subject? and what day of the year the cleansing of it, which was celebrated as a holiday, took place? W. H. In a Ghost Story of Colonel Blomberg. little book, entitled The Unseen World (Burns, 1847), there occurs a ghost-story regarding a Colonel B, the father of a dignitary of the church then living. The Colonel being cut off in an expedition amongst the Indians of North America, his spirit appeared to two brother officers at head-quarters, and requested them, on their return to London, to seek in a particular place he pointed out for a paper important to the interests of his infant son, and to present this paper along with the son to Queen Charlotte, who would be the making of his fortune. It is added that all was done as the shade requested, and that young B- did prosper accordingly. I have heard this story in society, and been informed that the person whose fortunes were advanced in so extraordinary a way was the Rev. Frederick William Blomberg, who died in March, 1847, aged eighty-five, Chaplain in Ordinary to the Queen, and Canon Residentiary of St. Paul's. The obituary notice of Dr. Blomberg, in the Gentleman's Magazine, says nothing of the ghoststory, but gives a fact in conformity with it, namely, that the doctor was a member of a family which had long been attached to the court, and was educated in intimate association with the children of George III.; it also exhibited a series of preferments such as falls to the lot of few, and amply justifies the prediction of the paternal sprite, if any such prediction was ever made. Can any reader of "N. & Q." give exact and reliable information regarding this alleged spiritual visitation, the proper designation of Colonel Blomberg, the date and circumstances of his death, the names of the two brother officers, the nature of the paper deposited in London, &c. CANDIDUS. Minor Queries with Answers. Richard Mulcaster. In Wilson's History of Merchant Taylors' School, part i. p. 86., is the following extract from Queen Elizabeth's payment for plays: "18 March, 1573-4, to Richard Mouncaster for two plays presented before her on Candlemas-day and Shrove Tuesday last, 20 marks; and further for his charges, 20 marks. "11 March 1575-6, to Richard Mouncaster for presenting a play before her on Shrove Sunday last, 10 pounds." Query 1st. What were these plays? Were they translations of the classic drama, and do any of them exist now? Shakspeare was only ten years of age at this time. Mulcaster also assisted to arrange the pageants at Kenilworth Castle, and I am disposed to think that he was present himself, and personated the "olde mynstrel of the Northe Countrie." He certainly composed the verses. See a description of his dress in Percy's Reliques of Antient Poetry, p. lxxi. Query 2nd. Was Mulcaster present at Kenilworth on this occasion? R. M. [Mulcaster appears to have been early addicted to dramatic composition, and his name occurs, as our correspondent has shown, among those who assisted in the plays performed before Queen Elizabeth in 1572 and 1576. In 1575, when Elizabeth was on one of her progresses at Kenilworth, Mulcaster produced some Latin verses, which were spoken before her, and printed in Gascoyne's Princely Pleasures at Kenilworth, and in Nichols's Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, i. 493. In 1580, he prefixed some commendatory verses to Ocland's Anglorum Prælia, and others, two years afterwards, to his Eipnvapxia. He likewise addressed some verses to Elizabeth on her skill in music, printed in Tallis and Bird's Discantus Cantiones, &c., 1575, 4to., and inserted by Ballard in his Memoirs of Queen Elizabeth. His separate works were, his Positions, wherein those primitive Circumstances be examined which are necessarie for the training up of Children, either for Skill in theire Book, or Health in their Bodie. Lond. 1581, 1587, 4to. To this a Second Part was promised, which seems to have been completed in 1582, by the publication of The First Part of the Elementarie, which_entreateth chefely of the right writing of the English Tung. 1601, he published his Cathechismus Paulinus, in usum Schola Paulina conscriptus. Most biographical dictionaries contain notices of Mulcaster; consult also his Life by Sir Henry Ellis in Gent.'s Mag. lxx. 419. 511. 603; WilLife of Colet; Warton's History of Poetry; and Fuller's son's History of the Merchant Taylors' School; Knight's Worthies.] In Mountery College, Wells. This college was founded by Bishop Ralph Erghum about a. D. 1400 (or rather by his directions, by his executors) for fourteen priests, who, it is presumed, had duties to perform in the cathedral. Any information, from Dugdale, or elsewhere, as to this institution, will be very acceptable; and (if it can be obtained) a copy of or extracts from the bishop's will, or the foundation deed, or any other document connected with the college; also, its revenues at the Dissolution, and the exact period when it was dissolved. INA. Wells, Somerset. [Tanner (Notitia, edit. 1787) gives the following account of this College:-" Ralph Erghum, bishop of Bath and Wells, who died A. D. 1401, appointed by his will his executors to build in the street then called La Mountery, since College Lane, houses for the fourteen chantry priests officiating in the Cathedral of Wells, and a hall for them to eat in Common, which were called Mountrey or Moundroy College; valued 26 Hen. VIII. at 1204. 1s. 4d. per annum, in the whole, as Sancroft's MS. Valor; at 837. 16s. as Dr. Archer; and at 117. 18s. 8d. as Dugdale and Speed (which last is said to be the clear value in Sancroft's MS.) and granted, 2 Edw. VL, to John Aylworth and John Lacy." Tanner then adds in his notes, that this society was styledSocietas presbyterorum annuellarum Nova aula Wellens.' (Dr. Hutton e regist. Wells.) Their number probably increased before the Reformation; for in A. D. 1555, there were seventeen who had pensions, and are styled Colleginarii sive cantarista in collegio sive Nova aula de la Mounteroy prope civitatem Wellensem.' (Liber MS. pensionum penes Petrum Le Neve.) There are but fifteen said to have pensions in Willis' Abbies, ii. 200., but their pensions amounted to 627. 8s. per annum. Quare. Whether this College was not dedicated to St. Anne, and had not the induction of the chantry priests; for 24 July, 1520, Hen. Harrison institutus ad cantariam S. Kalixti in eccl. cath. Wellensi; et scriptum fuit pro inductione principalibus collegii S. Annæ de Wells.' Dr. Hutton's Collections out of the registers of Wells."] -I am Priory of St. John, Wells, Somerset. anxious to obtain accurate information about this Priory, or Hospital, as it is often called. It was founded about 1206 by Hugh de Welles, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln, and his brother Joceline de Welles, afterwards Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury, which title he was induced to drop for "Bath and Wells." The Priory or Hospital was (it is said) founded for a prior and ten brethren, and as such it is referred to by Godwin and other authorities. It was dissolved in 1539. The ruins are now being removed for the erection of public schools, and before the whole fabric is swept away, I wish to preserve some memorial of the establishment. Will any of the readers of "N. & Q." give such particulars as they can from Dugdale's Monasticon or elsewhere as to the design and objects of this priory; the number of the inmates at its dissolution; the value of its revenues at that time? Was it altogether a religious institution, or partly religious and partly eleemosynary? Early notice of this would be taken as a great favour. INA. Wells, Somerset. [The following is Dugdale's account of this priory, as given in the last edition of his Monasticon, vi. 664.: "Hugh de Wells, archdeacon of Wells, and afterwards bishop of Lincoln, was, about the beginning of King John's reign, the original founder of this hospital, in the south part of the city of Wells, dedicated to St. John Baptist, which was so much augmented by Josceline, bishop of Bath, and other benefactors, that in the 26th Henry VIII. the yearly revenues of the master and brethren [Dr. Hutton says, A. D. 1850, there were ten priests and brethren] amounted to 411. 3s. 63d. according to Speed; and 401. Os. 23d. according to Dugdale. The site and most of the lands belonging to this house were granted, 32 Henry VIII. to John Clerk, then bishop of Bath and Wells, and his successors, in consideration of the manor and park of Dogmeresfield, &c. However, the crown got it again afterwards, and granted it, 17 Eliz., to Sir Christopher Hatton. In some of the Records, as well as in the Valor of King Henry VIII., this house is called a priory. In the latter record also the last master, John Pynnock, is called prior. The surrender of this hospital, dated 3d Feb., 30th Hen. VIII., is in the Augmentation Office. Appendant to it is the common seal, representing St. John Baptist, with the following legend, SIGILL HOSPITAL. SCI. JOHANNIS. D. WELLES." Tanner says, "If Hugh founded the priory before he went from Wells, it must be so; for he was made bishop of Lincoln in 11th King John; but Dr. Hutton saith, that by his will dated anno pontificatus 3, ho gave 500 marks towards founding an hospital here at Wells; so that perhaps it might not be founded till after his death, which happened 19 Hen. III., when Josceline was bishop of Bath." Both Dugdale and Tanner give numerous references to various rolls and charters.] Replies. THOMAS CARey, or carew. (2nd S. vi. 12. 38.) I feel greatly indebted to MR. G. H. Kingsley for his interesting reply to my query; and any unpublished particulars he may possess of the elegant and witty Carew, "Love's Oracle," will, I am sure, be most acceptable to the readers of "N. & Q." Perhaps the best and longest account of this charming old song-writer is that by Kippis in his Biographia Britannica; but even this sketch, interesting as it is, makes one desirous to know more of this perspicuous and natural poet. Phillips states that Carew was reckoned among the chiefest of his time for delicacy of wit and poetic fancy;" " and a contemporary pronounced his verses "As smooth and high As glory, love, or wine, from wit can raise." Oldys, in his notes on Langbaine, informs us, that "Carew's Sonnets were more in request than any poet's of his time, that is, between 1630 and 1640. Many of them were set to music by the two famous composers, Henry and William Lawes, and other eminent masters, and sung at court in their Masques, &c." The first edition of Carew's Poems, Songs, and Sonnets, bears an imprimatur under date April 29, 1640, at the commencement of those troublous times when, as good Izaak Walton assures us, "it was dangerous for honest men to live in London." But notwithstanding the convulsed state of the nation, the Poems were again published in 1642. In 1651, a third edition Tom Davies, the bookseller, rescued them from enwas required; and a fourth in 1670-1.* Honest tire neglect, by reprinting them in 1772. In 1810, Mr. John Fry of Bristol printed a Selection from Carew's Poems, to which he prefixed a meagre account of the author. In the following year he proposed to publish a complete edition of his works, as we learn from the following communication to the Gentleman's Magazine for Jan. 1811, "I am now collecting materials at my leisure for a complete edition of Carew's Works, containing some pieces hitherto unpublished. The materials of his life are few; it is possible, however, some of your numerous manuscript authorities tending to supply in some measure readers may be able to assist me with information from the deficiency. It appears from Oldys's MS. notes to Langbaine, that the Prince of Wales then had in his possession a Vandyke, containing a portrait of Carew. Query, In whose possession is that painting at present, Dr. Bliss's copy of this edition sold for 11s, and are there any other portraits of Carew in existence ?" Mr. Fry's "Complete Edition" was never published, nor was his query respecting the portrait ever answered by Mr. Urban's correspondents. Fortunately, however, the portrait, or rather the double portrait of Thomas Killegrew and Thomas Carew, may be now seen in the Vandyck room at Windsor Castle. It appears that these two court gallants had a dispute in presence of Cecilia Crofts (afterwards the wife of Thomas Killegrew) so remarkable as to become the gossip of the whole court; and this picture seems to have been painted (in 1638) as a memorial of the circumstance. Walpole informs us that Walpole is not quite correct; the song is not in The Wanderer, but in Killegrew's tragi-comedy, Cicilia and Clorinda, Part II. Act V. Sc. 2. Immediately after the song is the following note by Killegrew : "This chorus was written by Mr. Thomas Carew, cupbearer to Charles I., and sung in a Masque at Whitehall, anno 1633. And I presume to make use of it here, because in the first design, 'twas writ at my request upon a dispute held betwixt Mistress Cecilia Crofts and myself, where he was present; she being then maid of honour. This I have set down, lest any man should believe me so foolish as to steal such a poem from so famous an author; or so vain as to pretend to the making of it myself; and those that are not satisfied with this apology, and this song in this place, I am always ready to give them a worse of my own. Written by Thomas Killegrew, resident for Charles II. in Venice, August, 1651." This song is also printed in Carew's Poems, Songs, and Sonnets, edit. 1671, p. 82., and is worthy of being reproduced, if it be only for its historical connexion with the Vandyck painting at Windsor : JEALOUSY: A DIALOGUE. "Ques. From whence was first this Fury hurl'd, This Jealousy into the world? Came she from hell? Answ. No, there doth reign Eternal hatred with disdain; But she the daughter is of Love, Sister of Beauty. Quest. Then above. "Quest. If nor from heaven nor hell, where then Had she her birth? Answ. In th' hearts of men: Beauty and Fear did her create, Younger than Love, elder than Hate. Sister to both, by Beauty's side To Love, by Fear to Hate allied: Despair her issue is, whose race Of fruitful mischief drowns the space Of the wide earth, in a swoln flood Of wrath, revenge, spite, rage, and blood, "Quest. Oh, how can such a spurious line Proceed from parents so Divine? Do sweet and clear their waters bring, "Answ. As streams which from their crystal spring "Quest. Yet rivers 'twixt their own banks flow Still fresh; can Jealousy do so? "Answ. Yes, whilst she keeps the stedfast ground And Jealousy thus mixt, doth prove Carew, also, has a poem entitled "On the Marriage of T. K. [Thomas Killegrew *] and C. C. [Cecilia Crofts], the morning stormy.' I may as well add, that two of the most tender and graceful pieces in Carew's volume, "The Primrose and "The Enquiry," were written by Herrick. (Retrospective Review, vi. 225.) Since writing the preceding, I find that Thomas Maitland, afterwards Lord Dundrennan, edited an edition of Carew's Poems, Songs, and Sonnets, with a Masque, Edinb., 1824, crown 8vo., of which only 125 copies were printed. This edition I have not seen. Permit me to conclude with a query: Who is the Thomas Cary, the translator of The Mirrour which flatters not, by Le Sieur de la Serre, 8vo., 1639? At the end of this volume are several poems signed "Thomas Cary," and dated "Tower J. YEOWELL. Hill, August, 1638." MIRACULOUS CHANGE OF SEASONS. (2nd S. iii. 466.) Gianone gives a good account of the change in the Kalendar, and concludes it thus: "Fu osservato, che conservandosi nella Chiesa di S. Gaudioso, una caraffina di sangue di S. Stefano portata in Napoli, secondo che scrive il Baronio (Martyrolog, die 3 Aug.), da S. Gaudioso Vescovo Africano, la quale era solita liquefarsi da sè stessa il dì terzo d'Agosto, secondo il calendario antico: da poi che Gregorio fece questa emendazione, non bolle il sangue, che alli 13 d'Agosto nel qual dì, secondo la nuova riforma, cade la festa di San. Stefano; onde Guglielmo Cave (Hist. della Vita di Martiri) scrisse, che questa sia une pruova manifesta, che il Granger (Hist. of England, iii. 414. edit. 1775) is wrong in attributing the following painting to Thomas Killegrew: "dressed like a pilgrim; no name, but these two verses: "You see my face, and if you'd know. my mind 'Tis this: I hate myself, and all mankind." " Musgrave says, "This is the print of Abraham Symonds, and is so inscribed in the Pepysian collection," calendario Gregoriano sia stato ricevuto in cielo, ancor che in terra alcuni paesi abbiano ricusato di seguitarlo. 6 "Lo stesso narrarsi esser accaduto nel bollimento di sangue di S. Gennaro a' 19 Settembre, e Panzirolo, in pruova della verita dell' emendazione Gregoriana rapporta nel Cap. 177 de Clar. Leg. interp. una istorietta che merita esser trascritta colle sue stesse parole: Hæc anni emendatio divinitus est comprobata; quoddam enim nucis genus reperitur, quod totâ hyeme usque ad noctem Joannis Baptistæ foliis ac fructibus velut arrida caret; mane ultro ejus diei, more aliarum foliis fructibusque induta reperitur. Hæc post ejus anni correctionem, decem diebus priusquam antea consueverit, id est eadem nocte divi Joannis quæ retrocessit, et non ut antea virescere cæpit.'" -Istoria Civile del Regno di Napoli, lib. xxxiv. c. 3. vii. 301. Italia. 1821. This, or some such passage, may have misled the author of the Almanach de Touraine into the notion that Cave believed the miracle. I do not know whether his Lives of the Martyrs had been translated, nor whether Gianone understood English. Most likely he cited at second-hand; for he was too honest to misrepresent wilfully. Cave tells the miracle in a sceptical manner, and ob serves: "But the miracle of the miracles lay in this, that when Pope Gregory XIII. reformed the Roman Calendar, and made no less than ten days difference from the former, the blood in the vial ceased to bubble on the 3d of August according to the old computation, and bubbled on that which fell according to the new reformation,-a great justification, I confess, as Baronius well observes, of the authority of the Gregorian Calendar, and of the Pope's constitutions; but yet it was ill done to set the Calendars at variance when both had been equally justified by the miracle. But how easy it was to abuse the word [world?] with such tricks, especially in these latter ages, when the artifice of the priests was arrived to a kind of perfection in these affairs is no difficult matter to imagine."-Apostolic, or Lives of the Primitive Fathers for the Three First Centuries. By W. Cave, D.D. p. 18. Lond. 1682. I cannot find any testimony as to the Glastonbury Thorn. The subject is curious, and I hope some correspondent will be able to carry it further. U. U. Club. DEAFNESS AT WILL. (2nd S. v. 358.) H. B. C. The evils so justly complained of by your correspondent might be remedied by constructing the outer walls of our dwelling-houses with hollow bricks, which are known to be non-conductors of sound. The reason of this is, that the hollow portion being filled with rarefied air, every sound which finds its way into such a mass is effectually buried there, and cannot penetrate to the outer surface. If the space between the two surfaces of the partition walls, and that between the ceiling of one room and the floor of another, were filled with brown paper gummed over with flock or sawdust, it would aid materially to deaden the sound. Or if the spaces were filled with shavings, tow, or cut straw, it would probably have the same effect. All these substances are bad con ductors of sound, because they shut up a large quantity of air between their minute and detached parts, so that they cannot readily transmit an impulse. The sound is thus entangled, as it were, and, being no longer able to preserve its regular outline, becomes deadened, if not altogether lost. The Rev. Dr. Brewer, from whose charming little volume on Sound and its Phenomena (Longmans, 1854,) I gather my knowledge of these matters, has the following sensible paragraph: "It is truly surprising that no ingenious mechanic has yet contrived a substance for partition-walls, where cheapness and lightness are especially considered. Nothing, for example, could be easier than to make panels with two sheets of common pasteboard, or tarpauling separated from each other by wooden blocks. Sawdust should be thickly strewed over the inner surfaces, and the interVening space be well filled with coarse tow or cut straw. A wooden upright,' the thickness of the blocks, would hold the panels in their place, especially if the edges were made to lap over the supporters. Such a partition-wall would be a real boon in hotels, &c., where chambers are often separated by half-inch wood, or by simple canvass.' I have somewhere read, that if the walls of rooms were covered with a solution of gutta percha, before papering, it would effectually deaden all sounds from the adjoining chambers. Or, I believe, a substitute for this is the gutta percha paper, so extensively used of late years in covering damp walls. EDWARD F. RIMBAULT. MOWBRAY FAMILY. (2nd S. v. 436.) believe there is no doubt that Geoffrey, the warIn answer to your correspondent's inquiry, I rior bishop of Coutances, was a member, and bore (previous to his consecration) the name of the family of Montbray, or (as it was afterwards called in England) Mowbray. Lecanu (Histoire des Evéques de Coutances) speaks of him (p. 119.) as "issu de l'illustre famille de Montbray, natif de la paroisse de Montbray." And in a subsequent page (132.) he says, in a note, "La famille de Montbray, qui a subsisté en Angleterre et en Normandie, plusieurs siècles encore après notre évêque, portait pour armes de gueules un lion d'argent mais nous n'oserions affirmer que ces armes aient été celles de Geoffroi, car alors les armes etaient personelles," On the death of the Bishop his possessions (as your correspondent correctly states) passed into the hands of his nephew Robert de Mowbray, who being taken in arms against William Rufus was detained in prison a great number of years. Ultimately he died without issue, and with him ended the direct line of the Mowbrays in England. Another Norman Baron, Roger de Albini, had married a Mowbray, a sister (if I mistake not) of the Bishop; her name was Amicia, and by her he was father of Nigel de Albini, who was thus the near relation (first cousin, as I take it) of Robert de Mowbray. Robert de Mowbray had taken to wife Maude, daughter of Richard de Aquila. After her husband had been for some time a prisoner, this lady was, by special leave of the Pope, permitted to marry Nigel de Albini, who, by the gift of King Henry I., had all the lands of her former husband Robert de Mowbray given him. After a while Nigel de Albini put away his wife Maude, on the ground of her being the wife of his kinsman, and wedded another, viz. Gundred, daughter to Girald de Gornay, by whom he left issue Roger, who became possessed of the lands of Mowbray, and by the special command of King Henry assumed the surname of Mowbray. From this Roger are descended the Mowbrays of England. I should be obliged by any information respect ing the progenitors of Roger de Albini, who was the father of Nigel; as well as of William de Albini, from whom the Earls of Arundel were descended. Was there any connexion between this Roger de Albini and the family of Néel de St. Sauveur, hereditary Vicomte of the Cotentin? In particular, is there any ground for supposing that Roger de Albini was a younger son of one of the Néels de St. Sauveur ? MELETES. AUTHORSHIP OF THE CANDOR PAMPHLETS. (2nd S. v. passim.) As to who was the author, I have not grounds even for a conjecture; but I agree with D.E., and believe that the writer was certainly a lawyer. I think, from Almon's Letter to Temple, that Temple did not know the writer, or rather that Almon assumed that he did not. Wilkes, though the writer was an able advocate on his side, was indignant at his calling him "a worthless fellow," and he asks in a letter to Almon (Wilkes's Cor. ii. 95.), Dec. 1764: "What does he mean by 'he ever avoided my acquaintance?' I never heard of him till now ?" It ought to be inferred from this that both Wilkes and Almon knew the writer; but I suspect it is a loose expression, and means only "What does the writer mean? I know nothing about him?" It is possible that Wilkes, after all, may have known more than Almon, and assumed that Almon was as well informed as himself; but I doubt. There is further a puzzling passage in the same letter, which I cannot apply. Separated from the foregoing by some talk about Churchill, Wilkes says: "I observe that Wright highly condemns me as too ludicrous from the expression of stolen goods," &c.: it was nervous, not ludicrous. It was treating the case as it deserved; and he ના adds, "" the same dull lawyer" likewise condemns the second letter to the Secretaries. My first impression was that Wilkes still referred to the Enquiry, and that Wright was the assumed or known writer of it: but though the letter to the Secretaries is condemned in the Enquiry as "indecent and scurrilous," "unbecoming any gentleman," it is not called "ludicrous;" and Wilkes seems to dwell on, to argue on, and to quote that word. I therefore presume that Wilkes had received a batch of pamphlets, and noticed the Enquiry and another written by Wright. Wilkes indeed, though very angry, says, "There is much good sense, and I suppose a great deal of sound law in the Enquiry," whereas he seems to despise "the dull lawyer" Wright. Wilkes assuredly believed that he knew the writer of the Enquiry, for, in a "Letter on Public Conduct of Mr. Wilkes," dated Oct. 29, 1768, he says: "I am entirely of opinion with ****** [six stars, which might serve for Camden], who declares 'I do not scan the private actions,' &c. . . I shall not now stay to show how far the Equity of this rule was violated by the concealed author himself, before he got half through his pamphlet, in a manner equally indecent and unjust to a sick and absent friend whom he basely wounded," &c. Again Wilkes, in his "Letter to George Grenville," dated Nov. 4, 1769 (p. 51.), refers to Postscript on "Letter concerning Libels,' quotes from it, and says, a book written by the greatest lawyer of this age," which again might characterise, in Wilkes's opinion, Camden or Dunning. I may add that there was no "Master in Chancery "of the name of Wright; and it is on the reference to the Enquiry in Wilkes's Letter to Grenville that Almon says, in a note, the Enquiry was written by a late Master in Chancery.' Replies to Minor Queries. A. C. P. Crashaw and Shelley (2nd S. v. 449. 516.)—As I only see "N. & Q." in monthly parts, I have been unable sooner to notice the former of these articles by PROFESSOR M'CARTHY, and to thank him for pointing out, what your other correspondent has frankly and justly accepted for me, the typographical error referred to. It is truly provoking that in spite of the utmost care and desire to provide a perfect text, such oversights will be made by the very best of editors; and, therefore, some excuse may be found for the fault of one whose unlucky case does not admit of his enjoying much literary ease. W. B. TURNBULL. Hymnology (2nd S. v. 171.)-Having in my possession the original copy of the hymn "Come thou fount of every blessing," composed by Lady Huntingdon about 1750, I send it for insertion in |