Chapter L: P. K

_The Old Clock at Alderley._--In the investigation of this very old and curious piece of mechanism by the Rev. Joseph Bockett, in the year 1833, an inscription was found signifying that it was presented to the church of Alderley by the great Sir Matthew Hale. It was copied, _verbatim_ {270} _et literatim_, by the said reverend gentleman, and is as follows:

"This is the Guift of the Right Honourable the Lord Cheif Justice Heale
to the Parish Church of Alderly. John Mason, Bristol, Fecit, Nov[=e]m.
1^{st} 1673."

It appears, by this inscription, to have been presented on his birth-day; which, from his tomb, was found to be November 1. Alderley is the family place of the Hale family to this day.

JULIA R. BOCKETT.

Southcote Lodge.

_The Olympic Plain, &c._--The success which has attended the excavations of Dr. Layard at Nineveh, has rekindled the curiosity of the antiquary and the classical scholar with regard to the buried remains of ancient Greece and Rome:

"The Tiber at Rome," Dodwell says, "is supposed to contain a vast
assemblage of ancient sculpture; and thoughts are entertained of
turning its course, in order to explore its hidden treasures."

The same distinguished traveller remarks (_Classical and Topog. Tour through Greece_) that--

"It was a favourite plan of the learned Winkelmann to raise a
subscription for the excavation of the Olympic plain. If such a project
should ever be consummated, we may confidently hope that the finest
specimens of sculpture, as well as the most curious and valuable
remains, will be brought to light. No place abounded with such numerous
offerings to the gods, and with such splendid and beautiful
representations in marble and in bronze."

ALPHA.

Oxford.

_Electric Telegraph._--Might not the telegraph be made serviceable in remote country districts, by connecting detached residences with the nearest police station; to which an alarm might be conveyed in cases of danger from thieves or fire? There are many who would willingly incur the expense for the sake of the security, and no doubt all details could be easily arranged.

THINKS I TO MYSELF.

_Irish Law in the Eighteenth Century._--I send, for the information of the readers of "N. & Q.," the following extract from Reilly's _Dublin News Letter_, Aug. 9, 1740:

"Last week, at the assizes of Kilkenny, a fellow who was to be tried
for robbery not pleading, a jury was appointed to try whether he was
wilfully mute, or by the hands of God; and they giving a verdict that
he was wilfully mute, he was condemned to be pressed to death. He
accordingly suffered on Wednesday, pursuant to his sentence, which was
as follows: that the criminal shall be confined in some low dark room,
where he shall be laid on his back, with no covering except round his
loins, and shall have as much weight laid upon him as he can bear, and
more; that he shall have nothing to live upon but the worst bread and
water; and the day that he eats, he shall not drink; and the day that
he drinks, he shall not eat; and so shall continue till he dies."

Is it to be believed that, so late as the 1740, such barbarity (to call it nothing worse) was practised according to law within the limits of Great Britain and Ireland? I would be glad to hear from some correspondent upon the subject.

ABHBA.

_Gravestone Inscriptions._--In the churchyard of Homersfield (St. Mary, Southelmham), Suffolk, was the gravestone of Robert Crytoft, who died Nov. 17, 1810, aged ninety, bearing the following epitaph:

"_Myself._
As I walk'd by myself I talk'd to myself,
And thus myself said to me,
Look to thyself and take care of thyself,
For nobody cares for thee.
So I turn'd to myself, and I answer'd myself
In the self-same reverie,
Look to myself or look not to myself,
The self-same thing will it be."

This stone was some years since taken up, and has remained standing in the church tower. I know not whether the lines be original, but I have never seen them elsewhere.

The following were and may be now in St. Stephen's churchyard, Ipswich, on the stone of one Stephen Manister, clerk to Mr. Baron Thompson, who died in 1731, and by his will desired the following words to be there inscribed:

"What I gave I have, w^t I spent I had,
What I left I lost for want of giving it."

G. A. C.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_Paintings of Our Saviour._--In Mrs. Jameson's _Legends of the Monastic Orders_, it is stated that "The painter, Andrea Vanni, was among the devout admirers of St. Catherine;" and that "among his works was a head of Christ, said to have been painted under the immediate instruction of St. Catherine; representing the Saviour as she had, in her visions, beheld him. Unhappily this has perished." Also, on the authority of Mr. Sterling, that St. Juan de la Cruz, the friend of St. Theresa, "on one occasion when the Saviour appeared to him, made an uncouth sketch of the divine apparition; which was long preserved as a relique in the Convent of the Incarnation at Avila."

Can any of your readers supply particulars of, or references to, other similar portraitures, especially of any still in existence?

J. P.

{271}

_Heraldic._--Can any of your heraldic correspondents inform me to what families the following coat of arms belongs:--Gules, a fess sanguine between three trefoils slipped proper? There is in this the not very frequent occurrence of a coloured charge upon a coloured field. The only similar instance I now remember is Denham, Suffolk: Gules, a cross vert.

LOCCAN.

_Dedication of Kemerton Church._--The church at Kemerton, Gloucestershire, was, until a few years ago, marked by the authorities with a blank, just as the church of Middleton ("N. & Q.," Vol. v., p. 372.); but it has now been discovered, it would appear, to have been dedicated to _St. Nicholas_. How, or where?