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nier le Duc d'Alençon, prit en 1420 Montereau, qui fut vigoureusement défendu. Enfin, sous Henri VI., il battit dix mille Français avec quinze cents soldats fatigués et

mourants de faim! Voilà pour la guerre."

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I have searched all the books within my reach that seemed likely to throw any light upon this subject, but to very little effect. I may, however, mention that in Chambers's Book of Days' (vol. ii. p. 551) the following name is included in the obituary for November 6: "Died, Sir John Falstaff, English knight, 1460, Norwich "; and on referring to the Imperial Gazetteer,' under the heading of "Norwich," I find the following notice: "Two curious old mansions are Fastolf's Place, or Falstaff's Palace, built before 1459 by Fastolf of Caistor." Probably some of the learned correspondents of N. & Q.' may be able to throw some additional light upon this subject, and even to disprove the assertions of Balzac, which, as they stand in the above extract, would appear to charge Shakespeare as having been guilty, not only of bad taste, but also of spiteful and long-continued defamation of character. G. MARSON.

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Southport. [For Sir John Fastolf see Sketch of the History of Caister Castle,' 1842; 'Procès de la Precellé,' by Quicherat; 'Nouvelle Biographie Générale,' &c.]

SIR THOMAS JONES (D. 1692), CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE COMMON PLEAS.-His baptism as "son of Edward Johnes, Esquier" (above "gentleman," erased), is recorded in the parish register of St. Alkmund, Shrewsbury, under date Oct. 13, 1614. See furtherDict. Nat. Biog.,' vol. xxx. p. 166.

17, Hilldrop Crescent, N.

DANIEL HIPWELL.

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"Mr. Ching is never tired of declaring his birthplace, and in all his advertisements, &c., he puts after his name, From Launceston, Cornwall, England.' This is, no doubt, in order to prevent his suffering from the antiMongolian prejudices which exist in Australia. name has rather a Chinese ring, and he asks his agents to take notice and to make the fact known that he hails not from the Flowery Land, but from the 'good old town of Launceston, Cornwall.'"'

His

It may be noted that Mr. John Lionel Ching, the gentleman in question, is the son of a former Mayor of Launceston, the grandson of another of of John Ching, of Launceston and Cheapside, the borough's chief magistrates, and great-grandson whose worm lozenges were famous among our forefathers. On these lozenges "Peter Pindar" wrote a squib, called The First Book of Ch-gs,' wherein

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were described the wonderful effects of the medicine on the king and on his courtiers, on his captains over fifties and on his captains over hundreds." DUNHEVED.

TENNYSONIANA: THE MANUSCRIPT OF 'POEMS BY TWO BROTHERS,' 1827.-A record of the sale of this precious little work should be given in N. & Q.' It was sold by Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge on Friday, Dec. 23, 1892, and was bought by Mr. R. Bowes for Messrs. Macmillan & Bowes, of Cambridge, for the sum of 480l. This included the receipt given to Messrs. Jackson for 20%., the amount agreed upon for the copyright of the volume and a copy of the printed book. In offering this manuscript for sale, Messrs. Macmillan & Bowes described it as follows:

"The original autograph manuscript, consisting of (1) A volume of 76 leaves, originally bound in brown sheepskin but taken to pieces to print from. (2) The inside of the boards of the volume covered with writing. (3) Five poems in continuation of the volume with a leaf of corrections: in all 12 leaves. (With rough pen sketches Tis sweet to lead from stage to stage 1' 2 leaves. (5) at the back of 3 of these.) (4) Introductory Poem, A letter, without date, 4 closely written pages, containing a list of 100 poems in the MS. volume that are to form the printed volume, and some remarks on the amount to be paid for the copyright. (6) The introduction, dated March, 1827, 1 leaf. (7) A letter, without date, objecting to the initials C. & A. T. being put at the end of the introduction, with list of errata on the (4) and concluding on p. 2: The C. & A. T. did not reverse, 1 leaf. (8) A letter, without date, attached to form part of our agreement. You, of course, added it inadvertently!

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The whole as described, 420l. The receipt for the copyright and the printed volume were not offered for sale. A short description gave the result of a minute examination of the MS., and the authorship of most of the poems identified. The result is given in the new edition of the work just issued:

"We have also compared the MS. with the printed volume and find that there is hardly a poem that has not been altered, while in the case of some of the poems the variations between the MS. and the printed volnme are

numerous.

Endeavours were made to keep the manuscript in England, but without success, and it has gone to America. According to a late number of the Publisher's Weekly it is in the possession of Dodd, Meath & Co., of Boston. It would be well to know from an American correspondent where the manuscript is finally deposited. G. J. GRAY. Cambridge.

MAY-DAY.-It may interest some readers of 'N. & Q.' to know that it is still common in parts of Shropshire-notably in the neighbourhood of Shrewsbury, Wellington, and the Weald Moorsfor the children to honour May-day by coming round to the houses with posies of the glittering flowers of cattha-marsh-mary gold, as it is wrongly named-and which just now in marish places is burning on the moors 'like a thing dipped in sunshine." Shropshire boys and girls call them "May-flowers," and great bunches of them may be seen suspended on cottage doors on the morning of May-day.

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Query, Are not these flowers Shakespeare's "Cuckoo-buds of yellow hue"? Elsewhere he speaks of the "crow-foot," the old name of buttercup, and still used by botanists as the tribal name of the Ranunculaceæ. His song is of the cuckoo, with whose coming the cattha has always been associated. Linneus tells us that in Sweden the wood-anemone blows on the arrival of the swallow, and the marsh-marygold, cattha, when the cuckoo sings, and the same coincidence has been observed in England.

C. A. WHITE.

FALSE DICE.-The following passage explains the various methods of cheating at dice in the Elizabethan era so well, that I transcribe it in full, for the benefit of commentators on old plays, &c.: "What false dise use they? as dise stopped up with quicksilver and heares, dise of a vauntage, flattes, gourdes to chop and chaunge whan they lyste, to lette the trew dise fall under the table, and so take up the false, and if they be true dise, what shyfte wil they make to set ye one of them with slyding, with cogging, with foysting. with coytinge as they call it."-Ascham's Toxophilus,' 1545, fol. 20. J. E. SPINGARN.

New York.

Queries.

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We must request correspondents desiring information on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.

is a woman, with right arm completely bare and hanging down. In the hand is an instrument, the top portion only seen, having the appearance of the top part of a poker. The one white garment, partially covering the upper portion of the person, hangs supported by the left shoulder. The lower garments are dark, and fastened tightly round the waist. The face, like those of the others, is turned towards the right, but looking round on the beholder with a leering smile, awaking the thought that she is the cause of the old man's pain and is enjoying the contemplation of it. The books and the woman's arm are beautifully painted. The canvas measures forty-nine by thirty-seven inches. Can any one say what is the subject? Jacques, or Jacob, Jordeans (1594-1678), born'in Antwerp, was son-in-law to Adam van Oort, under whom he studied; he also received instruction from Rubens. D. MACPHAIL. Johnstone.

"FIMBLE."-I find this word in dictionaries as

designating a kind of hemp, But in the accountbooks preserved at Althorp the word occurs in a totally different sense. In the year 1597 there is a payment of eightpence "to Lammey for a hoke and fimble for Great Norrells gate, the other being stolen." Is fimble still in use in Northamptonshire; and is it noticed in any dialect glossary? Many interesting extracts from the Althorp household books are to be found in the Appendix to Mr. Simpkinson's tale The Washingtons,' published in 1860. JAYDEE.

SIR THOMAS ROBINSON, BART., and his sister are described by Dr. Busby, the famous head master of Westminster School, in a codicil to his will, as his "only near relations now living." According to Burke's 'Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies,' Sir Thomas Robinson succeeded as third baronet on June 6, 1684, and died without issue on April 21, 1743. His sister appears to have married I shall be glad to have Sir Comport Fitch. further particulars of them, and to know in what relationship they stood to Dr. Busby, and whether there are any descendants of Lady Fitch in existG. F. R. B. ence.

PICTURE BY JACQUES JORDAENS.-There is a painting by Jacques Jordaens, the title of which I should be pleased to know. Three figures are AUSTRIAN FLAG AT ACRE.-Can any reader of depicted, one that of an old man seated at a N. & Q.'inform me where I can find an authentic table on which are open books which he has been copy of the Austrian flag which Richard I. is said reading, and a few closed, having clasps. His left to have thrown into the ditch at Acre? Any hand supports his head, which is turned up, show-reference will be acceptable. R. H. S. ing the face marked with an expression of deep sorrow or great pain. His right hand clutches the lapel of his purple robe. The second figure is also that of an old man, but younger than the other. His right hand is laid on the right arm of the other, and his face, very pale, is bent towards him with a look of deep compassion, as, standing behind him, he seeks to administer consolation. Both of these wear full beards. The third figure

BRIGADIER-GENERAL W. PHILIPPS.-I write tc ask whether you can throw any light on a distinguished officer of the Royal Artillery, who fought at the celebrated siege of Boston, and died a very few years afterwards of fever in Virginia in 1776. I refer to Brigadier-General William Philipps. I want to know-1. What family of English Philippses he belonged to. 2. Whether it is true that his

wife Mary and daughter Louisa, aged about ten J. H. MORTIMER: SHAKSPEARE CHARACTERS. years, were with him at the siege of Boston. 3.-How many of these did he design and engrave? Whether his greatest friend was not Major Small, I know of twelve, and what appears to be a titlewho distinguished himself greatly at the Battle of page (undated) with lettering "Nature and Bunker's Hill. Genius," introducing Garrick to the Temple of Shakespear; the other twelve are dated May 20, 1775. The size is 16 in. by 13 in. GEO. CLULOW.

F. W. FEILDING-KANE, Lieut.-Col. EPITAPH.-Can any reader of N. & Q.' explain the following, from a tomb in Christchurch Abbey, Hants?

We were not slayne but raysd

Raysd not to life

But to be buried twice

By men of strife

What rest could the living have

When dead had none

Agree amongst you

Here we ten are one.

Henry Rogers, died April 17, 1641.
G. H. CLARKE.

PORTRAIT BY KNELLER.-I have a life-size portrait of Sir Thomas Robinson, Bart., supposed to be painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller. Can any of your readers tell me anything about the history of the picture? W. R.

CHURCH PATRONAGE TRUST.-This is a similar body to that known as the Simeon Trustees (who were the subject of several communications to your columns some years since (see 6th S. x. 229, 315, 433, 524), in regard to holding the patronage of a number of churches in various parts of the country. Can any of your readers oblige me with information respecting the history and constitution of this trust-that is, When and where was it formed; what are the general provisions of the trust under which the body was constituted; how did they become possessed of the advowsons which they now hold; how are vacancies in their number supplied; what are the names of the present members; and who is their secretary? My purpose in asking this information is not controversial; but it seems curious that a body having such a large number of benefices in their gift, as appears by the Clerical Directory,' should be so utterly ignored in all publications in which Church matters are dealt with, such as 'The Church Year-Book,' &c. I hope, therefore, it will be possible to ascertain these particulars through your columns. W. S. B. H.

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MAPLE CUPS.-At the coronation of King George III. the Mayor and Burgesses of Oxford, by charter, claim to serve in office of butlership to the king with the citizens of London, with all fees thereunto belonging allowed, and to have three maple cups for their fee; and also, ex gratia regis, a large gilt bowl and cover (Annual Register,' 1761, p. 202). Are these cups still retained by the Corporation; and have they anything to do with other so-called maple, or mazer, cups occasionally seen?

W. P.

Belsize Avenue, N.W. "SPURN-POINT. In Jeremy Taylor's 'Sermons,' Sermon xxiii., 'The Good and Evil Tongue,' part ii., see, towards the close of section ii., "He that makes a jest of the words of Scripture......he stakes Heaven at spurn-point"? Can any one explain the " spurn-point." It has no capital letter in the edition of Tyler, London, 1668. J. T. F.

Bp. Hatfield's Hall, Durham. COBBLERS CALLED parts of the country (Hertfordshire, to wit) are "SNOBS."-Why in certain cobblers called snobs ?

JOHN CHURCHILL SIKES. 13, Wolverton Gardens, Hammersmith, W. [See 7th S. iv. 127.]

BARCLAY'S 'ENGLISH DICTIONARY.'-What was the Christian name of the author of Barclay's Complete and Universal English Dictionary'? The work was published at Liverpool in 1811. HELLIER R. H. GOSSELIN.

Bengeo Hall, Hertford.

M. YATES.-I have a letter, dated Aug. 31, 1863, from Wouldham, near Rochester, written by say if the letter is worth keeping, and for what Mr. the above. Will any autograph collector kindly Yates was noted?

Midland Institute, Birmingham,

PHILIP PENTIN.

RHYME ON CALVINISM. Can any of your readers tell me where I can find the rhyme containing a short and succinct description of Calvinism, part of which runs something like this ?— You can and you can't, You will and you won't; You'll be damned if you do, You'll be damned if you don't. J. B. FLEMING.

HOW TO REMOVE VARNISH.-Will some correspondent kindly tell me the best way to remove hard clear varnish or French polish from oak furniture made some twenty odd years?

come across

H. M. LL. CHRIST CROSS ROW ALPHABET. (See 4th S. vi. 367; vii. 418.)-It seems worth while to reopen this question by noting that, having the word kruasa, used as the Basque for alphabet, in the little 'Gramera Berria ikasteko Eskualdunec mintzatzen Espainoles; ósea Nueva Gramática para enseñar á los Bascos á hablar Español por D.

Francisco Jauregui de San Juan' (Buenos Aires, 1883), I asked several French Basques to explain it to me, as it was otherwise a perfect stranger. I learned that it must be a transcription of Castilian cruz or French croix, plus the Basque definite and post-positive article a, and that it must refer to the custom, formerly existing in Basque schools, of beginning the alphabet lesson with the sign of the Christian faith, which was also printed at the beginning of the alphabet in the books. Canon Inchauspe, a learned Basque, author of eight volumes described in the "Essai d'une Bibliographie de la Langue Basque, par Julien Vinson" (Paris, 1891), and of a beautiful translation in Souletin prose of the first canto of the Inferno, kindly sent me the following note thereon: "Dans mon enfance on apprenait l'alphabet sur un feuillet qui avait une Croix en commençant, avant l'A, et on disait croix à la Croix, puis A, B, &c." See what Littré says in his dictionary about croix as meaning alphabet.

Paris.

HEUSCAROLOGUS ANGLICANUS.

"NOMENCLATOR NAVALIS."-I remember, some quarter of a century ago, examining in the British Museum a manuscript having the above title. It is a dictionary of English naval terms. I think there is more than one copy of it in the national collection. Has this work ever been printed? If not, it is worthy of the attention of the English Dialect Society. There is, I understand, a reference to a manuscript bearing this name in the "Second Report of the Historical MSS. Commission,' p. 45.

K. P. D. E.

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and especially to know by what armorial insignia they were distinguished. Can any one kindly inform me? H. NORRIS. Tamworth.

THE ROYAL LUSITANIAN LEGION.-I have a book entitled 'A Narrative of the Campaigns of the Royal Lusitanian Legion under Sir Robert Wilson,' &c., viii, 346 pp., 8vo., London, for E. Egerton, 1812, about the author of which I would like to know something.

The book is edited by Col. William Mayne. The "Narrative" is only from pages 29 to 117, while most of the text consists of an Appendix lettered A-R. Appendix D contains an extensive notice of the death of Sir John Moore. In the "Advertisement," signed William Mayne, he speaks of being indebted for the "Narrative" to a young officer, "one of the most meritorious Flowers of the corps." This is evidently a pun on the name of Capt. Lillie, of the 60th British Infantry, who is mentioned in a MS. note as being the author, and who is referred to in the text as one of the officers in the expedition.

The British Museum Catalogue has this rather amusingly indexed under "Flower" as author, on the apparent assumption that the word Flowers in the "Advertisement" was simply a play on the word. P. LEE PHILLIPS. Washington, D.C.

SIR CORNELIUS VERMUYDEN. This historic Dutch engineer on English fens in the period of James I. and Charles I. and onwards is believed by Dr. Smiles (see his 'Lives of the Engineers,' i. 45) to have died abroad after 1656. I much desire to learn whether any account of the Vermuyden family exists in other English books. I have some reasons for surmising that there are descendants in England through a female line. Charles Vermuden was a Christ Church B.A. in 1661. Smiles records the Parliamentary Colonel Cornelius Vermuyden, the eldest son of the engineer, resigning his commission and going beyond seas in 1645, but reappearing in England in 1665 as a member of the Corporation of the Mention is made (Burke's Bedford Level. Landed Gentry,' 1849, iii. 247) of lands acquired in Sedgmoor by the marriage of a Blake with a daughter of Sir Cornelius, the name of Venn enter ing, not clearly, into the statement. In the London Gazette of February 17, Sub-lieutenant Robert Vermuyden Woods, of the Royal Naval Reserve, is promoted to be lieutenant. KANTIUS.

Quinta dos Tanquinhos, Madeira.

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Beylies.

METRE OF 'IN MEMORIAM.'

(8th S. ii. 288, 337.)

They that their faithe's foundation lay

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he was at least as early as Sandys (1636) to whom PROF. SKEAT refers, and it is more than probable that he was before him. THOMAS BAYNE. Helensburgh, N.B.

I gladly acknowledge my indebtedness to the Earlier in the employment of this metre than writers who have noticed my query under this either Lord Herbert of Cherbury or George head. We have now before us three early exSandys was Francis Davison, who at his death amples of this metre, viz., Sandys's 'Paraphrase (probably in or before 1619, according to Mr. of Ps. cxxx.' (published 1636); a Luttrell broadBullen, Dict. of Nat. Biog.'), left in MS. Divers side (circ. 1660); and Lord Herbert of Cherbury's Selected Psalms of David, in verse, of a different' Ode' (1665). It is possible that the late Laureate composure from those used in the Church.' became acquainted with Sandys's paraphrase in quote the first stanza of his translation of Psalm Dr. Tennyson's library at Somersby; but the procxxv. from Farr's 'Select Poetry' (p. 325):— bability is that Lord Herbert's poems were introduced to Tennyson's notice by Arthur Hallam himself. In this latter case there would be a peculiar fitness in the choice of the metre in question for the poem which must prove a more enduring memorial of Hallam than the marble on the western wall of the manor aisle in Clevedon Church. We know, on the testimony of the elder Hallam, that Arthur in his youth became acquainted with, and was an ardent admirer of, the best English writers of the period to which Lord Herbert's poems belong; and specimens of composition in this metre are to be found in the volume of 'Remains' of Arthur Hallam's writing

On God the Lord, vnmou'd shall stand,
Like Sion's hill, which by Time's hand
Can neuer be brought to decay.

Examples in a composite stanza occur as early as 1561 in William Kethe's version of the same psalm, of which I copy the first stanza from the 1588 edition :

Such as in God the Lord doe trust

As mount Sion shal firmelie stand:
And be remoued at no hand

The lord wil count them right and iust,
so that they shalbe sure:

for euer to endure.

Also in William Whittingham's translation of which his father printed for a memorial among his

Psalm cxxvii. :—

Except the Lord the house do make

and thereunto dos set his hand

what men doe builde it cannot stand.
Likewise in vaine men vndertake

cities and holds to watch and ward,
except the lord be their safegard.

But is not the elegy in Ben Jonson's 'Under-
woods' the pattern of Tennyson's poem?
F. ADAMS.

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In searching for the origin of what is now justly called the In Memoriam' stanza, Ben Jonson should not be overlooked. He died Aug. 6, 1637, leaving a considerable amount of MS. verse. Part of this collection was the 'Underwoods: consisting of Divers Poems,' which appeared in the second folio of 1641. Of these, An Elegy' is written in the stanza in question, and Lieut.-Col. Cunningham, in his edition of Gifford's 'Jonson,' expresses the opinion that "Mr. Tennyson must have been familiar with this 'Elegy' before he commenced his 'In Memoriam.' The poem opens thus:

Though beauty be the mark of praise, And yours, of whom I sing, be such, As not the world can praise too much, Yet is 't your virtue now I raise. Perhaps it is impossible to say when Jonson actually wrote the 'Elegy '; but, when we consider the troubles from which he suffered towards his end, it may be safely inferred that he did not write it in his latter days. Thus in all likelihood

friends.

It may be well to have in the pages of 'N. & Q a record of Charles Kingsley's description of this metre. In the criticism of 'În Memoriam' which he wrote for Fraser's Magazine in 1850 Kingsley pronounced the metre of the poem to be

"so exquisitely chosen, that while the major rhyme in
the second and third lines of each stanza gives the
solidity and self-restraint required by such deep themes,
the mournful minor rhyme of each first and fourth line
always leads the ear to expect something beyond, and
stanza to stanza and poem to poem."
enables the poet's thoughts to wander sadly on, from

F. JARRETT.

MASSACRE OF SCIO (8th S. iii. 387).—Subjoined is a short account of the massacre of Ścio, or Chios, taken from the appendix to Wanderings in Greece,' a work of my father, the late Mr. George Cochrane, of the Middle Temple, barrister-at-law, who was in the Greek naval service during the latter part of the War of Independence :—

"I must now refer to one of the most dreadful occurrences of the whole war. The island of Scio, which is not far from the mainland of Asia Minor, was at this time very flourishing; it contained 100,000 Greeks, 6,000 Turks, 68 villages, 300 convents, 700 churches. It appears that the inhabitants had been excited by the Ipsariotes, who were the avowed enemies of the Turks, and in the month of March, 1822, the people of the town arose, and drove the Turks into the citadel. This news soon flew to Constantinople, and Kara Ali was sent with six lineof-battle ship, ten frigates, and smaller vessels; and he

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