whether the poetical works of Lord John Townshend, M.P., were ever
collected and published, and, if so, when, and by whom? His lordship, who,
it will be remembered, successively represented Cambridge University,
Westminster, and Knaresborough, was considered to be the principal
contributor to the _Rolliad_, and the author of many odes, sonnets, and
other political effusions which circulated during, the eventful period
1780-1810.

OXONIENSIS.

May 4.

_Martello Towers_.--Is it the fact that the towers erected along the low
coasts of Kent and Sussex during the prevalent dread of the French invasion
received their designation from a town in Spain, where they were first
built? By whom was the plan introduced into England? Is any account of
their erection to be found in any _Blue Book_ of the period?

E.V.

_Mynyddyslwyn_.--The name of the parish Mynyddyslwyn, in Monmouthshire.
This name, so full of Druidic suggestion, was lost from general use at, and
anterior to, the incorporation of Wales with England by the statute of
Rhudolan. In a list of the names of Welsh parishes at that time, the parish
is called _The Parish of Tudor ab Howell_. Has any reader of the "NOTES AND
QUERIES" met with Mynyddyslwyn in any document bearing an earlier date?

D. RHYS STEPHEN.

Abergwyddon.

_Three Dukes_.--Who were the three Dukes who killed the beadle on Sunday
morning, 26th February, 1671, as commemorated by verses in _Poems on State
Affairs_, vol. i. p. 147.?

E.

_Bishops and their Precedence_.--Bishops, in all Tables of Precedency, have
place before the temporal barons. No reason is assigned but it is generally
supposed to be from the respect due to{10} the Church and their high
calling which might have placed them higher.

Can any of your readers tell where any _authority_ or _reason_ is given by
writers upon precedence why the precedence is given to them over the
temporal barons? E.

_Guineas_.--What is the earliest instance of the use of the word _guinea_
as a name for a coin? The common story is, that the piece of twenty-one
shillings was so called in the reign of Charles II. from being made of
gold from Guinea. What coin is meant in the following receipt?--

"Sachent tous que Mons. Gualhard de Dureffourt ... ad recue ...
quatorze _guianois_ dour et dys sondz de la mon[oye] currant a
Burdeux."

The date is 12. Nov. 1387. The document is quoted in Madox's _Baronia
Anglica_, p. 159. note _d_.

A.J.H