om a kinsman
of the same name, or because of her superior rank. She is frequently styled
the widow, and sometimes the wife of Thomas de Brotherton, even after the
death of her subsequent husband, Sir Ralph de Cobham. In the escheat at her
death she is thus described:--

"Maria Comitissa Norfolc', uxor Thome de Brotherton, Comitis Norfolc',
Relicta Radi de Cobeham, Militis."

It is remarkable that this discrepancy in Sir John Cobham's age, and the
time of his supposed mother's marriage with his father, has never before,
as far as my knowledge extends, been noticed by any of the numerous writers
who have repeated Dugdale's account of this family.

Before concluding I will mention another mistake respecting the Countess
which runs through most of our county histories where she is named. For a
short period she became an inmate of the Abbey of Langley, and is generally
stated to have entered it previously to her marriage with Sir Ralph de
Cobham. Clutterbuck, in his _History of Hertfordshire_ (vol. ii. p. 512.),
for instance, relates the circumstance in these words:--

{54}

"In the 19th year of the reign of Edward III., she became a nun in the
Abbey of Langley, in the country of Norfolk; but quitting that
religious establishment, she married Sir Ralph Cobham, Knt., and died
anno 36 Edward III."

By _Cal. Ing. P. Mortem_, vol. i. p. 328., we find that Ralph Cobham died
19th Edward III.[2], that is, the same year in which the Countess entered
the Abbey, from whence we may conclude that she retired there to pass in
seclusion the period of mourning.

W. HASTINGS KELKE.

[Footnote 2: If my copy be correct, it is 19 Edw. II. in the printed
calendar: but it must have been Edw. III., for, from the possessions
described, it must have been Sir Ralph Cobham who married the widow of
Thomas de Brotherton.]

* * * * *

HENRY CHETTLE.

Dr. Rimbault, in the introduction to his edition of _Kind-Hearts' Dream_,
for the Percy Society, says, "Of the author, Henry Chettle, very little is
known: ... we are ignorant of the time and place of his birth or death, and
of the manner in which he obtained his living." (Pp. vii. viii.) I trouble
you with this note in the hope that it may furnish him with a clue to
further particulars of Henry Chettle.

Hutchins (_Hist. of Dorset._, vol. i. p. 53. ed. 1774) mentions a family
named Chettle, which was seated at Blandford St. Mary from 154