Chapter C: P. Ph

_Friday at Sea_ (Vol. v., p. 200.).--H. M. S. "Wellesley," bearing the flag of the Earl of Dundonald, on leaving Plymouth for the West Indies, got under way on _Friday_ the 24th of March, 1848; and, after she had got outside the breakwater, she was recalled by the Port-admiral, and did not leave again until the next day: it was to take in the mail-bags, but the firm belief of the men was, that the gallant admiral purposely left something behind to avoid going to sea on such an unlucky day as Friday.

W. B. M.

Dee Side.

I heard it stated the other day, in conversation, that the ill-fated Amazon commenced her voyage on a Friday. Can any of your readers say with certainty if this was the fact?

W. FRASER.

_Latin Names of Towns_ (Vol. v., p. 235.).--I transcribe, for the benefit of your readers, the full title of the largest Geographical Dictionary which I know to contain the information M. asks for. Dr. William Smith's _New Dictionary of Classical Geography_ may be expected to supply the desideratum, in regard to places known to the Greeks and Romans, but will not, I presume, take up all the names in Baudrand's _Dictionary_. Its title-page reads as follows:

"Novum Lexicon Geographicum, in quo universi orbis oppida, urbes,
regiones, provinciæ, regna, emporia, academiæ, metropoles, flumina
et maria, _antiquis et recentibus nominibus appellata_, suisque
distantiis descripta, recensentur. Illud primum in lucem edidit
Philippus Ferrarius Alexandrinus, totius servorum coetus supremus
Præsul, S. T. D. atque in Ticinensi Academia publicus Metaphysices
et Mathematices Professor.

"Nunc Vero Michael Antonius Baudrand, Parisinus, prior
commendatarius de roboribus, de novo mercato, et de Gessenis,
hanc ultimam editionem, ita emendavit, illustravit, dimidiàque
parte auctiorem fecit, ut Novum Lexicon jure optimo dicatur.

"Accesserunt sub finem Dominici Magri, Melitensis, Theologi,
Cathedr. Viterb., &c., appendices et correctiones: atque in has M.
A. Baudrand notæ."

The work is very useful, but of course no longer new. It is in two thin folios, and was printed at Eisenach in MDCLXXVII., by John Peter Schmidt.

O. T. D.

_Gospel Trees_ (Vol. ii., p. 407.; Vol. v., p. 157.).--BURIENSIS, in a recent Number, says that he has somewhere read of a tree called the "Gospel Elm." May, in his _Guide to Stratford-upon-Avon_, published about twenty years since, gives the following description of an elm, which is probably the one referred to by your correspondent. After describing the hamlet of Bishopton, he writes:

"In varying our return to Stratford, pursuing thus the path along
the Henley road, we pass at the town's entrance the now decaying
'Gospel Tree,' that still indicates the boundary of the borough in
this direction, towards the 'Dove house close.' In a perambulation
of the boundaries, made here on the 7th of April, 1591[3], this
elm--judging from its now decayed and weather-beaten aspect--is
the one there noted as seated on the boundary in this direction,
whence the line is therein stated as continuing, to 'the two elms
in Evesham highway.' Such a perambulation was anciently made
yearly, during Rogation week, by the clergy, magistrates, and
burgesses; not omitting, for evidence' sake, the boys of the
grammar school, who then doubtless received, as still is
customary, some _sensitive_ reminiscences of local
limitation."--May's _Guide to Stratford-upon-Avon_, p. 92.

[Footnote 3: "Presentment" in the possession of R. Wheler, Esq.]

The author gives a very plausible reason for the tree's peculiar name, in the ensuing remark:

"When the bound mark was a tree, as in the present instance, a
passage of Scripture was read beneath its branches, a collect was
recited, and a psalm was sung. Hence its sacred designation, long
retained, but now well nigh forgotten."--_Ibid._ p. 93.

SOUTHAMIENSIS.

_Gospel Oaks_ (Vol. v., p. 209.).--Near the hamlet of Cressage, co. Salop, is a very old oak tree, under which tradition says the first missionaries of the Gospel to this land preached. The name of the hamlet, _Cressage_, is, I have been told, a contraction of _Christ's Oak_.

There is also, near Dudley, a place called _Round Oak_; and on the road between Walsall and Lichfield, near the latter, may still be seen the old _Shire Oak_.

At _Stanford's Bridge_, co. Worcester, is a place called the _Apostles' Oak_; and in the parish of _Hartlebury_, in the same county, is a tree bearing the name of the _Mitre Oak_. Both these places, and also a _Rock_, have contended for the honour of being the scene of the conference of St. Augustine and the British bishops, A.D. 603. (Nash, vol. ii. p. 399.)

J. N. B.

West Bromwich.

"_He that runs may read_" (Vol. v., p. 260.).--In Cowper's _Tirocinium_, v. 80., are these lines:

"But truth, on which depends our main concern,
That 'tis our shame and misery not to learn,
Shines by the side of every path we tread
With such a lustre, _he that runs may read_."

LOUISA JULIA NORMAN.

_Wild Oats_ (Vol. v., p. 227.).--I think I can give a clue to the Query of BEAU NASH respecting the origin of this phrase. In Kent, if a person has been talking at random, it is not uncommon to hear it said, "you are talking _havers_," or _folly_. Now I find in an old dictionary that the word _havers_ means _oats_; and therefore I conclude, that the phrase "to sow your wild oats" means nothing more than "to sow folly."

RUBY.

_Portrait of Mrs. Percy_ (Vol. v., p. 227.).--The picture of Mrs. Percy holding in her hand the scroll, mentioned by W. S. G., _is_ still in the house of Ecton. I have made the inquiry from the present Mr. Isted of Ecton's sister-in-law, who lives within three miles of the place.