second horse to have his stake back. Lord Stamford's chestnut, colt, Edgar, 3 yrs. old. Mr Robinson's bay filly, Swallow (won once). Sir W. W. Wynne's bay On Mr Logh's buy filly, 3 yrs old. colt, 3 yrs. old. Thursday, the 30th, sixty pounds for all ages; three year ol is to carry 6st. 71b., four year olds 8st., 5 year olds 8st. 91b., 6 year olds and aged horses 8st. 12lb., the best of 3 four mile heats; the winner of one plate or stakes in the present year to carry 3lb., and of two or more 5lb. extra, mares and geldings to be allowed 21b. Mr Legh's bay filly, 2 years old. Lord Mr Darlington's bay horse, Haphazard, 3 years old. The owner of Jodrell's Mobberley Crab, 5 years old. the second horse for the plate each day will be allowed £10 if three or more start. Assemblies and ordinaries as usual. Col. Cotton and Ralph Leycester, Esq., stewards. Evans, printer, Knutsford.”

F. EDWARDS, Wilmslow

BLIND JACK OF KNARESBOROUGH.

( o. 1242 )

[1288.] In Chambers' Journal for September, 1878, the subjoined notice appears of a notorious character known as "Blind Jack of Knaresborough," who constructed several of the roads in and around Stockport during the latter part of the last century, and whose wife, Dorothy Metcalf, died in Stockport, and was interred at the Parish Church, where there is still a tombstone containing a curious epitaph to her memory. The notice referred to says:-" On a tombstone erected in the churchyard of Spofforth, at the cost of Lord Dundas, the remarkable carcer of John Metcalf, better known as "Blind Jack of Knaresborough, is well told::

Here lies John Metcalf, one whose infant sight Felt the dark pressure of an endless night; Ye: such the fervour of his dauntless mind, His limbs full strung, his spirits unconfiae 1, That, long ere yet life's bolder years began, The s gutless efforts marked th' aspiring man; Nor marked in vain-high deeds his manhood dared, And commeres, travel, both his ardour shared. 'Twas his a guide's unerting aid to lendO'er trackless wastes to bid new roads extend; And, when rebellion reared her giant size, 'Twas his to burn with patriot enterprise; For parting wife and babes a pang to feel, Then welcome danger for bis country's weal, Reader, like him, exert thy utmost talent given! Reader, like him, adore the bounteous band of heaven. He died on the 26th April, 1801, in the 93rd year of his age. A few jottings respecting Metcalf will, we think, be read with intere t. At the age of six years he lost his sight by an attack of smallpox. Three years later he joined the boys in their bird-nesting exploits, and climbed trees to share the plunder. When he had reached thirteen summers he was

taught music, and soon became a proficient performer. He also learned to ride and swim, and was passionately fond of field sports. At the age of manhood it is said his mind possessed a self-independence rarely enjoyed by those who have the perfect use of their faculties; his body was well-proportioned to his mind, for, when twenty-one years of age, he was six feet one and a half inches in height, strong and robust in proportion. At the age of twenty-five he was engaged as a musician at Harrogate. About this time he was frequ ntly employed during the dark nights as a guide over the moors and wilds, then abundant in the neighbourhood of Knaresborough. He was a lover of horse-racing, and often rode his own animals. His horses he so tamed that when he called them by their respective names they came to him, so he was able to find his own amongst any number and without trouble. Particulars of the marriage of this individual read like a romance. A Miss Benson, daughter of an innkeeper, reciprocated the affections of our hero; however, the suitor did not please the parents of the fair lady,' and they selected a Mr Dickinson as her future husband. Metcalf hearing that the object of his affection was to be married the next day to the young man selected by her father, hastened to free lier by inducing the damsel to clope with him. Next day they were made man and wife, to the great surprise of all who knew them, and to the disappointment of the intended son-in-law. To all it was a matter of wonder how a handsome woman as any in the country, the pride of the place, could link her future with Blind Jack,' and reject many good offers for him. But the bride set the matter at rest by declaring: His actions are so singular, and his spirit so manly and enterprising, that I could not help it.' It is worthy of note that he was the first to set up for the public accommodation of visitors to Harrogate a four-wheeled chaise and a one-horse chair; these he kept for two seasons. He next bought horses and went to the coast for fish, which he conveyed to Leeds and Manchester. In 1745, when the rebellion broke out in Scotland, he joined a regiment of volunteers raised by Colonel Thornton, a patriotic gentleman, for the defence of the House of Hanover. Metc.it share with his comrades all the dangers of the campaign, defeated at Falkirk, victorious at Culloden. He was the first to set up, in 1754, a stage-waggon between York and Knaresborough, which he conducted himself, twice a week in the summer and once a week in winter. This employment he followed until he commenced contracting for, road-making. His first contract was for three miles of road between

Hinskip and Feirensby. He afterwards erected bridges and houses, and made hundreds of miles of roads in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire, and Derbyshire. He was a dealer in timber and hay, of which he measured and calculated the solid contents by a peculiar method of his own. The hay he always measured with his arms, and having learned the height, he could tell the number of square yards in the stack. When he went out he always carried a stout staff some inches taller than himself, which was of great service both in his travels and measurements. In 1778 he lost his wife, after thirty-nine years' conjugal felicity, in the sixty-first year of her age. She was interred at Stockport. Four years later he left Lancashire, and settled at the pleasant rural village of Spofforth, not far distant from the town of his nativity. With a daughter, he resided on a small farm until he died in 1801. At the time of his decease his descendants were four children, twenty grandchildren, and ninety great-grandchildren."

WARREN-BULKELEY.

Queries.

[1289.] THE DAVENPORTS AND BRAMHALL.-William Davenport, of Bramhall, died in 1829, without legitimate issue. He left two natural daughters. One of them married Captain Salisbury Price Humphreys, afterwards knighted and made a Rear-Admiral of the At Blue, who took possession of the hall and estate. that time, I believe, there were several claimants for the estate. There was one named John Bailey, who served his time to hatting in Bredbury, and aftewards enlisted in the army, and was present at most of the great battles of the Peninsular War. The story runs that he was decoyed into the office of a well-known lawyer of this town, drugged, and nade to sign a paper to the effect that he would not try to get possession of the estate during his (Bailey's) lifetime. Could any of numerous correspondents in *Notes and your Queries" give me any information regarding him or his claim to the Bramhall Estate? Perhaps "Stookportonian" could oblige. ENQUIRER.

[1290.] OLD PAUPER RELIEF SYSTEM.-I shall be glad if your columns will enlighten me on this system of poor relief adopted prior to the present system of Unions. There were, I think, no Workhouses then, at least, such as we have now; but how were the helpless and aged poor relieved, and what was done with the children of paupers? I can hear of no Union Work

house in Stockport before the one now used as a coal J. BARNETT. office by Lord Vernon.

IN NORWAY.-As soon as a young man and young woman are engaged in Norway, no matter in what rank of life, betrothal rings are exchanged. These rings are worn ever afterward by the men as well as by the women. The consequence is that one can always tell a married man, or at least an engaged man, in Norway in the same way as one can tell a married woman in England when the shows her hand. Gold rings are used by the rich, but silver, either solid or in filigree, by the poor. There is no married man in Norway, no matter how humble he may be, who does not bear this outward mark of his submission to the matrimonial bond. But this is not all. As soon as a man is engaged, he has calling-cards printed, with the name of his fiancze immedia ely below his own.

THE TELESCOPE.--This useful instrument was invented nearly three hundred years ago by as Lippershiem, who called it an instrument by He was a

46

means of which to see at a distance." poor optician, living in the Netherlands, and e allowed his children to play with the tools in his shop. One day his little girl cried out, Oh, Hans papa! see how near the steeple comes!" looked up from his work and found that the child was holding two lenses, one close to her eye, and the other at arm's length, at just the right distance to make the far off steeple seem close at hand. ite immediately set about making a pasteboard tube and placed the glasses in it at precisely the focus which his little girl discovered by accident. was the origin of the telescope, to which sc.ence owes so much.

But

HOW THE PUBLIC ARE GULLED.-Pat Holland, now of Arizona, once had a reputation for beg a dead shot with a pistol, but he has had to take a postoffice for a living. He acquired a reputation or shooting app es from a young lady's head on ..he stage. He announced one night that he would sool twelve apples from twe.ve young ladies' heads, using his left hand as well as his right. by the time he had fired the first six sao s all twelve of the apples had disappeared and his last six were delivered to the e apy air, amid the roars of the audience. Two appi s got tangled to ether nd remained dangling from the edge of a scene in plain sight of the audience. Eac apple had a fine taread attached, and at the shot was jerked quickly out of sight. The supes who pulled the stringa got confused, and half the apples disappeared before the time. This ended his career and tame.

SATURDAY, MARCH 24TH, 1883.

Notes.

CHESHIRE Books.

[1293.] The "Notes and Queries" is a most conve nient medium for keeping us informed upon all matters affecting Cheshire. Mr Thomas Hughes in his "Sheaf" has been usefully employed in the same way; and so has Mr Askew Roberts, in his "ByeGones," done good service to Wales and the Border Land; and in "Salopian Shreds and Patches" we find very many valuable papers and scraps relating to Shropshire. Old books and old authors should not be overlooked in our researches, and I have been engaged of late in noting some of these as especially deserving of the attention of Cestrians. I will just note a few of those I have seen:-The Holy Life and History of St. Werburgh, printed by Synam in 1521, is very scarce, and very curious. Edward Hodkins reprinted it some years ago in fac-simile, but we should learn if possible where the original work can be seen. -The Accedens of Armorie, by Gerard Legh, is said to have been first printed by Tottill, in the year 1562, and six years afterwards another edition appeared, and another in 1597; but I think that it was also published in other years, and we should know when.Hollinshead's Chronicles of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, printel in 1577, is a noble work in two folio volumes, and this again is but one of the editions published.-The Enle of the World, by the old Cestrian, Thomas Rogers, printed in 1577, is not even mentioned by Lowndes.-Mr Thomas Chalmer's De Rep Anglorum, printed by Vantrollier in 1579, is a rare book, and has a portrait of the author on the back of the title page.-Edmund Bonner's Profitable and Necessary Doctrine, printed by Cawood in 1555, is but rarely met with, and yet it is interesting to us, in so far as the author is acknowledged by many as a native of our county.-Gerrarde's Herbal is said to have been first published in 1597, a noble work, much esteemed ven now by artists for the variety and excellence of the woodcuts it contains. These are but a few of the local literary land-marks of the sixteenth century, and it is well to keep them ever before us when we study the history of this great county.

A BOOKWORM

THE FAMILY OF THE LATE RALPH ORRELL, ESQ. [1294.] I have taken considerable pains to collect a few facts respecting a family whose industry and perseverance has done much towards insuring the pros

His

perity of the township of Heaton Norris. A gentleman whose remembrance extends over 60 years, confirms the following particulars: The father of the lute Ralph Orrell for many years occupied the house on Lancashire Hill now known as the Nicholson Arms, and had two sons-Ralph and Richard-and five daughters. Behind the Nicholson Arms, the area of which is now covered with houses, was an open yard, in which Mr Orrell, senr., carried on his business as a thread manufacturer. In this shed the operations of balling and spooling the material was carried on. two sons-Richard and Ralph-and the Misses Orrell all took part in the business, for the whole of the family were remarkable for their industry. It is well known Mr Ralph was a very passionate man, and beat some of the children in his employment rather unmercifully; but he had many redeeming qualitie® which rendered him beloved and respected by a large circle of friends and acquaintances. Mr Richard made several voyages to America, and the trade was very successfully pushed forward on that continent, on his return taking part in the business. This gentleman met with an accident when on a pleasure outing near Marple Bridge. He was thrown out of his gig, and on assistance being secured it was found he had broken his thigh, and sustained such injuries that he was compelled to use crutches until his death. Mr Ralph Orrell married for his first wife Miss Roebuck, the daughter of Mrs Roebuck, of the Navigation Inn, and his second wife was the daughter of the head gardener at Dunham Park Hall. He had three daughters, two by his first wife, and one by the second, also a son, the late Alfred Orrell, Esq. Mary, the daughter, was married to Mr Brooks, the banker, of Manchester. Mr Ralph Orrell and his sisters occupied the house in Throstle Grove, now better known as Great and Little Egerton-street, Bridgefield, in which Dr. Bailey now resides, and in the Throstle Grove Mill, which adjoins the house, and the premises now occupied by Mr Cookson as a rag and waste warehouse, the manufacture of thread was successfully and very profitably carried on by Mr Ralph Orrell and his sisters for a long series of years. The enterprising spirit of Mr Orrell was somewhat remarkable. He took the mill in Portwood adjoining the premises of Mr Wardle, the miller, filled it with machinery, and there carried on with his usual success the business of a cotton spinner and manufacturer. This mill is on the right-hand side as you pass over the iron bridge by the road passing Tiviot Dale Station and entering into Portwood. Whilst here he conceived the idea of investing the money he had accumulated in building a large, good, and sub

[1295.] A writer in a contemporary says:-" To the lovers of the curious in the natural world the following may prove of interest: I to-day had brought before my notice an elm tree which, on being sawn into plank, exposed to view in its heart, at this point some six feet and a half in circumference, the nest of a bird, containing three eggs, small in size, and in colour, so far as could be made out, white, with small brown spots; the shells were soft, due to their great age, which could not have been less than 35 years, as ascertained from the layers of wood interposed between the nest and the tree bark. The bird had evidently, while the tree was young, built at a junction of a bough with the trunk; this bough had then been either blown or cut off, and the natural growth of the wood had by degrees surrounded the nest. I have before seen strange things embedded in elm trees, but never before encountered an object so remarkable for its position."

CHAUCER'S TABARD.

[1296.] It is the destiny of every building possessing historic associations, sooner or later to come into the market, to be burned down, or to be pulled down. Even the classic Tabard, in the Borough High-street, is not spared. Some seven or eight years ago the Tabard was re-built, pretty much on the old site, and on Monday Mr Hearn offered the lease for sale. The old Tabard was, next to Westminster Hall, perhaps the most interesting of the architectural memorials of the time when England was a-making. It was indissolubly bound up with the origins of English literature, for it was thence that the Canterbury pilgrims started upon what was towards the end of the 14th century a favourite holiday excursion-a visit to the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket. "I see all the Pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales," says Dryden, " their humours, their features, and the very dress, as distinctly as if I had supped with them at the Tabard in Southwark." JNO. BENNETT.

HISTORIC FARMHOUSES.

[1297.] The farm of Blackladies, on the Chillington Estate, in Staffordshire, was originally a convent of Benedictine nuns, who sable garments gave the house

now.

its name. During the "late troubles" it underwent a sort of siege, being held for Charles II. by the Giffards of Chillington, to whom it belonged then and belongs Later on it became the residence of a younger branch of that family, which has long since succeeded to the full patrimonial honours. Blackladies is manygabled and picturesque, and its cluster of graceful chimneys break the sky-line most charmingly. It is now the homestead of the Blackladies farm, which extends to 450 acres of arable and pasture.

Another farm is The Hyde, close to Blackladies, and also belonging to the Chillington property. This farm has been in the po session of the Giffards of Chillington for at least 600 years. In the time of Edward I., John Giffard granted it as a sub-infeudation to John de Sempringham, who, in turn, granted it to Thomas de la Hyde. This farm is 268 acres in extent, of mixed arable and pasture. The Giffards are one of the very oldest of Staffordshire families. They have held the estate of Chillington for a clear 800 years, and Giffard has continued to follow Giffard at the Hall, despite the interruptions of religious persecution and internecine war. There could hardly be a better proof of the stability of English institutions than such a possibility of long possession. the most interesting episodes in the 41 days' wanderings of Charles II., after being "in the lost battle borne down by the flying," were enacted upon the broad acres of Chillington. SEMPER.

Some of

THE DISORDERLY QUADRUPEDS.-Between eight and nine o'clock one Sunday night, a breach of the peace took place in Lord-street, which baffled the police, and excited a good deal of laughter at the expense of their mistaken vigilance. A crowd had assembled near the Grove Inn, and a great noise was heard from all points. A couple of policemen were seen in the distance, inquiring the cause of so great a disturbance on Sunday night, just after the congregations of the churches and chapels were dispersing. "They're fighting like d-s!" was the answer. Scenting a case, away hastened the officers of justice to the scene of riot and confusion, with the intention of separating the combatants, quelling the disturbance, and summoning the parties before magistrates for fighting, or, under the more comprehensive clause, for being "drunk and disorderly." The crowd wisely made a hasty retreat just as the policeman came up, leaving exposed to view nothing but two donkeys in full combat with each other; but the moment they saw the blue clothing and white metal buttons, they, too -precocious brutes-desisted, and galloped away braying, in opposite directions, leaving their official interlopers the subject of a hearty good laugh frem the bystanders.

the

SATURDAY, MARCH 31ST, 1883.

Notes.

THE DERBY: ITS ORIGIN.

[1298.] We often hear of the Derby; a few notes on the subject may be interesting to your readers. It has been suggested that it originated with the band of Royalists who took refuge in the Isle of Man, with Lord Derby, on assembling on the 28th of July, to witness the race by horses bred in the Isle of Man, or in the Calf Island, for the silver cup, instituted as a prize by James, the seventh Earl of Derby. A high legal functionary, the Clerk of the Rolls, a member of the Supreme Council of the Isle, acted as steward of the races. See Cumming's "Great Stanley," page 141, and Espinasse's "Lancashire Worthies," page 148. Another writer says it is an error to attribute the origin of the Derby to the 12th Earl. It was his illustrious predecessor, James, the seventh Earl of Derby-"the great Earl"-who first established the name of this race in the Isle of Man in 1627, as may be seen by a record in the Rolls Office there, which states that he gave a cup to be run for at these races. The eighth Earl of Derby confirmed this by his order dated at Lathom, 12th July, 1669. The 12th earl adopted the name upon establishing the English Derby, in 1780, some century and a half later. Sir Charles Bunbury, Bart., won the first English Derby stakes by his horse Diomede. Some particulars respecting this race in the Isle of Man will be found in the 21st volume of the "Man Societies' Publications, 1873." E.H.

ARCHEOLOGICAL DISCOVERY IN LONDON. [1299.] Seldom is there any considerable excavation of metropolitan sites but some relic of the past is revealed, showing that every rood of ground in London is instinct with historic associations. A few days ago, during the demolition of some old buildings in Bouverie-street, Fleet-street, there was discovered a part of the ancient Monastery of Whitefriars, about thirty feet of one of the towers having been laid bare. The masonry, like that of Sandown Castle, although more than four centuries old, is of great strength, and has served as the foundation of the neighbouring houses, which had been built into it. The convent of Carmelites was founded by Sir Richard Grey in 1241, and the church was built in 1407 by Sir Robert Knolles, who built Rochester Bridge. Sir Robert, whose courage was conspicuous during the French wars, was the subject of some laudatory verses by

Stowe. At the dissolution of the religious houses, Whitefriars was granted to one Richard Moresque, and the Chapter House and other parts to Dr. Butts, physician to Henry VIII. These latter were afterwards demolished, and several houses built, which, in Edward VI.'s reign, were inhabited by people of fashion. Poets, players, and vagabonds succeeded; but have we not the dramas of Shadwell and the novels of Scott to tell us better than any historian has done the characteristics of the famed Alsatia ? ED.

LANCASHIRE LONGEVITY.

[1390] From Wheeler's Manchester Chronicle, Jan. 22ad, 1820, I have compiled the following:-1820, January. On the 6th instant, at the age of 102, Mrs Barbara Po niret, of Lower Darwen, near Blackburn. She was the grandmother and great-grandmother to nearly 300 children.-Last week, at Wigan, Elizabeth Kay, aged 91, and Frances Belshaw, aged 101. The following ten persons, whose united ages amount to 768 years, have been interred at the Parish Church of Bury within the last fortnight :-Margaret Shore, aged 90 years. Ann Moss, aged 88. Betty Openshaw, 66. Ann Millet (a lady who through life had been deaf and dumb), 66. John Crompton, 73. Edward Hamer, 73. Sarah Fletcher, 75. John Smith, 72. James Ingham, 85. William Pilkington, 80. These are surely a notable group who have overpassed the Psalmist's limit of three score years and ten. STUDENT

SLANG.

[1301.] Allusions to their introductions and changes meet us constantly in our reading. Thus Banter, Mob, Bully, Bubble, Sham, Shuffling and Palming were new words in the Tatler's day, who writes, "I have done my utmost for some years past to stop the progress of Mobb and Banter, but have been plainly borne down by numbers, and betrayed by those who promised to assist me." Reconnoitre, and other French terms of war, are ridiculed as innovations in the Spectator. Skate was a new word in Swift's day. "To skate, if you know what that means," he writes to Stella. "There is a new word coined within a few months," says Fuller," called fanatics." Locke was accused of affectation in using idea instead of notion. "We have been obliged," says the World, "to adopt the word police from the French." Where we read in another number, "I assisted at the birth of that most signifi cant word flirtation, which dropped from the most beautiful mouth in the world, and which has since received the sanction of our most accurate Laureate in one of his comedies." Ignore was once sacred to grand juries. "In the interest of" has been quoted in our