Chapter C: H. Cooper

Cambridge, May 24. 1850.

_"Poor Allinda's growing old."_--Charles II., to vex the Duchess of Cleveland, caused Will Legge to sing to her--

"Poor Allinda's growing old,
Those charms are now no more."

(See Lord Dartmouth's note in _Burnet_, vol. i. p. 458. ed. 1823.) Let me ask, through "NOTES AND QUERIES," Dr. Rimbault, Mr. Chappell, or any readers, where are these verses to be found?

P. CUNNINGHAM.

* * * * *

Minor Queries Answered.

_Who was the Author of "The Modest Enquiry, &c."?_--There is an anonymous tract, entitled _A Modest Enquiry, &c._, (4to. London, 1687), on the question of St. Peter's ever having been at Rome: proving, in so far as a negative in the case can be proved, in the most logical, full, clear, and satisfactory manner, that--_He never was at Rome_; and _never was, either nominally or otherwise, Bishop_ _of the Church there_: and showing the grounds for the contrary assertion to be altogether baseless and untrue; being a tissue of self-contradicting forgeries and frauds, invented long subsequently to the time, evidently for the sole purpose of justifying the Papal pretensions of succession and derivation from the Apostle; as those, and all its other claims, are founded alone upon that fact, and must stand or fall with it.

The inquiry is conducted throughout with evidence of great acquaintance with Scripture and much theological learning (though the writer states himself to be a layman), without the least undue pretension, and with the most perfect temperateness and impartiality. The work would seem now well worth reprinting in a cheap and popular form.

Who was the author?

M.

[In Francis Peck's _Catalogue of Discourses in the Time of King James
II._, No. 226., the name of HENRY CARE is given as the author. A list
of his other works may be found in Watt's _Bibliotheca_.]

_William Penn's Family._--Can any of your correspondents inform me to whom his eldest surviving son (William) was married, and also to whom the children of the said son were married, as well as those of his daughter Letitia (Mrs. Aubrey), if she had any? This son and daughter were William Penn's children by his first marriage with Miss Springett.

A. U. C.

[William Penn, eldest son (of William Penn by Miss Springett), had two
children, Gulielma Maria, married to Charles Fell, and William Penn of
the Rocks in Sussex, who by his first wife, Christian Forbes, had a
daughter and heir, married to Peter Gaskell. Mrs. Aubrey was living in
1718. Our correspondent may also be referred to Mr. Hepworth Dixon's
recently published _William Penn, an Historical Biography_.]

_Deal, Dover, and Harwich._--Where do the following lines come from?

"Deal, Dover, and Harwich,
The devil gave with his daughter in marriage;
And, by a codicil to his will,
He added Helvoet and the Brill."

J. H. L.

[Francis Grose, in his _Collection of Proverbs_, speaks of them as "A
satirical squib thrown at the innkeepers of those places, in return for
the many impositions practised on travellers, as well natives as
strangers. Equally applicable to most other sea-ports."]

_Author of Broad Stone of Honour._--Who is the author of the _Broad Stone of Honour_, of which mention is made in the _Guesses at Truth_, 1st series, p. 230., &c., and in the _Ages of Faith_, p. 236., works of some interest in reference to the Papal discussions which are raging at present?

NEMO.

[Kenelm M. Digby is the author of the _Broad Stone of Honour_.]

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_Pope Joan._--Can any information be procured as to the origin of the game called Pope Joan, and (what is of more importance) of the above title, whether any such personage ever held the keys of St Peter and wore the tiara? If so, at what period and for what time, and what is known of her personal history?

NEMO.

[That _Papissa Joanna_ is merely a fictitious character, is now
universally acknowledged by the best authorities. "Clearer
confirmations must be drawn for the history of Pope Joan, who succeeded
Leo IV. and preceded Benedict III., than many we yet discover, and he
wants not grounds that doubts it." So thought Sir Thomas Browne, in his
_Vulgar Errors_, B. vii. Ch. 17. Gibbon, too, rejects it as fabulous.
"Till the Reformation," he says, "the tale was repeated and believed
without offence, and Joan's female statue long occupied her place among
the Popes in the Cathedral of Sienna. She has been annihilated by two
learned Protestants, Blondel and Bayle; but their brethren were
scandalized by this equitable and generous criticism. Spanheim and
L'Enfant attempted to save this poor engine of controversy, and even
Mosheim condescends to cherish some doubt and suspicion."--_The Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire_, chap. xlix. Spanheim's work, _Joanna
Papissa Restituta_, was printed at Leyden in 1692.]

_The Well o' the World's End._--I am very anxious to find out, whether there still exists in print (or if it is known to any one now alive) an old Scotch fairy tale called "The Weary Well at the World's End?" Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, Esq., who is unhappily dead lately, knew the story and meant to write it down; but he became too infirm to do so, and though many very old people in the hilly districts of Lammermoor and Roxburghshire remember parts of it, and knew it in their youth, I cannot find one who knows it entirely.