long tub lined inwardly with short spikes, in which the victim was rocked; the ladder, another instrument of torture; the chair, the seat of which was studded with sharp-pointed nails; and a profusion of smaller articles devised with diabolical ingenuity for the purpose of inflicting intense and intolerable physical suffering upon the unhappy subjects of the displeasure of the rulers of Nuremberg in past ages.

After examining these, and having been supplied with candles, we were preceded by the custodienne of these infernal regions along a narrow passage, with one turn to the left and another to the right, until we entered a small square chamber. In this gloomy cavern, the dim light of the candles enabled us to discern in one corner what appeared to be a pair of stocks, and nearly in the centre a figure above the height of a human being, which had evidently been designed to represent a female, draped in a cloak descending to the ground, and wearing an antique headdress. This was the Nuremberg virgin. On the touching of a spring, the forepart flew open (being suspended at the side on hinges), and revealed the interior of the figure. Its hideous and hor rible purpose was then apparent, for within the head were fixed knives projecting five or six inches in the direction of the eyes, and about the breast and body other knives protruding straight out of the back part of the cavity of the figure; so that when the poor wretch intended to be killed was placed in front of it, the wing of the figure, in flying back to its place, thrust him into the inside, and the knives pierced his eye-balls and his chest, and he was locked in the deadly embrace of the virgin. The pressure was made certain and sharp by turning a screw on the outside. The victim stood on a trap-door, which when released gave way, and the mangled corpse fell into a pit below, there to be lacerated upon a revolving cheval de frise, and subsequently thrown into a passage connected with the adjoining river or left to putrify in the dungeon. The woman in attendance showed every detail of the figure, and, by means of a piece of lighted paper thrown into the pit, enabled us to see the nature and dimensions of the loathsome chamber.

my memory of the locality, it seems to me still a correct representation. The archæological inquirers of Europe are indebted to an antiquary of Nuremberg (I regret that his name has escaped my memory) for the preservation of the articles in the torture chamber, and for the opportunity of visiting them. The gentleman I refer to lives near to the Town Hall, but his name may be ascertained at that ancient and interesting hotel, the Red Horse. JAYTER.

Leicester.

ARMS OF SLAUGHTER.
(4th S. v. 33.)

The arms of Slaughter of Cheney Court are, Argent a saltier azure. Cheney Court, after being occupied as a farmhouse for many years, has very recently become the property of a gentleman who has made great additions to it, completed I believe within the last few months. In 1865 I visited it. In a small chamber at the head of the stairs, I saw three sinkings over the fireplace, and in each a shield. The dexter sinking showed, if my notes are correct, azure, turned almost black, a saltier argent, which is Slaughter transposed. The centre showed, per pale, baron quarterly, 1 and 4 Slaughter; 2 and 3 sable, if not azure turned black; and on a chief indented, gules three crowns or; which, in spite of the mistake in the tincture of the field, I read for the very ancient coat of Leche of Chatsworth. It will be seen further on that there is good reason for making the required correction. Femme a chevron between three dolphins naiant ppr. Crest, out of a ducal coronet a cubit ing a serpent ppr.

...

arm, hold

a chevron

•

The sinister sinking showed between three dolphins naiant ppr.

These three shields evidently belonged to one couple, and were put up at the same time. I do not know who the lady was.

A large room on the same floor, not inhabited when I saw it, had round it just under the ceiling paintings of the Sibyls, with long legends under them, which I had not time to copy. There were no arms visible to me.

But another house on the same slope on which Cheney Court stands gives more information. This is Hopton Sellers Court. It is of very inferior appearance to Cheney Court. But on passing through it, nearly to the back, a very rude staircase took me up to a small room, the floor of which was covered with litter and dirt. One side of it was panelled, and the panels had painted upon them the following arms:

black.

1. Argent a saltier azure, turned very Slaughter.

2. Per pale. Baron, Slaughter. Femme, argent a ball statant sab.

3. Per pale. Baron, ermine, on a chief, indented gules, three crowns or. Leche. Here we get the true coat.

Femme, argent on a saltier engrailed sable, five annulets or. If the annulets were nine, it would be Leake.

4. Per pale. Baron, gules a chevron vair. Femme, Leche of Chatsworth, as before.

5. Per pale. Baron, quarterly Slaughter and Leche. Femme, sable a chevron between three dolphins embowed naiant argent. This is the match shown at Cheney Court.

6. A lozenge. Argent on a saltier engrailed sable, five annulets or.

7. Quarterly, Slaughter and Leche.

8. Per pale. Baron, argent a saltier engrailed sable, and on a chief also sable three roses or chaplets argent. Femme, the coat of saltier and annulets.

The shield above this inscription shows-Vert, two dogs encountering argent, langued gules, and on a chief or, a demi-eagle sable, langued gules. Crest: On a barred helmet a wreath, carrying a demi-eagle, as in the coat. This is plainly the coat of Doyge, not Nichollets. The chief marks service in the empire.

I trace this lady, I think, in a letter written in 1734, when she is mentioned as visiting at Sarnsfield and I find a Gilbert Nichollets, possibly her son, in each of the two copies of days of obits in the sacristy of the domestic chapel at Little Malvern. In the older copy the year is given 1775, in the later copy 1779; the day of the month, June 1, being the same in both. The families of Slaughter and Nichollets were both of them Catholics. I do not know when the Nichollets' family left Hopton Sollers; but I see that their names still go on. In The Times of July 10,

1869, is given the death of "Gilbert Alfred Nicholetts, Esq., eldest son of Colonel C. H. Nicholetts, late Bengal Cavalry.'

19

The Slaughters left Cheney Court about the end of the last century or the beginning of this. About 1855 a Mr. Harrington was occupying the house. His wife, then an aged woman, told my informant, a Catholic priest, that she was herself a connection of theirs, but did not explain how near the connection was. She said that, when she was a little child, living in the house, the Slaughters of the day went abroad to see daughters of theirs at school, and never came back. This vague statement covered, no doubt, some facts. There have been two marriages of Baronets Mostyn with ladies of the Slaughter family. Thə present Dowager Lady Mostyn is one of these.

The Slaughters were long settled at Upper Slaughter, in Gloucestershire. Atkyns says, in 1711: —

"The manor has been long in the family of the Slaughters, who have resided in this place above three hundred years."

The last Slaughter mentioned by Rudder died in 1740. Then the manor of Slaughter was sold. D. P.

Stuarts Lodge, Malvern Wells.

The arms of Slaughter (co. Gloucester) are cut on a tombstone in the church of St. Mary, Clonmel. They are on a floriated shield, and when next I have an opportunity of seeing Clonmel, I may have time to take a rubbing of them. The tombstone contains the following inscription, which may interest your correspondent MR. C. J. ROBINSON and your readers generally :

"Here lieth the body of JOHN SLAUGHTER, borne in Gloucestershire, who died the first of August 1687. Here also lies the body of Cornet JOHN BATTY, Grandson to the above-named SLAUGHTER, who dyed the 17th of January, 1711, son to Tros, and ELIZABETH BATTY of Clonmell. Also the body of ELIZABETH, the wife of THOS. BATTY, who dyed 20th of May, 1714. Also the body of Cornet THOMAS BATTY of Clonmell, who departed this life at Killoughter, the 7th of February, 1722, and in the 62nd year of his age. Here lies the body of LIEUT. Wm KENNET, as also the body of ELIZABETH KENNETH, who died Sepr 7th, 1736."

It is not unlikely that the member of the Slaughter family above named came to Ireland during the Cromwellian wars, and settled in Clonmel, where we find his grandson, Cornet John Batty, ،، son to Thos. and Elizabeth Batty,

of Clonmel," interred in the same tomb in January 1711. A Captain and Lieut.-Col. Thomas Slaughter held that rank on Feb. 22, 1779, in the Coldstream Foot Guards. MAURICE LENIHAN, M.R.I.A.

Limerick.

66

I find that Edmondson (1780 edit. vol. ii.) gives as the arms of Slaughter of Herefordshire, argent, a saltier azure." Crest: "" Out of a ducal coronet or, an eagle's head arg. wings expanded sable." And for the arms of "Slaughter" of Gloucestershire, same as above, the difference being in the crest, which is, "out of a ducal coronet or, an eagle's head between two wings expanded azure: beaked of the first." J. S. UDAL.

10, Park Street, Grosvenor Square. [MR. F. R. FOWKE will see that the reply kindly furnished by him is embraced in MR. UDAL's answer.-ED. "N. & Q."]

EBENEZER JONES.

(4th S. v. 34.)

I hope Mr. GLEDSTANES-WAUGH may receive from other sources a more complete account than I can give of this remarkable poet, who affords nearly the most striking instance of neglected genius in our modern school of poetry. This is a more important fact about him than his being a Chartist, which however he was, at any rate for a time. I met him only once in my life, I believe in 1848, at which time he was about thirty, and would hardly talk on any subject but Chartism. His poems (the Studies of Sensation and Event) had been published some five years before my meeting him, and are full of vivid disorderly power. I was little more than a lad at the time I first chanced on them, but they struck me greatly, though was not blind to their glaring defects and even to the ludicrous side of their wilful "newness"; attempting, as they do, to deal recklessly with those almost inaccessible combinations in nature and feeling which only intense and oft-renewed effort may perhaps at last approach. For all this, these "Studies" should be, and one day will be, disinterred from the heaps of verse deservedly buried.

Some years after meeting Jones, I was much pleased to hear the great poet Robert Browning speak in warm terms of the merit of his work; and I have understood that Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton) admired the "Studies" and interested himself on their author's behalf. The only other recognition of this poet which I have observed is the appearance of a short but admirable lyric by him in the collection called Nightingale Valley, edited by William Allingham. I believe that some of Jones's unpublished MSS. are still in the possession of his friend Mr. J. Linton, the

eminent wood-engraver, now residing in New York, who could no doubt furnish more facts about him than anyone else. It is fully time that attention should be called to this poet's name, which is a noteworthy one. It may not be out of place to mention here a much earlier and still more striking instance of poetic genius which has hitherto failed of due recognition. I allude to Charles J. Wells, the author of the blank verse scriptural drama of Joseph and his Brethren, published under the pseudonym of "Howard" in 1824, and of Stories after Nature (in prose, but of a highly poetic cast), published anonymously in 1822. This poet was a friend of Keats, who addressed to him one of the sonnets to be found in his works-"On receiving a present of roses.' Wells's writings-youthful as they are-deserve to stand beside any poetry, even of that time, for original genius, and, I may add, for native structural power, though in this latter respect they bear marks of haste and neglect. Their time will come yet. DANTE G. ROSSETTI.

29

CHARLES DIBDIN'S MSS.
(4th S. v. 21.)

In reply to MR. EDWARD RIMBAULT DIBDIN, I repeat the statement I have already made, that Charles Dibdin's granddaughter has in her possession all his manuscripts, and, I have to add, all his private papers as well. Perhaps I ought to have qualified my previous assertion, that of course all" did not include those pieces of composition which he disposed of to various publishers for trifling sums in order to obtain the means of subsistence when he first began life in London; but when I wrote my note (4th S. iv. 488) on a totally different subject to the present, I did not expect to have received a reply of the nature which calls forth this second note from me relative to the illustrious Dibdin.

Respecting the destruction of MSS. in general and those referred to in particular, I must first remind MR. E. R. DIBDIN that when a work is sent to the press and a proof knocked off, the original with the proof is returned for the author or composer to correct, and he is not supposed to send his manuscript back to the printer with the corrected proof. Secondly, Charles Dibdin printed and published the bulk of his works at his own printing office, and it is the MSS. of those works, as well as the unpublished ones, that are in my friend's possession, and which I have seen.

I submit I have solved the difficulty raised by MR. E. R. DIBDIN (not created by me). I must decline to give the name of the lady in question until better informed of the right of MR. E. R. DIBDIN to demand it, and even then I reserve to myself the option of refusing it; but I have no

BOGGARTS, FEORIN, ETC.
(4th S. iv. 508; v. 23.)

In reply to HERMENTRUDE'S queries, and in continuation of the subject, would you kindly allow me a little space? I cannot give any account of "Old Lob," though many inquiries have been made. There are several localities, however, in the neighbouring township of Saddleworth, once, according to popular notions, infested with "Old Hobs." A curious local work (pp. 242) appeared in 1824, entitled Recent Poems on Rural and other Miscellaneous Subjects, by Thomas Shaw, apiarian, a native of Saddleworth, Yorkshire. The book contains a strange metrical sketch, called "The Narrative of Shantooe Jest, (alias) Old Mr. Robert Dillrume." If it does nothing else, the narrative portrays the then "Boggart" lore of the district, enumerating about a dozen varieties as extant. These comprised "Old Moss the Fairy Queen"; "Old Pack [? Puck] and Matty Kew" (who dwelt together); "Old Hob"; "Old Baker, on Delph Hill end"; the "Blater of Old Tame"; "Thrasher of Slack Cote"; "New Tame fiend"; "Young Grange-Bump"; besides another emphatically designated "Bump," probably the parent; "Old Delph Will," and "Griffon Factory Marr." A year or two ago, one of the parochial overseers kindly furnished me with what, from his position, may be considered an official list of the personal names and haunts, or reputed beats of the "feorin'" [frightful things] believed in when he was young. These comprise-"Old Delph Will"; "Hill Top Thrasher' ; "Castleshaw Drummer": 66 Clough Spout Clogger"; "Knott Hill Hob," and "Narr Hob." Concerning the exploits of the first two nothing have we gleaned. The drummer, I believe, patronised Car Wood, near Castleshaw Mill. Hob of Knott Hill, according to tradition handed down, it may be from his sponsors, was so designated on account of his having stood on that eminence on the approach of King Canute (Cnut or Knut), and ordered that monarch to march his army up the valley to the attack of Castleshaw, where remains of a Roman station may yet be traced. The Ordnance map marks "Hob Hole >" and "Boggart-o'-th'-moss," two other reputed haunts of feorin' in days gone by. Dob Cross is said to obtain its prefix from Dob or Dobby (probably Hob) a sort of apparition, sprite, fairy, or hobgoblin once in great fear and reverence in many parts of the West Riding of Yorkshire. In the same township of Saddleworth, near the romantically situated village of Greenfield, there is a wellknown Druidical remain, said to have been an altar-stone, where appeared to a man who died only a few years ago "Raura Peena," the last "fairee" (fairy) seen in the "parish" of Saddleworth. A short distance away are the "Fairy Holes," a couple of subterraneous caves into the

inmost recesses of which she tried to allure him. In the same township of Saddleworth, there is a gorge, or hill-side chasm, known as "Hell Mouth." There is a class of boggarts, ghosts, or apparitions, locally termed "padfeet," a term derived, as some suppose, from the "pad," paw, or cloven-foot, popularly assigned to one of the legs of the devil.

With respect to "Jenny Greenteeth," well do I remember in childhood's days an isolated Gorton farmstead, with a yeoman's house dating back to the early part of the seventeenth century. Almost overshading it was a sombre old yew-tree, doubtless coeval, but then beginning to decay. This end was being hastened by the annual yuletide custom of lopping off the branches, in order to decorate the tiny leaden-casemented windows then existing in the house, and also in a chapel hard by the green of a neighbouring village. Lying at some depth beneath the grassy hillock, on which the fine old tree had so long stood sentinel, was a deep dismal pool which had some time been excavated as a marl pit. Of course little lads and lasses, with no other playmates than themselves, would now and then (when other pastimes had been run through) amuse themselves by sailing mimic "flats" and boats. In order to deter them from approaching so dangerous a spot, when caught upon the steps leading down to the "lading-hole," an anxious mother would affirm solemnly (as we then thought) that "Jenny Greenteeth below. Proof of the story was afforded to our was artfully lurking in the waters unsophisticated minds by the exhibition of a set of human teeth enamelled with green tartar ! These were said to bear only a faint resemblance to those of the demoness below, who with her long sinewy arms first drew children in and then devoured them. Some other pits in the locality teeth," and in my Gorton Historical Recorder were likewise patronised by a "Jenny Green(published in 1852) there are briefly noticed a dozen places in the township, once supposed to be haunted with boggarts and feorin'. In addition, there were "Nut Nans," "Clap Cans," " Willswith-the-whisp," "Jacks-with-the-lanthorn," and "Peg-with-th'-iron-teeth." Lastly, which is more to the point

22

"To restrain their children from venturing too near the numerous pits and pools which were to be found in every fold and field, a demoness or guardian was stated to crouch at the bottom. She was known as 'Jenny Greenteeth,' and was reported to prey upon children who

ventured too near her domain. Sometimes the water demoness was termed Grindylow.""

In Mr. Edwin Waugh's Sketches of Lancashire Life and Localities (published 1855), when noticing the "boggarts, fairies, and feorin'," which according to popular notions formerly infested the vicinity of the town of Heywood, he says (at p. 201):

"Some lurking in the streams and pools, like 'Green Teeth' and 'Jenny Long Arms,' waiting, with skinny