lancaster; and (11) Stayley. These are marshalled according to the achievement entered in 1580, omitting the so-called Barton coat, two Kingsley coats, and a final quartering which is at present unidentified (ibid., p. 35). Other particulars of the Booth arms will be found in the Visitation of Lancashire, 1533 (Chetham Society), p. 79, and Local Gleanings Magazine, 1879-80, pp. 19–27. Typus Věrus insigniorum Guilielmi Booth Armigĕri Et [Vt] patět p Literas || testimoniales fub Sigillo Roberti Cookě Armigeri Regis Armorum datas || anno ět měníě subscript. || OMNIBVS et fingulis tam Nobilibus et Generofis quàm alijs || quibufcunque Chrifti fidelibus ad quos Vel quorum cognitionem prefentes literæ testimoniales preuenerint, Robertus Cooke armiger, aliàs dictus Clarencieulx, Sumus | Heraldus et Rex armorum Australis orientalis et occidentalis istius Regni Angliæ partium, || a Trenta fluuio austrum, Verfus, Sălutem in Domino sempiternam. VT iuxta antiquitatis || ab initio confuetudinem animofa et illustrium Virorum fortia facta, Varijs monumentis || insignitis ac perpetua posteritatis memoria, Merito et iure gentium in hunc Vfq, diem Vniuerso || orbi omnibusq, terræ incolis et grata et accepta fuere, & quibus itaq, inprimis Vel hoc ab || antiguirati [antiquitati] Vfu primum et Videntius semper fuit quorundam nempe insignium in Clipeis || Scutif [q]ue tanq Virtutis fuæ infallibile testimonium lucida Comonftratio HÆ bellice || Virtutes et Armorum insignia animofe Virtutis amatoribus eiufq, pofteritati premiorum et || honoris vice ab Imperatoribus terræq, principibus quantum quisq, demerebatur preposita || sunt, QVE quidem regia confuetudo ab initio constituta animos . . Nobilitatis calcar et || stimulum ad bellicam Virtutem imitandam hominibus ardenter præbuit EA enimvero in || omni Republica Virtute et Ciuilitate munita retenta est et inuiolata omnibus, vt qui || digna laude facinora vel in patriam Vel principes animose se geiserunt, condignam || facto Gloriam Viui accipiant, sepulti Vero, suæ posteritati tanquam hereditaria || Virtus et gestorum comemoratio sempiterno iure deriuetur. HINC EST quod Guilielmus Booth de London Armiger, natu scilicet filius || Johannis Booth, qui quidem Jones Booth fuit filius domini Guilielmi Booth militis, qui || quidem Guilielmus Booth fuit filius Georgij Booth filij et heredis Domini Guilielmi Booth || militis, filij et heredis Domini Roberti Booth militis, qui quidem Dominus Robertus Booth || fuit filius Thomelini [Johannis] Booth de Barton in Comitatu Cestriæ [Lancastriæ] Armigeri, me ante dies tum Clarencieulx || Regem armorumrogatum habuit, prout æquum est Veritatis testimonium præbere, Vt in eius gratiam ex Analibus nostri officij maiorum suorum insignia qualiacunq, ipsi tulerunt ei sic || carem [coram?] publice luciděq, adscriberem, EGO quidem claro gratificari cupiens, antiquam Eas patriæ familiam inueni, quamobrem ne temporis inturia [iniuria] seu alia queuis occasio noue || inquisitionis denuo prebeatur, Clipei sui insignia in hunce modum Vt hic in margine depingitur explanaui, A maioribus suis deriuata, ex authoritate mea meo officio pre [per] Literis regijs || annexa atq concefsa fub figillo Vt loquutur magno Angliæ-publice et ornata || remitto, rata etiam facio, et confirmata eidem Guilielmo Booth armigero eiufq pofteritati || Vtenda, gerenda et in Clipeis Scutif [q]ue aut quouis militari ornamento corporifq, || tegumento prout Libitum fuerit, abiq omni omnium-impedimento et quæftione in contrarium || IN cuius rei testimonium has literas fieri feci-patentes, quibus sigillum officij nostri affigi || feci, Datas primo die Aprilis A Doi milefsimo quingentefsimo octogefsimo et anno regni || Domine nostre Elizabethe dei gratiâ Angliæ, Franciæ, et HiberniæReginæ, fidei || defenforis, &c. Viceflimo primo. ROB. COOKE alias CLARĚNCIĔULX,. Ex officio SAMUELEIN [SAMUELIS] EUANS et concordat cum originale SA. EUANS. [The original of the foregoing document is in a manuscript volume in the Library of the Society of Antiquaries.] NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE'S HOUSE IN ROCK PARK The following letter addressed to the Editor of the Liverpool Mercury is worthy of being placed on permanent record here, as a vindication of the action of the Sub-Committee of this Society which deals with the matter of Memorial Tablets : DEAR SIR,-In your recent review of Mr. Julian Hawthorne's new work, entitled "Hawthorne and his Circle," your reviewer cites the author's account of how he identified the house his father had occupied at Rock Ferry as a noticeable example of bad taste. As the matter is one of considerable local interest, may I hope that you will find space in an early issue for the account referred to and the appended correction thereof? Mr. Julian Hawthorne writes (p. 122) as follows: "As I have already made one confession in these pages not reflecting credit upon myself, I may as well make another now. Just thirty years after the events I am describing, somebody wrote to me from Rock Park, stating that the local inhabitants were desirous of putting up on the house which Hawthorne had occupied there, a marble or bronze slab recording the fact for the benefit of pilgrims. The Committee, however, did not know which of three or four houses was the right one, and the writer enclosed photographs of them all, and requested me to put a cross over our former habitation. Now, all the houses in Rock Park had been turned out of the same mould, and I knew no more than my interrogator which was which. But I reflected that the Committee had been put to trouble and expense for photographs, postage stamps and what not, and that all that was really wanted was something to be sentimental over. So, rather than disappoint them, I resorted to a kind of sortes virgiliana; I shut my eyes, turned round thrice, and made a mark at hazard on the line of photographs. The chances against my having hit it right were only four to one; the Committee were satisfied, the pilgrims have been made happy, and it is difficult to see where harm has been done. Nevertheless, the matter has weighed somewhat on my conscience ever since, and I am glad to have thus lightened myself of it." From the inquiries I have made I can only conclude that Mr. Julian Hawthorne is labouring under an extraordinary delusion. There are no grounds for the regrets which have caused his peculiar confession, but, on the other hand, the confession must cause many regrets. No tablet has ever been placed on the house wherein Nathaniel Hawthorne and his family resided in Rock Park, Rock Ferry. The facts are as follows:In the year 1891 the vicar of Rock Ferry (the Rev. W. L. Paige-Cox) and the editor of Wirral Notes and Queries (the Rev. Francis Sanders) desired to identify the house in Rock Park where Nathaniel Hawthorne lived when he was the American Consul at Liverpool. In the course of the inquiries Mr. Paige-Cox wrote to the then American Consul, Mr. Thomas H. Sherman. Mr. Sherman wrote to Mr. Julian Hawthorne, and received a reply which was published and now lies before me. In the reply to Mr. Sherman, Mr. Julian Hawthorne expressed himself as "much gratified to hear of the proposed placing of a tablet on the house." He described the houses as he remembered them, quoted a |