Chapter C: H. Cooper

Cambridge.

_Fercett_ (Vol. vi., p. 292.).--The term _Fercett_ is probably intended as the _designation_ of some collection in MS. of family evidences and pedigrees. It was usual among our ancestors thus to inscribe such collections either with the name of the collector, or that of the particular family to whom the book related. Thus the curious MS. in the library of the City of London, called _Dunthorne_, and containing ancient municipal records, is so called from its collector, whose name was Dunthorne. Instances of such titles are to be found in the collections of Gervase Holles in the _Lansdowne MSS._, where one of such books is referred to as _Trusbutt_.

E. G. B.

_Old Satchells_ (Vol. vi., p. 160.; Vol. vii., p.209.).--Your correspondent J. O. seems not to be aware that another and a fourth edition of _Old Satchells' True History_ ("with copious additions, notes, and emendations," under the editorial superintendence of William Turnbull, Esq., F.S.A.) is in course of preparation 'neath the fostering care of Mr. John Gray Bell, the _pro amore_ publisher of so many historical and antiquarian tracts of interest. Mr. Bell has already given to the world a _Pedigree of the Ancient Family of Scott of Stokoe_, edited, with notes, by William Robson Scott, Ph. D., of St. Leonard's, Exeter, from the original work compiled by his grandfather, Dr. William Scott, of Stamfordham, Northumberland, then (1783) representative of the family. The latter gentleman left behind him a large and valuable collection of MSS. relative to the family, which, as I learn from the prospectus, will be called into requisition in the forthcoming reprint of the _Old Souldier of Satchell_. Possibly the publishers of the second and third editions may have been assisted in their labours by the learned doctor in question, whose already quoted _Pedigree of the Scotts of Stokoe_ was issued only a few years prior to the appearance of the Hawick edition of 1786, not 1784, as accidentally misprinted in J. O.'s interesting communication.

T. HUGHES.

Chester.

_Curtseys and Bows_ (Vol. vii., p. 156).--In the interlude of _The Trial of Treasure_, by Purfoote, 1567 (page 14. of reprint), Inclination says to Gredy-gutte:

"Ise teach you to speake, I hold you a pounde!
Curchy, lob, curchy downe to the grounde.

_Gre._ Che can make curchy well enowe.

_Inc._ Lower, old knave, or yle make ye to bowe!"

For _rationale_ of bows and curtseys, see "N. & Q.," Vol. v., p. 157., though I fancy the _bob_ curtseys are the ones referred to.

THOS. LAWRENCE.

Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

_The Rev. Joshua Marsden_ (Vol. vii., p. 181.).--This gentleman was born at Warrington in the year 1777. In the year 1800 he offered himself, and was accepted by the Wesleyan Methodist Conference, as a missionary to British North America, where he laboured for several years. He removed thence to Bermuda. In 1814 he returned to England with a constitution greatly impaired, but continued to occupy regular stations under the direction of the Conference until 1836, when, worn out by affliction, he became a supernumerary, and resided in London, where he occasionally preached as his health permitted. He died August 11, 1837, aged sixty.

JOHN I. DREDGE.

A memoir and portrait of the Rev. Joshua Marsden will be found in the _Imperial Magazine_, July, 1830. He was at that period a preacher among the Wesleyan Methodists, having been for many years previously a missionary in connexion with that people. He was an amiable, ingenious, and worthy man, and although not a powerful, a pleasing poet. Among other things, he published _Amusements of a Mission_, _Forest Musings_, and _The Evangelical Minstrel_.

J. H.

_Sidney as a Christian Name_ (Vol. vii., p. 39.).--Your correspondent R. D. B., of Baltimore, is informed that the name of Sidney is extremely common in North Wales as a Christian name of either sex, but more particularly of the female.

There seems to be no tradition connected with its use. In this part of the principality, the name {319} has generally been assumed more from its euphonistic character than from any family connexion.

E. L. B.

Ruthin.

_The Whetstone_ (Vol. vii., p. 208.).--In your No. 174. of "N. & Q.," E. G. R. alludes to the _Game of the Whetstone_. The following quotation, as bearing on that subject, may not be uninteresting to your readers:

"In the fourth year of this king's (Edward VI.) reign, in the month of
September, one Grig, a poulterer of Surrey (taken among the people for
a prophet, in curing of divers diseases by words and prayers, and
saying he would take no money), was, by command of the Earl of Warwick,
and others of the Council, set on a scaffold in the town of Croidon, in
Surrey, with a paper on his breast, wherein was written his deceitful
and hypocritical dealings: and after that, on the eighth of September,
set on a pillory in Southwark, being then Our Lady Fair there kept; and
the Mayor of London, with his brethren the aldermen, riding through the
fair, the said Grig asked them and all the citizens forgiveness.

"'Of the like counterfeit physicians,' saith Stow, 'I have noted, in
the summary of my _Chronicles_ (anno 1382), to be set on horseback, his
face to the horse-tail, the same tail in his hand as a bridle, a collar
of jordans about his neck, a _whetstone_ on his breast; and so led
through the city of London, with ringing of basons, and banished.'

"Whereunto I had added (with the forementioned author) as
followeth:--Such deceivers, no doubt, are many who, being never trained
up in reading or practice of physicke and chirurgery, do boast to doe
great cures, especially upon women; as to make them straight that
before were crooked, corbed, or cramped in any part of their bodies,
&c. But the contrary is true; for some have received gold, when they
have better deserved the whetstone."--Goodall's _Royal College of
Physicians_: London, 1684, p. 306.

J. S. S.

Bath.

_Surname of Allen_ (Vol. vii., p. 205.).--Perhaps A. S. A. may find the following words in Celtic of use to him in his researches as to the origin of the name of Allan:--_Adlann_, pronounced _all[=a]nn_, means a spearman or lancer; _aluin_, a white hind or fawn (Query, Do any of the name bear a hind as a crest?); _allin_, a rocky islet; _alain_, fair, bright, fair-haired, &c.

FRAS. CROSSLEY.

_Belatucadrus_ (Vol. vii., p. 205.).--Papers concerning the god Belatucadrus are to be found in the _Archæologia_, vol. i. p. 310., vol. iii. p. 101., vol. x. p. 118. I take these references from Mr. Akerman's useful Archæological Index.