"DOUBLE" MONASTERIES. "Barking, like Whitby and others, was a double foundation, having a separate area for the monks apart from the nuns' building, and even a separate chapel, or oratory, for each order."-Bright, Early English Church History, p. 257. See also Chronique de l'Abbaye de S. Nicolas à Furnes, in the reports of the Société d'Émulation de Bruges : "On remarquera que l'abbaye de St.-Nicolas était ce qu'on appelle un monastère double; il est rare que l'on rencontre l'existence de cette espèce d'institutions parmi les établissements d'un des grands ordres; on la contestait même; mais le temoignage de notre chronique ne laisse aucun doute sur ce point. Il est édifiant de voir les mesures de prudence que l'on adoptait pour prévenir le danger: les moindres relations étaient réglées et les precautions les plus minutieuses garantissaient la délicatesse des rapports." What other instances are there of monasteries for both sexes, and what purpose were they intended to serve ? Emanuel Hospital, Westminster. J. MASKELL. DIODATI. In the history of Milton's early life one comes not infrequently on this name. Can you definitively inform me as to the pronunciation of the word? Must I say Diódăti ? or Diodā'ti? or Diodǎ'ti? While Masson pronounces Diódǎti, Morley, on the other hand, gives Dioda'ti. Many cyclopædias and Italian dictionaries give Diodáti, with the quantity of the a sometimes long, sometimes short. Milton himself, in his Latin elegy and in his Italian sonnet, where the word occurs, seems to shorten the a, and to throw the accent further back than the penultimate syllable. What I should like to know exactly is, How did Milton pronounce the name of his young AngloItalian friend? J. LOGIE ROBERTSON. "BIBLIOMANIA" ("ODDS AND ENDS," No. 19). -Who wrote this smart and instructive paper? It is said to be "from the North British Review, with additions." It has the flavour of the late Dr. John Brown; but if it be his, the authorship is carefully concealed, as he is named in a note that his "&" looks exceedingly like "by"; and in this case I have no doubt he wrote " Punning & spelling are natural enemies." C. M. I. Athenæum Club. A BOOK-PLATE QUERY.-I bought a small batch of "Elzevirs" lately, from the dispersed collection of Mr. Beresford-Hope (chiefly the little "Republics" printed by Bonaventure and Abraham at Leyden), one of which contained several book-plates in layers, the lowest being the subject of the present query. Within a welldesigned scroll is depicted the interior of a library, the walls entirely lined with books; at a table, which is covered with a fringed cloth, sits an ecclesiastic (evidently this is a portrait), pen in hand; books and a crucifix are upon the table, and books piled upon the floor (on one of the latter the initials "L. B."). On a ribbon is the appropriate motto, "In Tali Numquam Lassat Venatio Sylva." The engraver signs himself thus:-"L fruytiers f." The style is that of the middle of the seventeenth century, and is in execution not unlike the engraved title to the book (Comp. Hist. Batavica, Lug. Bat., J. Maire, 1645) in trait" book-plates are so uncommon that I shall "Porwhich the ex-libris in question is placed. be thankful for any information concerning this specimen. Derby. "THE BACKSTRING" EVENING," L. 227).— ALFRED WALLIS. (COWPER'S "WINTER "Even misses, at whose age their mothers wore What was the backstring? Certainly not the The backstring and the bib." back-board, elsewhere described by Cowper as "the monitor." I do not find backstring in Johnson's, Ash's, or Worcester's Dictionary, nor in Nares's Glossary. JAYDEE. GLOSTER RIDLEY, D.D.-In answer to a query of mine ("N. & Q.," 5th S. vii. 449), L. L. H. wrote (5th S. viii. 135):-"In the title to Melampus, a poem in four books, Dodsley, Pall Mall, 1781, there is a small oval portrait of the author, from a painting by Scouler." Gloster Ridley, D.D., engraved by John Hall I cannot find any book with the portrait in any public library_in New England. I desire a good copy of Dr. Ridley's portrait, and hope your correspondent may be able to put me in communication with some one who can aid me in procuring a copy Can any one tell where the original painting may be found? Please com(Rev.) G. T. RIDLEY. municate with Saco, Maine, U.S. America. on Bruce's Cuckoo at p. 31. In the event of of the portrait. "Bibliomania" being reprinted with other papers (not yet collected) of Dr. John Brown (for I cannot dispel the impression that it is his), I beg to point out a flagrant error on p. 18, where Coleridge is made to say, "Punning by spelling are [sic] natural enemies." I know Coleridge's handwriting well enough to say "FFLITTERAS."-Can any one help me to the meaning of this word? It occurs in the "Accounts of the Wardens of the Chapel and School of the CURIOUS CUSTOM IN YORKSHIRE.-Two farms lying in the township of Swinton, Yorkshire, and which belong to Earl Fitzwilliam, late in the occupation of John Mercer and Richard Thompson, every year change their parish. For one year, from Easter day at twelve at noon till next Easter day at the same hour, they lie in the parish of Mexbrough, and then the Easter day following at the same hour they are in the parish of Wathupon-Dearne, and so alternately. These farms consist of 302 acres (Blount's Ancient Tenures of Land). When was this custom commenced, who instituted it, and why? AN OLD CUSTOM AT HASTINGS. "It is an old custom in Hastings that on New Year's Day apples, nuts, oranges, &c., as well as money, are thrown out of the windows to be scrambled for by the fisher boys and men. The custom is not kept up with the spirit of former days."-Good Words. What is known of the origin of this custom ? EVERARD HOME COLEMAM. 71, Brecknock Road. DUNCAN I. AND II., KINGS OF SCOTLAND.-Was Duncan I. the son of Beatrix (daughter of Malcolm II.) by Crinan son of Duncan, Abbot of Dunkeld, or by Albanach, Thane of the Scottish Isles? Was Duncan II. the natural son of Malcolm III. by Ingibiorg? H. AERONAUTICS.-A short time since I purchased a curious work with the following title :"A Treatise upon the Art of Flying by Mechanical Means, with a Full Explanation of the Natural Principles by which Birds are enabled to Fly: likewise Instruction and Plans for making a Flying Car with Wings, in which a Man may sit and, by working a small Lever, cause himself to ascend and soar through the Air with the Facility of a Bird. Illustrated with plates by Thomas Walker, portrait painter, Hull, Hull Printed by Joseph Sim mons of the Rockingham Office, and sold by Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme, 1810." Can any correspondent give me information or refer me to an account of the author? HUBERT SMITH. FAMILY OF NUGENT.-Lodge's Irish Peerage (1754), vol. i. p. 123, in giving the Dysert branch of the Earl of Westmeath's family, says: "James Nugent married Alison, daughter of Sir Robert Nugent, of Taghmon, Bart., and dying before his father left a daughter, Catherine, the first wife of Gerald Dillon, of Dillonsgrove, co. Roscommon. Garrett Nugent, his younger brother, who succeeded in 1701 to Dysert, married Barbara, daughter of Hans Widman, of Hanstown, co. Westmeath, and died in December, 1728, leaving Andrew and other issue." Archdall's edition of Lodge's Irish Peerage (1789), vol. i. p. 224, gives the same account, but transposes the two marriages, making James the husband of Barbara Widman, and Garrett of Alison Nugent. Which is right? One would presume Archdall, being a later edition of the same work, but I have some reason to think Lodge is correct. J. K. L. MAY MUGGINS. In an old Scotch ballad, relating to a girl who had died of consumption, is the following verse: "If they wad drink nettles in March, Sae mony braw maidens Wad not go to clay." The nettles probably refer to St. Fabian's nettle, which is thought to be a cure for consumption, and is made into a decoction for that purpose. But what are muggins? CUTHBERT BEDE [See ante, p. 366.] "NOTHING VENTURE NOTHING WIN."-This I met with in Matt. Henry's Commentary on Exodus, second edition, 1707. Can it be traced further back? In other words, are we indebted to him for the proverb? M.A. OXON. THE DEVIL AND A HALFPENNY.-At an inquest held lately at Roydon, Essex, on the body of a man found on the line, a police constable stated that all the money he found on deceased was one halfpenny, whereupon one of the jury said, "They say that's to keep the devil out." What is the origin of this saying? CURATE IN HERTS. A HASTINGS STORY.-The following story is from Miss L. M. Hawkins's Memoirs. Can any one tell me whether there is any authority for it, and whether the saying ever had currency? I have never heard it or seen it mentioned elsewhere: "It is said that at Hastings the crier is employed to cry the weather at noon. The saying originated in the following incident. A man had given public notice that he should begin to pick hops the following day; but the morning proving rainy, he, to prevent the pickers assembling in vain, sent the crier into the "Whom call ye gay? The innocent are gay; "Conspicuous by their absence." This phrase is quoted as originating with Tacitus. What are his words, and where do they occur? Replies. PAROCHIAL REGIS ERS. J. (6th S. v. 141, 211, 233, 248, 273, 291, 310, 329.) Allow me, as editor for ten years of the Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmoreland Antiquarian and Archæological Society, to against the proposal in Mr. Borlase's Bill to protest (I mean to do something much stronger) move all parish registers and their transcripts to London. Such removal would be destructive of all local research, and a deadly blow to county antiquarian societies; it would benefit no one but a few London antiquaries, who might well be content with the many advantages they have over the residents in the country without seeking to rob us. I hope we shall be able to resist the present proposal as successfully as we resisted two former and similar ones-one a proposal to remove county records to the Record Office in London, the other to remove all wills up to Somerset House. During the last ten years I have edited five and a half thick volumes of Transactions; almost every reference to one or other of the parish registers in paper printed in those Transactions has necessitated the diocese of Carlisle. I have never known any difficulty in getting the requisite access occur either to myself or to any of my colleagues. I have never known any charge made either for searching or for making extracts. I have frequently known clergymen volunteer to do the work, to save me the trouble of a visit. The transcripts in the Bishop's Registry at Carlisle have always been open, free of all charge, to any antiquary or literary inquirer. If change is necessary, the parish registers should go to the bishop's registries in each diocese. evi& Should Mr. Borlase's proposal become law, I do not see how I can work our local society's Transactions as I have worked them. The fees will be a considerable charge on our small revenues. $I cannot be always running up from Cumberland to London; and I must add to the searching fees the fees which will have to be paid to a record agent. I trust that the northern antiquarian societies will be able to stop the passage of this Bill. I regret that Mr. Borlase, who has made himself a name for local research in Cornwall, should promote a Bill which will strangle it in Cumberland. RICHARD S. FERGUSON, F.S.A., Local Sec. S.A. for Cumberland. While this question is still to the fore, I should like to take the opportunity of adding my experience, &c., to that already recorded in your pages. I have searched, and made copious extracts from, some five-and-twenty registers in this county and elsewhere, and in all cases, without exception, I have experienced the utmost courtesy from the clergy; in some few instances I have been allowed to take the registers home with me. Putting all sentiment aside, however, I incline to think that it would be best to remove all ancient registers to London, or to central positions, such as York, London, Canterbury, &c., where they would be taken proper care of and be easily accessible. In support of this I will urge: in the church, I have come to the conclusion that Tilsworth, Leighton Buzzard. As the That the discussion which has taken place on this all-important topic will be productive of good results may be accepted as being beyond question. However, I cannot bring myself to the same way of thinking as some of your correspondents, who 1. That it would be much more convenient to plead very strongly that all our parochial registers be able to copy or take extracts at one's leisure may be transferred to London. Why should they in a public office on the payment of a fixed fee. be removed from the district in which the most At present, if I wish to see a register I must first interest is taken in them? Surely it will not write and ask permission, then make an appoint- facilitate local historical research to transfer the ment. On arriving at the vicarage I set to work, great storehouses of local history to the metropolis, and in some cases the vicar stays in the room, as, where they will be out of the reach of the majority indeed, he ought to do. Now, I ask, can any one of local antiquaries; and in connexion with parish work comfortably under these circumstances? If registers what research is so valuable as that of it is a long bulky register, the work must be such local men? True the registers are, in many hurried and imperfect, for you cannot help feeling cases, sadly neglected at present, but let the efforts somehow that you are in the way. Presently the for improvement be in the direction of better care dinner-bell rings, and you feel still more uncomfort- and preservation. A proposal which is now under able; the register gets interesting and you wish to consideration here may not be without suggestivepeg away; you have brought, perhaps, a frugalness to some of your readers, so I give it. sandwich in your pocket, but the vicar would deem it inhospitable to leave you, and you are asked to dine or lunch, as the case may be. Well, once in a way this may not come amiss, but when it is a case of three or four days you cannot but feel that you are taxing the good nature of your host to the nth! I myself recently had occasion to make some extracts from a bulky register, which took me three days to go through only once (and registers require going through at least twice); each day I was hospitably entertained; and though I should have much liked to have gone through the registers again, I really could not bring myself to intrude further upon one who had been so courteous. Again, perhaps one's time is limited; a drive of some fourteen or fifteen miles breaks into a day, or perhaps the vicar can only spare you a few hours. Now, were the registers in a public office, one would know exactly the hours and could arrange accordingly. 2. The registers would be better preserved. My experience is, that though the clergy as a rule are fairly careful of their registers, yet there are some, I regret to say, who regard them with perfect in difference, and leave them in open chests in damp churches to moulder away and to feed the church mice. In most cases that have come under my observation I find that the registers are kept in an iron chest in the vicarage, though not always, as I have sometimes seen them loose on the shelves. In those cases, still too many, where they are kept librarian of the public library I propose to copy the registers of our parish church down to the year 1800. Whether the copy will ever find its way into print is a question which is left in abeyance for the present, but I heartily hope it will. The copy, however at least such is my desire, and I do not know that it will meet with any objection is to be deposited in this the public library of the town, and will be accessible to the public in the same way as the other books of reference. In connexion with the preservation and transcription of registers, the public libraries and librarians might become very useful. If the registers are to be removed from the churches, the best place for them would be the nearest public free library. They would be in the district to which they be longed, proper care would be taken of them, and they would be easily accessible to any one who wished to consult them. But I do not expect any such wholesale change as a transfer of the registers from the custody of the clergy-at any rate not for some time to come. But in the case of printed registers, or where a copy is made in writing, the public library nearest at hand should not be fergotten. The newness of the library movement should not discredit these institutions in the minds of antiquaries; they are destined to become very powerful factors in the literary, social, and educational future, and they deserve every help, for the best of all reasons, that help given to them is not bestowed in vain. True, they are children of the ་ nineteenth century; but so are antiquaries. I wish that the libraries were remembered more by those local historians who contribute articles touching local history to the various periodicals of archæological societies. It is a very general custom for every such author to be presented with a few copies of his contribution printed separately. Why should not one of such reprints be sent to the public library? I am pleading hard in my own district for such contributions, and rejoice to say that the pleading has borne good fruit. The wide circulation of "N. & Q." has tempted me to seek an extended publicity through its columns; may this bear good fruit also. Doncaster. JOHN BALLINGER. I venture to write a few lines in support of the Bill drawn with so much skill by my learned friend MR. TASWELL-LANGMEAD. The only way permanently to protect these ancient records is to place them in charge of the Record Office in London. If all the clergy had learned, as so many have done, to treat their old registers as they deserve, they would still be exposed to risk. MR. MACRAY raises a point of more apparent than real importance when he suggests that the removal of the old registers would discourage local historians. The portion of a local history which is derived from the register of the actual parish alone is small indeed as compared with that for which the historian must search records of other parishes and wills, for which he must go to London; and if the old registers also were centralized in London the labours of the local historian would be assisted rather than hindered. DR. F. G. LEE answers his own objection; for if the revenue be derived from ninety-five minutes' search in his registers was a negative quantity to the extent of two shillings, the "robbery" of his fees will increase, and not diminish, his income. He suggests that copies should be sent to London; but it would be better to make a copy to be kept in the parish. The well-considered clauses of Mr. Borlase's Bill, however, meet by anticipation all the difficulties your correspondents raise. No vested interest would suffer, and great benefit would be derived by the genealogical inquirer. E. W. BRABROOK. Are there not some old duplicate registers still in the diocesan registries? From what I remember such have been neglected. They might be lodged in the Registrar-General's Office without detriment to any one. Another mode of helping the cause is for any one who has a parish register in his library, or a copy of one, to send a copy to the British Museum, so as to increase the small store there. There are many certified copies of individual baptisms, marriages, and deaths in the hands of solicitors and others, which are no longer required, and which might be collected were there a central repository to take charge of them, and where in time they might be classified. HYDE CLARKE. Will MR. TASWELL-LANGMEAD kindly furnish your readers with a fuller extract from the ninth clause of Mr. Borlase's Bill? What is meant by a "general search" with fee of twenty shillings? If it means as much as you can do during one day's (public) office hours, it is very much too high a charge. Would it not be well to clearly define in what cases the Master of the Rolls must (not may) remit the fees? To write a parish history shillings is to be paid for every search. The present would become very expensive work if twenty custodians of registers rarely, indeed I may say never, ask for fees when the information is required for local historical purposes. If the registers are removed to London, I fear it will, for some time to come, stop the publication of registers which otherwise would be printed. H. FISHWICK, F.S.A. to Mr. Macray's is the best and cheapest plan MR. CHAPMAN's suggestion of an index similar yet proposed. If perfect accuracy is desired, a the clergy to send a certain number of registers small Government appropriation would enable annually to the Ordnance Department, where they and then returned to their respective parishes. could be photo-zincographed (like the Domesday) The publication of the registers would be a subject simile deposited in London would be a boon to for future consideration; at present a perfect facinvestigators. MR. BLAYDES can restore faded writing by moistening it with a dilute solution of tincture of nut-gall, or a solution of prussiate of potassa slightly acidulated with muriatic acid. A small piece of blotting paper well moistened with writing and allowed to remain until the letters either of these solutions may be laid over the illegible become sufficiently clear. H. CHARLES LAMB'S "BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER" (6th S. v. 381).—MR. WESTWOOD will be glad to know that Charles Lamb's Beaumont and Fletcher has not been acquired by the Yankees, but was purchased at the sale of the late Lieut.-Col. Cunningham's library, some four or five years ago, for the British Museum. Might I venture to express a hope that MR. WESTWOOD will put into book form his deeply interesting notices of Lamb? Other fancies change; but Lamb's memory grows ever nearer and dearer. A score of pages from MR. WESTWOOD's hand would be to the lovers of Lamb a treasure more golden than gold. A. H. BULlen. Clarence House, Godwin Road, Margate. CROMLECH: DOLMEN (6th S. v. 108, 198).-I regret being unable to concur with MR. GOSSELIN in approving M. Littré's definition of the cromlech as "upright stones placed symmetrically in a |