4th S. X. Nov. 2, '72.] NOTES AND QUERIES. Queries. E. L. S. O. B. B. reader of "N. & Q." who will be good enough to elucidate this MS. reference for me. WILL DURSTON.-In the book of the Churchwardens' Accounts for this parish occurs (1682) this entry: "Preached at Appleby Will Durston, ordained by y BPP of Oxon." The name is not an Appleby name, nor had he, Appleby Magna, Leicestershire. - The DR. TOMSON.-I have "a lock of Buonaparte's hair."-"St. Helena, June, 1817.-Sent to Dr. "Some time since we mentioned the fact that a large Magrath by his friend Dr. Tomson." I believe that Dr. Magrath was afterwards Sir George quantity of the celebrated William Hone's MSS. and Magrath, and that he gave the hair to a friend, correspondence had been discovered, and a supplemenCan tary volume to his works is now announced. It will from whom it has come by bequest to me. any of your readers tell me whether Dr. Tomson is receive the title of Hone's Scrap Book, a supplementary Table Book, from the MSS. of the late William Hone, a known person, or throw any light on the authen-volume to the Every Day Book, the Year Book, and the with upwards of 150 engravings of curious or eccentric ticity of the hair? objects. It is further understood that the work will be this author." published uniform with the other well-known works of D. CARDINAL CAMERLENGO.-Who was the Cardinal who filled this high office, sede vacante, in 1846 The arms on his coins are, apparently,Can our per fess az. and arg. in chief a rose. revered friend, F. C. H., kindly assist me? J. WOODWARD. THE BLOOD OF S. JANUARIUS.-Some time ago I read in a magazine or periodical an article, or articles, on the liquefaction of the blood of S. Januarius, written from a medical or scientific point of view. A recent visit to Naples, and the inspection of the liquefied substance, have reminded me of the article, and I shall be obliged for a reference to the pages of the periodical in which . it appeared. Of course, I have no desire to excite a controversy in "N. & Q." with regard to the miracle. Montrose, N. B. J. WOODWARD. DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.-The Christian's Sketch Book, by J. Burns, sixth edition, London, 1830, Part ii., contains what purports to be the copy of a letter which the Duke, in prospect of his approaching dissolution, addressed to his friend, the Rev. Dr. Isaac Barrow; and apart from its intrinsic value to the world, as the dying testimony of an eminent profligate to the power of religion, it seems to have possessed at that time a special and peculiar interest as a "Sequel to a Manuscript" words which, from being italicized under Buckingham's signature, were probably written by the It is recipient, who was his particular_friend. respecting this special feature that I am solicitous for information, and I shall feel grateful to any I shall be glad to know if the Scrap-book above mentioned has been published, and who now possesses the late William Hone's MSS. and correW. D. spondence? Kennington, Surrey. MARRIAGE OF PRIESTS. Has the Roman Church ever, for political or other causes, within the last five or six hundred years, granted a dispensation for marriage to a priest? A. E. D. "BY THE LORD HARRY."-What is the origin of this apparently humorous form of oath? It Sherard Osborn's Cruise in Japanese Waters, p. 63, occurs, for example, in a sailor's yarn in Capt. but I believe is much older than that. Has it anything to do with the personage__sometimes JAMES T. PREsley. known as "Old Harry"? "FREE LAND.”—I should be exceedingly obliged if TEWARS would kindly favour us with his opinion as to this term when applied to land long anterior to 12 Car. 2, when tenancies in capite were abolished. bounded It appears as in contradistinction to common freehold, and as though the original tenure had been A.-Saxon boc, or free land, thus: and his own free land on the other." by his own land, as Lord's tenant, on the one side, Castle Bromwich. C. CHATTOCK. CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL SERVICES.-It was stated lately in several daily papers that on the day of the fire the resident members of the chapter laster, 8vo., Dublin, 1734, after the epilogue, I determined, at considerable inconvenience, as the find the following:-"The paper that this play is cathedral was full of smoke, to have afternoon printed on was made in Ireland." Why was so service as usual, in order that the hitherto unbroken | much importance attached to the above fact? custom of 300 years might remain intact. What When was the art of paper-making introduced authority was there for carrying back the series into Ireland ? C. A. McDONALD, for so many years? What evidence that, especially RISHWORTH GRAMMAR SCHOOL.-I should be during the troublous times of the Civil Wars and Protectorate, the cathedral was not altogether thankful for information respecting the closed? Is any record of services kept at Canter-worth Grammar School," otherwise the bury or other cathedrals? FILMA. wright Charity School," whereof I have just read the titles, and wherein I am, after a fashion, interested. YLLUT. THE USE OF THE ATHANASIAN CREED AMONG FOREIGN PROTESTANTS.--Can any of your correspondents favour me with accurate information respecting the use or disuse of the Athanasian Creed in the services of the foreign Protestants, particularly of the Lutherans, both at present and formerly? G. D. W. O. INSCRIPTION.--The following is above the front entrance of St. Theodule's Church, Champery, Valais, Switzerland: I do not suppose that the above is very old, for these reasons: the Q in old Swiss inscriptions is almost universally an inverted P, thus q, and the U is à V. But in the Champery inscription we find the modern forms of Q and V. I think that I have discovered the two meanings, but I am not N. certain, and therefore I make an effort to obtain "Quod anguis tristi mulcedine pavit, Hoc sanguis Christi dulcedine lavit."] ANONYMOUS PORTRAIT.-Can any of your readers tell me the subject of a portrait of a gentleman, middle age, wearing a hat, sitting at a table holding a MS., inkstand, &c., before him; at the bottom of the plate, a coat of arms with the initials E. L., 1796; engraved by Sharpe, painted by Opie ? J. B. MCLEOD OF DUNVEGAN.-Can you inform me where I can obtain the words, and if possible the air, of this ballad, said to be by Lockhart, of which the following is the first stanza ? "McLeod of Dunvegan, There's a curse lies upon thee RishWheel "ENTRETIENS DU COMTE DE GABALIS.”—IS there any English translation of this French book? Scott mentions it in the Introduction to his Monastery (Centenary Edition, 1870, p. 7). YLLUT. ENGLISH DICTIONARIES.-Is there a dictionary to be obtained not printed in double columns, but each word occupying the full breadth of the page? I want to get one for interleaving. WALTHEOF. HUMAN SKIN ON CHURCH DOORS.--I have heard that on the door of a church in the north of have belonged to a Danish pirate who was flayed England there is a man's skin nailed up, said to alive. My informant remembers to have seen it, but cannot recollect the name of the church. Can any one inform me where it is! Raby Castle, Darlington. W. C. "IT WON'T HOLD WATER."-What is the origin of this phrase? O. CLAIRE [Frankly, we do not know. Obviously, however, an argument that will not bear the reasoning put into it, purpose. It may be, however, as old as the time of is very like a leaky water-vessel, unfit for its designed Tutia, the Vestal Virgin, who, being accused of having lost all title to that distinction, proved her innocence by carrying a sieve full of water from the Tiber to the Temple of Vesta. If the sieve had not held water, Vesta's Virgin would have been buried alive. The continence of the sieve was the symbol of Tutia's integrity.] “ITALY AND HER MASTERS."-Can any of your readers inform me whether this poem, written in 1856 by the late Ernest Jones, has ever seen the light? The first line is, "All in silence mounts the lava." It may have appeared in one of the D. several journals conducted by him. EPITAPH AT SONNING, BERKS.--There has been some local discussion concerning a partially-effaced word in a monumental inscription in the parish has been recalled to my mind by the epitaph church of Sonning (St. Andrew's), Berkshire. It whose third line runs "If life were a thing that gold could buy "; therefore I venture to subjoin the lines, trusting that in the vast area of "N. & Q." a solution may be found-the blank remain a blank no longer. The monument represents six kneeling figures, "If life or ** ge might be bought Still to endure it would be sought; Both the high and lowe of each degree, As ye be found meete or unmeete As ye be found so shall the sweete Be served with the sower. All this is said to move their hartes That they according to their partes The words "nonage," "knowledge," and "homage" Replies. SEMPLE FAMILY. Loch of Lochwinnoch. It continued to be there till towards the end of the fifteenth century, when the family erected a large castellated mansion, about a mile to the west, on the north side of the said Loch, only a little way from its margin, in a low situation, originally swampy, and on lands called either Lochwinnoch or Castletoun, and afterwards removed from Ellistoun to it. This castle was from the first generally called the "Castle of Sempill," but sometimes more shortly, Castlesempill, as was the Loch, from the castle existing upon its margin. It was the Loch of the Castle of Sempill, although properly it is the Loch of Lochwinnoch, and by this name it is yet more usually called. Of date 1504 (April 21), John, first Lord Sempill, granted the foundation charter of his college kirk, commonly called "of Sempill." The building was erected on the end of a sort of ridge, only some 100 yards to the west of the castle mentioned; and this charter bears that it was "infra septum, sive parcam, de Lochvinzeck situatæ." Again, of a later date, in an agreement entered into of April 12, 1516, between William, second Lord Sempill, who succeeded his father on his death at Flodden in 1513, and the relict of the latter, his stepmother, Dame Margaret Crechtoun, "hir landis of the park of Lochbunzhoo," and the "houssis of Castell-simple, Southanane," and others, which she held in conjunct liferent and fee with her husband, are menIt may be difficult to afford answers which can tioned as let to Lord William during the lady's be considered satisfactory to several of the queries lifetime for a certain money rent. Lochvinzeck put by J. S. DK.; but he may be referred, for an and Lochbunzhoo, as well as the present form, account of one collateral branch-the Sempills of Lochwinnoch, are just corruptions of Lochwinoc Beltrees, the first of whom was John Sempill, eldest (St. Winoc's Loch), the form of the name in the son of Robert, third Lord Sempill, by his second twelfth and thirteenth centuries-a name arising, marriage to the Poems of the Sempills of Beltrees, most probably, from an ancient cell or chapel dediedited, with a long and interesting introduction, cated to St. Winoc, and which stood on the north accompanied with notes, by James Paterson (Edin-side of the lake, at a place yet called Chapeltoun. burgh). Francis Sempill, the great-grandson of John, Close by this chapel, in ancient times, a fair was is the reputed author of the song, long popular, titled held in November, on the anniversary of the saint, Maggie Lauder, but the authorship has been dis-or day of the church's dedication. puted. (2) The Baroness Sempill, who for any- Sir John, afterwards Lord Sempill, had a royal thing known is still alive, and residing in England, charter, on his own resignation probably, to Lochis no doubt the representative of the main stock; curgeath (Lochwinnoch) and Cassiltoun in favour and it is said that the Craigievar family will suc- of himself and his first wife, Margaret Colville of ceed her in that representation. (3) The name Ochiltree, of date Sept. 9, 1501. The Lochwinnoch Sempill prevails, but not to a large extent, in the portion, as is believed, lay to the south-west of that south-western counties of Scotland, especially those of Cassiltoun. That part of the former, which was of Lanark and Renfrew; but that any of the parked, consisted in part of an elevated hill or families of that name, none of which are of distinc-ridge, the highest point of which is called the tion, can deduce their descent from the main stem is much to be doubted. (4) The ancient principal residence of the Sempills was the Tower or Castle of Elziotstoun (the Town of Elliot), or, as it has been long now locally contracted, Ellistoun, in the parish of Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, some part of the walls of which, including many of the foundations, is still extant upon an elevated plateau on the south-east bank of the Black-Cart, half a mile or so below this water's origin at the issue of the Court-shaw-hill, and lies between the Chapeltoun burn on the west, and that other small burn which passes eastwards down through the fish-ponds of Castlesemple on the north and north-east. This burn, immediately before falling into the loch, goes under part of the offices of the present house of Castlesemple, and would pass the ancient Castle of Sempill, removed about 1735 to make room for the present mansion, most probably on its east side, and quite close by, if not partly under it. The name Cassiltoun, or town of the castle, had its origin probably in the existence of a large round conical hill, partly artificial, which is situated in a deep swampy hollow between overtopping hills on the north side of the burn last referred to, having the hill called Courtshaw immediately adjoining, but on the south side of this burn, which divides the "park of Lochwinnoch" as may be believed on the south, from the lands of Castletoun on the north. This conical hill goes now by the no doubt corrupted name of "Downies Castle," forte Dunan, that is, little dun, or fortified hill. There is a piece of land, at one time a farm, on the same estate, and about half a mile to the east, which is called Auchendunan, or the inclosure of the little fort. The Court-shaw-hill, or hill of the court wood-a wood near the court-too, is very suggestive of the judicial uses to which this conical hill, lying adjacent, was put in ancient Celtic times: those of its construction, and before the existence of fiefs and baronies, which possibly do not date earlier than the end of the eleventh century, but which uses were continued to a much later period. ESPEDARE. I have only just seen J. S. DK's queries about this family, which pressure of business prevents my replying to fully. The name is now Sempill, and the Peerage, created 1489, is held by a Baroness (the second lady incumbent of the title), the heir-presumptive being a distant cousin, Sir William Forbes of Craigievar. One of the earliest possessions of the family was Elliotstoun. They afterwards acquired Castleton, now designed Castle Semple, but both estates, after being held for generations, were sold in 1727. Many members of the male line were greatly distinguished. For instance, the Semples of Belltrees, one of whom, John, married Mary Livingston, one of Queen Mary's "Maries." He was called by Knox, John Semple "the dancer." He, as well as others of the family, were poets, one of them, Francis, being the author of She rose and let me in and Maggie Lauder, a celebrated comic ballad. The Semples of Cathcart, another twig of the same tree, were noted also. One was a devoted loyalist, and his second son, Gabriel, was an eminent and faithful minister of the Kirk; but becoming a field preacher and Covenanter suffered for his principles, though on the settlement of Church Government at the Revolution he became incumbent of Jedburgh, and died in peace in 1706, in the fiftieth year of his ministry. He married three times, all his wives being women of family, one a daughter of Sir Walter Riddell of Riddell, Bart. He had a son, Samuel, a divine and a man of erudition, who married Miss E. Murray of the ancient family of Murray, Baronets of Blackbarony, and they had a daughter who married John Swinton of the old family of Swinton, and was mother of Lud Swinton of legal fame. W. R. C. WALTER SCOTT AND "CALLER HERRIN'." (4th S. x. 249, 315.) MR. BOUCHIER asks whether Scott took from the song of Caller Herrin' an idea expressed in The Antiquary, or whether the writer of the song took that idea from the novel. Assuming, though perhaps unwarrantably, that the one author took the idea from the other, this query would fall to be determined by the dates of the respective productions. It may be taken as an admitted fact that Caller Herrin' was written by Lady Nairn, and probably it will not be disputed, though it has not been stated by any of the correspondents, that The Antiquary appeared early in May, 1816. Lady Nairn was born before Sir Walter Scott, and she survived him; and the question remaining is, whether the song was written before or after May, 1816. F. C. H. says it was written long before. MR. SCOTT DOUGLAS say, it was written after, namely, about 1822. ROGERS, speaking as the editor of Lady Nairn's songs, says it was written before 1811, and I should be prepared to accept his statement as conclusive DR. were it not that I find him inconsistent with him self. He says in his reply (p. 318) the song was written for Neil Gow (who died in 1807), but in the Life and Songs, 1869, he says it was written for the benefit of Nathaniel Gow (who did not die till 1831), and he there quotes a letter from the authoress to a friend, inclosing the song. If he would give the date of that letter, it might set the question at rest. The expression itself, that fi-h are the lives of men, is not uncommon among fish wives. W. M. One thing is certain, that the song did not take the idea from Sir Walter Scott. The song is said to have been written by Neil Gow, who died on the 1st March, 1807. I think, however, that the song was written by Neil's equally famous son, Nathaniel, who died on the 17th Jan., 1831; certain it is that Nathaniel was the composer of the air. The story runs thus: The song was suggested to Gow-whether elder or younger it does not matter-while listening to the bells of St. Andrew's Church, Edinburgh, mingled with the cries of the fisherwomen, who at that time sold their wares in the street. The fishwives of the day were notorious for their exorbitant demands, and generally ended by saying, "Lord bless ye, mem! it's no fish ye're buying, it's the lives of honest men!"-meaning that the lives of the men were at stake when prosecuting their calling. When the song and music were first published, they were so much admired as to have been reprinted in London, and imitated by several eminent com "Wha 'll buy my caller herrin'? They're bonnie fish and wholesome faring; New drawn frae the Forth. When ye are sleeping on your pillows, A' to fill our woven willows? Wha 'll buy my caller herrin'? &c. (1st verse.) Wha 'll buy my caller herrin'? They 're no brought here without brave daring; Buy my caller herrin', Ye little ken their worth. Wha 'll buy my caller herrin'? O you may ca' them vulgar fairin'; Noo, a' ye lads at herrin' fishing, Wha 'll buy my caller herrin'? &c. (1st verse.) And when the creel o' herrin' passes, Gather in their braw pelisses, Cast their heads and screw their faces. Wha'll buy my caller herrin'? &c. (1st verse.) Noo, neebours' wives, come tent my telling, When the bonnie fish you're selling, At a word aye be your dealing, Stirling. SHAKSPEARE'S MARRIAGE. (4th S. x. 143, 214, 278, 320, 334.) "Fair play's a jewel." SIR,-I had no mental reservation nor secret ccasion when I gave a reply to the ex-editor's question to me as to the amount I paid for the picture, which was a private and not a public matter. I am much surprised, however, to see the use that gentleman has made of the information, which had nothing to do with the real value of the picture. The portrait of Shakespere which belonged to Mr. Felton, Curzon Street, May Fair, painted in 1597, was bought by him for the small sum of 51., and was first introduced to public notice in 1794, and sold by him to the Messrs. Boydell. The ex-editor states that "the steps in the history of the picture are, first, when it was comparatively worthless." Now I beg to refer you to This verse does not occur in the stall copy printed in 1852, but I am able to assign it its proper place from another source. 66 | Mr. Holder's letter (4th S. x. Oct. 5, 1872, p. 278), in which he states that he bought four pictures of Mr. Albert, the "Shakespere Marriage" being one of them, and that he cared the least for the picture in question, and he goes on to say :My wish being to purchase only one of the four, which was a landscape, by Verboom; but Mr. Albert would not separate the four; in fact, I doubted if it would ever pay me to line, clean, and frame it, so little did I care for it."-Second, when Mr. Holder wanted 81. for it. The same letter goes on to state, I happened one day to sponge over the picture with water, and was so pleased with the harmony of colour in it, that I decided to reline and clean it." It was then he would have sold it for 81.-Third, its present date, when it was purchased for 157. 66 Mr. Holder further states that, "while cleaning the picture, I saw the name 'Shakespere' on the top of the left side of the picture." To the best of my recollection, I said to the ex-editor that Mr. Holder thought of asking 81. for it; but finding it had something to do with Shakespere's marriage, he wanted 151. for it. When I first inquired about the price, Mr. Holder refused to state a price, saying he had only just discovered its real character, and did not know what it might eventually be worth. I pressed him to name a figure, when he said he would let me have it for 15l. as it stood. I must here refer you to the close of his letter, where he states that "had you not been one of my best patrons, I would not have sold it so easily." Why did the ex-editor select an unfavourable sentence out of Mr. Holder's letter, which, when read by itself, is calculated to produce a wrong impression? and what was his motive in publishing information given to him in confidence? It will be seen from this that the "inconsistency" referred to by the ex-editor is entirely his "contradictions" purely own, and the alleged imaginary. The real value of the picture, from an archaeological point of view, is not at all affected by the question of what it was sold to me for. two candid letters in the Atheneum and in I am astonished that, after reading Mr. Holder's 66 N. & Q." for Oct. 5, the ex-editor could have penned the letter he has. The picture, on the 1st of November, will be at the Royal Archæological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, when the members will have an opportunity to pronounce their judgment on it; and I purpose taking Mr. Holder with me to let them see him take off every atom of paint put on by himself, that the picture may speak for itself. He will also remove the lining canvasses, that its age and condition may be seen. The ex-editor has admitted that he is no judge of old paintings, and is only indifferently acquainted with Shakespere's biography; therefore, I would |