_Cromwell's Grants of Land in Monaghan_ (Vol. iv., p. 87.).--E. A. asks whether there are any grants of land in the county of Monaghan recorded as made by Cromwell, and where such records are preserved? I fear I can give but a negative answer to the question: but among the stores of the State Paper Office are many books of orders, letters, &c. during the Commonwealth. Among them are two bundles dated in 1653, which relate to the lands granted by lot, to the adventurers who had advanced money for the army, in the different provinces of Ireland. Monaghan is not mentioned.
_Stanedge Pole_ (Vol. iii., p. 391.).--In answer to your correspondent A. N., I beg to state that Stanedge Pole is between six and seven miles from Sheffield, on the boundary line between Yorkshire and Derbyshire, on a long causeway which was in former times the road from Yorkshire to Manchester. Its only antiquity consists in having been for centuries one of the meers marking the boundaries of Hallamshire. In Harrison's _Survey of the Manor of Sheffield_, 1637, appears an account of the boundaries as viewed and seen the 6th of August, 1574, from which the following is an extract:--
"Item. From the said Hurkling Edge so forward after the Rock to Stannedge, which is a meer between the said Lordshipps (of Hallamshire and Hathersedge).
"Item. From Stannedge after the same rock to a place called the Broad Rake, which is also a meer between the said Lordshipps of Hallamshire and Hathersedge."
The situation is a very fine one, commanding a very beautiful and extensive view of the surrounding country.[3]
[Footnote 3: Its elevation is, according to the Ordnance Survey, 1463 feet.]
_Baskerville the Printer_ (Vol. iv., p. 40.).--Baskerville was interred in the grounds attached to the house in which he lived, near Easy Row, Birmingham. The land becoming valuable for building purposes, he was, after lying there about half a century, disinterred and removed to the workshop of a lead merchant, named Marston, in Monmouth Street, Birmingham. While there I saw his remains. They were in a wooden coffin, which was enclosed in one of lead. How long they had been above ground I do not know, but certainly not long. This, as far as I can recollect, is about twenty-five years since. The person who showed me the body, and who was either one of the Marstons or a manager of the business, told me he had seen the coffins opened, and that the features were then perfect. When exhibited to me the nose and lips were gone, as were also two front teeth, which had been torn from the mouth surreptitiously and taken away. I understood that it was known who had them, and that they would be restored. The shroud was discoloured, I presume from natural causes, being of a dirty yellow colour, as though it had been drawn through a clay pit. The texture and strength of the cloth remained unaffected. Baskerville entertained peculiar opinions on religious subjects. There was a rumour of some efforts having been made to deposit his remains in one of the church burial grounds, but they were not successful. A year or two ago, while in Birmingham, a snuff-box was shown me, on the lid of which a portrait of Baskerville was painted, which fully agreed with a description of his person given me many years previously by one who had known him. This portrait had not, from its appearance, been painted very long. From its being there I infer that there is in existence at least one original portrait of this eminent printer.