Chapter I: Front Matter

[Transcriber's note: Original spelling varieties have not been standardized. Characters with macrons have been marked in brackets with an equal sign, as [=e] for a letter e with a macron on top. Underscores have been used to indicate _italic_ fonts. A list of volumes and pages in "Notes and Queries" has been added at the end.]

NOTES AND QUERIES:

A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION

FOR

LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

"When found, make a note of."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.

VOL. V.--No. 129. SATURDAY, APRIL 17. 1852.

Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition, 5_d._

CONTENTS.

Page

NOTES:--

An Epitaph in St. Giles's, Cripplegate, possibly by
Milton, by Thomas H. Gill 361

Liability to Error, by Bolton Corney 362

Baxter's Pulpit, by Cuthbert Bede, B.A. 363

Popular Stories of the English Peasantry, No. I. By
T. Sternberg 363

Folk Lore:--Body and Soul--Giving Cheese at a
Birth--Sneezing--Marlborough 5th November Custom--Spectral
Coach and Horses 364

Antiquaries of the Time of Queen Elizabeth 365

The Tredescants and Elias Ashmole, by S. W. Singer 367

Minor Notes:--Bothwell's Burial-place--Handel's
Organ at the Foundling Hospital--Correction to the
"Oxford Manual of Monumental Brasses"--Milton's
Rib-bone 368

QUERIES:--

The Danes in England, by J. J. A. Worsaae 369

Minor Queries:--Taylor Family--Analysis--Old
Playing Cards--Canongate Marriages--Devil, Proper
Name--Hendurucus du Booys; Helena Leonora de
Sieveri--Can a Clergyman marry himself? &c. 370

MINOR QUERIES ANSWERED:--Jacobite Toast--Rev.
Barnabas Oley--Sweet-singers--"Philip Quarll"--Dedication
of Middleton Church--Lunatic Asylum
benefited by Dean Swift 372

REPLIES:--

St. Christopher 372

"Rehetour" and "Moke," two obscure Words used by
Wycklyffe, A.D. 1384, by N. L. Benmohel, A.M. 373

Plague Stones 374

Rhymes on Places 374

Archaic and Provincial Words 375

London Street Characters 376

Stone Pillar Worship 377

On a Passage in Hamlet, Act 1. Sc. 4. 377

"The Man in the Almanack," by S. W. Singer 378

Epigram on Dr. Fell 379

Replies to Minor Queries:--Verses in Prose--Stops,
when first introduced--Rev. Nathaniel Spinckes, &c. 379

MISCELLANEOUS:--

Notes on Books, &c. 382

Books and Odd Volumes wanted 383

Notices to Correspondents 383

Advertisements 383

Notes.

AN EPITAPH IN ST. GILES'S, CRIPPLEGATE, POSSIBLY BY MILTON.

The chief glory of the church of St. Giles, Cripplegate, is the possession of Milton's dust. But this does not constitute its only distinction. It boasts a magnificent organ, and the most beautiful epitaph with which I am acquainted. As this last may be as much of a stranger to many of your readers as it was to me, and may bestow upon the curious in such matters some portion of the pleasure which its discovery gave me, I venture to crave for it a nook in your columns. Considerably to the right of the pulpit, at no great distance, if I recollect aright, to the left of the main entrance, is a monument to William Staples, a citizen of London, who died in 1650, whereon is inscribed the following elegiac couplet:

"Quod cum coelicolis habitus, pars altera nostri,
Non dolet, hic tantûm me superesse dolet."

Which may be thus Englished:

"That Heaven's thy home, I grieve not, soul most dear;
I grieve but for myself, the lingerer here."

Below the inscription are the touching words--

"Hoc posuit moestissima uxor, Sara."

Putting aside all partiality for one's own discovery, I confess that I do not know the fellow of this epitaph. It realises one's ideal of an epitaph, inasmuch as it combines exceeding brevity and beauty of expression with exceeding fulness of thought and feeling. Love, sorrow, and faith, bereaved affection and trustful piety, find most ample and exquisite utterance in these two lines. It has scarcely won the fame to which it is entitled: I have never met with it in any collection of epitaphs. The authorship would have done no dishonour to Milton himself, to whose place of sepulture it lends, if possible, an additional consecration. Curiously enough, not merely its singular excellence, but also its date, and one or two other circumstances, give some little encouragement to the idea of Miltonic ownership. The monument bears the date of 1650, when Milton was in the fulness of his powers and reputation. He was especially connected with Cripplegate Church; more than one of his many London abodes were in its neighbourhood. There, in the earlier part of his London life, during his residence in Aldersgate Street, he may have often worshipped; there his father lay; there he meant his own sepulchre to be. He who honoured "the religious memory of Mrs. Catharine Thomson, my Christian Friend," with his most glorious sonnet, would not have disdained to bestow a couplet upon the grief of another obscure friend. There are, then, certain presumptions in favour of Cripplegate Church containing an epitaph by Milton. But it does not appear in any collection of the works of one who was so careful of his smallest and most juvenile productions. This fact, I must confess, is quite strong enough to demolish a likely and pleasing fancy. The epitaph, however, though it may not be Miltonic, has every possible merit, and may find favour with such of your readers as delight in the literature of tombstones.

THOMAS H. GILL.

LIABILITY TO ERROR.

As I always strive to be accurate when writing for the press, an accidental error should not give me much compunction; nevertheless, a touch of the feeling is sure to obtrude itself on such occasions. Even the apprehension of having added to the mass of current errors gives me a fit of uneasiness, and having just recovered from an attack of that description it may not be amiss to report the case for the benefit of future patients.

When I wrote a memorandum on James Wilson, in reply to the query of professor DE MORGAN, I stated that the united libraries of Pemberton and Wilson were sold in 1772. _It was guess-work._

I recollected that the two libraries were sold in conjunction, but could not recollect the date. On consulting the printed _List of the original catalogues_ of libraries sold by auction by Mr. Baker and his successors in the years 1744-1828, which was issued by the firm in the latter year, the date appeared to be 1757. With that evidence, I penned a short comment on the remarkable circumstance of the two learned friends resolving to dispose of their libraries at the same time, on their surviving the separation from their beloved books for fourteen years, and on their dying within about six months of each other.

Some undefinable suspicions arose in my mind at this point of the inquiry. Now, the original sale catalogue is in existence, and accessible on proper application. I examined it. The sale commenced on _Monday, February the 24th_. The year 1757 is added in _manuscript_; and, since Pemberton and Wilson are described as _lately deceased_, it is an undoubted error. So I tore up my sentimental scrap, leaving the fragments on the table for the benefit of autograph collectors, and replaced it with the six lines which conclude my reply. On reaching home, I turned to the _Chronology of history_: the dominical letter was just what I wished it to be! The _Book of almanacs_ added to my comfortable sensations.

On a re-examination of my notes, it appeared that the united libraries were sold by Baker and Leigh. Now, according to the above-described _List of catalogues_, the partnership between Baker and Leigh did not take place till 1775. The phrase _lately deceased_, applied to Pemberton and Wilson, is not very precise; the sale, however, must have been after 1774. Resolved to pursue the inquiry, I examined a copy of the catalogue in the royal library in the British Museum. It is bound with the catalogue of the library of Edward Stanley, Esq., secretary to the customs, which was sold in February 1776, and follows it. The volume is lettered 1776. As the libraries of Pemberton and Wilson were to be _viewed on Monday the 17th_, I turned to that day in the Stanley sale; it was _Monday the 17th_. This seemed to prove that the two collections were sold in the same year. Chronology says otherwise: the _Monday the 17th_ of the Stanley catalogue is an error of the printer; and the lettering, with regard to Pemberton and Wilson, is an error of the binder!

Believing, on the evidence above stated, that the sale was after the year 1774, I came to the conclusion that it was in 1777--in which year the 24th February fell on Monday. On further search at home, I met with the catalogue in question. It is in a volume which was successively in the possession of Dent and Heber, and contains the rare Fairfax catalogue; also, _A catalogue of the very valuable library of Phillip Carteret Webb, Esq._, which was sold by _Baker and Leigh_ in 1771. It now became evident that the libraries of Pemberton and Wilson might have been sold by _Baker and Leigh_ in 1772; and on examining the _Public advertiser_ for that year, I found the sale advertised on Thursday the 20th of February. So I was right by _chance_, and in spite of manuscript and printed authorities. Here ends the case.

Another anecdote in connexion with this inquiry deserves to be recorded. I had read the life of Pemberton in the _General biographical dictionary_. Chalmers therein states that his course of lectures on chemistry, "was published in 1771, by his friend Dr. James Wilson." I applied for the volume at the British Museum. By a rare accident the _Scheme for a course of chemistry_ was produced instead of the _Course of chemistry_, and as the day was far advanced, and _copy_ due, I gave up the pursuit. On examination, it turns out that the volume contains a memoir of Pemberton in twenty-three pages. Chalmers cites Hutton and Shaw as his authorities; and _Hutton_, as I conceive, gives the substance of it as his own composition! Wilson, in this important memoir, declares that his intimacy with Pemberton was the _greatest felicity_ of his life. He dates it the 10th Aug. 1771. He died on the 29th of September in the same year.

Wilson remarks, in his previous work, that on the successful practice of navigation "depends, in an especial manner, the flourishing state of our country." To this remark no one can refuse assent. The _Dissertation_ on the history of the art has fallen into oblivion, because it exists only in a work which has been superseded by others; but I venture to express my opinion that a separate edition of it, with such corrections and additions as might be required, and a continuation to the present time, would be a desirable addition to scientific literature; and that no one would perform the task with more ability, or more conscientiously, than professor DE MORGAN.

BOLTON CORNEY.

BAXTER'S PULPIT.

The pulpit formerly used at Kidderminster by Richard Baxter, the eminent author of _The Saint's Rest_, is still preserved there. In his day it stood on the north side of the nave of the parish church (St. Mary's), against the second pillar from the east. But in 1786, the church was "repaired, repewed, and beautified," in the style of those good old times: when, it being thought advisable to have a new pulpit _built_ in a central situation, Baxter's old pulpit was condemned, and, together with other pieces of carved work, was offered for sale (!) by the then churchwardens, as old and useless church furniture. The churchmen of that day appear to have held the same opinions as their wardens; so the pulpit (with the exception of its pedestal) was purchased by the Unitarians of the place. Their successors have carefully preserved it, and it now stands in a room adjacent to their chapel.

The pulpit is of oak: octagonal in its shape, and properly decorated with flowers and architectural ornaments, in the well-known style of the period. Gold letters, inserted in six of the panels, somewhat ostentatiously informed the congregation that--

"ALICE · DAWKX · WIDOW · GAVE · THIS."

On the face of the pulpit, and immediately beneath the preacher's desk, is the text:

"PRAISE · THE · LORD."

And round the sounding-board are the words:

"O · GIVE · THANKS. UNTO · THE · LORD. AND · CALL · UPON · HIS ·
NAME. DECLARE · HIS · WORSHIP · AMONG · THE · PEOPLE."

On the oak board at the back of the pulpit is the date:

"ANNO · 1621."

surmounted by a projecting crown and cushion of bold workmanship. The mariner's compass is painted on the underside of the sounding-board, and the entire pulpit bears manifest traces of having once been adorned with gold and colours.

The octagonal pillar and pedestal on which the pulpit once stood, now serve to support the floor of a bookseller's shop in the High Street.

Within the room where the pulpit is now preserved is placed a folio copy of Baxter's work in four volumes, and an engraving of "the reverend and learned Mr. Richard Baxter," taken from the original picture in the possession of Mr. Fawcett, formerly of Kidderminster. A handsomely carved chair, formerly the property of Bishop Hall, is also placed near to the pulpit.

Can any of your correspondents inform me, if any engraving of Baxter's pulpit has been published? I have made many inquiries, but have never met with or heard of one. Three years since, I etched on the copper a correct representation of the present state of the pulpit; when, in answer to my inquiries, I was told that no one had even sketched it for many years.

A notice of "Richard Baxter," and his 168 publications, occurs in "N. & Q.," Vol. iii., p. 370.

I inclose you an impression from the etching just referred to.

CUTHBERT BEDE.

POPULAR STORIES OF THE ENGLISH PEASANTRY, NO. I.

Only a few years before the advent of Ambrose Merton, it was the sorrowful lament of Picken that he could find no legendary lore among our English peasantry. The rapid progress of education, according to him, had long ago banished our household traditions. Want of acquaintance with the shy and reserved character of John Bull probably proved a stumbling-block to our collector, for what a rich harvest has been reaped since his day! Our mythic treasures, however, are far from being exhausted; and if we wish to emulate our brethren of Deutschland, we must do yet more. The popular tales and legends which abound among our rural population, are still for the most part ungarnered. The folk-tales of the sister kingdoms have been ably chronicled in the pages of Croker and Chambers, but our own have been almost entirely neglected. So much indeed is this the case, that we have had recourse to Germany in order to recruit our exhausted nursery literature; and readers of _all_ sizes devour with avidity the charming versions of the Messieurs Taylor, few of them suspecting that stories of like character form the sole imaginative lore of their uneducated countrymen.

Some years ago while in the country I made a practice of noting down the more curious traditionary stories which came under my notice; and, with the kind permission of the Editor, will transfer a few portions of my researches to the columns of "N. & Q.," in the hope of inducing some of your rural correspondents to embark in a similar design. I am aware that certain antiquaries of the old _régime_ still entertain doubts as to the utility of these collections. As vestiges, however, of primitive fiction, they will interest the philosophical inquirer; while their value as contributions to ethnological and philological science has been recognised by all writers on the subject.

Premising that these tales, however puerile, are not associated with any such idea by the people among whom they were gathered, permit me to introduce your readers to "Thoughtful Moll," in whom they will trace a remarkable resemblance to _Die kluge Else_ of Grimm. It is from Oxfordshire, and affords no bad specimen of the facetious class of fables which often enliven the winter's evening hearth-talk. I have endeavoured to preserve the narrators' style and dialect.

In a certain village there once lived a young woman so extremely noted for prudence and forethought, that she was known among her neighbours as "Thoughtful Moll." Now this young lady had a thirsty soul of a sweetheart, who dearly loved a drop of October, and one day when he came a-wooing to her: "O Moll," says he, "fill us a tot o'yeal, I be most mortal dry." So Moll took a tot from the shelf and went down the cellar, where she tarried so long that her father sent down her sister to see what had come of her. When she got there she found her sister weeping bitterly. "What ails thee, wench?" said she. "O!" sobbed Moll, "don't ye see that stwon in the arch, that stands out from the mortar like? Now, mayhaps, when I be married an have a bwoy, an he comes down here to draw beer, that big stwon'll fall down on'm and crush'm." "Thoughtful Moll!" said her admiring sister, and the two sat down and mingled their tears together. The drink not being forthcoming, another sister is despatched, and she also stops. Meantime Dob grew chafed at the delay, and went down himself to look after his love and his beer. When he hears the cause of the stoppage, he falls into a violent rage, and declares he won't have Moll unless he can find three bigger fools than herself and sisters. It is noonday when Dob sets out on his travels; and the first person he saw was an old woman, who was running about and brandishing her bonnet in the sunshine: "What bist at, Dame?" says Dob. "Why," said the old woman; "I'm a ketchin' sunshine in this here bonnet to dry me carn as a' leased in wet." "Mass!" quoth Dob, "that's one fool." And so on he went till he came to another Gothanite, who was dragging about the corn-fields a huge branch of oak. "What may ye be a-doin' wi' that, Measter?" says Dob. "Kaint ye see?" says the man; "I'm a gettin' the crows to settle on this branch, they've had a'most all me crop a'ready." "The devil you are!" said Dob, as he went on his way. He meets no one else for a long time, and almost despairs of completing his number, when at last he sees an old woman trying all she could to get a cow to go up a ladder. "What are ye arter there, Missus?" says he. "Dwunt ye see, young mon?" says she; "I'm a drivin' this keow up the lather t'eat the grass aff the thack." "Deary me!" says Dob, "one fool makes many." And so he turned back, and married Moll; with whom he lived long and happily, if not wisely.[1]

[Footnote 1: Glossary.--_Tot_, a mug; _yeal_, ale; _leased_,
gleaned; _lather_, ladder; _thack_, thatch.]

Besides Grimm's version, we meet with a somewhat similar fable in Ireland. Vide Gerald Griffin's _Collegians_, p. 139.

Another pretty numerous class of our popular stories consists of those in which animals are made the actors. One of the most common of these relates to the strife between the fox and the hedgehog, who, according to the good people of Northamptonshire, are the two most astute animals in creation. How a couple of these worthies once fell out as to which was the swifter animal; and how, when they had put their speed to the trial, the cunning urchin contrived to defeat Reynard by placing his consort in the furrow which was to form the goal: so that when her mate had made a pretence of starting, she might jump out and feign to be himself just arrived. And how, after three desperate runs, the broken-winded fox fell a victim to the deceit, and was compelled to yield to his adversary; who, ever since that day, has been his most inveterate enemy. This myth is curious on many accounts, for the hedgehog has always been regarded as an emblem of subtlety. Grimm gives a tale precisely similar, with the exception that it is a hare and not a fox who is deceived by the ruse. Aldrovandus likewise tells us much on the score of his craft; and it was probably some mythic connexion between the animals which led Archilochus to class them together in the adage:

"Πολλ' οἶδ' ἀλώπηξ, ἀλλ' ἐχῖνος ἓν μέγα."

Your readers will also call to mind the fable of Ælian, lib. IV. cap. xviii.

T. STERNBERG.

FOLK LORE.

_Body and Soul._--The other day, in a village in Huntingdonshire, an unbaptized child was buried. A neighbour expressed great sorrow for the mother because "no bell had been rung over the corpse." On asking why this circumstance should be so peculiarly a cause of grief, she told me that it was "because when any one died, the soul never left the body until the church bell was rung." Is this superstition believed in elsewhere? And does it arise from mistaken notions regarding "the passing bell,"--the "one short peal" which the 67th canon orders to be rung "after the party's death?"

CUTHBERT BEDE.

_Giving Cheese at a Birth._--In the county of Northumberland, not far from the Cheviots, I met with the following custom. When a woman's confinement is near, a cheese is made, which, when the child is born, is cut into pieces and distributed among all the houses (without exception) in the vicinity. If the child is a boy, the pieces of cheese are sent to the males; if a girl, to the females, each member of a family receiving a portion. Visitors also come in for their share. Whence did this custom arise?

CUTHBERT BEDE.

_Sneezing._--"The custom of blessing persons when they sneeze," says Brand, "has, without doubt, been derived to the Christian world, where it generally prevails, from the time of heathenism." In addition to the interesting notice of the prevalence of this custom in Europe, and many remote parts of Asia and Africa, given by Brand, I find traces of it amongst the American tribes at the period of the Spanish conquest. In 1542, when Hernando de Soto, the famous conquest-actor of Florida, had an interview with the Cacique Guachoya, the following curious incident occurred:--

"In the midst of their conversation, the Cacique happened to
sneeze. Upon this, all his attendants bowed their heads, opened
and closed their arms; and making their signs of veneration,
saluted their prince with various phrases of the same purport:
'May the sun guard you,' 'may the sun be with you,' 'may the sun
shine upon you,' 'defend you,' 'prosper you,' and the like; each
uttered the phrase that came first to his mind, and for a short
time there was a universal murmuring of these compliments."--_The
Conquest of Florida under Hernando de Soto_, by Theodore Irving,
vol. ii. p. 161.

Whence could the natives of the New World have derived a custom so strikingly similar to that which the ancients record?

R. S. F.

Perth.

_Marlborough 5th November Custom._--At Marlborough, Wiltshire, on the 5th of November, two or three years ago, I noticed a peculiar custom the rustics have at their bonfires, to which I could attach no meaning; and I did not, at the time, inquire of any person there regarding it.

They form themselves into a ring of some dozen or more round the bonfire, and follow each other round it, holding thick club-sticks over their shoulders; while a few others, standing at distances outside this moving ring, with the same sort of sticks, beat those the men hold over their shoulders, as they pass round in succession, all shouting and screaming loudly. This might last half an hour at a time, and be continued at intervals till the fire died out. Can any correspondent inform me whether this _has_ any meaning attached to it?

J. S. A.

Old Broad Street.

_Spectral Coach and Horses_ (Vol. iv., p. 195.).--A similar legend was within a few years current near Bury St. Edmunds, in the same county, where on Christmas Eve, at midnight, a coach drawn by four headless horses, and driven by a headless coachman, might be seen to come in a direction from the parish of Great Barton, across the fields, regardless of fences, and proceed to a deep hole called "Phillis's Hole" near "the two-mile spinney," in the parish of Rongham, and there find a resting-place. A few years since, wishing to learn whether this sight was among the things still looked for or believed in, I proceeded to the locality at the time stated, but met with no one but a gamekeeper, whom I found to be quite familiar with the legend. He said he had heard a good deal in his younger days about the "coach," but had never seen it. There was, however, an old woman then living who had seen it often, and who declared that the coach was occupied by a gentleman and a lady, also without heads, but he did not know what to say to it. All he knew was, that when a man was out on dark nights, "he could draw anything into his eye that he liked!"

BURIENSIS.

ANTIQUARIES OF THE TIME OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.

I have a copy of Weever's _Ancient Funerall Monuments_, which once belonged to William Burton, the historian of Leicestershire; on a fly-leaf at the end of the volume is the following list in the autograph of that celebrated antiquary, which, perhaps, may not be without its interest to the readers of "N. & Q." I have appended some notes of identification, which I have no doubt some of your correspondents could easily render more complete.

"Antiquarii temp. Eliz. Reg.

"1. Recorder Fletewode, Wm.
2. Mr. Atey.
3. Mr. Lambard, Will[=m].
4. Mr. Cope.
5. Mr. Broughton ye Lawyer.
6. Mr. Leigh.
7. Mr. Bourgchier.
8. Mr. Broughton ye Preacher.
9. Mr. Holland, Joseph.
10. Mr. Gartier.
11. Mr. Cotton, Robt.
12. Mr. Thinne, Francis.
13. Jo. Stowe.
14. -- Combes.
15. -- Lloyd.
16. -- Strangman.
17. Hen. Spelman.
18. Arthur Gregory.
19. Anth. Cliffe.
20. Tho. Talbot.
21. Arthur Goulding.
22. Arthur Agard.
23. Will[=m] Camden.
24. Merc. Patten.
25. Samson Erdeswike.
26. -- Josseline.
27. Hen. Sacheverell.
28. Wm. Nettleton de Knocesborough.
29. John Ferne.
30. Ro[=b]t. Bele.
31. John Savile de Templo.
32. Daniell Rogers.
33. Tho. Saville.
34. Henry Saville.
35. Rog. Keymis.
36. John Guillim.
37. -- Dee.
38. -- Heneage.
39. Rich. Scarlet.
40. -- Wodhall.
41. Dent de B[=a]co Regis.
42. -- Bowyer.
43. Robt. Hare.
44. -- Harrison, schoolemr.
45. -- Harrison, ministr."

1. William Fleetwood, Recorder of London, "a learned man and good antiquary," ob. 1593. (_Wood_, ed. Bliss, i. 598.)

2. Mr. Atey. Was this Arthur Atey, Principal of St. Alban Hall, and Orator of the University of Oxford, who was secretary to the Earl of Leicester, knighted by King James, and who died in 1604?

3. William Lambarde, the learned author of the _Perambulation of Kent_, the first county history attempted in England, died in 1601.

4. Mr. Cope.

5. Mr. Broughton the Lawyer, _i.e._ Richard Broughton, Justice of North Wales, called by Sir John Wynne, in the _History of the Gwedir Family_, "the chief antiquary of England."

6. Mr. Leigh, probably James Leigh, author of several tracts on heraldry, preserved in Hearne's _Curious Discoveries_.

7. Mr. Bourgchier. Query, Sir Henry Bouchier, afterwards Earl of Bett? or Thomas Bouchier, the learned Roman Catholic divine, who died at Rome about 1586?

8. Mr. Broughton the Preacher. Could this be the learned divine Hugh Broughton, author of _The Consent of Scriptures_, born in 1549, ob. 1612?

9. Joseph Holland, a native of Devonshire, an excellent herald, genealogist, and antiquary, of the Inner Temple, living in 1617.

10. Mr. Gartier. Sir Gilbert Dethick, Knight of the Garter, Principal King-at-Arms, who was well skilled in antiquities, is perhaps intended. He died in 1584, at eighty-one. Or more probably his son and successor, Sir William Dethick, Knight, who was one of a select number of antiquaries who entered into a society in 1593 (the cradle of the present Society of Antiquaries). Sir William died in 1612.

11. Sir Robert Cotton, the founder of the Cottonian Library, died in 1631.

12. Francis Thynne, Esq., Lancaster Herald, died 1608. "An excellent antiquary, and a gentleman painful and well deserving of his office whilst he lived." (_Camden._)

13. John Stow, author of _The Chronicles of England_ and _The Survey of London_; died in 1605.

14. -- Combes. Query, Thomas Combe, author of a _Book of Emblems_, reg. Eliz.

15. -- Lloyd, Humphry Lluyd or Lloyd, "a most noted antiquary, and person of great skill and knowledge in British affairs," ob. 1570. (_Wood._)

16. Mr. James Strangeman, of Hedley Castle, Essex, cited by Salmon as an Essex antiquary. (_Gough._)

17. The learned Sir Henry Spelman died in 1641.

18. Arthur Gregory, ancestor of the present Arthur Gregory, of Styvichall in the county of Warwick, Esq., who possesses some valuable MS. collections of his ancestor.

19. Anthony Cliffe. In Burke's _Dictionary of the Landed Gentry_, a person of these names is mentioned as of the city of Westminster in the Elizabethan period, ancestor of the present family of Cliffe of Bellevue, co. Wexford.

20. Thomas Talbot, "an excellent genealogist, and well skilled in the antiquities of his country." Vide Wood's _Athenæ_, ed. Bliss, i. 265.

21. Arthur Golding; the same, I suppose, who finished the translation of a work concerning _The Trueness of Christian Religion against Atheists, &c._, began by Sir Philip Sidney, and also published other translations. (_Wood_ and _Gough_.)

22. Arthur Agard, styled by Camden "antiquarius insignis." He died in 1615.

23. William Camden, born 1551, ob. 1623.

24. Mercury Patten, Blue-mantle Pursuivant-at-Arms, had been patronised by Lord Burleigh; was living in the second year of James I.

25. Samson Erdeswike, the historian of Staffordshire, died in 1603. "A very great lover and diligent searcher of venerable antiquity." (_Camden._)

26. -- Josseline, secretary to Archbishop Parker, was the author of a short account of Corpus Christi or Ben'et College, Cambridge, to the year 1569. (_Gough._)

27. Henry Sacheverell, of Ratcliffe-on-Sore, in the county of Nottingham, Esq.?

28. William Nettleton de Knocesborough?

29. John Ferne, author of the _Blazon of Gentry_, died about 1610. He was knighted by James I.

30. Robert Bele, secretary to the embassy of Sir Francis Walsingham at Paris in 1571, Clerk of the Privy Council, &c.; ob. 1601.

31. Sir John Savile, of the Middle Temple, elder brother of Sir Henry Savile, died in 1606-7. He was one of the Barons of the Exchequer.

32. Daniel Rogers, "excellently well learned; one that was especially beloved by the famous antiquary and historian W. Camden;" ob. 1590. (_Wood._)

33. Thomas Savile, younger brother to Sir Henry, called by Camden "his right learned friend," ob. 1592.

34. Henry Savile. There were two Henry Saviles, who may either of them be intended; Sir Henry Savile, Provost of Eton, who died in 1621-2, or his kinsman of the same names, an eminent scholar in heraldry and antiquities, and other branches of literature. He died in 1617.

35. Roger Keymis. See _MSS. Harleian_, 5803. and 16,120., for two of his heraldical collections. The former is dated anno 1609.

36. John Gwillim, gent., the well-known herald, ob. 1621.

37. Dr. John Dee, the celebrated philosopher of Mortlake, died in 1608.

38. -- Heneage. Query, Sir Thomas Heneage, Knight?

39. Richard Scarlet, citizen and painter stainer, of London, temp. Eliz., took some good notes of Christ Church, Canterbury (_Gough_), and was the author of some heraldical collections now in the British Museum. (_MSS. Harl._ 2021.)

40. -- Woodhall.

41. -- Dent de Banco Regis.

42. William Bowyer, author of _A perfecte Kellender of all the Recordes remayninge in the office of Recordes at the Towere of Londone_. (_MS. Harl._ 94. 4.)

43. Robert Hare, son of Sir Nicholas Hare, Master of the Rolls, 1553, of Caius College, Cambridge, collected the charters and privileges of the University in three volumes, with a fourth of those relating to the town only. (_Gough._)

44. -- Harrison, schoolmaster. _John_ Harrison, _physician_, and _Vicar_ of Grantchester, about the middle of the sixteenth century, was a great historian; many of his MS. collections relative to the University of Cambridge still remain. (_Gough._)

45. -- Harrison, minister. William Harrison, author of "Historical Description of the Island of Britain," prefixed to Holinshed's _Chronicles_, living in 1587, is, I suppose, intended.

SPES.

THE TREDESCANTS AND ELIAS ASHMOLE.

Dr. Hamel, of whose memoir of the elder Tredescant and his voyage to Russia I gave some account in Vol. iii., p. 391., being again in England last year, pursued with unremitting zeal his researches into the history of the Tredescants, and has given the results in a short Memoir read before the Imperial Academy of Sciences at Petersburg on the 5th of December last. Having been favoured with a copy of the memoir, and a flattering letter from the writer, I think it incumbent upon me to add to my former communication a brief abstract of this interesting paper.

Dr. Hamel first directed his researches toward an endeavour to develope the means by which Elias Ashmole became the possessor of the Tredescant collection; and naturally expected that he should be able to trace the document of 1659, upon which Ashmole rested his claim to the ownership; but he could not find any such deed.

He was, however, fortunate enough to trace out the original Will of John Tredescant the younger, bearing his seal and signature, made at a subsequent date, and formally proved, after his death in 1662, by his widow Hester. This important document throws much light upon the transaction respecting the Museum, and its destination. Dr. Hamel was naturally much pleased with this discovery, and rejoiced to see for the first time the autograph of a man about whom he had so much interested himself, but was somewhat surprised to find that the name which has been usually written Tr_a_descant was uniformly spelt Tr_e_descant in the body of the Will, as well as in the signature; the seal, bearing the same coat of arms given on a plate in the Catalogue of the Museum, being placed between the syllable _Tre_ and _descant_. This document runs thus:

"THE LAST WILL AND TESTMANENT OF ME JOHN TREDESCANT.

"In the name of God, Amen.

"The fourth day of April in the yeare of our Lord God one thousand
six hundred sixtie-one, I, John Tredescant of South Lambeth in the
Countie of Surrey, Gardiner, being at this present of perfect
health, minde, and memorie, thanks be therefore given to Almightie
God, and calling to minde the uncertaintie of death, and being
desirous whilst I am in a Capacity to settle and dispose of such
things as God of his goodnesse hath bestowed upon me, doe make and
declare this my last Will and Testament as followeth. First and
principally I commend and yield my soule into the hands of
Almighty God my Creator, and my bodie to the Earth to be decently
(according to the quality wherein I have liued) interred as neere
as can be to my late deceased Father John Tredescant, and my sonne
who lye buried in the parish Churchyard of Lambeth aforesaid, at
the discretion of my Executrix hereafter named; hopeing by and
through the merits, death, and passion of my onely Saviour and
Redeemer Jesus Christ to have full remission of all my Sinnes, and
to see my God in the Land of the Living; and for my temporall
Estate I doe will, bequeath, and dispose thereof as followeth.
That is to saie, I will that all such debts as shall be by me
justly due and owing to anie person or persons whatsoever at the
time of my decease (if anie such be) shall be truly paid and
satisfied, and after my Funeral charges shall be defrayed, for the
doeing whereof I appoint the summe of twenty pounds or thereabouts
shall be expended by my Executrix but not more. Item, I giue and
bequeath upon the condition hereafter mentioned to my daughter
Frances Norman the summe of ten pounds of Lawfull money of
England, which I will shall be paid unto her within six moneths
after my decease, and likewise I doe forgive her the summe of
fourscore pounds or thereabouts, Principall Money, besides the
Interest thereof which I long since lent her late deceased husband
Alexander Norman. Provided that shee and her husband, if she shall
be then againe married, give my Executrix a generall release for
the same. Item, I give and bequeath to my two namesakes Robert
Tredescant and Thomas Tredescant, of Walberswick in the Countie of
Suffolk, to eache of them the summe of five shillings apiece in
remembrance of my loue, and to every childe or children of them
the [said] Robert and Thomas that shall be liuing at the time of
my decease the summe of two shillings and sixpence apiece. Item, I
giue to Mris. Marie Edmonds, the daughter of my louing Friend
Edward Harper, the summe of one hundred pounds, to be paid unto
her after my wife's decease; and in case she die before my said
wife, my will is and I doe hereby giue and bequeath the said summe
of one hundred pounds, after my wife's decease, to my Foure
God-children, vizt. Hester, John, Leonard, and Elizabeth Edmonds,
sonnes and daughters of the said Mris. Mary Edmonds Equally to be
diuided amongst them, share and share alike; and if either of them
die before he, her, or they receiue their share or portion so to
be diuided, then the said share or portion of him, her, or them so
dying to goe and be giuen to the survivor and survivors of them,
share and share alike. Item, I doe hereby giue, will, devise and
bequeath to my Cosin Katharine King, widdow, after the decease of
my wife, the Little House commonly called the Welshmans house
situate in South Lambeth aforesaid, together with that Little
Piece of Ground now enclosed thereunto adjoyning; and to her heirs
and assignes for euer. Item, I giue, devize, and bequeath my
Closet of Rarities to my dearly beloued wife Hester Tredescant
during her naturall Life, and after her decease I giue and
bequeath the same to the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge, to
which of them shee shall think fitt at her decease. As for such
other of my friends and kindred as I should nominate for Rings and
small tokens of my Loue, I leaue that to the Care of my said wife
to bestow how manie and to whome shee shall think deseruing. The
rest and Residue of all my Estate Reall and personall whatsoeuer,
I wholly giue, devize, and bequeath to my deare and louing wife
Hester Tredescant, and to her heires and assignes for euer. And I
doe hereby nominate, ordaine, constitute, and appoint my said
Louing Wife Hester Tredescant full and sole Executrix of this my
last will and Testament; and I doe desire Dr. Nurse and Mr. Mark
Cottle to be Ouerseers of this my last Will and Testament, and I
giue to each of them fortie shillings apiece. Lastly, I doe hereby
revoke all Wills by me formerly made, and will that this onely
shall stand and be my last will and Testament, and no other. In
Wittnesse whereof I the said John Tredescant to this my present
last will and testament haue set my hand and seale the daie and
yeare aboue written.

"JOHN TRE (L.S.) DESCANT.

"Signed, sealed, published, and declared by the said John
Tredescant the Testator, as and for his last Will and Testament,
in the presence of John Seatewell, Foulk Bignall, Robert Thompson,
Jun'ris, Ric. Newcourt, Jun'r, Richard Hoare, Notary Publique.

"Probatum apud London coram venerabili viro D[=n]o Williamo
Mericke milite Legum Doctore Commissario, etc., quinto die mensis
May Anno Domini 1662, iuramento Hestore Tredescant, Relicte dicti
defuncti et Executricis, etc."

It will be recollected that Ashmole, in his Diary, says--

"Decem. 12, 1659. Mr. Tredescant and his wife told me they had
been long considering upon whom to bestow their close of
curiosities when they died, and at last resolved to give it unto
me."

Two days afterwards (on the 14th) they had given their scrivener instructions to prepare a deed of gift to that effect, which was executed by Tredescant, his wife being a subscribing witness on the 16th, as Ashmole records with astrological minuteness, "5 hor. 30 minutes post meridian." On May 30th, 1662, little more than a month after John Tredescant's death, he records--

"This Easter term, I preferred a bill in Chancery against Mrs.
Tredescant, for the rarities her husband had settled on me."

Dr. Hamel succeeded in finding the protocols in this suit among the records of the Court of Chancery, in which Ashmole sets forth, that in December, 1659, he visited the Tredescants in South Lambeth, and that he was entertained by Tredescant and his wife with great professions of kindness. That Mrs. Tredescant told him that her husband had come to the determination to bequeath to him "the rarities and antiquities, bookes, coynes, medalls, stones, pictures, and mechanicks contained in his Closett of Raryties, knowing the great esteeme and value he put upon it." That Tredescant himself had afterwards said to him, that in acknowledgment of his (Ashmole's) previous trouble concerning the preparation of the catalogue of his museum and gardens[2], he purposed to do so, and that in effect Ashmole and Mrs. Tredescant, as long as she lived, should enjoy it together. Ashmole also says, Tredescant had made it a condition that he should, after Mrs. Tredescant's decease, pay a certain Mary Edmonds, or her children, one hundred pounds sterling. That he did then actually let a deed be prepared, by which he made over to him his collection of every kind of curiosities of nature and art within or near the house (Ashmole here cunningly includes the botanic garden); Mrs. Tredescant was to have the joint proprietorship, and nothing was to be abstracted from the collection.

[Footnote 2: In the preface to the catalogue the assistance of two
friends is mentioned; it appears that the other was Dr. Thomas
Warton.]

This deed Tredescant had, on the 16th of December (1659), confirmed under his hand and seal. Mrs. Tredescant fetched a Queen Elizabeth's milled shilling, which Tredescant handed over to him, together with the conveyance, and thereby he came into possession of the collection.[3]

[Footnote 3: Ashmole says, "It was not thought fit to clogge the
deed with the payment of the said hundred pounds to Mrs. Edmonds
or her children, to the end that the same might better appear to
be a free and generous gift, and therefore the consideracion of
the deed was expressed to be for the entire affeccion and singular
esteeme the said John Tredescant had to him (Ashmole), who he did
not doubt would preserve and augment the said rarities for
posterity." He declares that he will pay the money; and in his
Diary we find that after Mrs. Tredescant's death, in 1678, he pays
to a Mrs. Lea, probably one of the daughters of Mrs. Edmonds, one
hundred pounds.]

Mrs. Tredescant had signed the deed as witness; but, when Ashmole was about to leave the house, she had requested him to leave it with her, as she wished to ask some of her friends whether, by having signed it as witness, her right as joint proprietress of the collection might not be diminished. He left the document with her, in expectation that it would soon be restored to him, but this was never done. Now, after the death of Tredescant, she maintains that her husband never made such a conveyance; but the truth is she has burnt or destroyed it in some other manner.

Against this Mrs. Tredescant refers to her husband's last will and testament of the 4th of May, 1661, by which all previous dispositions of his property, of whatever kind, were declared invalid, and strongly urges that the museum was expressly bequeathed to her and her alone, with the stipulation that she should leave it either to the University of Oxford or to that of Cambridge. And she adds, that she had determined to leave it to the University of Oxford.

I must not now further trespass upon your space; you shall have the sequel for your next Number.

S. W. SINGER.

Manor Place, So. Lambeth.

Minor Notes.

_Bothwell's Burial-place._--Bothwell was imprisoned in Seeland, in the castle of Draxholm, now called Adelersborg, near the town of Holbek. He died there, and was buried in the neighbouring village church of Faareveile, where I in vain have searched for this tomb or coffin. An old coffin, half opened, standing between several other old coffins in a vault below the floor of the church, certainly was said, according to tradition, to contain the body of Bothwell, but no inscriptions or other signs proved the truth of it.

J. J. A. WORSAAE.

_Handel's Organ at the Foundling Hospital._--It is generally understood that the organ in the chapel of this Institution was the gift of Handel. That great musician conducted a concert of sacred music upon the opening of the chapel in 1749, and superintended the annual performance of his oratorio, "The Messiah," from 1751 to 1759. In his will he left to the charity "a fair copy of the score, and all its parts," of the same oratorio; which score is still preserved, and has furnished the editor of the new edition, lately produced by the Handel Society, with several new and important readings.

Dr. Burney, in his "Sketch of the Life of Handel," prefixed to his _Account of the Commemoration_, 4to., 1785, says, "The organ in the chapel of this [_i.e._ the Foundling] hospital was a _present_ from Handel." But how are we to reconcile this statement with the following, which I find in the _European Magazine_ for February, 1799:

"Handel _did not give_ the organ to the Foundling Hospital. It was
built at the _expense_ of the charity, under the direction of Dr.
Smith, the learned Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, who added
demitones, &c., and some of the niceties not occurring in other
organs."

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_Correction to the "Oxford Manual of Monumental Brasses."_--Permit me to correct an error in the above carefully compiled and useful manual. On p. 15. of the "Descriptive Catalogue" a brass is described, No. 32. of their collection, to "Edward Peach, 1439;" no place is mentioned in connexion with this brass. The notice should stand thus:

"1839. Edward Peach, _S. Chad's (R.C.) Church, Birmingham_.

[+]

"Hic jacet dmus Edwardus Peach quondam rector istius ecclesie
qui obiit die Nativitatis _Beate_ Marie Virginis Anno Domini
_milessimo_ _D_CCCXXXIX," &c.

The brass is so well _designed_ and _executed_, that it might easily pass for an old example. By some error "s[=a]cte" has been printed for "Beate," "millessimo" for "milessimo," and "CCCC" for "DCCC" in the Oxford version of the inscription.

W. SPARROW SIMPSON, B.A.

_Milton's Rib-bone._--In Vol. v., p. 275., mention is made of Cromwell's skull; so it may not be out of place to tell you that I have handled one of Milton's ribs. Cowper speaks indignantly of the desecration of our divine poet's grave, on which shameful occurrence some of the bones were clandestinely distributed. One fell to the lot of an old and esteemed friend, and between forty-five and forty years ago, at his house, not many miles from London, I have often examined the said rib-bone. That friend is long since dead; but his son, now in the vale of years, lives, and I doubt not, from the reverence felt to the great author of _Paradise Lost_, that he has religiously preserved the precious relic. It might not be agreeable to him to have his name published; but from his tastes he, being a person of some distinction in literary pursuits, is likely to be a reader of "N. & Q.," and if this should catch his eye, _he_ may be induced to send you some particulars. I know he is able to place the matter beyond a doubt.

B. B.

Pembroke.

Queries.

THE DANES IN ENGLAND.

Since I arrived in England my friend Mr. Thoms has called my attention to the following Note by the "English Opium Eater" in the _London Magazine_ for May, 1823, p. 556., on a subject of great interest to me with reference to the views I have advanced in my recently published volume, entitled _An Account of the Danes and Norwegians in England, Scotland, and Ireland_.

"I take this opportunity of mentioning a curious fact which I
ascertained about twelve years ago, when studying the Danish. The
English and Scotch philologists have generally asserted that the
Danish invasions in the ninth and tenth centuries, and their
settlements in various parts of the island (as Lincolnshire,
Cumberland, &c.), had left little or no traces of themselves in
the language. This opinion has been lately reasserted in Dr.
Murray's work on the European languages. It is, however,
inaccurate. For the remarkable dialect spoken amongst the lakes of
Cumberland and Westmoreland, together with the names of the
mountains, tarns, &c., most of which resist all attempts to unlock
their meaning from the Anglo-Saxon, or any other form of the
Teutonic, are pure Danish, generally intelligible from the modern
Danish of this day, but in all cases from the elder form of the
Danish. Whenever my Opera Omnia are collected, I shall reprint a
little memoir on this subject, which I inserted about four years
ago in a provincial newspaper: or possibly, before that event, for
the amusement of the lake tourists, Mr. Wordsworth may do me the
favour to accept it as an appendix to his work on the English
Lakes."

Can any reader of "N. & Q." refer me to the paper in which this "little memoir" was inserted? (it was probably in a Cumberland or Westmoreland paper somewhere about the year 1819;) or inform me whether it ever appeared as an appendix to any work of Wordsworth's on the English lakes?

J. J. A. WORSAAE.

Minor Queries.

_Taylor Family._--A great favour would be conferred by any Worcestershire correspondent who could furnish any information as to the family, arms, place of burial, of Samuel Taylor, who was Mayor of Worcester in 1731-32, and again in 1737. Are any descendants or connexions still resident in that neighbourhood? The information is required for genealogical purposes.

E. S. TAYLOR.

_Analysis._--Is algebra rightly termed analysis? Edgar Poe, a very queer American author, maintains the negative: he also enters into the question as to whether games of skill and chance are useful to the analytical powers, and gives the preference to draughts over chess, and to whist over either. But he seems to think the chief applications of analysis are to the interpretation of cryptographies, the disentanglement of police puzzles, and the solution of charades!

There is, however, plausibility in his theory that a good analyst must be both poet and mathematician. This is Ruskin's "imagination penetrative:" such a faculty belonged to the minds of Verulam and Newton, of Kepler and Galileo. I do not, however, see the necessity of Ruskin's threefold division of the "imaginative faculty." Would not "imagination analytic and creative" suffice?

MORTIMER COLLINS.

_Old Playing Cards._--In 1763 Dr. Stukeley exhibited to the Antiquarian Society a singular pack of cards, dating before the year 1500. They were purchased in 1776, by Mr. Tutet, and on his decease they were bought by Mr. Gough. In 1816 they had passed into the possession of Mr. Triphook, the bookseller. Query, where are they now?

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_Canongate Marriages._--According to the _Newgate Calendar_, vol. ii. p. 269., there seems to have existed, about the year 1745, a sort of _Gretna Green_ in the Canongate of Edinburgh. It is long since I read that _famous_ work, but I made an excerpt at the time, which is as follows:

"It was customary for some of the ministers of the Church of
Scotland, who were out of employment, to marry people at the
ale-houses, in the same manner that the Fleet marriages were
conducted in London. Sometimes people of fortune thought it
prudent to apply to these marriage brokers; but, as their chief
business lay among the lower ranks of people, they were deridingly
called by the name of 'Buckle the Beggars.' Most of these
marriages were solemnized at public-houses in the Canongate."

This statement "comes in such a questionable shape," and from so "questionable" a quarter, that really one cannot be blamed for questioning it. Surely the ministers referred to must have been men deprived of their charges? Can any correspondent of "N. & Q." speak to this subject? I am certain that the Scottish clergy of that age would never have suffered any _Buckle the Beggars_ to rank with them as regular preachers, though "out of employment."

R. S. F.

Perth.

_Devil, Proper Name._--Will any of your correspondents kindly inform me whether there are any persons now existing of the name of Devil; or who bear the devil on their coat of arms? In 1847 I saw upon the panel of a carriage in London the _devil's head_ for a crest. To what family does this belong? "Robin the Devil" is mentioned in _Rokeby_, cant. vi. st. 32. The following is from the _Monthly Mirror_, August, 1799:

"Formerly there were many persons surnamed 'the Devil.' In an
ancient book we read of one Rogerius Diabolus, Lord of Montresor."
"An English monk, Willelmus, cognomento Diabolus. Again, Hughes le
Diable, Lord of Lusignan. Robert, Duke of Normandy, son of William
the Conqueror, was surnamed 'the Devil.' In Norway and Sweden
there were two families of the name of 'Trolle,' in English,
'Devil;' and every branch of these families had an emblem of the
devil for their coat of arms. In Utrecht there was a family called
'Teufel' (or Devil); and in Brittany there was a family of the
name of 'Diable.'"

W. R. DEERE SALMON.

_Hendurucus du Booys; Helena Leonora de Sieveri._--Their portraits engraved by Cornelius Vischer from paintings by Vandyke. Who were they?

G. A. C.

_Can a Clergyman marry himself?_--If a clergyman were to perform the marriage service in his own case, would it be valid? Has such an occurrence ever been known?

CONSTANT READER.

_Ground Ice._--Has any satisfactory explanation been given of the mode in which the peculiar substance termed _ground ice_ is formed in certain rivers. I am most familiar with it as seen in the Wiltshire Avon. It is seen in some rivers in Lincolnshire, where I am told it is called _ground-gru_. One who has noticed it in the Teviot says, that the inhabitants there call it "sludge."

The fact of ice being formed at the _bottom_ of streams, where we should expect a higher temperature, is so curious an anomaly, that it would be desirable to collect instances where and at what depths it is observed.

J. C. E.

_Astrologer-Royal._--I remember, in a former volume of "N. & Q.," some mention is made of Almanacks, Astrologers, &c. It escaped me at the time to tell you that the ancient office of King's Astrologer happens not to have been subjected to formal abolition, and, being hereditary, it is now vested in the person of Mr. Gadbury, resident at Bristol. He is auctioneer to the Court of Bankruptcy, and a very worthy man. He tells me there is neither salary nor privilege attached to his nominal post.

B. B.

Pembroke.

_William, second Duke of Hamilton._--Can any of your numerous correspondents inform me if there is any monumental inscription, or other memorial, dedicated to the memory of William, second Duke of Hamilton, who expired on the 12th of September, 1651, from the effects of a wound received at the battle of Worcester on the 3rd of the same month? He was interred before the high altar in Worcester Cathedral, having died at the Commandery in that city; but there is neither

"storied urn or animated bust"

as a record of his sepulture within that venerable pile.

In making an inspection of the Commandery, an old building, probably once belonging to the Knights Templars, I was gravely told, and my informant even showed me the very spot beneath the floor of one of the rooms, in which, as tradition points out, he is said to have been buried.

J. B. WHITBORNE.

_The Ring Finger._--Having observed various remarks on the ring finger in your last volume, I shall be much obliged if you can give me any information on the subject. As a lady of my acquaintance has had the misfortune to lose that finger, it has been said that she cannot be legally married in the Church of England in consequence, and had better, if ever solicited, cross the border to Scotland to make the marriage binding.

A RING.

_Bishop of London's Palace in Bishopsgate._--Historians agree that King Henry VII., on his arrival in London after the battle of Bosworth, took up his residence for a few days at the Bishop of London's palace, and Bacon tells us[4] this palace was in Bishopsgate Street. Can any of your readers inform me where it stood?

J. G.

[Footnote 4: [Where? Our correspondent should have given the
reference.--ED.]]

_Earls of Clare_ (Vol. v., p. 205.).--Can H. C. K., who appears to have access to an old pedigree of this family, answer any of the following Queries?

1. Which was the Richard Earl of Clare whose daughter married William de Braose, who was starved to death at Windsor in 1240?

2. Who was Isabel de Clare, who married William de Braose, grandson of the above?

3. Who was Alice, daughter of Richard Earl of Clare, who married William third Baron Percy?

4. Who was Mabel, daughter of an Earl of Clare, who married Nigel de Mowbray, a baron at the coronation of Richard I.?

5. Who was ---- de Clare, treasurer of the church of York, living between 1150 and 1200?

E. H. Y.

_Lothian's Scottish Historical Maps._--

Ptolemy's Scotland, A.D. 146.
Richard's Ditto, A.D. 446.
Roman Ditto, A.D. 80 to 446.
Pictish Ditto, A.D. 446 to 843.
Picts and Scots Ditto, A.D. 843 to 1071.
Sheriffdoms, Earldoms, and Lordships of the 15th Century.
Highlands in Clans, 1715-45. Track of Prince Charles Stuart.

I should be glad to hear where this progressive series, or any of them, might be met with. I understand it was considered a very complete Atlas of Scotland in the olden times; but on applying to my Edinburgh bookseller, I was informed they were out of print. I think they bear date 1834, and I should think the plates are still in existence. They were said to be very accurate, and the price was under a pound. They were published by John Lothian, formerly Geographer and Map Publisher, Edinburgh.

ELGINENSIS.

_Sally Lunn._--Partial to my sweet tea-cake, I often think when eating it of Sally Lunn, the pretty pastrycook of Bath, to whose inventive genius we are said to be indebted for this farinaceous delicacy. Is anything known of Sally Lunn? is she a personage or a myth?

SHIRLEY HIBBERD.

"_Bough-House._"--At the late assizes for the county of Suffolk, the witnesses in two separate cases spoke of a "bough-house," and the explanation given was, that certain houses where beer, &c. was sold at fair-time only had boughs outside to indicate their character. As an illustration of the familiar proverb, "Good wine needs no _bush_," and as the word does not occur in Forby's _Glossary of East Anglia_, it may perhaps deserve a place.

BURIENSIS.

_Dyson's Collection of Proclamations._--The curious collection of old proclamations, &c., in the library of the Society of Antiquaries is sometimes referred to as _Dyson's_, sometimes as _Ames's_. Was Dyson the original collector? and, if so, when did he live?

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

"_The Hour and the Man._"--Can any of your correspondents inform me what is the origin of this expression? It occurs in _Guy Mannering_, and printed in Italics, but not within inverted commas. Is it a quotation?

T. D.

Minor Queries Answered.

_Jacobite Toast._--

"God bless the King, I mean the Faith's Defender.
God bless--no harm in blessing--the Pretender;
Who that Pretender is, and who is King,
God bless us all--that's quite another thing."

Can any of your readers say who is the author of the above?

G. M. B.

[The above lines, "intended to allay the violence of party
spirit!" were spoken extempore by the celebrated John Byrom, of
Manchester, a Nonjuror, but better known as the inventor of the
Universal Short Hand. They will be found in his _Miscellaneous
Poems_, vol. i. p. 342. edit. 1773.]

_Rev. Barnabas Oley._--The part played by this active and loyal clergyman, who was deprived of his vicarage of Great Gransden in Huntingdonshire during the interregnum, is generally known to readers of the early history of that period. Walker, who has a notice of him (_Sufferings of the Clergy_, p. 141.), says he died in 1684, but does not tell us whether he was married or not. I believe he was, and left descendants; and the object of this Query is to ascertain what were the names of his children, and with whom they intermarried.

D.

Rotherfield.

[We do not think Barnabas Oley was ever married, as his will,
preserved among Bishop Kennett's Collections, does not mention
either wife or children among the legacies to "his near kindred
and blood." His will, with its codicils, are curious documents,
and ought to be printed. See the _Lansdowne MSS._, No. 988. fol.
94.]

_Sweet-singers._--Swift says, in his _Abstract of Collins_, "Why should not William Penn the Quaker, or any Anabaptist, Papist, Muggletonian, Jew, or _Sweet-singer_, have liberty to come into St. Paul's church?" Wanted, some historical notice of the Sweet-singers.

A. N.

[Timperley, in his _Dictionary of Printing_, has the following
note respecting them: "May 27, 1681. The Sweet-singers of the city
of Edinburgh renounce the _printed_ Bible at the Canongate
tolbooth, and all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions, and burn
all story books, ballads, romances, &c."]

"_Philip Quarll._"--Did a Mr. Bicknell write _Philip Quarll_? Was he the author of any other books? Is there a recent edition of _Philip Quarll_? and, if not, why not?

E. C. R.

Sunderland.

[Lowndes states that this work has been "frequently reprinted."
The only editions known to us are the first in 1727, and the one
published in a series by Harrison and Co. in 1731. The editor's
initials are P. L.]

_Dedication of Middleton Church._--What is the dedication of the little church at Middleton, Essex (near Sudbury, Suffolk)? I cannot find it in the _Liber Regis_, in Wright's _Essex_, nor in Lewis's _Topographical Dictionary_.

W. SPARROW SIMPSON.

[The indefatigable Newcourt, in his _Repertorium_, vol. ii. p.
418., was unable to give the dedication, and has left a blank for
it to be supplied by some future antiquary.]

_Lunatic Asylum benefited by Dean Swift._--Which of the lunatic asylums benefited by the "will" of Dean Swift; either founded or endowed by the bulk of his property?--Vide _Memoirs_.

SAMPSON LOW, Jun.

169. Fleet Street.

[St. Patrick's, or Swift's Hospital, for the reception of lunatics
and idiots, situated near Dr. Steevens's Hospital, adjoining to
James Street, Dublin. It was opened in 1757. For some account of
it see Scott's "Memoir of Dean Swift," _Works_, vol. i. pp. 438.
527.]

Replies.

ST. CHRISTOPHER.

(Vol. v., p. 295.)

Some years ago I remember meeting with the following explanation of the beautiful legend of St. Christopher, and unfortunately forgot to take a _Note_ of it. It recurred to my mind on lately reading Mr. Talbot's work on English etymologies, the writer of which appears to take a similar view of the allegorical meaning.

Part of the legend is founded on the meaning of the Greek Χριστοφερων, coupled with a circumstance in the original legend, which is of German origin, and is an allegorizing of our blessed Lord's bearing the sins of the world, and _offering_ himself up on the altar of the cross. In a Latin document of A.D. 1423, the name is abbreviated into _X'poferus_; in an English one of the same date it is spelt _Christopfore_; and in French, _Christopfre_. _Christopfer_ signifies _Christ's sacrifice_: that is, the sacrifice of the cross continually offered up in the sacrament of the altar, or the mass, the _messopfer_, so named from the German _opfer_, a sacrifice; Welsh _offeiriad_, a priest; _offrwm_, a sacrifice; _offeren_, the mass; Irish, _oifrionn_, or _aifrionn_.

The perfection of our blessed Lord's humanity, His resistance of evil, and mighty strength displayed in bearing the sins of the universe, are shadowed out in the great stature and vast strength of the giant Christopher. According to the legend, when he had succeeded in reaching the shore, and had set down his burden, he said: "Chylde, thou hast put me in grete peryll, thou wayest alle most as I had had the world upon me; I might bere no greater burden;" and the child answered, "Christopher, marvel thou nothing, for thou hast not only borne all the world upon thee, but its sins likewise."

Mr. Talbot says, the name Christopher, _Christoffer_, may have been given to children born on Good Friday, the day of the Great Sacrifice, as those born on Christmas, Easter, and All Saints were named Pascal, Noel, Toussaint.

JARLTZBERG.

"REHETOUR" AND "MOKE," TWO OBSCURE WORDS USED BY WYCKLYFFE, A.D. 1384.

(Vol. i., pp. 155. 278.)