origin of this custom? Was this the way a fool was supposed to
show that his head was turned?

C. R.

Paternoster Row.

_Sir G. Browne, Bart._--Sir George Browne, Bart., of West Stafford, Berks,
and Wickham, is said to have had nineteen children by his wife Eleanor
Blount; and that three of those children were sons, killed in the service
of Charles I.

Was either of those sons named Richard; and was any of them, and which,
married? If so, where, and to whom?

NEWBURY.

_Bishop Butler._--Will any of our Roman Catholic friends tell us on what
authority they assert that Bishop Butler, the author of _The Analogy_, died
in their communion? That he was suspected of a tendency that way during his
life is acknowledged by all, though the grounds, that of setting up a cross
in his chapel, are confessedly unsatisfactory. But, besides this, it is
alleged that he died with a Roman Catholic book of devotion in his hand,
and that the last person in whose company he was seen was a priest of that
persuasion. One would be glad to have this question sifted.

X. Y. Z.

_Oaken Tombs._--In Dr. Whitaker's noble history of _Loidis and Elmete_, p.
322., is the following passage:

"Next in point of time is a very singular memorial, which has evidently
been removed from its original position, between the chapel and the
high altar, to a situation at the south side and west end of the
chapel.... The tomb is a messy frame-work of oak, with quarter-foils
and arms on three sides, and on the table above three statues of the
same material, namely, of a knight bare-headed, with rather youthful
countenance and sharp features, and his two wives. On the filleting is
this rude inscription in Old English:

'Bonys emong Stonys, lyes here ful styl,
Quilst the sawle wanders wher God wyl.
Anno D^{ni} MCCCCCXXIX.'

This commemorates Sir John Savile, who married, &c.

"Over all has been a canopy, or rather tester, for the whole must have
originally resembled an antique and massy bedstead, exhibiting the very
incongruous appearance of a husband in bed with two wives at once."

The Doctor adds:

"Oaken tombs are very rare; that of Aymer de Valence in Westminster
Abbey has been and still is in part coated over with copper, gilt, and
enamelled, and I have seen another in the church of Tickencote in
Rutlandshire. I do not recollect a third specimen."

Query, How