_Thomson of Esholt_ (Vol. ii., p. 268.).--Dr. Whitaker tells us (Ducatus,
ii. 202.) that the dissolved priory of Essheholt was, in the 1st Edw. VI.,
granted to Henry Thompson, Gent., one of the king's _gens d'armes_ at
Bologne. About a century afterwards the estate passed to the more ancient
and distinguished Yorkshire family of Calverley, by the marriage of the
daughter and heir of Henry Thompson, Esq., with Sir Walter Calverley. If
your correspondent JAYTEE consult Sims's useful _Index to the Pedigrees and
Arms contained in the Genealogical MSS. in the British Museum_, he will be
referred to several pedigrees of the family of Thomson of Esholt. Of
numerous respectable families of the name of Thompson seated in the
neighbourhood of York, the common ancestor seems to have been a James
Thompson of Thornton in Pickering Lythe, who flourished in the reign of
Elizabeth. (Vice Poulson's _Holderess_, vol. ii. p. 63.) All these families
bear the arms described by your correspondent, but _without_ the bend
sinister. The crest they use is also nearly the same, viz., an armed arm,
embowed, grasping a broken tilting spear.
No general collection of Yorkshire genealogies has been published.
Information as to the pedigrees of Yorkshire families must be sought for in
the well-known topographical works of Thoresby Whitaker, Hunter, &c., or in
the MS. collections of Torre, Hopkinson, &c.
In the _Monasticon Eboracense_, by John Burton M.D., fol., York, 1778,
under the head of "Eschewolde, Essold, Esscholt, or Esholt, in Ayredale in
the Deanry of the Ainsty," at pp. 139. and 140., your correspondent JAYTEE
will find that the site of this priory was granted, 1 Edward VI., 1547, to
Henry Thompson, one of the king's _gens d'armes_, at Boleyn; who, by Helen,
daughter of Laurence Townley, had a natural son called William, living in
1585 who, assuming his father's surname, and marrying Dorothy, daughter of
Christopher Anderson of Lostock in com. Lanc. prothonotary became the
ancestor of those families of the Thompsons now living in and near York. He
may see also Burke's _Landed Gentry_, article "Say of Tilney, co. Norfolk,"
in the supplement.
_Minar's Books of Antiquities_ (Vol. i., p. 277.).--A.N. inquires who is
intended by Cusa in his book _De Docta Ignorantia_, cap. vii., where he
quotes "Minar in his _Books of Antiquities_." Upon looking into the passage
referred to, I remembered the following observation by a learned writer now
living, which will doubtless guide your correspondent to the author
intended:--
"On the subject of the imperfect views concerning the Deity,
entertained by the ancient philosophical sects, I would especially
refer to that most able and elaborate investigation of them, Meiner's
very interesting tract, _De Vero Deo._"--(An Elementary Course of
Theological Lectures, delivered in Bristol College, 1831-1833, by the
Rev. W.D. Conybeare, now the Very Rev. the Dean of Llandaff. )
A.N. will not be surprised at Cusa Using the term "antiquitates" instead of
"De Vero Deo," if he will compare his expressions on the same subject in
his book _De Venatione Sapientiæ_, e.g.:--
"Vides nunc æternum illud _antiquissimum_ in eo campo (scilicet non
aliud) dulcissima venatione quæri posse. Attingis enim _antiquissimum_
trinum et unum."--Cap. xiv.