Chapter C: D. Lamont

Greenock.

_Worm in Books._--Can you or any of your numerous correspondents suggest a remedy for the worm in old books and MSS.? I know of a valuable collection in the muniment room of a nobleman in the country, which is suffering severely at the present time from the above destructive agent; and although smoke has been tried, and shavings of Russia leather inserted within the pages of the books, the evil still exists. As this question has most likely been asked before, and answered in your valuable little work, I shall be obliged by your pointing out in what volume it occurs, as I have not a set by me to refer to and thus save you the trouble.

ALETHES.

* * * * *

MINOR QUERIES WITH ANSWERS.

_Siller Gun of Dumfries._--Can any of your readers tell me the history of the "Siller Gun of Dundee" [Dumfries], and give me an account of the annual shooting for it?

O. L. R. G.

[The Siller gun of Dumfries is a small silver tube, like the barrel
of a pistol, but derives great importance from its being the gift
of James VI., that monarch having ordained it as a prize to the
best marksman among the corporations of Dumfries. The contest was,
by royal authority, licensed to take place every year; but in
consequence of the trouble and expense attending it, the custom has
not been so frequently observed. Whenever the festival was
appointed, the 4th of June, during the long reign of George III.,
was invariably chosen for that purpose, being his majesty's
birthday. The institution itself may be regarded as a memorial of
the _Waponshaw_, or showing of arms, the shooting at butts and
bowmarks, and other military and gymnastic sports, introduced by
our ancestors to keep alive, by competition and prizes, the martial
ardour and heroic spirit of the people. In archery, the usual prize
to the best shooter was a silver arrow: at Dumfries the contest was
transferred to fire-arms. See the preface to the _Siller Gun_, a
poem in five cantos, by John Mayne, 1836.]

_Margery Trussell._--Margery, daughter and coheiress of Roger Trussell, of Macclesfield, married Edmund de Downes (of the old Cheshire family of Downes of Taxall, Shrigley, &c.) in the fourth year of Edward II. Query, What arms did she bear? and were the Trussells of Macclesfield of the same family as that which, in consequence of a marriage with an heiress of Mainwaring, settled at Warmineham, in the reign of Edward III., and whose heiress, in later times, married a De Vere, Earl of Oxford?

W. SNEYD.

Denton.

[In the Harleian MS. 4031. fol. 170. is a long and curious pedigree
of the Trussells and their intermarriage with the Mainwarings, in
the person of Sir William Trussell, Lord of Cubbleston, with Maud,
daughter and heiress of Sir Warren Mainwaring. The arms are: Argent
a fret gu. bezanté for Trussell. The same arms are found on the
window of the church of Warmineham in Cheshire. These would
consequently be the arms of Margery, daughter of Roger Trussell.
The arms originally were: Argent a cross formée flory gu.; but
changed on the marriage of Sir William Trussell of Mershton, co.
Northampton, with Rose, daughter and heiress to William Pantolph,
Lord of Cubbleston, who bore, Argent a fret gu. bezanté.]

_Caves at Settle, Yorkshire._--Being engaged on antiquarian investigations, I have found it necessary to refer to some discoveries made in the caves at Settle in Yorkshire, of which my friends in that county have spoken. Now, I cannot find any printed account. I have referred to all the works on the county antiquities, and particularly to Mr. Phillips's book lately published (which professes to describe local antiquities), but in vain. I cannot find any notice of them. It is very likely some one of your better-informed readers may be able to assist me.

BRIGANTIA.

Battersea.

[See two letters by Charles Roach Smith and Joseph Jackson in
_Archæologia_, vol. xxix. p. 384., on the "Roman Remains discovered
in the Caves near Settle in Yorkshire." Our correspondent has
perhaps consulted the following work:--_A Tour to the Caves in the
Environs of Ingleborough and Settle, in the West Riding of
Yorkshire_, 8vo. 1781.]

_The Morrow of a Feast._--It appears from the papers, that the presentation of the civic functionaries to the Cursitor Baron at Westminster, took place on Sept. 30. Pray is this the _morrow_ of St. Michael, as commonly supposed? Does not the analogy of "Morrow of All Souls" (certainly the {413} same day as All Souls Day, _i. e._ Nov. 2) point out that the Morrow of St. Michael is the 29th, _i. e._ Michaelmas Day. That _morrow_ was anciently equivalent to morning, we may infer from the following passages:

"Upon a morrow tide."--Gower, _Conf. Am._, b. iii.

"Tho' when appeared the third morrow bright,
Upon the waves," &c.

Spenser's _Fairy Queen_, II. xii. 2.

"Good morrow."--_Passim._

R. H.

[Is not our correspondent confounding the morrow of _All Saint_s,
which the 2nd of November certainly is, with the morrow of _All
Souls_? Sir H. Nicolas, in his most useful _Chronology of History_,
says most distinctly:--"The morrow of a feast is the day following.
Thus, the feast of St. Peter ad Vincula is the 1st of August, and
the morrow of that feast is consequently the 2nd of August."--P.
99.]

_Hotchpot._--Will you kindly tell me what is the derivation of the local term _hotchpot_, and when it was first used?