Chapter C: Mansfield Ingleby

Birmingham.

_Denison Family._--Can any correspondent of "N. & Q." inform me how the Denisons of Denbies, near Dorking, in Surrey, and the Denisons of Ossington, in Nottinghamshire, were related? Who was Mr. Robert Denison of Nottingham, who took a very active part in politics at the commencement of the French Revolution? His wife had a handsome legacy from a rich old lady, one Mrs. Williams, of whom I would much like to know something farther.

E. H. A.

_"Came."_--In Pegge's _Anecdotes of the English Language_, p. 189., we read:

"The real preterit of the Saxon verb _coman_, is _com_. _Came_ is
therefore a violent infringement, though it is impossible to detect the
innovator, or any of his accomplices."

When was the word _came_ introduced into our language? Early instances of its use would be very welcome.

H. T. G.

Hull.

_Montmartre._--By some this name is derived from _mons martis_; by others from _mons martyrum_. Which is the more satisfactory etymology, and upon what authority does it rest?

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

_Law of Copyright: British Museum._--Observing that the _new_ law of copyright, which was passed and came into operation on the 1st of July, 1842, _expressly repeals_ all of the statutes previously existing on that subject, I am anxious to know, through the medium of "N. & Q.," if the British Museum authorities can claim and enforce the delivery of any book, _although not entered on the books of Stationers' Hall_, which may have been printed and published _before_ the passing of the said act of 1842. If so, then what is the state of the act or statute which bears upon that particular privilege?

J. A.

Glasgow.

_Veneration for the Oak._--The oak--"the brave old oak"--has been an object of veneration in this country from the primaeval to the present times. The term _oak_ is used in several places in Scripture, but nowhere does it appear to refer to the oak as we know it--_our indigenous oak_. The _oak_, under which God appeared to Abraham, bears apparently a resemblance to the _tree of life_ of the Assyrian sculptures; and, perhaps, the _Zoroastrian_ {469} _Homa_, or sacred tree, and the _sacred tree of the Hindus_; and the same may yet be found in the _British oak_. Is there a botanical affinity between these trees? Are they all _oaks_? Was the _tree of life_, as described in the Bible, an _oak_?

G. W.

Stansted, Montfichet.

_Father Matthew's Chickens._--Can any of your correspondents explain why grouse in Scotland are sometimes called "Father Matthew's chickens?"