NEWSPAPER FOLK LORE.

Yours,Orrery.To the Rev. Mr. Thomas Birch,at his House inNorfolk Street,London.Free (Boyle).

Yours,Orrery.

Yours,

Orrery.

To the Rev. Mr. Thomas Birch,at his House inNorfolk Street,London.Free (Boyle).

To the Rev. Mr. Thomas Birch,

at his House in

Norfolk Street,

London.

Free (Boyle).

The following paragraph is now going the round of the newspapers without reference to the source of information. I copy it from theMorning Chronicleof Friday, December 9.

"Escape of a Snake from a Man's Mouth.—An extraordinary circumstance occurred a few days ago to Jonathan Smith, gunner's mate, who was paid off at Portsmouth on the 6th of May last, from her Majesty's ship Hastings, 72 guns, on her return to England from the East Indies. He obtained six weeks' leave. On the expiration of that time, after seeing his friends at Chatham, he joined the Excellent, gunnery-ship at Portsmouth. After some time he was taken unwell,his illness increased, and he exhibited a swelling in his stomach and limbs. The surgeon considering that it arose from dropsy, he was removed into Haslar Hospital, and after much painful suffering, although he had every attention paid to him by the medical officers of the establishment, he died. Two hours before his death a living snake, nine inches in length, came out of his mouth, causing considerable surprise. How the reptile got into his stomach is a mystery. It is supposed that the deceased must have swallowed the reptile when it was young, drinking water when the Hastings was out in India, as the ship laid for some time at Trincomalee, and close to a small island called Snake Island. The crew used very often to find snakes on board. The way they used to get into the ship was by the cable, and through the hawsers into the forecastle. The deceased was forty years of age. He was interred in Kingston churchyard. His remains were followed to the grave by the ship's company of the Excellent."

The proverbial wisdom of the serpent is here clearly exemplified. It has long been well known among sailors that rats have the sense to change their quarters when a vessel becomes cranky; whence I believe arises the epithet "rat," which is sometimes scurrilously applied to a politic man who removes to the opposition benches when he perceives symptoms of dissolution in the ministry. The snake, in the simple narrative above quoted, was evidently guided by some such prudential motive when he quitted the stomach of the dying sailor, which could not continue for any great length of time to afford protection and support to the cunning reptile.

I have an amiable friend who habitually swallows with avidity the tales of sea-serpents which are periodically imported into this country on American bottoms, and I have sufficient credulity myself to receive, without strict examination into evidence, the account of the swarming of the snakes up the cables into a ship; but I cannot so readily believe that "considerable surprise" was caused in the mind of any rational biped by the fact that a living snake, which had attained to the length of nine inches, took the very natural precaution to come out of a dying man's mouth.

How the reptile got into his stomach is a mystery which the newspaper writer has attempted to clear up, but he has not attempted to explain how the reptile managed to live during many months in so unusual a habitation as a man's stomach.

Some obliging correspondent of "N. & Q." will perhaps have the kindness to explain this remarkable fact in natural history.

A Londoner.

In last September I undertook a literary project, which I think could be greatly aided through the medium of "N. & Q.," as there are few families in the empire that are not connected with its details, and who might therefore be expected to feel interested in them. The project I allude to is a publication of King James's Irish Army List of 1689-90. King I must call him in reference to that list. Those that appear upon it were many his creedmen, and all his devoted adherents. The list, of which I have a copy in MS., extends over thirty-four pages octavo. The first two are filled with the names of all the colonels; the four ensuing are rolls of the regiments of horse; the four next, of the dragoons; and the remaining twenty-four record the foot: each regiment being arranged, with the colonel, lieutenant-colonel, and major at head, and the captains, lieutenants, cornets or ensigns, and quarter-masters, in columns, on each respectively. To every regiment I proposed to append notices, historic and genealogical, to the extent of, perhaps, eight hundred pages or more, for the compilation of which I have ample materials in my own MS. collections. These notices I propose to furnish under him of the name who ranks highest on the list; and all the scattered officers of that name will be collected in that one article.

After an especial and full notice of such officer, to when the family article is attached, his parentage, individual achievements, descendants, &c., each illustration will briefly glance at the genealogy of that family, with, if an Irish sept, its ancient localities; if an English or Scotch, the county from whence it branched, and the period when it settled here.

I would next identify each family, so illustrated, with its attainders and forfeitures in 1641;

With the great Assembly of Confederate Catholics at Kilkenny in 1646;

With the persons denounced by name in Cromwell's ordinance of 1652, "forsettlingIreland;"

With the declaration of royal gratitude to the Irish exiles who served King Charles II. "in parts beyond the seas," as contained in theAct of Explanationof 1665;

With (if space allowable) those advanced by James II. to civil offices, as sheriffs, &c., or members of his new corporations;

With those who represented Irish counties or boroughs in the Parliament of Dublin in 1689;

With the several outlawries and confiscations of 1691, &c.;

With else claims that were subsequently (in 1703) preferred as charges on these forfeitures, and how far allowed or dismissed;

And, lastly, as far as attainable, their achievements in the glorious engagements of the Spanish and French Brigades:

All statements throughout beingverified by authorities.

Already have I compiled and arranged the materials for illustrating the eight regiments of horse upon this roll, viz. Tyrconnel's, Galmoy's, Sarsfield's, Abercorn's, Luttrell's, Sutherland's, Parker's, and Purcell's; a portion of the work in which, according to my plan, the illustrations will be appropriated to the families of—

Aylmer.Barnewall.Butler.Callaghan.Cusack.De Courcy.Dempsey.Everard.Gernon.Hamilton.Kearney.Lawless.Lutrell.Matthews.M‘DonnellM‘Namara.Meara.Morris.Nagle.O'Sullivan.O'Kelly.Plunket.Prendergast.Purcel.Redmond.Rice.Roche.Sarsfield.Sheldon.Synnott.Talbot.&c. &c.

Aylmer.

Barnewall.

Butler.

Callaghan.

Cusack.

De Courcy.

Dempsey.

Everard.

Gernon.

Hamilton.

Kearney.

Lawless.

Lutrell.

Matthews.

M‘Donnell

M‘Namara.

Meara.

Morris.

Nagle.

O'Sullivan.

O'Kelly.

Plunket.

Prendergast.

Purcel.

Redmond.

Rice.

Roche.

Sarsfield.

Sheldon.

Synnott.

Talbot.

&c. &c.

And this section (about 100 pages) is open to inspection on appointment.

The above is but a tithe of the surnames whose genealogical illustrations I propose to furnish. The succeeding portions of the work, comprising six regiments of Dragoons, and upwards of fifty of Foot, will offer for notice, besides numerous septs of the O's and Mac's, the Anglo-Irish names of—

Barry.Bellew.Bermingham.Burke.Cheevers.Cruise.D'Alton.Daly.D'Arcy.Dillon.Dowdall.Eustace.Fagan.FitzGerald.FitzMaurice.FitzPatrick.Fleming.Grace.Keatinge.Lacy.Nangle.Netterville.Nugent.Power.Preston.Russell.Savage.Segrave.Taaffe.Trant.Tyrrel.Wogan.Cum multis aliis.

Barry.

Bellew.

Bermingham.

Burke.

Cheevers.

Cruise.

D'Alton.

Daly.

D'Arcy.

Dillon.

Dowdall.

Eustace.

Fagan.

FitzGerald.

FitzMaurice.

FitzPatrick.

Fleming.

Grace.

Keatinge.

Lacy.

Nangle.

Netterville.

Nugent.

Power.

Preston.

Russell.

Savage.

Segrave.

Taaffe.

Trant.

Tyrrel.

Wogan.

Cum multis aliis.

My inquiry touching Lord Dover, who heads the List, has heretofore elicited much curious information; and I confide that all who can afford literary assistance to the undertaking, by letters, inspection of documents, or otherwise, will promptly communicate on the subject.

John D'Alton.

48. Summer Hill, Dublin.

Authors and Publishers.—As "N. & Q." is, I believe, much read by booksellers as well as authors, would not both parties find great advantage by the latter advertising in your pages the completion and wished-for publication of any work on which they may have been engaged? Publishers, in this way, might hear of works which they would be glad to bring before the public, and authors be spared much unnecessary and often useless trouble and correspondence. Authors, I know, may feel some delicacy in coming before the world in this mannerbeforepublication, although after that rubicon is passed, their names and productions are blazoned on the winds; but as a previous announcement in "N. & Q." may be madeanonymously, as respects the name of the writer, although not of course as regards the nature of his work, there seems no just reason why honorable and beneficial arrangements may not be made in this way as well as by any other. To me this plan seems to offer some advantages, and I throw out the hint for the consideration of all whom it may concern.[2]

Alpha.

Footnote 2:(return)[Any assistance which we can afford in carrying out this suggestion, which we may remark comes from one who has had practical experience on the subject, we shall be most happy to render.—Ed.]

[Any assistance which we can afford in carrying out this suggestion, which we may remark comes from one who has had practical experience on the subject, we shall be most happy to render.—Ed.]

Inscriptions on old Pulpits.—"N. & Q." has given many kinds of inscriptions, from those on Fonts and Door-heads down to those on Watch-papers; perhaps, therefore, it may not be without its use or interest to make a beginning for a list of inscriptions on old pulpits. The first inscription I quote is from Richard Baxter's pulpit, of which I have given a full description in Vol. v., p. 363.:

1. Kidderminster. Baxter's pulpit (now preserved in the vestry of the Unitarian Chapel). On the panels of the pulpit:

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

On the front of the preacher's desk:

"PRAISE . THE . LORD."

Round the sounding-board:

"O . GIVE . THANKS . UNTO . THE . LORD . AND . CALLUPON . HIS . NAME . DECLARE . HIS . WORSHIPAMONG . THE . PEOPLE."

At the back of the pulpit:

"ANNO . 1621."

2. Suckley, Worcestershire; round the sounding-board (apparently of very old date):

"BLESSED . ARE . THEY . THAT . HEAR . THE . WORDE . OFGOD . AND . KEEPE . IT."

3. Broadwas, Worcestershire; on the panels:

"WILLIAM . NOXON . AND . ROGER . PRINCE . C . W . 1632."

Round the sounding-board, the same text as at Suckley.

Cuthbert Bede, B.A.

Recent Curiosities of Literature.—Thackeray, in the second number ofThe Newcomes, describes an old lady's death as being caused from her head having beencutwith a bed-roomcandle. N. P. Willis, in hisHealth Trip to the Tropics, speaksof being waited on by a Carib, who had "no beard except a long moustache." Professor Spalding, of St. Andrew's in hisHistory of English Literature, says that the sonnets of Wordsworth "haveperfectionhardly to besurpassed." And J. Stanyan Bigg (the "new poet"), in the December number of Hogg'sInstructor, exclaims:

"The winter storms come rushing round the wall,Like him who at Jerusalem shriek'd out 'Wo!'"

"The winter storms come rushing round the wall,

Like him who at Jerusalem shriek'd out 'Wo!'"

Cuthbert Bede, B.A.

Assuming Names.—Last Term, in the Court of Exchequer, application was made by counsel to add a surname to the name of an attorney on the roll; he having been left property with a wish expressed that he should take the surname in addition to his own, which he had done, but not by royal license. The court granted the application. (Law Times, vol. xxii. p. 123.)

Anon.

False Dates in Water-marks of Papers.—Lately, in cutting up some paper for photographic purposes, I found in one and the same quire two sheets without any mark, two of the date 1851, nine bearing the date 1853, and the remaining eleven were 1854. I can imagine a case might occur in which the authenticity of a document might be much questioned were it dated 1853, when the paper would be presumed not to have been made until a year afterwards. I think this is worth making a note of not only by lawyers, but those interested in historical documents.

H. W. D.

Jan. 2, 1854.

I send you a Note and a Query respecting the same person. Many years since, I passed a few days in one of the wildest spots in the south of England—Hawkley, in the neighbourhood of Selbourne. On a visit to the church of Emshott or Empshot, I heard that the screen had been presented by a Captain Farre, whose memory was in some way connected with the days of the republic; and on farther inquiry tradition, it appeared, had come to the conclusion that Farre had been one of the regicides who had retired into the neighbourhood, and lived and died there in a sort of concealment. I found out, also, the house in which he had lived: a pretty modest cottage, in which a small farmer resided. I was struck, on approaching it, by the beauty of the brick-work of the little porch, which appeared to have been an addition to the original building. On entering the cottage, I found that the kitchen and bed-room only were occupied by the family; theone room, whichhad beenthe sitting-room, being used as a granary. The ceiling of this room was ponderous, with a deep rich sunken panelling. The little porch-entrance and the ceiling of this room were so out of character with the cottage, and indeed with all around, that I caused search to be made in the Registers of the parish to see if I could find some trace of this Captain Farre; and I now send you the result. There was no regicide of that name; but Col. Phaer was one of those to whom the warrant for the execution of Charles was addressed: and he certainly was not one of the twenty-nine subsequently tried for the high treason as it was called. What became of him I know not. Whether he reappeared here as Capt. Farre, or who Capt. Farre was, I shall leave to the speculation of the better informed. There were many Farrs and Phaersoutin the great Revolution, and the name is sometimes spelt one way, sometimes the other. Empshot, under Nore Hill or Noah Hill, was certainly an excellent place for concealment. The neighbourhood was, and is, as White said, "famous for its oaks, and infamous for its roads."

Extracts from the Parish Registers."Captaine Farre of Nore, when our church was repaired, gave the new silke cushion and pullpit cloath, which was first used on Christmas Day, Anno Domini 1664.""1683, Feb. 5. Anne Baker, kinswoman ofCapt. Farre, was buried, and that very day the moone was new, and the snow thawed; and the frost broke, which had lasted from Nov. 26, 1683, to that day, which is 10 weeks. The ponds were frozen 2 feet, and that little water which was, was not sweet; the very grave wherein she was buried in the church was froze almost 2 feet over, and our cattel were in a bad case, and we fared worse: and, just in our extremity, God had pitty on us, and sent a gracious raine and thaw. She was buried in linnen; and paid 50s.to the poore, and 6s.8d.for being buried in the church.""1685, April 1. Mrs. Farre was buried in linnen, and pd50s.to the poore.""1694. John, son of Mr. John Palmer and Elizabeth his wife, was born Tuesday, May the 1st, and baptized at home May the 11th; yeCaptainedied Thursday last, yeday before.""An Account of the Briefe for the Relief of the French Protestants, read May 16th, at Newton, 1686.At Noare in Newton.Capt. Mr. Robert Farregave 1 lib. for himself, and his kinswoman Mrs. Elizabeth Farre.His man Roger 1s.His maid Anna 6d.""Gathered towards the relief of the French Protestants, May 11, 1688;Captain Farand Mrs. Elizabeth Far, 5s."

Extracts from the Parish Registers.

"Captaine Farre of Nore, when our church was repaired, gave the new silke cushion and pullpit cloath, which was first used on Christmas Day, Anno Domini 1664."

"1683, Feb. 5. Anne Baker, kinswoman ofCapt. Farre, was buried, and that very day the moone was new, and the snow thawed; and the frost broke, which had lasted from Nov. 26, 1683, to that day, which is 10 weeks. The ponds were frozen 2 feet, and that little water which was, was not sweet; the very grave wherein she was buried in the church was froze almost 2 feet over, and our cattel were in a bad case, and we fared worse: and, just in our extremity, God had pitty on us, and sent a gracious raine and thaw. She was buried in linnen; and paid 50s.to the poore, and 6s.8d.for being buried in the church."

"1685, April 1. Mrs. Farre was buried in linnen, and pd50s.to the poore."

"1694. John, son of Mr. John Palmer and Elizabeth his wife, was born Tuesday, May the 1st, and baptized at home May the 11th; yeCaptainedied Thursday last, yeday before."

"An Account of the Briefe for the Relief of the French Protestants, read May 16th, at Newton, 1686.

At Noare in Newton.

Capt. Mr. Robert Farregave 1 lib. for himself, and his kinswoman Mrs. Elizabeth Farre.

His man Roger 1s.His maid Anna 6d."

His man Roger 1s.

His maid Anna 6d."

"Gathered towards the relief of the French Protestants, May 11, 1688;

Captain Farand Mrs. Elizabeth Far, 5s."

C. F.

Will some one of your correspondents (learned in such matters) refer me to a work treating of the marriage ceremony as performed in this country during the fourteenth century, in order to the explanation of the following passages, which refer to an event in English history—the marriage of Edward I.'s daughter with the Count of Holland? The king's writ to the Bishop of London speaks of the marriage as about to be celebrated on the day after the Epiphany, upon which day (as shown by the Wardrobe Account) the ring was put on; but it was on the next day (the 8th) that the princess "desponsfuit," as shown by the same account.

In Rymer'sFœdera, vol. i. p. 850., will be found a writ directed to the Bishop of London (and others) as follows:

"Quia inter Comitem Holandiæ et Elizabetham, filiam nostram carissimam,matrimoniumhac proxima die Lunæ,in crastino Epiphaniæ, apud Gyppesivicum solempnizari proponimus, Domino concedente," &c.

In the Household Book of King Edward I. for the same year (Add. MS. 7965.) will be found the following entries, p. 6.:

"Oblatp'ticipat.—Tercō die Januarin oblatp¯ticipatis ad Missam celebrātam ad magnū altare ecclīa priorat'bi Petin Gippewico die NupciarAlienore de Burgo.... vij."Pro Comitessa Holland.—Eodem die (vij Januar) in denartam positis sup¯librū qinjactatis īter homines circumstantes ad hostium in introitu ecclīe Magne Prioratus predciubi comes Hollandie sub.... vit Dnam Elizabetham filiam Regis cū anulo auri....lxs."Fratribus predicatoribus de Gippewico p¯... sua unius diei videltzviijdiei Januarquo die DnaElizabeth filia R. desponsfuit, p¯M. de Cauford, xiijs.iiijd."

"Oblatp'ticipat.—Tercō die Januarin oblatp¯ticipatis ad Missam celebrātam ad magnū altare ecclīa priorat'bi Petin Gippewico die NupciarAlienore de Burgo.... vij.

"Pro Comitessa Holland.—Eodem die (vij Januar) in denartam positis sup¯librū qinjactatis īter homines circumstantes ad hostium in introitu ecclīe Magne Prioratus predciubi comes Hollandie sub.... vit Dnam Elizabetham filiam Regis cū anulo auri....lxs.

"Fratribus predicatoribus de Gippewico p¯... sua unius diei videltzviijdiei Januarquo die DnaElizabeth filia R. desponsfuit, p¯M. de Cauford, xiijs.iiijd."

R. C.

About four years ago I purchased, at the sale of the museum of Mr. George Bell of Whitehaven, a folio vellum MS. in Latin, written apparently in the fourteenth century: containing a Catena, or a series of notes on the Epistles to the Romans and Corinthians, selected from the Fathers of the Church, viz. Origines, Ambrosius, Gregorius, Jeronimus, Augustinus, Cassianus, Beda, Lambertus, Lanfrancus, Anselmus, and Ivo Carnotensis. As many of those authors were English, I infer that the volume was compiled in England for some English monastery.

The beginning of each chapter is noted on the margin, but there is no division into verses. The sentences, or short paragraphs of the text, are written in vermillion, and the comments upon them in black: those comments are generally taken from one, but often from two or three authors; the names of each being stated. There are large handsome capitals at the beginning of each book, and the initials to the paragraphs are distinguished by a spot of red, but there are no illuminations. Two leaves have been cut out at the beginning of the volume; a few at two or three places throughout the volume, and at the end, by some former possessor. As the style of binding is very uncommon, I will describe it. It was bound in oak boards of half an inch thick; the sheets were sewed on thongs of white leather, similar to what cart harness is stitched with. Instead of the thongs being broughtoverthe back edges of the boards (as in modern binding), they are inserted into mortices in the edges of the boards, and then laced through holes, and secured with glue and wedges. The boards were covered first with allumed leather, and over that seal-skinwith the hair on. The board at the beginning of the book had four feet, placed near the corners, of nearly an inch in height, half an inch in diameter at the base, and about a quarter of an inch at the point. Each was cast in one piece, with a circular base of about an inch and a quarter in diameter, and rising towards the centre; and they were each fastened on by three pins or nails. The board at the end of the book was ornamented with four circular brass plates about the size of a halfpenny, placed near the corners; having in the centre of each a stud, the head of which represented a prominent close flower of four petals. And in the centre of the board, there had been a stud or button, on which to fasten the strap from the other board to keep the book shut. Only one stud and one foot remained; but the places where the others had been were easily seen. I presume that the volume was meant to lie on a lectern or reading-desk, resting on its feet; and when opened out, the other board rested on its studs, as both were worn smooth with use.

The binding being loose, and the cover torn to shreds (part of which was held on by the stud), I got the book rebound as nearly as possible in the same manner as the first, only substituting Russia leather for the unsightly seal-skin; and the remaining stud and foot afforded patterns, from which others were cast to supply the places of those deficient.

Nothing is known of the history of this volume, except that it was purchased by Mr. Bell from Alexander Campbell, a bookseller in Carlisle. I am inclined to think, that it had belonged to some monastery in Cumberland; and theseal-skincover would seem to indicate Calder Abbey (which is nearthe coast, where seals might be caught) as its original owner.

Can any of your correspondents inform me, from the marks which I have given, whether this is acopy ofsome known workor an original compilation? And if the former, state where the original MS. is preserved; and ifprinted, the particulars of the edition?

If my MS. can be ascertained to have formerly belonged to any library or individual, I shall be glad to learn any particulars of its history.

J. M. K.

Shoreham.

Jews and Egyptians.—Has any writer ever started the idea that the early colonisers of some of the Grecian states, who are commonly stated to have been Egyptians, may have been, in fact, Jews? It seems to me that a good deal might be said in favour of this hypothesis, for the following reasons, amongst others:

1. The Egyptian tradition preserved by Hecatæus, and quoted from him by Diodorus, that Danaus and Cadmus were leaders of minor branches of the great emigration, of which the main body departed under the guidance of Moses.

2. The near coincidence in point of time, as far as can be traced, of the appearance of Danaus, Cadmus, and Cecrops, in Greece, with the Jewish exodus.

3. The letter, preserved by Josephus, of Areus, king of Sparta, to the high-priest of the Jews, claiming a common descent with the latter from Abraham, and proposing an alliance. It is difficult to explain this claim on any other supposition than that Areus had heard of the tradition mentioned by Diodorus, and, as he and his people traced their descent from Danaus through Hercules, they consequently regarded themselves as sprung from a common stock with the Hebrews.

I throw out this theory for the consideration of others, having myself neither leisure nor opportunity for pushing the subject any farther; but still I think that a distinguished statesman and novelist, who amused the world some years ago by endeavouring to trace most of the eminent men of modern times to a Jewish origin, might, with at least as much reason, claim most of the glories of ancient Greece for his favourite people.

J. S. Warden.

Skin-flint.—Is the wordskin-flint, a miserly or niggardly person, of English or foreign derivation? and where is the earliest instance of the term to be met with?

J. W.

Garlic Sunday.—The last Sunday of summer has been heretofore a day of great importance with the Irish, as upon it they first tried the new potato, and formed an opinion as to the prospects of future harvest. The day was always called, in the west in particular, "Garlic Sunday," perhaps a corruption of Garland Sunday. Can any one give the origin of this term, and say when first it was introduced?

U. U.

Dublin.

Custom of the Corporation of London.—In the evidence of Mr. Bennoch, given before the Royal Commissioners for inquiring into the corporation of the city of London, he stated that there is, amongst other payments, one of 133l."for cloth to the great ministers of state," the city being bound by an old charter to give a certain amount of cloth annually to them. He subsequently states that this custom is supposed to be connected with the encouragement of the wool manufacture in its early history; and that four and a half yards of the finest black cloth that the country can produce are annually sent to the First Secretary of State, the Second Secretary of State, the Lord Chancellor, the Chamberlain of the Household, the Vice-Chancellor of the Household, the Treasurer of the Household, the Lord Steward, the Controller, the Lord Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, the Chief Baron of the Exchequer, the Master of the Rolls, the Recorder of London, the Attorney-General, the Solicitor-General, and the Common Sergeant.

Can any of the readers of "N. & Q." give a more particular account of this custom?

Cervus.

General Stokes.—Can any of your readers give me any information respecting the parentage of General Stokes? In the historical table of remarkable events in theJamaica Almanackfor 1847 it says: "General Stokes, with 1600 men from Nevis, arrived and settled near Port Morant, anno Domini 1655." And in Bryan Edwards' work onJamaica and the West Indies, mention is made of General Stokes in the following words:

"In the month of December, 1655, General Stokes, with 1600 men from Nevis, arrived in Jamaica, and settled near Port Morant. The family of the Morants of Vere (in Jamaica) are the lineal descendants of General Stokes, who took the name of Morant from the port at which he landed. General Stokes was governor of Nevis; and on his arrival in Jamaica was appointed one of the high commissioners for the Island."

H. H. M.

Rev. Philip Morant.—I shall be obliged by any information respecting the lineage of the Rev. Philip Morant, who wrote aHistory of the County of Essex; and whether he was an ancestor of the Morants of Brockenhurst Park, Hants. He was born at St. Saviour's, in the Isle of Jersey, Oct. 6, 1700; entered, 1717, Pembroke College, Oxford. He was presented tothe following benefices in the county of Essex, viz. Shallow, Bowells, Bromfield, Chicknal, Imeley, St. Mary's, Colchester, Wickham Bishops, and to Oldham in 1745. He died Nov. 25, 1770; and his only daughter married Thomas Astle, Esq., F.R.S. and F.A.S. He was son of Stephen Morant. If any of the sons or daughters of that eminent antiquary Thomas Astle will give me any information relative to the pedigree of Philip Morant, M.A., they will greatly oblige me.

H. H. M.

Malta.

The Position of Suffragan Bishops in Convocation.—In Chamberlayne'sMagnæ Britanniæ Notitia, or The Present State of Great Britain, 1729, p. 73., it is said:

"All suffragan bishops and deans, archdeacons, prebendaries, rectors, and vicars, have privileges, some by themselves, others by proxy or by representatives, to sit and vote in the lower house of convocation."

Is there authority for this statement as regards suffragan bishops? There is no writ or mandate that I have seen for their appearance.

W. Fraser.

Tor-Mohun.

Cambridge Mathematical Questions.—Can any of your readers inform me whether the University of Cambridge puts forth, by authority, a collection of all the questions proposed to candidates for the B.A. degree?

If not, how can one obtain access to the questions which have been asked during the last forty or fifty years?

Iota.

Crabbe MSS.—In some second-hand book catalogue the following is inserted, viz.,—

"1353. Crabbe (Rev. Geo.,Poet), Poems, Prayers, Essays, Sermons, portions of Plays, &c.,5 vols. entirely autograph, together with a Catalogue of Plants, and Extracts from the second Volume of the Transactions of the Linnean Society, 1795 (this volume only contains a few Autograph Verses in pencil at the end). An Autograph letter of 4 pages to the Dean of Lincoln, datedTrowbridge, March 31, 1815.A curious Anonymous letter from 'Priscian' to Mr. Murray, datedDec. 8th, 1833,on the Orthography of the name of the Birthplace of the Poet, and which the writer observed in the View of the Town of Aldeburgh in the frontispiece to the Prospectus Mr. M. has just issued, &c., interspersed with some portraits and scraps, in 6 vols. 4to. and 8vo., dated from 1779 to 1823, 8l. 8s."

This is a note underneath:

"The following portion of a Prayer, evidently alluding to his troubles, occurs in one of the volumes bearing date Dec. 31, 1779: 'A thousand years, most adored Creator, are in thy Sight as one Day. So contract in my Sight my Calamities! The Year of Sorrow and Care, of Poverty and Disgrace, of Disappointment and wrong, is now passing on to join the Eternal. Now, O Lord! let, I beseech thee, my Afflictions and Prayers be remembered; my Faults and Follies be forgotten.' 'O! Thou who art the Fountain of Happiness, give me better Submission to thy Decrees, better Disposition to correct my flattering Hopes, better Courage to bear up under my State of Oppression,'" &c.

Can any of the reader of "N. & Q." tell me who possesses this? I should very much like to know.

H. T. Bobart.

Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

Tilly, an Officer of the Courts at Westminster.—What office did one Tilly hold in one of the Courts at Westminster, circa 8 William III.? Was he Warden of the Fleet? What were his connexions by birth and by marriage? Was he dispossessed? and if so, why?

J. K.

Mr. Gye.—Who was Mr. Guye, or Gye, who had chambers in the Temple circa 8 Wm. III.?

J. K.

Three Fleurs-de-Lys.—Some of your heraldic contributors may perhaps be able to say whether there is any instance of an English coat of arms with three fleurs-de-lys in a line (horizontal), in the upper part of the shield? Such are said to occur in coats of arms of French origin, as in that of the celebrated Du Guesclin, and perhaps in English coats in the form of atriangle. But query whether, in any instance, in a horizontal line?

Devoniensis.

The Commons of Ireland previous to the Union in 1801.—I have understood there was a work which contained either the memoirs or sketches of the political characters of all the members of the last "Commons of Ireland;" and I have heard it was written by a Rev. Dr. Scott of, I believe, Trinity College, Dublin. Can any reader of "N. & Q." inform me if there be such a work? and if there be a biographical account of the author to be met with?

C. H. D.

"All Holyday at Peckham."—Can any of your correspondents inform me what is the origin of the phrase "All holyday at Peckham?"[3]

R. W. B.

Footnote 3:(return)[Probably some of our correspondents may know theoriginof this phrase; and as many of them, perhaps, are not acquainted with its meaning among the slang literati, we may as well enlighten them with a quotation from theLexicon Balatronicum et Macaronicumof Master Jon Bee: "Peckham, going to dinner. 'All holiday atPeckham,' no appetite.Peckish, hungry."—Ed.]

[Probably some of our correspondents may know theoriginof this phrase; and as many of them, perhaps, are not acquainted with its meaning among the slang literati, we may as well enlighten them with a quotation from theLexicon Balatronicum et Macaronicumof Master Jon Bee: "Peckham, going to dinner. 'All holiday atPeckham,' no appetite.Peckish, hungry."—Ed.]

Arthur de Vere.—What was the after history of Arthur (Philipson) de Vere, son of John, Earl of Oxford, and hero of Sir Walter Scott's novelAnne of Geierstein?Was Sir Walter Scott justified in saying, "the manners and beauty of Anne of Geierstein attracted as much admiration at the English Court as formerly in the Swiss Chalet?"

Σ.

Master of the Nails.—It appears from theHistorical Register, January, 1717, "Mr. Hill was appointed Master of all the Nails at Chatham Dock." Can any of your readers favour me by stating the nature of the above office?

W. D. H.

Nattochiis and Calchanti.—few days since an ancient charter was laid before me containing a grant of lands in the county of Norfolk, of the date 1333 (temp. Edw. II.), in which the following words are made use of:

"Cu' omnib; g'nis t natthocouks adjacentib;" &c.

In a later portion of the grant this word is speltnatthociis. Probably some of your learned readers can throw some light on what is meant by the wordsgranis et nattochiisas being appurtenant to marsh lands.

In a grant I have also now before me of Queen Elizabeth—

"Decimas, calchanti, liquor, mineral, metal," &c.

are given to the grantee for a term of twenty-one years: probably your readers can also enlighten my ignorance of the termcalchanti; the other words are obvious. If any authorities are to be met with, probably in the answers to these queries your correspondents will have the goodness to cite them.

F. S. A.

"Ned o' the Todding."—May I beg, through the medium of your excellent publication, to ask if any of your correspondents can inform me in which of our English authors I may find some lines headed "Ned o' the Todding?"

W. T.

Bridget Cromwell and Fleetwood.—Can you inform me whether Bridget, daughter of Oliver Cromwell, who was first married in 1651 to Ireton, Lord Deputy of Ireland (and had by him a large family), and secondly, to General Fleetwood, had any family by the latter?

And, if so, what were the Christian names of the children (Fleetwood)?

A New Subscriber of 1854.

[Noble, in hisMemoirs of the House of Cromwell, vol. ii. p. 369., says, "It is most probable that Fleetwood had issue by his second wife Bridget, especially as he mentions that she was in an increasing way in several of his letters, written in 1654 and 1655. It is highly probable Mr. Charles Fleetwood, who was buried at Stoke Newington, May 14, 1676, was his son by the Protector's daughter, as perhaps was Ellen Fleetwood, buried in the same place in a velvet coffin, July 25, 1731; if so, she must have been, at the time of her death, upwards of seventy years of age."]

Culet.—In my bills from Christ Church, Oxford, there is a charge of sixpence every term forculet. What is this?

B. R. I.

[In old time there was a collection made every year for the doctors, masters, and beadles, and this was calledcollectaorculet: the latter word is now used for a customary fee paid to the beadles. "I suppose," says Hearne, "that when this was gathered for the doctors and masters it was only for such doctors and masters as taught and read to scholars, of Which sort there was a vast number in old time, and such a collection was therefore made, that they might proceed with the more alacrity, and that their dignity might be better supported."—Appendix toHist. Rob. de Avesbury.]

(Vol. vii., p. 211.; Vol. viii., p. 601.)

Quæstorhas asked me a question to which I will not refuse a reply. If he thinks that the breaking up of a planetary world is a mere fancy, he may consult Sir John Herschel'sAstronomy, § 434., in Lardner's series, ed. 1833, in which the supposition was treated as doubtful, and farther discoveries were declared requisite for its confirmation; and Professor Mitchell'sDiscoveries of Modern Astronomy, Lond. 1850, pp. 163-171., where such discoveries are detailed, and the progress of the proof is narrated and explained. It may be briefly stated as follows:—In the last century, Professor Bode discovered the construction of a regular series of numbers, in coincidence with which the distances of all the known planets from the sun had been arranged by their Creator, saving one exception. Calling the earth's solar distance 10, the next numbers in the series are 16, 28, 52. The distances answering to 16 and 52, on this scale, are respectively occupied by the planets Mars and Jupiter; but the position of 28 seemed unoccupied. It was not likely that the Creator should have left the methodical order of his work incomplete. A few patient observers agreed, therefore, to divide amongst themselves that part of the heavens which a planet revolving at the vacant distance might be expected to traverse; and that each should keep up a continuous examination of the portion assigned to him. And the result was the discovery by Piazzi, in 1801, of a planet revolving at the expected solar distance, but so minute that the elder Herschel computed its diameter to be no more than 163 miles. The discovery of a second by Olbers, in thefollowing year, led him to conjecture and suggest that these were fragments of a whole, which, at its first creation, had occupied the vacant position, with a magnitude not disproportionate to that assigned to the other planets. Since then there have been, and continue to be, discoveries of more and more such fragmental planets, all moving at solar distances so close upon that numbered 28, as to pass each other almost, as has been said, within peril; but in orbits which seem capriciously elevated and depressed, when referred to the planes assigned for the course of the regular planets; so that, to most minds capable of appreciating these facts, it will seem that Olber's conjecture has been marvellously confirmed.

As to the theological conjecture appended to it in my previous communication, about whichQuæstorparticularly questions me, I can only say, that if he deems it rash or wrong, I have no right to throw the blame of it on any other man's shoulders, as I am not aware of its having been hazarded by any one else. But I hope he will agree with me, that if there has been a disruption of a planetary world, it cannot have arisen from any mistake or deficiency in the Creator's work or foresight, but should be respectfully regarded as the result of some moral cause.

Henry Walter.

The Poles have a fanciful belief that each month of the year is under the influence of a precious stone, which influence has a corresponding effect on the destiny of a person born during the respective month. Consequently, it is customary, among friends and lovers, on birth-days, to make reciprocal presents of trinkets ornamented with the natal stones. The stones and their influences, corresponding with each month, are supposed to be as follows:

The Rabbinical writers describe a system of onomancy, according to the third branch of the Cabala, termedNotaricon, in conjunction with lithomancy. Twelve anagrams of the name of God were engraved on twelve precious stones, by which, with reference to their change of hue or brilliancy, the cabalist was enabled to foretel future events. Those twelve stones, thus engraved, were also supposed to have a mystical power over, and a prophetical relation to, the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and twelve angels or good spirits, in the following order:

These stones had also reference to the twelve tribes of Israel, twelve parts of the human body, twelve plants, twelve birds, twelve minerals, twelve hierarchies of devils, &c. &c.usque ad nauseum.

It is evident that all this absurd nonsense was founded on the twelve precious stones in the breast-plate of the High Priest (Exodus xxviii. 15.: see also Numbers xxvii. 28., and 1 Samuel xxviii. 6.). I may add that in the glorious description of the Holy City, in Revelation xxi., the mystical number twelve is again connected with precious stones.

In theSympathia Septem Metallorum ac Septem Selectorum Lapidum ad Planetus, by the noted Peter Arlensis de Scudalupis, the following are the stones and metals which are recorded as sympathising with what the ancients termed the seven planets (I translate the original words):

N. D. inquires in what works he will find the emblematical meanings of precious stones described. For a great deal of curious, but obsolete and useless, reading on the mystical and occult properties of precious stones, I may refer him to the following works:—Les Amours et noveaux Eschanges des Pierres Précieuses, Paris, 1576;Curiositez inouyes sur la Sculpture Talismanique, Paris, 1637;Occulta Naturæ Miracula, Antwerp, 1567;Speculum Lapidi, Aug. Vind., 1523;Les Œuvres de Jean Belot, Rouen, 1569.

W. Pinkerton.

(Vol. viii., p. 516.)

To give a full and satisfactory answer to the questions here proposed would involve so much professional and physiological detail, as would be unsuited to the character of such a publication as "N. & Q." I will therefore content myself with short categorical replies, agreeable to the present state of our knowledge of these mysteries of the animal economy. It is true as a general rule that the infectious diseases, particularly the exanthemata, or those attended by eruption—the measles for example—occur but once. But there are exceptional cases, and the most virulent of these non-recurrent diseases, such even as small-pox, are sometimes taken a second time, and are then sometimes, though by no means always, fatal.

Why all the mammalia (for, be it observed, these diseases are not confined to the human race) are subject to these accidents, or why the animal economy should be subject to such a turmoil at all, or, being so subject, why the susceptibility to the recurrence of the morbid action should exist, or be revived in some and not in others; and why in the majority of persons it should be extinguished at once and for ever, remain amongst the arcana of Nature, to which, as yet, the physiology of all the Hunters, and the animal chemistry of all the Liebigs, give no solution.

Those persons who take note of the able, and in general highly instructive, reports of the Registrar of Public Health, will observe that the wordzymoticis now frequently used to signify the introduction into the body of some morbific poisons,—such as prevail in the atmosphere, or are thrown off by diseased bodies, or generated in the unwholesome congregation of a crowded population, which are supposed to act like yeast in a beer vat, exciting ferments in the constitution, in the case of the infections diseases, similar to those which gave them birth. But this explains nothing, and only shifts the difficulty and changes the terms, and is no better than a modification of the opinions of our forefathers, who attributed all such disorders to a fermentation of the supposed "humours" of the body. The essence of these changes in the animal economy, like other phenomena of the living principle, remain, and perhaps ever will remain, an unfathomable mystery. It is our business to investigate, as much as in our power, and by a slow and cautious induction, the laws by which they are governed.

Non-recurrence, or immunity from any future seizure in a person who has had an infectious disease, seems derivable from some invisible and unknownimpression[4]made on the constitution. There is good reason to suppose that this impression mayvary in degreein different individuals, and in the same individual at different times; and thence some practical inferences are to be drawn which have not yet been well advanced into popular view, but to which I cannot advert unless some reader of "N. & Q." put the question.

M. (2)

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