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Somersetshire QUERIES WITH ANSWERS: -"Siege of Belgrade "-Gon

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works in the Forest of Dean, and shortly afterwards mention occurs of his manufacturing steel under a patent to Elliot and Meysey. This steel it appears was worthless; and on July 2, 1619, an order was made directing proceedings to be taken for revoking the patent.

William Bishop, Bishop of Chalcedon, died at his seat called Bishop's Court, near London, April 16, 1624. Anthony à Wood (who, however, names not Sir Basil Brooke) says, "Where that place is, except in the parish of St. Sepulchre, I am yet to seek."

John Giffard, Esq., having built a house situate in Shropshire, but adjoining upon Staffordshire, lying between Tong Castle and Brewood in a kind

dola-Cook's Castle, near Shanklin, Isle of Wight - Gasof wilderness, invited Sir Basil Brooke with other par de Navarre: Spengle - Tanjibs—Quotations Wanted friends and neighbours to a house-warming feast. Sir Rowland Heyward-Bishop Fowler, 88. Sir Basil was desired to give the house a name; REPLIES: Major-General Lambert, 89 Archbishop he aptly called it "Boscobel" (from the Italian Harsnet and Bishop Ken, 92-The Knights Hospitallers of St. John, &c., Ib.- Queen Isabella, "the Catholic," 93 Boscobello, which in that language signifies fair -Cast from Cromwell's Face - Inscription at Trujillo-wood) because seated in the midst of many fair Law of Adultery - Alicia de Lacy-Whitehall - Mr. John Collet: Dr. Collet-Captain Thomas Kerridge-Godolphin: White Eagle-Hopton Family- Meaning of Bouman Handasyde- -Sermons upon Inoculation-Execution by Burning-Prince Christiern of Denmark-Bell Litera ture- Dogs-Binding a Stone in a Sling - The Tylee Family- -Mr. Greville-Crush a Cup-Fairy Cemeteries Flodden Field - Family of Bray Inscription in the Mosque of Cordova, Spain - James Shergold Boone-Ori

gin of the Word Bigot, &c. 94. Notes on Books, &c.

Notes.

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woods.

In 1635, being then in the sixtieth year of his age, he was very active in supporting the cause of the regulars against episcopal government in England. He was treasurer of the contributions made by the Roman Catholics towards defraying the king's charges of the war against Scotland.

On Jan. 27, 1640-1, the House of Commons made an order requiring Sir Basil Brooke and other Royalists forthwith to attend the house. On April 24, 1641, it appearing from a report of the Serjeant-at-Arms that he had withdrawn himself, the House ordered that if he did not come in before

May 10, his majesty should be moved to issue a proclamation for his apprehension, and a copy of the order was to be left at his lodging. On Nov. 16 in the same year certain members of the House of Commons were ordered to take care for setting a guard upon his house, and searching the same for persons suspected of high treason. appears that the object of suspicion was one Father Andrews, a priest.

It

ordered that in the execution of their warrant for On Jan. 11, 1641-2, the House of Commons apprehending Sir Basil Brooke, the serjeant should require all sheriffs, &c., to assist, and should use all possible diligence. He was taken at York a few days afterwards. John Camden Hotton's Hand-Book to the Topography and Family History of England and Wales contains the following:

"6638. The Parliament's Endevors for settling the Peace in this Kingdom with the manner of apprehending Sir Basil Brooks at the City of Yorke, 4to, 1642.

"He was hid at Geo. Dickinson's inne, the sign of the Three Cuppes, upon Fosse Bridge. The account of his hiding for four days in his room and his capture are very interesting."

On Jan. 25, 1641-2, the Commons ordered Sir Basil Brooke to be brought to the House from

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On Aug. 27, 1642, an order was made by the House for removing him from the custody of the serjeant to the King's Bench.

On Jan. 29, 1642-3, was presented to the House of Lords a petition of Sir Basil Brooke and Sir John Winter against George Mynn; and on Feb. 6 following, the Lords ordered the cause to be proceeded in at common law. It seems that Mynn had been the partner of Brooke and Winter in the Forest of Dean iron-works. Being implicated with Theophilus Ryley, scoutmaster of the city, Col. Reade, Thomas Violet, and others, in an alleged plot to make divisions between the Parliament and the city, and to prevent the advance of the Scots' army into England, he was committed close prisoner to the Tower by the House of Commons on Jan. 6, 1643-4.

Letters sent from Oxford to Sir Basil Brooke, by George Lord Digby on behalf of the king, were adduced to prove the existence of the plot. They are entered in the Lords' Journals (vi. 371).

On May 6, 1645, an order was made by the House of Commons that Sir Basil Brooke should be removed to the King's Bench, there to remain a prisoner to the Parliament until the first debts by action charged upon him should be satisfied. He was apparently living in July, 1646, for in certain articles of peace then framed, he is named as one of the papists and popish recusants, who, having been in arms against the Parliament, were to be proceeded with, and their estates disposed of as both houses should determine, and were to be incapable of the royal pardon without the consent of both houses.

Sir Roger Twysden mentions him as 66 a very good, trewe, and worthy person" ("N. & Q." 2nd S. iv. 103), and elsewhere he is described as handsome and comely. Cambridge.

C. H. & THOMPSON COOPER.

FOLK LORE.

THE BAIRN'S PIECE.-There is a popular notion among the lower classes in many parts of Scotland, that when a child is for the first time taken to the open air, the bearer of it should give something edible to the first person met; other wise the child's fate will be unlucky. The gift is called "The bairn's (child's) piece;" and consists usually of an ample quantum of bread and cheese. No distinction is made as to the recipient, it being held that to make any would destroy the charm. And the writer of this knows an instance in which

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"The popular tradition of the Irish attributes the exemption of their country from venomous creatures to the benediction of St. Patrick, given by his staff-called the staff of Jesus; which was kept with great veneration in Dublin. The isle of Malta is said to derive a like privilege from St. Paul, who was there bit by a viper."

1. Is it quite certain, that no venomous reptiles are now to be found in Ireland?

2. Does the "popular tradition" arise from the fact, that the Saint drove away from the country the venomous brood of infidelity and heresy?

I have been in Ireland, and have certainly heard of serpents and adders having been seen there; but all the people declare that none are venomous. Camden says: "Nullus hic anguis, nec venenatum quicquam.' Ware asserts the same thing. (See several authorities quoted in the Abbé Mac Geoghehan's Hist. of Ireland, Ancient and Modern, vol. i. p. 56, edit. Dublin, 1831.) J. DALTON. Norwich.

SUPERSTITION IN SIBERIA.

"A prevailing superstition is that of the Domavoi, literally, house spirit. He is found in every dwelling, and is as much cared for as any other member of the household, if not more; and woe betide the unfortunate individual who neglects or offends this important personage. His good will is propitiated by the offerings which are made to him daily, food being placed every night in the cellar, which he invariably partakes of. A whole loaf of black bread is at his disposal, of which he eats moderately; and he has a knife in his pocket, because the bread is always found cut. When he has demolished one they put another in its place. I asked the person who related this to me if she really believed it, whereupon she called upon me not to disbelieve her statement, as the Domavoi might be offended, which they easily were, and to be revenged they sometimes destroyed the building." Mrs. Atkinson's Recollections of Tartar Steppes, 247. E. H. A. LINCOLNSHIRE PROVERB. A writer in the Lincolnshire Chronicle, July 3rd, speaking of the thin crops of hay, refers the cause to the dry spring, and quotes the following local saying: "If it neither rains nor snows on Candlentas day, You may striddle your horse and go and buy hay." CUTHBERT BEDE.

GREAT CROSBY GOOSE FEAST.-There is a pretty suburban village, called "Great Crosby," about seven miles from this town, on the north coast of the estuary of the Mersey, and early in October every year, there is held a local festival there, which is called the "Goose feast." Like many other local affairs, one may ascertain more about its origin and use far away than at home.

In the present case, this seems to be peculiarly the fact, as I have tried for some years past, but in vain, to find out the origin of this feast. The only thing I have been able to collect is this. The "feast" takes place when the harvest is gathered in about this part of the country, and it forms a sort of" harvest home" gathering for the agriculturalists of the neighbourhood. It is said also, that at the particular period, geese are finer and fatter, after feeding on the stubble fields, than at any other time. I have been at two or three of the "feasts," and although called "the goose feasts," I did not find any dish of that famous bird on the table. Could it be that the guests were likened to the bird? as the folk about there are fond of practical jokes. Information from some Lancashire antiquary on the subject will oblige. How did this originate, and when? The people of the district are chiefly Catholic in religion. S. REDMOND.

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1. "Job. Kirchmanni Lubeccensis de Annulis. . Lugd. Batav. 1672."

2. "Georgii Longi Ambrosianæ Bibliothecæ Custodis primi tractatus de annulis signatoriis antiquorum sive de varig obsignandi ritu. Lugd. Batav. 1672."

3." Abrahami Gorlæi Antwerpiani Dactyliotheca, sive Tractatus de Annulorum Origine... Lugd. Batav. 1672." 4. "Grævii (J. G.), Thesaurus Antiquitatum Romanarum," 12 vols. folio. Lugd. Batav. 1699; vol. viii. art. 34; vol. xii. art. 17.

5. "Londesborough (Lady), Catalogue of a Collection of Rings... by T. C. Croker, 1853."

6. "Edwards (Charles), the History and Poetry of Finger Rings. New York, 1854."

7. The Catalogue of the Loan Collection at the South Kensington Museum, 1862."

From The Mysteries of Love and Eloquence, or the Arts of
Wooing and Complementing; as they are manag'd in
the Spring Garden, Hide Park, the New Exchange, and
other Eminent Places. Lond. 1658, pp. 154-157.
Thou wert not handsom, wise, but rich,
'Twas that which did my eyes bewitch.

What God hath joyn'd let no man put asunder.
Divinely knit by God are we,

Late one, now two, the pledge you see.

We strangely met, and so do many,

But now as true as ever any.

As we begun so let's continue.

My beloved is mine, and I am hers.
True blue will never stain.

[The same may be said of the printers' annual festival, which, although called the Wayz-goose, the bird nevertheless has taken its flight from the social table. This comes from their having transposed "the goose-day" from St. Bartholomew tide to the month of July.-ED.]

Against thou goest I will provide another.

Let him never take a wife

That will not love her as his life.
In loving thee I love myself.
A heart content cannot repent.

I do not repent that I gave my consent.
No gift can show the love I ow.
What the eye saw the heart hath chosen.
More faithful than fortunate.
Love me little but love me long.

Love him who gave thee this Ring of gold
"Tis he must kiss thee when th'art old.
This circle though but small about
The Devil, Jealousie, shall keep out.
If I think my wife is fair

What need other people care.

This Ring is a token I give to thee
That Thou no tokens do change for me.
My dearest Betty is good and pretty.
I did then commit no folly
When I married my sweet molly.

'Tis fit men should not be alone
Which made Tom to marry Jone.

Su is bonny blythe and brown

This Ring hath made her now my own. Like Phillis there is none:

She truely loves her Choridon.

From The Card of Courtship, or the Language of Love fitted to the Humours of all Degrees, Sexes, and Conditions, 1653, p. 91.

Thou art my star, be not irregular.
Without thy love I backward move.
Thine eyes so bright are my chief delight.
This intimates true lovers' states.
My life is done when thou art gone.
This hath no end, my sweetest friend:
Our loves be so, no ending know.

From the Gentleman's Magazine.
Christ and thee my comfort be.-Vol. II. p. 629.

Gold ring found on Flodden Field, in the possession of George Allen, Esq. of Darlington (1785) :

OV EST NVL SI LOIAVLS AMANS

QVI SE POET GARDER DES MAVXDISANS.

De cuer entier.-LXXV. i. 409.

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LV. 89, 167, 193.

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Gold ring found near St. Ann's Well, Nottingham:

Mon cur avez.-cxxI. ii. 640.

Honour et Joye.-cxxIx. ii. 513.

From the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries.
A silver ring found near Old Sarum: -

AMOR. VINCIT. OM.-ii. 164.

The origin he assigns to Pontifex at any rate admits of question. If præbens iter be merely an instance of the brave archdeacon's love of playing upon words, it is so far unobjectionable, though it scarcely justifies his exordium.

Wheatly, in his Illustration of the Book of Common Prayer, ed. Bohn, p. 406, derives "incestuous" from sine cesto Veneris; that is, such mar

A gold ring of the fifteenth century, found near riages among the heathen were unblessed by the Whitchurch, Salop:

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presence of Venus. Surely the received in-castus, with its root kao-após, is better than this.

If nobilis is a contracted form of non vilis, as CHESSBOROUGH thinks, would not the simple word, vilis, itself have served well enough to contrast with it without having recourse to the double negative-in, non, vilis, which would thus be contained in ignobilis? Indeed the use of this compound word would be a presumption that nobilis is a simple positive term, and not a negation as your correspondent seems to make it. The old form gnobilis, mentioned by Smith, would also militate against the non vilis theory; and this ancient form appears to be preserved in ignobilis, with which we may compare i-gnavus and i-gnaW. BOWEN ROWLANDS.

rus.

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A panting syllable through time and space," frequently indulge themselves to no small extent in the "licentia philologica;" and we scarcely are astonished even at the celebrated etymological connection traced between "cucumber " and "King Jeremiah." I quote the following from an old treatise as a tolerable specimen of a ramble in search of a root. The word to be derived is treacle, of which our author (Anon.), when treating of vipers, writes as follows:

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"It is a thing very excellently good (by a secret property in Nature) to beare the head of a viper about a man: for living it killeth, and dead it healeth. Tiriacle or treacle is properly good against venom; but in the making thereof, and in the confection, there is necessary some part of this beast, to the end it may be the more perfect, and of the greater efficacy. And it was named Tiriacle because that the word Thirion (Ongior) in Greek signifieth a viper, or venomous beast!"

Again, the word Presbyter is presented with a curious quasi-derivation by Giraldus Cambrensis in his Sermo in Synodo Menevensi. Speaking of the dignity of the Christian priesthood, in illustration of his text, Malachi ii. 7, he says:

"Ex ipsâ quoque vocabulorum impositione majestas dignitatis hujus etiam ordinis declaratur. Dicitur enim sacerdos, quasi sacra dans, vel sacra ministrans. Presbiter, quasi aliis præbens iter. Antistes, ante alios stans. Pontifex, pontem faciens. Episcopus, quasi supra intendens vel speculator."

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It was observed at the time this exhibition was made that Henchman, Compton, and Robinson, Bishops of London, exercised episcopal powers under this seal over America from the middle of Charles II.'s reign to the end of that of Queen Anne; but in George I.'s reign a question was referred to the then Attorney and Solicitor-General, "Whether America was so far to be deemed within the diocese of London, that the bishop thereof had all power in America?" Upon this question the law-officers gave it as their opinion, that letters patent from the crown were necessary to constitute such episcopal powers, which Dr. Gibson, the then Bishop of London, refusing to take out, the seal became no longer an object for use. H. E.

REGIMENTAL HONOURS.-The first regiment of the line without a victory inscribed on its banners

is the 16th Bedfordshire, and yet this corps greatly distinguished itself so far back as the battle of Walcourt, August 5, 1689, under Marlborough, the rest of the army being Dutch, with (it is proper to mention) the Coldstreams and Royals, who also gained honours. I believe the regiment was only embodied in 1688, so it is a pity that their maiden victory should not be honourably recorded. I make a present of this hint to the regiment, or those concerned in its prosperity.

Government House, Hong Kong.

W. T. M.

300 or 400 skeletons at least have been taken out. My Query is, whether this is the site of a plague pit. The place is about 100 yards from the city wall, and perhaps three times that distance from Bishopsgate, and somewhat farther from Moorgate.

It would appear from the way in which the bones lie, as if at first the bodies had been buried in coffins, and afterwards they had been thrown in indiscriminately. It is right to say that every care appears to be taken to avoid any shock to public decency: the bones, as they are taken out, are laid aside in boxes, no doubt for interment.

QUISQUIS.

OLD BEDLAM.-The final obliteration of one of the old city sites deserves a few lines of record in N. & Q."

A LADY'S DRESS, 1762.-A curious dissertation might be composed on the various articles that constitute a young lady's dress. Specifying the different countries from which the materials, raw or manufactured, are imported; and computing" the numerous hands and complicated machinery that are put in motion in order to produce the splendid ensemble.

After the lapse of a century, the following lines are not inapplicable to the present style of feminine apparel :

"ON A YOUNG LADY'S DRESS.

"Fair Chloe's dress (which Venus' self might wear)
From various realms is culled with happy care:
To grace the well-shaped foot, in Turkey's soil,
Through life's short span laborious silk-worms toil;
The whale, in Zembla's frozen regions found,
Distends the swelling hoop's capacious round.
The Belgian nymphs, a nice industrious race,
Weave the fine texture of the curious lace.
Peruvian mines the rich brocade bestow,
And Guinea's treasures in her buckle glow:
Afric the tribute of its ivory pays,

On polished sticks the spreading fan to raise.
The Phrygian swans their downy plumage shed,
And from the scorching sun defend her head.
The bear's warm fur the Russian deserts yield,
From falling snow her whiter breast to shield.
The bless'd Arabia sends, from balmy air,
Essence less fragrant than the breathing fair.
India's rich coasts the sparkling gems supply,
Less sparkling than the lustre of her eye.
How oft the merchant glows beneath the line,
That Chloe all-accomplished thus may shine!"
Scots' Mag., vol. xxiv. p. 543.

W. D.

PLAGUE PIT.-Excavations are now being made for the works of the North London Railway in Broad Street Buildings, and a very large quantity of human bones have been met with. The excavations do not extend over the whole space to be covered by the works, but are only on the sites intended to be occupied by the brickwork. The bones being at about four feet from the surface, and from thence to about eight or ten feet lower, the ground is full of them. They lie without any arrangement, and there are no coffins except in a corner of one of the pits, where the remains of some, but comparatively few, have been found at the lower part of the excavation. Probably some

"In the year 1569," says Stow, "Sir Thomas Roe, merchant-tailor, mayor, caused to be inclosed with a wall of brick about one acre of ground, being part of the Hospital of Bethlehem. This he did for burial and ease of such parishes in London as wanted ground convenient within their parishes. The lady, his wife, was there buried (by whose persuasion he inclosed it).”

This space, converted into gardens, and shaded with really well-grown trees, has long been one of the smaller "lungs" of the city, ensuring air, light, and quiet to the neighbouring houses and hospital. The ground is now become the property of a railway company, and will soon be transformed into a noisy terminus. The gateway in the west wall, bricked up a few years ago, is still flanked by its funereal urns, and against the south wall in Liverpool Street, a stone tablet, placed there about sixteen years ago, records, in a a Latin inscription, copied from the original, as preserved by Holinshed, the grant of Sir Thomas Roe,-"in usum publicæ sepulturæ. A.D. 1569." I should have said "recorded," not "records," for the tablet is already buried beneath a flaring posting-bill. The hundreds of bodies lying beneath the surface of these once quiet gardens, will soon be carted away-whither? How vain in these railroad days are dedications of land to special purposes! Church and churchyard alike vanish before the pickaxe and shovel of the navvy.

J.

GRAPE, AND SEASIDE-GRAPE.-In describing the West Indies, Sir A.; Alison, the historian, says:

"Grapes are so plentiful upon every shrub, that the surge of the ocean, as it lazily rolls in upon the shore, with the quiet winds of summer, dashes its spray upon its clusters."

I noted the above error on finding it amongst the Selections in an "Educational Course."

The grape-vine does not grow in the West Indies as here described; but there is a robust tree, called the "seaside-grape," which answers the description so picturesquely given.

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