Chapter C: W. B

_Denmark and Slavery._--Dr. Madden, in _A Twelve Months' Residence in the West Indies_, 1834, says, in allusion to a remark of Mr. Brydges, to the effect that England was the last European power to enter into the slave trade, and the first to abandon it, "This is inaccurate: to the honour of Denmark be it spoken, the slave trade was abolished by her five years before England performed that act of tardy justice to humanity" (vol. ii. p. 128.). The object of the present communication is neither to question nor disparage the merit here claimed for Denmark, in reference to "the slave _trade_:" it concerns the abolition of _slavery_ itself by that power. I shall therefore be obliged to any reader of "N. & Q." who will inform me when freedom was granted to the negroes in the Danish island of St. Thomas, in the same manner as to those of the British West Indian colonies in 1838? And also in what work I can find any detailed account of such act of manumission?

L. L.

_Spontaneous Combustion._--Is there such a thing as spontaneous combustion?

H. A. B.

_Bucks, most ancient and honourable Society of._--A candid inquiry into the principles and practices of this society, with its history, rules, and songs, was published in 1770. It appeared that there were at that time thirteen lodges of the society in London, and a few in other places. Do any lodges of this society still exist? Did they issue any medals? Do they, or did they, wear any badges? Who wore them, officers only, or all members? How many varieties were there, and of what sizes? The book I have, and two varieties of what I suppose may have been worn as badges.

EDW. HAWKINS.

_Lines quoted by Charles Lamb._--There are some lines quoted by Charles Lamb in one of the _Essays of Elia_: I am very anxious to know whose they are:

"Bind me, ye woodbines, in your twines,
Curl me about, ye gadding vines,
And oh! so close your circles lace
That I may never leave this place.
But, lest your fetters prove too weak,
Ere I their silken bondage break,
Do you, oh briars! chain me too,
And courteous brambles nail me through!"