MS. PEDIGREES. Can any one give me information as to the nature of the following manuscript, which forms No. 44 of the collection at Middle Hill? I quote from Haenal's Cat. Lib. MSS. col. 805- "Burlington and Gainsbro' pedigrees." Is it, as I suspect, a genealogical volume relating to certain inhabitants of those towns ? CORNUB. ST. PETER'S CHAIR.-I beg to forward the accompanying cutting, which may be worth insertion in "N. & Q.”: — "IS ST. PETER'S CHAIR AT ROME A GENUINE RELIO?-Before concluding my cursory remarks (says the Roman correspondent of The Post) upon the external features of the religious recurrences which have called together in Rome from all parts of the world so many representatives of the Catholic faith, I must devote a few lines to the celebrated relic denominated 'St. Peter's Chair,' which has been exposed to public veneration for the last week for the first time during the last two centuries. I confess, notwithstanding Lady Morgan's satirical hints that this chair is nothing more than a piece of Arabic household furniture with an inscription on the back in honour of Mahomet, I looked upon it with great interest, such interest as an object carefully and religiously preserved for upwards of a thousand years may naturally excite. Such is about the time that the 'Cathedra of Peter' has been in the authentic keeping of the Church, having been a treasured relic for centuries in the old Constantinian Basilica, and kept with equal veneration under the high altar of the present church, until placed in its actual ponderous bronze case by Bernini and Artusi in the reign of Pope Alexander VII. Anybody very curious to obtain arguments in favour of the identity of this chair, as having really belonged to St. Peter here in Rome, may get them in Monsignore Febei's curious book, De Identitate Cathedra Romana, published upwards of a century ago; but I mean to limit my observations to the intrinsic evidence presented by the style and probable date of construction of the chair itself. The chair has been for the last week elevated on a lofty gilt pedestal on the altar of Maria Santissima, in St. Peter's, where the faithful of all nations, but especially French priests and Zouaves, are perpetually kneeling before it, while masses are being celebrated, and chaplets, medals, and crosses rubbed upon it, to be borne away with acquired virtue by pious pilgrims. Implicit faith is a grand thing, but there are many sincere and enlightened Catholics who have no faith in the antiquity of St. Peter's chair, and boldly declare it to be a production of the tenth century. Bunsen states it to be a piece of German wood-work, enriched with engraved ivory of a different period. At any rate, it is nothing like a Roman or curule chair, such as the senator Pudens might be supposed to have in his house, and to offer to his guest and pastor Peter. For it has a pointed, Gothic-looking back, with three round arches and columns, one of which is broken; the arms and legs are stiff and straight, like the stone episcopal chairs to be seen in churches of the twelfth century; and the front is ornamented with engraved tablets of ivory, representing the labours of Hercules and the twelve signs of the Zodiac. But, notwithstanding all apparent evidence to the contrary, the Church has declared it to be the chair actually used by St. Peter, and as such the honours paid to it ought not to excite surprise. Newcastle-on-Tyne. J. MANUEL. PHILOSOPHY OF NOTATION. Can any readers of " N. & Q." help me to anything on this subject? I refer to the abstract principles which compilers of a notation should follow, whether that notation be for numbers, music, language, or chemistry. J. S. C. JAMES SMITH, Principal of the University of Edinburgh and Professor of Divinity in 1732, took a leading part in ecclesiastical affairs in Scotland at the beginning of last century. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Dalkeith in 1703, being at the time chaplain to Sir John Dalrymple of Cousland, and was subsequently minister of the parishes of Morham, in Haddingtonshire, and Cramond in Midlothian. There is a rare poem on his death entitled "Lamentation of the University of Edinburgh on the death of Principal Smith, 1736." He married a Miss Oswald-I presume one of the Oswalds of Dryborough in the parish of Denny, Stirlingshire-as I find his son John settled at Broomhill in that parish in 1732. Any account of his parentage, birthplace, or connections will be considered a favour. Address, Office "N. & Q." F. M. S. HEIGHT OF OUR CHIEF TOWNS ABOVE SEALEVEL.-Being anxious to ascertain the heights of English cities and larger towns above the level of the sea, I ask the favour of information thereon. My immediate object is to raise Salisbury from the hole in which it has always been placed by popular opinion; quite erroneously, however, for already, from a knowledge of actual levellings, I find its elevation of 150 feet to be 110 feet above the mean of London and metropolitan levels; and I hope to prove it, instead of the very lowest city, to be one of the highest of all the English cities and larger towns. A. B. MIDDLETON. The Close, Salisbury. "WEEP NOT FOR THE DEAD."-Who are the following lines by? I met with them many years the author. ago in some old magazine, and should like to know I have also heard them set to the "Dead March" in "Saul," and sung at a military funeral: "Weep not for the dead: Thy sighs and tears are unavailing; Queries with Answers. "the GILLRAY'S "FRENCH INVASION."-Among a few of James Gillray's spirited caricatures I possess, is a large one representing the projected French invasion from the Camp de Boulogne; where, in the distance, you see His Satanic Majesty playing the fiddle, and cutting capers on the guillotine. In a rough and boisterous sea, the French Armada is seen struggling in vain against adverse winds, which, Eolus-like, W. Pitt is blowing pilot that weathered the storm"; whereas, in the foreground, at a windlass, are pulling it with might and main, towards British shores, some public characters, evidently portraits: amongst whom the bulky figure of C. J. Fox, in his torn shirt-sleeves and a tricoloured ribbon to his tail, is very recognisable. I should be glad to know who the other dramatis persone are one of them in profile has a blue coat and top-boots. Is not Matthew Tierney one of the others? P. A. L. [In spite of the labours of Mr. Thomas Wright, Mr. Evans, and others, the allusions in many of Gillray's caricatures are still very obscure, and much in want of illustration. Our columns will at all times be open to Queries concerning, or facts illustrating them. But in these, as well as in other matters, we must insist upon the name, date, &c. of the caricature being correctly described. The only caricature of Gillray's which we remember, bearing the title of "French Invasion," has a supplementary title, "Or Buonaparte landing in Great Britain," and is dated June 10, 1803. This is altogether very different from the one which forms the subject of P. A. L.'s query, which relates to one dated Feb. 1, 1798, and entitled "The Storm rising; or, the Republican Flotilla in danger." It is directed against the encouragement which the Whigs were charged with giving to the threatened invasion, and the windlass is accordingly worked by Pitt, Sheridan, the Duke of Bedford, and Tierney. It may be added that his Satanic Majesty is playing the tune, "Over de Vater to Charley" (Fox).] [Hubert François D'Anville, better known under his assumed name of Henry Gravelot, was the brother of D'Anville the geographer. He was born at Paris in 1699. He commenced painting at about thirty-nine years of age, but took afterwards to designing and etching. In 1733 he was invited to England by Claude du Bosc, to assist him in the plates of Picart's Religious Ceremonies, and also etched several plates for books, among which were those for Sir Thomas Hanmer's edition of Shakspeare. He drew the monuments of kings for Vertue, and gave the designs, where invention was necessary, for Pine's plates of the tapestry in the House of Lords. He also engraved the plates for Theobald's Shakspeare from his own designs; but his large print of Kirkstall Abbey is considered the finest specimen of his abilities. He returned to Paris in 1745, where he died in 1778, aged seventy-four. De Fontenai, Dictionnaire des Artistes; Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting, ed. 1849, iii. 979; and Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, p. 495.] PORTRAIT FOR IDENTIFICATION.—I have a family portrait of an elderly gentleman whom I ber of the House of Commons, as he holds in his cannot identify. He seems to have been a memhands two papers on which are the following words: "Resolutions against French slaves and black corps in Jamaica, 1798." "Letter to the honourable the speaker of the assembly requesting leave to vacate my seat. May, 1800." Can any of your readers tell me the name ? PARIS. [We take this to be the portrait of Bryan Edwards, M.P. for Grampound, co. Cornwall, and the accurate historian of the West Indies. Mr. Edwards was born at Westbury in Wiltshire on May 21, 1743, and died at his house Polygon, near Southampton, on July 15, 1800. He exercised his literary talents in a memorable way in Jamaica; for by the strokes of his pen he drove Peter Pindar from that island; and that bitter satirist never dared afterwards to attack his character. There is a portrait of Mr. Edwards painted by Abbott and engraved by Holloway.] CUDDY BANKS. In a note on Aristophanes, Equites, 243, Mitchell alludes to Cuddy Banks. Who was he? P. J. F. GANTILLON. [Cuddy Banks figures as a clown in Ford's tragicomedy, The Witch of Edmonton, in connection with the Morris Hobby-horse, as follows: "Cuddy. The morrice is so cast, we'll have neither mean nor base in our company, fellow Rowland.. "3rd Clown. What! not a counter? "Cuddy. By no means, no hunting counter; leave that to the Enfield Chase men: all trebles, all in the little or no labour will serve," &c. Hence the allusion in altitudes. Now for the disposing of parts in the Morrice, Mr. Mitchell's note: "In what exact form the Chorus make their appearance it is difficult to say: had the editorship of this play fallen upon Cuddy Banks, he would at once have set them down as so many hobby-horses." THE "ARGENIS ETC. OF BARCLAY.-The editio optima of these works of Barclay is generally held to be that in 3 vols. 8vo, Lugd. Bat. 1664-69-74. The first and last of these are before me; the first containing the Argenis, in five books, with notes and index, pp. 653; the last containing the Satyricon-this being the general name for the Euphormia, Apologio, Icon Animorum, Alethophili Lacrymæ, and Alethophilus Castigatus, which, together with the Conspiratio Anglicana at the end, Birmingham. WILLIAM BATES. [The second volume, Lugd. Batav. 1669, contains Archombratus et Theopompus sive Argenidis secunda et tertia pars, ubi de institutione principis, pp. 639.] COHORTS IN BRITAIN.-Can any of your correspondents well read in the annals of the Roman Empire enumerate the localities wherein the following cohorts were stationed during the Roman occupation of Britain, namely, Cohors Prima Britannicorum, Cohors Prima Flavia Britannicorum, Cohors Tertia Britonum, Cohors Sexta Britonum ? It is desired that references to the works in which they are mentioned be given. GLAN. [Robert Brady, in his Complete History of England, fol. ed. 1685, has a chapter on "The Roman Military Establishment in Britain," (pp. 41-51), taken out of the Notitia, or Summary of Theodosius Junior. Consult also the "Indices Inscriptionum" in the Monumenta Historica Britannica, by Petrie and Sharpe, i. p. cxlvi.] BULL AND MOUTH.-The following lines are embossed over the door of the Queen's Hotel, Aldersgate Street. Can you help me to find out the reason of their being there, and their date ? "Milo, the Crotonian, An ox slew with his fist, And at one meal he ate it all Ye Gods! what a glorious twist!" ORIENTAL. [Is not this the old "Bull and Mouth"? If so, the allusion in the lines is obvious, and refers, as Mr. Timbs points out in his Curiosities of London (p. 453), to the story of Milo, who, after killing a bullock with one blow of his fist, ate it up at meal.] LATIN QUOTATION.— "35. Of other reptils we have little to say, but that in the Lordship of Blechington [now spelt Bletchingdon *], and all the more northern parts of Oxfordshire [Dorchester is in the southern part of the county, being nine miles south-east of Oxford], no snakes have been ever or very rarely seen, in so much that I met with several ancient people about Deddington and Banbury that scarce ever saw a snake in their lives, at least not in that country. And at Blechington 'twas confidently believed that a snake brought from any other place, and put down there, would instantly dye, till I made the experiment and found no such matter: Whereupon I got leave (in the absence of the family) to inclose my snake in the court, before the Right Honourable the Lord Anglesey's house, to see what time would produce, leaving the gardener in trust to observe it strictly, who found it indeed, after three weeks time, dead, without any sensible external hurt. "36. How this should come to pass, is a question indeed not easy to determin [sic], but certainly it must not be ascribed to the talismanical figure of the stone ophiomorphites to be found about Adderbury, and in most blue clays, whereof there are plenty in this country Since these are to be met with about Oxford too, and in many other places where there are snakes enough. Beside, we are informed by Cardan † that Albertus Magnus had a stone that, being naturally mark'd with the figure of a serpent, had this no less admirable than contrary virtue, that if it were put into a place that was haunted with serpents, it would draw them all to it. rather may we subscribe to the cause assigned by Pliny,‡ who seems confidently to assert that the earth that is brackish, and standeth much upon saltpetre, is freer from vermin than any other. To which we may add (if need be) sulphur and vitriol, whereof there is plenty in these parts of the county; but whether by one, two, or all these, though we dare not pronounce, yet that it is caused by some such mineral steam disagreeable to the animal, I think we may be confident." Much The first edition of Dr. Plot's Natural History of Oxfordshire had the imprimatur of the ViceChancellor of the University of Oxford, April 13, "Cujusvis hominis est errare: nullius nisi insipientis, 1676. "The second edition, with large Additions perseverare in errore." Wanted by PAULULUM MEMORIÆ. [Cicero, Philippica, xii. cap. 2.] Replies. DORCHESTER, CO. OXFORD. (3rd S. xii. 346.) MR. S. BEISLY wishes, it would seem, to know to what authority the author of Murray's Handbook for Berks, Bucks, and Oron is indebted for the following statement: "There is an old and existing belief that no viper will live in the parish of Dorchester." One would expect to find such a notion mentioned in Plot's Natural History of Oxfordshire; and Corrections," was published at Oxford and London in 1705. I have quoted from this second edition. Among the "Additions to chap. vii." is the following: "S 35. There are no snakes near Badminton in Glocestershire: The cause is the barenness and coldness of the land thereabouts, for snakes are bred out of rich, fat, hot mould and mud (whence we commonly find them about ditches, and low, rich, shady grounds, lurking under long grass) of which this country affords no great plenty. Besides, it being an open country, it wants that shade and shelter they delight in."-Brit. Bacon. p. 73. This Brit. Bacon, is the work referred to in the following extract from the "short account of" Dr. Plot "by that curious naturalist, Mr. Edward Lhwyd, Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford," which is prefixed to the beginning of the second edition of Dr. Robert Plot's Natural History of Oxfordshire: "In the year 1677 he published his Natural History of Oxfordshire, which he wrote (as [vid. p. 339. Athen. Oxon.] 'tis thought) in imitation of a book of Dr. Childrey's, entituled Britannia Baconica, or the Natural Rarities of England." JOHN HOSKYNS-ABRAHALL, JUN. Combe, near Woodstock. THE SKYRACK OAK. (3rd S. xii. 503.) I remember the Skyrack Oak ever since my boyhood, when it was a more picturesque object than it is now; and at a future time I will supply you with some of the traditions which were then extant respecting it. It is now only the ruin of what was once a fine oak tree. Fifty years ago very few persons who went to view the remains of Kirkstall omitted, in going to or from Leeds, to look at the Skyrack Oak, which is in the immediate neighbourhood of the abbey. In the Annals of Leeds, by Edward Parsons (vol. i. p. 190), it is thus noticed: "The principal object in the village of Headingly is the venerable oak which has defied the storms of a thousand winters, and which for hundreds of years has presented to the observer a decaying memorial of ages long since passed away. This remarkable tree has been conjectured by some-and the supposition is warranted by its evidently extreme antiquity-to have witnessed the horrible religious rites of the ancient Britons, and in fact to have formed part of a Druidical grove. Universal tradition declares this to have been the tree under which, in Saxon times, the shire meetings were held, and from which the name of Skyrack (shire oak) has been imposed upon the wapentake. Of course these traditions afford no positive demonstration; but, in spite of scepticism, they render the supposition extremely probable, and induce the conclusion that it must be founded on fact." So much of poem and legend has been mixed up with the history of all such objects, that it is impossible to discriminate the false from the true. Thoresby, in his Ducatus Leodiensis, gives a more full account of the oak, and I must refer your correspondent to that authority for replies to his other queries. In Whitaker's edition of the Ducatus (p. 81), the following explanation is given. I give it with the notes of reference: ["HUNDREDS OR WAPENTAKES]. Ten of these Decuria, or Tythings, made the Centuria or Hundred; these in some places (and particularly in these Northern Counties) are called Wapentakes, the Reason of which Denomination is distinctly mentioned in the Laws of King Edward the Confessor (), viz. when a Person received the Government of a Wapentake, at the appointed Time and usual Place, the elder Sort met him, and when he was got off his Horse, rose up to him; then he held up his Spear, and took Security of all present, according to Custom; whoever came touched his Spear with theirs, and by this touching of Armour were confirmed in one common Interest; and thus from pæpnu, Weapons, and Tac, a Touch, or taccape, to confirm, they were called Wapentakes; but here the Reader is to be cautioned that he run not into the mistake of the learned Editor, who takes Ewerwickshire for Warwickshire, whereas it is indisputably Yorkshire, as appears from ancient Manuscripts, and Coins minted here, &c. [SKIREAKE]. It may not be amiss here to note, that this Wapentake of Skireake seems to have received its Denomination from such a Convention at some noted Oak, or, to use a local Word, Kenspack-Ake. That Hundreds received their Names from a Tree, Cross, Stone, &c. is familiar; and that Places were named from Oaks in particular is the less Wonder, because ours are said to be the best in the World. Hence Oakham, Ockley, Akeham, Aukland, so called (as Sarron in Greece was) from Beroke, a disbarked Oak, to which, when the State was the Oaks; and so the whole County of Berkshire, from in more than ordinary Danger, the Inhabitants were wont in ancient Times to resort, and consult about Publick Matters' (). From some memorable Oak (yet called in the North an Ake), where the Inhabitants usually met upon in this Parish (of which see p.*-), we may safely conclude such publick Occasions, which was probably at Hedingley that this Wapentake was named Skireake, or the ShireOak, which according to the Saxon Orthography was (as it is pronounced to this Day) rcype-ac, for the Interposition of the h was not brought in till the Time of the probability of all the County Freeholders meeting at this Normans, who wrote it Schire. If any argue the Im Place, I shall not contend (though that there were such general Assemblies, and in all likelihood at such a Place in those ancient Times, rather than within walled Towns ("), is no improbable Conjecture) for it as effectually answers this Etymon, if only the Inhabitants of this Wapentake, or this Division (Ab A.-Sax., гcypan, to divide into Shares), assembled there. I shall only add, that the Hundred-Courts, which in some places were held every three Weeks, in others but once a Month, were reduced to the County Courts by Statute 14 Edw. III." () Edit. Wheloc, p. 45. 66 (t) Camden's Britannia, N. E., p. 137. (a) Thus a Palm-Tree served Deborah for her Westminster-hall, when she judged Israel, saith Dr. Fuller, in his Church Hist., p. 60." The whole of the chapter from which the above is extracted will be instructive to G. H. of S., but it is too long for insertion in your columns. He will find that the division of the county into hundreds, or wapentakes, was made in the times of our 66 Saxon predecessors." It would be in vain to seek for the precise date. It will be observed, that I have carefully followed the text, even to the adoption of the numerous capital letlers and the italicising. My copy of Whitaker leaves a blank where the page ought to be inserted, and all the copies I have had an opportunity of consulting have the same omission. The reference ought to be to p. 148, where, under the head of "Scyrake," the oak is once again referred to. The interest of the quotation will be an apology for its length. Shortlands. T. B. 66 2. The Reasons of the Lords and Commons in Parliament, Why they cannot agree to the Alteration and Addition in the Articles of Cessation offered by His Majesty. With His Majesties Gratious Answer thereunto, April 4, 1643. Printed, by His Majesties Command, at Oxford. By Leonard Lichfield, Printer to the Vniversity. 1643. Sm. 4to, 21 pp." 3. "The Votes agreed on by the Lords and Commons concerning a treaty; and Their desire of a safe conduct for a Committee named by them, contained in a letter of the 28. of February from the Earle of Manchester to the Lord Viscount of Falkland. With His Majesties Gratious Answer thereunto, and a Copy of His Safe Conduct. Also, The Articles concerning a Cessation proposed by both Houses of Parliament, and a letter of the 28. of February from the said Earle of Manchester, to the said L. of Falkland, in which they were inclosed. With His Majesties gratious Answer to the same. Sm. 4to, 13 pp." [Without printer's name or date, but evidently from the press of Leonard Lichfield, as the type and paper are similar to Nos. 1 and 2.] I subjoin an extract, by way of note, from No. 3: "His majesties safe Conduct. "Ovr Will and Pleasure is, And We doe hereby straitly Charge and Command all the Officers and Souldiers of our present Army, and all our Ministers and Subjects whatsoever, to permit and suffer Our Right trusty and Right wellbeloved Couzin and Counsellor Algernon Earle of Northumberland, and Our Trusty and Welbeloved William Pierrepont, Esq., Sir William Armayne, and Sir John Holland, Knights, and Bulstrode Whitlock, Esquire (together with their servants), to passe and repasse to and from Vs, without any Let or Hinderance, they being now sent to attend Vs from Our two Houses of Parliament. This Our safe Conduct under Our Signe Manuall and Royall Signet, We Charge and Command them, and every of them, punctually to observe and obey, as they will answer the contrary at their utmost perills. "Given at our Court at OXFORD, the third of MARCH, 1642." J. HARRIS GIBSON. Liverpool. CINQUE PORT SEALS. (3rd S. xii. 433.) The ships of the Romans had the rudders passing over the side of the vessel; sometimes there were two to a ship, at others four-two at the prow, and two at the stern. In Stosch is a vessel without oars, going at full sail with two rudders at the stern. These had sometimes, at their issue from the ships, projecting cases, serving no doubt to keep the helm perpendicularly to the sea. A cross piece (a kind of clavus) governed the vessel with more facility. In all AngloSaxon ships there are two oars at the stern for steering, instead of a rudder. The ship in the Bayeux tapestry is a long galley, with a high crook at the stern, topped by a figure, and a similar one at the prow, taller, with a bust above. The rudder (in the form of a large oar) is on the side, and there is a single mast with a top to it, and a square ornamented yard. A good drawing of this, ship your correspondent may find in Fosbroke's Encyclopædia of Antiquities, p. 263, fig. 14. The derivation of rudder will show that it was primarily an oar: Saxon rothere from rowan, to row; German ruder, Old German ruodar. The modern rudder was not in general use till the middle of the reign of Edward III. or about 1350, though the old plan of steering ships by a paddle on each side was not abandoned till long after. In a MS. of about the year 1300 two drawings of ships are given, in both of which the rudder appears at the stern, and a man is seen steering with a tiller. In another MS. of the middle of the fourteenth century there are two delineations of Noah's ark represented by ships having a large house on their decks; both of these have rudders at the stern, with two pintles and gudgeons, and a tiller. From the perfect manner in which the rudder appears in these drawings, it is highly probable that, though not then, nor until a much later period in general use, yet it had long been applied to large vessels, whose height and size out of the water must have rendered it extremely inconvenient to steer with the ancient paddles. (See Steinitz's History of the Ship.) In the vessels represented on medieval seals the sail is covered with armorial compositions |