gative in Ireland" (Dublin Chronicle). I made this note in the library of the Royal Dublin Society; it may be worthy of a corner in "N. & Q." I do not know whether any published pedigree of our distinguished Premier notices this namesake of his. C. S. K. Kensington, W. A NEW YEAR'S GIFT.-The custom of expressing esteem, respect, or affection by the interchange of new year's gifts was, two hundred years ago, even more universal than now; nor was it confined to individuals, for corporate bodies sought to obtain or keep the goodwill of noblemen and other persons of influence in their city, borough, or county by sending to them at this season rich gifts of wine, sugar, &c., or, what was more useful, a purse of gold. Thus we find the Corporation of Leicester-as may be gathered from the chamberlains' accounts-very frequently sending new year's gifts to the lord lieutenant of the county, to members of the Grey family at Bradgate, to the Hastings family at the Abbey of Leicester, and to others. The practice, however, so far as the members of the Corporation of Leicester were concerned, could hardly be called an interchange of civilities, as it was almost entirely a one-sided matter-that is, they gave but seldom received. However this rule, like all others, had its exception, as the following will show: On Jan. 1, 1610-11, Mistress Elizabeth Haslewood presented to the town two corslets, one pike, a musket, a sword, and a dagger, which she sent by her serving-man to the hall on New Year's Day. Having presented the gift of his mistress he was rewarded with a donation of five shillings for his trouble, and the mayor (Master Thomas Parker) and his brethren, wishing to express their appreciation of Mistress Haslewood's courtesy and liberality, sent as a new year's gift "a runlett of wyne and one suger lofe," which cost together 31s. It would seem that the two corslets were not new ones, for they were dressed and trimmed at the cost of 16s., after which, frames having been set up in the parlour of the Town Hall, they were hung up there-witnesses to the martial and patriotic spirit of Mistress Elizabeth Haslewood. THOMAS NORTH, F.S.A. PRAYER OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.- Some years ago a clerical friend of mine, since, alas! dead, repeated this musical prayer to me, saying it was composed by the fair Queen of Scots know when and where her sad heart spent itself in during her captivity. It would be interesting to such a despairing outburst as is expressed in these touching and beautiful words. OLD SAYING.— Aiunt. W. F. MARSH JACKSON. "They say. What say they? Let them say. Quid aiunt? Aiant. Such are the well-known English and Latin forms; but Mr. R. Hill, writing from Bournemouth to the Guardian of Nov. 27, 1878, gives what has hitherto been wanting, the Greek version :— Λέγουσιν ἅ θέλουσιν· Λεγέτωσαν. This, he adds, is often found on rings and anE. T. M. WALKER. tiques. Oxford Union. The following note, supplied by a correspondent to the Kentish Observer, may be worth preserving in "N. & Q.": BILL FOR HANGING AND BOILING A FRIAR.— "In the present age of religious tolerance and high It is extracted from an old magazine, and is an authentic price of labour the following may not be uninteresting. copy of a document of the date: Account of the hanging and parboiling of Friar Stone at Canterbury in 1539. Paid for half a tod of timber to make a pair of gallows for to hang Friar Stone, 2s. 6d. ; to a carpenter for making the same gallows and the dray, 1s. 4d.; to a labourer that digged the holes, 3d.; other expenses of setting up the same, and carriage of the timber from Stablegate to the dungeon, 1s.; for a hurdle, 6d.; for a load of wood, and for a horse to draw him to the dungeon, 28. 3d.; paid two men that sat at the kettle and parboiled him, 1s.; to three men that carried his quarters to the gates and sat them up, 18.; for halters to hang him, and Sandwich cord, and for screws, 1s.; for a woman that scowered the kettle, 2d.; to him that did execution, 3s. 8d.; total, 14s. 8d." Leigh, Lancashire. W. D. PINK. AN ANCIENT PAIR OF BOOTS.-It may interest some of the readers of " N. & Q." to learn that in a shop nearly opposite the Liverpool Street Station may be seen a huge pair of cavalry boots, I believe of the seventeenth century, and perhaps of the period of the civil wars. The boots are in the most excellent preservation, and are made of the thickest hide (lined and padded), with very thick soles, and large rowelled spurs attached by steel chains. The upper portions are of rounded leather to cover the knees and most of the thighs. The boots bear the maker's name, and the place "Paris," and seem scarcely to have been worn at all. They are said to weigh ten pounds each. I suspect that they are unique in this country for their age and complete state of preservation. It was stated erroneously in a newspaper last year that these boots were discovered in an old house at Clerkenwell. Their true history is as follows: Upon opening a walled-up cupboard in the ancient building of Bagshot Park, Surrey, about the year 1837, there was found in it a large quantity of old armour and accoutrements. Among them were these boots, which were given to the steward of the estate, a Mr. Ravenscroft. They were carefully kept by his family, and are now owned by his son. I am indebted to the present Mr. Ravenscroft for allowing me to examine the boots and for this history of them. H. W. HENFREY. Thus hath the golden pen of Chaucer old, That each man passing by, might playnely know F. J. F. SCHILLER'S "SONG OF THE BELL."--The North German Gazette having done me the favour to commend my translation of Lenore for following both the sense and sound of the original, I wish to remark as to my translation of the Song of the Bell, which was a more arduous task, that I have failed in one instance to follow exactly the metre of Schiller's original. I found myself beaten by the couplet, "Thiere wimmern Unter Trümmern," and was obliged to render it by the single line, "Beasts beneath the ruins moan." In all other parts of the poem I have followed the exact rhythm or metre, giving all the weibliche or double rhymes, and have also endeavoured to copy the metallic ringing of such passages as "Denn mit der Freude Feier klange' (and wherever else the bell appears to be tolling). For in Schiller's great poem the sound is of high importance. GEO. COLOMB, Col. R.A. BAD GRAMMAR.-As a pendant to the recent discussion in your columns on the phrase "Between you and I," let me draw attention to the following anecdote about the equally ungrammatical but most common expression "It's me," taken from Fraser's Magazinė, 1872 :— "The beautiful Miss Port, her grand-niece and adopted child, sitting one day writing in Mrs. Delany's drawingroom, heard a knock at the door: she of course inquired 'Who's there?' 'It's me,' replied a man's voice, somewhat ungrammatically; but grammar appears to have been much disdained in our great-grandmothers' days. the knocking was repeated. 'Me may stay where he is,' answered Miss Port, on which Me is impertinent, and may go about his business,' reiterated the lady; but the unknown party persevering in a third knock, she rose to ascertain who was the intruder, and, to her dismay, found it was no other than King George himself that she had been unwittingly addressing with so little ceremony. All she could utter was What shall I say?' Nothing at all,' replied his Majesty; 'you was very right to be cautious who you admitted.' This royal disregard of grammar seems to have furnished a precedent for that of the Court and of society in general." the above anecdote, afterwards married Mr. BenIt may be added that Miss Port, the heroine of jamin Waddington, a Monmouthshire squire, and that her daughter is the present Lady Llanover. E. WALFORD, M.A. Hampstead, N.W. "WESSEL," "WESLEY," OR "VESSEL" CUP.I see that MR. THISELTON DYER, in his interesting note on "Christmas in England" (5th S. x. 483), speaks of a "wesley-bob" or "vessel-cup" as if it were no longer customary in the neighbourhood of Leeds. I can testify that in Wakefield it is still quite common for children to go from house to house with a box-often a fancy soap-box or suchlike representative of the stable or manger, retaining its original inscription, &c., on the inside of the lid-lined with coloured paper, and about half filled with evergreens, on which repose three dolls in ordinary dolls' costume, but supposed to represent Mary, Joseph, and the Babe; red-cheeked apples, oranges, &c. (I think I have seen "crackers"), are also put in. The children call the whole affair a wessel-cup" or wessel-bob," and exhibit it from house to house, where they announce themselves by singing, to its proper tune, the charming old traditional carol, "Here we come a-wesseling among the leaves so green," which is, I think, in Bramley and Stainer's collec tion. 66 I regret to say that in these days of school-board "education" the children have often but a very imperfect knowledge of what they mean by this service beyond the collecting of pence, and they sometimes give very odd answers if catechized. For instance, I have known one of the dolls described as 66 Tichborne." I am not sure that the term "wessel" is generally understood. It is, of course, a form of " wassail," and probably derived from a custom of drinking healths ("Was hæl") from house to house. There is an interesting notice of the custom in Machyn's Diary (1555-6): "The xij even was at Henley a-pon Temes a mastores Lentall wedow mad a soper for master John Venor and ys wyff, and I and dyver odur neybors; and as we wher at soper, and or whe had supt, ther cam a xij wessells, with maydens syngyng with ther wessells, and after cam the cheyff wyffes syngyng with ther wessells; and the gentyll-woman had hordenyd a gret tabull of bankett, dyssyз of spyssys and frut, as marmelad, gynbred, gele, comfett, suger plat, and dyver odur."-Camden Soc., xlii. 99. "Wessells" is explained in the note as "visors, or masques." J. T. F. Winterton, Brigg. ISAIAH XXII. 18.—"He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country." Many have, no doubt, wondered much as to what could be the physical fact intended by this simile, as they heard the above passage read in church on the morning of Monday, the 2nd ult. I used to wonder myself till I was a witness to the sight. I was in the island of Mitylene during a great storm of wind in winter. There is a plant, not unlike wormwood, which grows into a compact globular form, with very stiff stalks and branches. In winter it dies down to the ground, and in its dry and light condition is torn from its roots by the wind, and set bounding over the wide and unenclosed country. I have seen five or six of these coursing along at once-a vivid emblem of a man at the mercy of a higher power, helpless to choose his own course, or even to find rest. Plautus has, "Dii nos quasi pilas homines habent," but this refers to the game of ball. E. LEATON BLENKINSOPP. AN HISTORICAL SLEDGE.-The following is taken from a Times telegram dated 66 Geneva, Dec. 30," printed in the Times of December 31, 1878: "During the late severe weather, wheeled carriages being almost useless, the demand for sledges was so great that many ancient vehicles, which had not seen the light for the greater part of a century, were brought into requisition, and the identical sledge, gaily painted, and its sides still ornamented with victorious eagles, in which Napoleon rode from Martigny to Bourg St. Pierre when he was preparing to cross the Alps before the campaign of Marengo, was seen daily driven about the streets of Lausanne. This interesting relic is now the property of a Vaudois voiturier, who lets it out for hire." H. W. H. THE ELECTRIC LIGHT.-At the present moment it may not be uninteresting to note that the electric light was patented in London in the winter of 1848-9. An account of it will be found in the Illustrated London News for January, 1849 (p. 58). The notice ends with a remark to the effect that "all hope of an extensive application of the electric light must now be abandoned; but we shall still rejoice if it can be employed as a special mode of illumination on great public occasions." Hampstead, N.W. E. WALFORD, M.A. THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ARCHERY.-To the series of lists under the above heading you may be willing to add the title of a little book which has come into my possession relating to a county society of the last century, of which a very aged relative of mine, now deceased, was a member in early youth. The book bears this title:—" Regu lations for the Union Society, established at Harlow in 1790." The regulations conclude with the following:-"That the arms of the society be the arms of the counties of Essex and Herts united. crescent; motto, Archery, freedom, and love.'" Supporters, a bowman and cricketer; crest, a On the rose-coloured cover of the little book are depicted two shields with the arms of the counties, crest above and motto below, while the supporters exhibit two stalwart gentlemen, one in kneebreeches bearing a bat, the other in high boots and feather-crowned hat grasping a bow, The society was limited to fifty ladies and fifty gentlemen, and a president and lady president was appointed for each meeting. The list of members reads very much like a racing card, as each lady and gentleman assumed two or more colours, and each seems to have adopted two fanciful French designations, described as mottos." 66 record of the pastimes of a century ago worth I do not know whether you will think this adding to the "notes." I should be happy to send the list of the " 'names and colours" of the members should you or any of your readers desire it. C. L. [For "The Bibliography of Archery" see "N. & Q.,” 5th S. ix. 324, 383, 442; x. 102.] a great want of a "Handbook to Stroud and the STROUD, GLOUCESTERSHIRE.-There is certainly neighbourhood," containing what a visitor to the place, anxious to become acquainted with its history and topography, would desire to have before him. There is nothing of the kind to assist one in his researches in this highly picturesque and important district. I am well acquainted with the late Mr. Fisher's Notes and Recollections of Stroud (1871); but the volume is too expensive for the purpose in view, and, besides, it is "out of print " and not easily procured. A small sized book, with a good map or two and a few illustrations, would be most acceptable to many, and I doubt not, from what I have heard, would prove a remunerative undertaking. But, unlike too many publications of the class throughout the kingdom, it should be strictly accurate in details, and not calculated in any way to mislead the reader. ABHBA, Queries. [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.] WHO ILLUSTRATED LAMB'S "TALES FROM SHAKESPEAR"?-Bohn's Lowndes says "fourth edition, with twenty plates by William Blake, 1822." The catalogues of the best informed booksellers at the present day refine upon this, and describe the plates as designed by Mulready and engraved by Blake. Is there any authority for either statement? Gilchrist, in his Life, does not enter the Tales in his list of Blake's engravings. Lowndes is also inaccurate in limiting the twenty plates in question to the fourth, when they accompany the earlier editions of the Tales.* ENGLISH ENGRAVERS.-I have recently obtained a book of 100 pages containing engraved ciphers. The title-page is missing, but it contains a recommendation signed by the following engravers : Thomas Atkins, George Bickham, Charles Beard, John Bell, Bernard Baron, Claude Bosc, Peter Bosquain, Emmanuel Bowen, John Burton, Henry Burgh, Isaac Basire, William Caston, James Cary, James Cole, Benjamin Cole, Maximilian Cole, Henry Collins, Richard Cooper, Thomas Cobb, John Clause, John Carwithan, John Dolby, William Dugood, Thomas Evans, John Faber, Henry Fletcher, Pa. Fourdrinier, Thomas Gardner, Charles Gardner, John Gilbert, John Hoddle, Joseph Halshide, William Hulett, Richard Hopthro, Joseph Howel, Edward Hill, John Harris, Andrew Johnston, Elisha Kirkall, Giles King, Thomas Long, Charles Moore, Andrew Motte, Thomas Pingo, John Pine, Richard Perry, Ishmael Parbury, Samuel Parker, Thomas Plat, Peter Pelham, William Pennock, Thomas Ramsey, Bishop Roberts, John Raven, James Regnier, John Sturt, Josephus Sympson, William Sterling, Jacob Skinner, Mich. Shilburn, Chris. Secton, James Sartor, John Symon, John Smith, James Smith, Robert Smith, William Henry Toms, George Thornton, Gerd. Vandergucht, Jon. Vandergucht, William Pritchard, John Clark. In all I find very few of these names in Spooner's Now, Godwin was the publisher of the Tales; and Blake, we know, illustrated, in 1791, Mary Wollstonecraft's Original Stories from Real Life. Charles Lamb, moreover, thought highly of Blake's artistic merit. Therefore it is likely enough that Blake may have had more or less to do with these illustrations; but I would gladly learn the extent of his co-operation, and where the fact of his or Mulready's employment on these designs is recorded. None of the plates, unluckily, are signed; and, to complicate the matter, they vary in merit so much that one would almost suspect the em-seventy-two names. ployment of two different engravers. For instance, it is difficult to ascribe to the same artist the fine Dictionary, which, though an American compiplate of "Nic Bottom and the Queen of the Fairies" (which is quite Blakian) and the woodeny "Gratiano and Nerissa desire to be married." Excepting this last, the ten plates of the first volume are much superior to the ten plates of the second, in which the Othello, Comedy of Errors, and Hamlet illustrations are perhaps the worst. Blake could hardly have engraved so slovenly and unanatomical a skull as the gravedigger is holding. The "Advertizement to the Second Edition" in some measure apologizes for these shortcomings; lation, professes to give all the facts to be found in previous books. I would ask, therefore, for the date of the publication of this book, and secondly whether this list has been used as a means of identifying or tracing English engravers. I take this opportunity also to inquire again if anything is known of the Peter Pelham mentioned above. See "N. & Q.," 4th S. xii. 118, 179. Boston, U.S.A. W. H. WHITMORE. WHAT IS THE EXTENSION OF RETE CORVIL?— In a Court roll of the manor of Bibury, second year The bibliography is rather involved. Concurrently of Charles I., occurs the following phrase, "Item with this illustrated edition "for young persons appeared a plain edition "for the library," with merely a frontispiece of Shakspeare, engraved by T. Woolnoth after Zoust. Of this library edition the first impression appeared in 1807, the second in 1809, the third edition 1816. Of the illustrated edition appeared, first impression, 1807 (this I have not seen, but the "Advertizement to the Second Edition" establishes its existence); the second in 1808; the third, 1816; fourth, 1822. presentant (Juratores) quod inhabitantes de Bibury - DALLAWAY'S "Journey from RODBOROUGH TO GLOUCESTER," &c.-About the year 1790 the Rev. James Dallaway "he had great abilities, but was pedantic and satirical"-wrote his Journey from Rodborough [near Stroud] to Gloucester, with a Description of the Country and an Account of the Cathedral. Where can I see it? A MS. copy was in the possession of Mr. Delafield Phelps, of Chevenage House, as appears from his privately printed Collectanea Gloucestriensia (London, 1842). ABHBA. TRADESMEN'S TOKENS.-Akerman, Burn, and other authorities say that the issue of these was prohibited by a proclamation of Charles II. on Aug. 16, 1672 :— "And all persons, who should after the 1st day of September make, vend, or utter any other kind of pence, halfpence, or farthing, or other pieces of brass, copper, or other base metal, other than the coins authorized above, or should offer to counterfeit any of His Majesty's halfpence or farthings, were to be chastised with exemplary severity." Now, I have a considerable number of tokens, especially of Kent, Sussex, and the Cinque Ports, bearing dates of the latter part of the eighteenth century. I have not been able to find any work that alludes to tokens of a later date than the seventeenth century except the Numismatic Chronicle, which speaks of some issued in Ireland as late as the first part of the present century. Will some one kindly say whether the issue of these tokens went on for more than a hundred years in spite of proclamations, or was there any relaxation of the law on the subject? Or to what author can I refer? CLARRY. "LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL."-In Harold's Lay (canto vi.) these two lines occur : "And each St. Clair was buried there, With candle, with book, and with knell." Was the latter line ever corrected by Scott? Surely he must have written "with book, with candle," &c. He could not have meant to lay stress on with and and. Yet in all the editions I have at hand I find the passage printed as I have quoted it. JAYDEE. 66 "MOKE " OR "MOAK."--MR. T. BIRD says (5th S. x. 521) that he has heard a donkey called in Essex and Herts a bussock. In Devonshire a donkey is generally called a moke. Is this name common in other parts of England? E. WALFORD, M.A. Hampstead, N.W. [The term is common in London.] MS. HISTORY OF FERMANAGH COUNTY.-This History, compiled by the Rev. Dr. Samuel Madden, of Waterhouse, co. Fermanagh, circa 1720, was in the possession of the late Ulster, Sir Wm. Betham. Where is it now? It is not amongst Sir William's MSS. in the Brit. Mus., nor in T. C. D. Library, nor in the Royal Irish Academy, nor in the Royal Dublin Society. C. S. K. Kensington, W. "THE LAST OF THE IRISH BARDS."-To whom does this designation properly belong? Certainly not to Carolan, though one may see in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, a fine bas-relief of this gifted harpist, which was executed in Rome at Lady Morgan's expense by Hogan, a son of the wellknown sculptor, and bears the following inscription : "By the desire of Lady Morgan. The last of the Irish Bards. A meeting of Irish harpers was held in Belfast in 1792, when many of the old harpers attended, and astonished their hearers by the display of their skill in ancient Irish music. ABHBA. VARIA. Can any one kindly tell me, from personal knowledge— 1. Where is a catalogue of esquires and gentlemen of Yorkshire (R. Gascoign; Sims, p. 328) to be found? 2. Where can the account of the family of Ogle, privately printed, Edin., 1812 (Sims, p. 268), be seen? 3. What lists of the royal household in the reigns of Hen. VI., Edw. IV., Rich. III., and Hen. VII. are there which can be consulted? T. W. CARR. Barming Rectory, Maidstone. MISS ANNE BORLEBOG, the oldest actress that ever appeared on any stage, died at Charleston, North America, in 1827, aged eighty-eight. She made her début fifteen years before Garrick, as Queen Katharine in Henry VIII. She continued to represent the younger class of matrons until she was seventy-eight, and she was sixty-six before she gave up playing the misses in their teens. Is there a published history of her life? St. John's Wood. GEORGE ELLIS. |