EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.


_Mother of Thomas à Becket_ (No. 26. p. 415.).--An inspection of some of
the numerous legends touching the blessed martyr, St. Thomas of
Canterbury, would probably supply many interesting particulars
concerning the story of his father's romantic marriage. But the most
important narrative is that of Herbert Bosham, Becket's secretary, who,
it will be remembered, was present at his martyrdom. Bosham's _Vita et
Res Gestæ Thomæ Episcopi Cantuariensis_ is published in the
_Quadrilogus_, Paris, 1495. Consult also the French translation of Peter
Langtoft, and the English one by Laurence Wade, a Benedictine monk of
Canterbury. Robert of Gloucester's metrical _Legend of the Life and
Martyrdom of Thomas Beket_, published by the Percy Society, under the
editorial care of Mr. W.H. Black, fully confirms the "romance;" as also
do the later historians, Hollingshed, Fox, and Baker.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.


_Dr. Strode's Poem_ (no. 10. p. 147.).--Dr. Strode's poem, beginning--

"Return my joys, and hither bring--"

which Dr. Rimbault does "not remember to have seen in print," is in
Ellis's _Specimens_, iii. 173. ed. 1811. He took it from _Wit Restored_,
p. 66. ed. 1658, or i. 168. reprint. It is the second poem mentioned by
Dr. Bliss, _A.O._ iii. 152., as occurring with Strode's name in MS.
Rawl. 142.