to the name of Jarndyce. It is currently believed that Charles Dickens took his idea of 'Bleak House' from a deserted mansion at Acton, in Suffolk, the former residence of an eccentric miser named Jennens, who died intestate in 1798, when his vast estate "fell into Chancery," and has originated several law suits. This gentleman, William Jennens, however, did make an inadequate testament, constituting his wife (who, however, predeceased him) life tenant of all his estates; but he appointed no executors, no reversionary heir to his wife's life interest, nor did he dispose of one farthing of his vast personalty. This virtual intestacy was solved by two of his oldest surviving relatives, called "cousins german once removed," and next of kin, who administered; he had no child, nephew, niece, brother, sister, uncle, or aunt surviving, having, at the great age of ninety-seven, outlived all immediate relatives. His property was thus divided or appropriated strictly according to statute; the heir-at-law was found to be the first Earl Howe, great-great-grandson of Charles Jennens, of Gopsal, eldest uncle of the deceased, who thus took the real estate. The personalty was divided among the descendants of Lady Fisher and Mrs. Hanmer, two aunts of the deceased. It is said that this cause, last disposed of on March 5, 1878, is about to be revived; hence this note. A. HALL. In TRANSLATORS=COBBLERS. - Some years ago, "translator" was a cant name for one who "translated" two or more old shoes into one new. this connexion it is curious to find 'Mercurius Pragmaticus' (No. 27, March 14-21, 1647/8) saying: "These [the General Assembly] are the vile Cobblers of Controversy, the dull a-la-mode Reformers, or Translators of Antiquity, that have pull'd the Church all to peeces, and know not how to patch it up againe." Mr. Parker's 'History of Wycombe' that this weighing business was continued up to the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act : "After partaking of luncheon, the Mayor and Council attended at the Bar Iron Warehouse in White Hart Street, when each member of the Council was weighed, and his weight was duly recorded. Such was the order of proceedings, during the past generations, but how far back the practice thus described originated it would be difficult to determine; however we may assume that it was of remote antiquity." R. J. FYNMORE. 'SIMPLE SIMON.' - In my childhood I learnt the nursery rhyme of 'Simple Simon,' but it had been long out of my mind until a few days ago, when I was reading one of Francesco Sansovino's 'Novelle' (ix. 8), written about the middle of the sixteenth century. A gentleman, Messer Simon della Pigna, loving neither wisely nor well, is beguiled by by the object of his unwelcome attentions into a sack, and there treated by the lady's husband, who has planned the affair with her, as Scapin treats Géronte in the 'Fourberies, but far more vigorously as well as for a different end. Previously to this, Simon questions the lady about something which awakens suspicion in his mind, and is answered with a gross falsehood; whereupon the novelist observes: "Messer Simon, who might well be called Simpleton (Scempione), believing what the lady told him to be true, made himself easy." Simon, then, has been a simpleton (scempione means a gross simpleton) for nearly 350 years, on the evidence of the above story. Why? F. ADAMS. 105, Albany Road, Camberwell, S.E. GELERT IN INDIA. -A writer in the Pioneer Mail of Allahabad (Aug. 3, 1892) gives the following analogue of the folk-story best known to us in its Welsh form of 'Beddgelert' ('Gellert's Grave'): "The Banjaras occasionally keep dogs, and it was, we believe, a Banjara dog which gave rise to the Bethgelert legend of India. The story comes from at least half a dozen different parts of India, the substance being identical though the localities differ. This is how it runs: "Once upon a time a poor man owed a large sum of money to a Baniya; and as he could pay nothing the Baniya came to seize his property, but found all that he had was a dog. Well,' said the Baniya, 'since you have nothing else, I will take the dog; he will help to watch dealing with them: (1) by leaving them as they my house. So the poor man took tender farewell of mis our footed friend, with many injunctions to serve his new master faithfully, and never to attempt to run home. Some time after the dog got to his new home, thieves broke into the house and took all they could find. Though the dog barked as loudly as he could, yet the Baniya snored on peacefully, and so, seeing the thieves disappearing with their booty, he followed them and saw them hiding their treasure in holes dug in the dry bed of a nala. He then ran home and never stopped barking until his master woke up. The Baniya was frantic with grief on discovering his loss, and was about to wreak his vengeance on the dog, but, attracted by his strange behaviour, he determined to watch him instead. The dog at once led the way to the nala, and began scratching at the hole, and very soon the stolen wealth was again on recovering his property was so great that he wrote The Baniya's delight on a paper, 'Your dog has paid your debt,' and fastening this to the dog's collar he bade him return to his old master, and the faithful dog, full of joy, trotted off as hard as he could go. His old master, as it happened, just about this time began to long for a sight of his dog, and determined to go and see how he was getting on. When half way on his journey, he saw the dog running towards him. He drew his sword and awaited his approach, and as the dog, with a little whimper of joy, sprang forward to caress him, he cut off his head with the sword, crying out, Thou disobedient dog! Pay the penalty of deserting thy post. Then too late he saw the note attached to his dead friend's neck, and was seized with such remorse that he fell upon his sword and died. The man and dog are buried in one grave, and any one travelling to Haidarabad may still see the grave by the roadside." in possession of its lawful owner. It is interesting to note the varied forms which this story has taken. WILLIAM E. Α. ΑΧΟΝ. Manchester. are, with the risk of further damage; (2) by tak. J. W. Writes Mr. Belville S. Penley, at p. 35 of his FIRST THEATRE ROYAL IN THE PROVINCES. Precise and circumstantial as all this reads, the premier distinction claimed for Bath seems to CHURCH BRASSES. -I have read with much in- Dibdin has already shown us, in 'The Annals of me, as the Scotch say, "not proven." Mr. J. С. terest the remarks by Mr. T. W. King, Rouge the Edinburgh Stage' (p. 147), that a company Dragon, in the part of the Essex Archæological acted The Earl of Essex' under a royal patent at Transactions just issued. He very properly ob- the old theatre in the Caledonian capital on jects to the wholesale destruction of brasses in December 9, 1767. This was the first legally perchurches which has taken place in recent years, formed play in Scotland. In all fairness, it must and he also objects, but whether with equal pro- be conceded Mr. Penley that the first temple of priety may be a question, to the custom of remov- Thespis north of the Tweed honoured with the ing brasses with the slabs in which they are em- title of "Theatre Royal" did not open its doors bedded from the floors of churches and placing to the public until exactly two years after the date them upright against the walls. Now, I happen mentioned. But the fact that the Edinburgh to be the patron and lay rector of a small parish in patent was in existence so early as the year Surrey. In the chancel within the communion 1767-unless his data be incorrectly marshalledrails are very fine brasses (late fifteenth century) to my mind puts the Bath annalist out of court. of a man and woman and several children. The slab in which they are embedded is much worn and decayed, and the brasses are in places at least one-eighth of an inch above the slab, and parts of the figures of the children have already been broken off. Every time the vicar goes to the communion-table (the brasses are on the north side) he treads on them, and there is a danger of breaking off more pieces. I am willing to put the chancel of the church in such a state of repair, ornamental and otherwise, as may befit the sacred character of the place, and also the architecture of the church. But there are only three ways of Comber. W. J. LAWRENCE. When 'Kenilworth' comes out with notes, some BERKSHIRE VILLAGES IN 'KENILWORTH.'remarks are due upon the villages mentioned in course of talk in Giles Gosling's hostelry. Sir Walter has collected the Berkshire village names with great care. Were they supplied to him by a local correspondent? Wootton, Bessesley (now known as Besselsleigh), Padworth, and Drysandford (more properly written Dry Sandford, and so named in distinction from Sandford on Thames, i 1 ! on the opposite shore) are all familiar names. But subsequently discovered. However this may be, the above-named four are all that are at present known. W. T. LYNN. Blackheath. "Prance of Padworth" should not have been hanged at Oxford Castle. His offence, if committed at home, would have been expiated at Reading. EDWARD H. MARSHALL, Μ.Α. Hastings. Стагои HAYDN'S 'DICTIONARY OF DATES' AND ASTRONOMY.-Whilst willingly bearing my testimony to the general care with which astronomical information is brought up to date in the new (twentieth) edition of this valuable and well-known work -even the discovery of Jupiter's fifth satellite, in September last, being mentioned-I should like to point out two errors, that the readers of 'N. & Q. may follow Captain Cuttle's advice, and "make a note" of each of them in their copies. 1. At p. 860, under "Saturn," we are told that the ring surrounding that planet was "discovered to be twofold by Messrs. Ball, Oct. 13, 1665." This statement was formerly made in many astronomical books, apparently for the first time in one on telescopes by William Kitchiner, in 1825. Doubt was first thrown upon it by myself in 1880, in a letter to the Observatory, in which I pointed out that it was founded upon a remark in the Philosophical Transactions for 1666, with reference to an omitted drawing which it was desirable to find that the true meaning of the suggestion (for it was no more) might be understood. This led to search, and a few copies of the Transactions were at last found containing the engraving, which had been suppressed in the greater number. Afterwards the late Prof. Adams discovered in the archives of the Royal Society the actual drawing, or rather paper cutting, made by William Ball in 1665, which led Sir Robert Moray, who wrote the notice respecting it in the Philosophical Transactions, to suspect that the ring was double. This conjectured duplicity, however, was of a totally different kind from a division in the breadth of the ring (which was first discovered by Cassini ten years later), and has no real existence, the appearance being due either to an indistinct view of the planet, or (as Prof. Adams suggested) to the folding of the paper with which the cutting was made. 2. At p. 1029, under "Uranus," we are told that that planet is attended by eight moons or satellites, six of which were discovered by Sir William Herschel. The whole number really known amounts to only four, two of which (afterwards named Titania and Oberon) were discovered by Herschel in 1787, and two (called Ariel and Umbriel) by Lassell and O. Struve respectively in 1847. Herschel was mistaken in supposing that he had discovered four more, the objects seen having been probably very faint stars seen near the planet, though unsuccessful attempts have been made to identify one or other of them with the satellites , Queries. We must request correspondents desiring information on family matters of only privato interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct. "CROSS-PURPOSES." - On Boxing Day, 1666, says Mr. Pepys, "mighty merry we were, and danced; and so till twelve at night, and to supper; and then to cross-purposes, mighty merry; and then to bed." There are many references to this parlour game or amusement from Mr. Pepys onward, but I do not find any clear account of it. I shall be obliged to any reader of 'N. & Q.' who can refer me to one, or, better still, send it. Oxford. J. A. H. MURRAY. "BROUETTE."-Théophile Gautier, in the "Versailles" chapter, section iv. of his 'Tableaux de Siége,' says: "Le frontispice d'un petit livre du temps, que nous consultons pour faire cet article, nous fournit un curieux détail de moeurs: Une jeune dame franchit la grille du Labyrinthe, traînée en brouette par un vigoureux porteur. ..... de la brouette était d'ailleurs fréquent sous Louis XIV. et la cour se promenait dans le jardin voiturée fort commodément de la sorte." I do not clearly understand what is meant by brouette here. The primary meaning of brouette is wheelbarrow; but it also means a "Bath-chair" (Gasc and Spiers), and a "sort of sedan-chair" (Roubaud). I can scarcely suppose that the magnificent courtiers of Louis Quatorze were in the habit of "taking the air" in the immortal conveyance in which Mr. Pickwick went to the shooting party. "A female markis," as Sam Weller says, with her falbalas and vertugadin, trundling about the grounds of Versailles in a wheelbarrow would have been a sight for gods and men! On the other hand, if the brouette in which the "jeune dame" was "voiturée" was either a sedan-chair or what we call a Bath-chair, so ordinary a circumstance would hardly be worth mentioning, and would not be "un curieux détail de moeurs," as Gautier calls it. Gautier uses the word traînée, which favours the "Bath-chair" meaning; a wheelbarrow would, I suppose, be poussée. Sedan-chairs must have been common enough at that period. See the scene of Mascarille and the chairmen in 'Les Précieuses Ridicules.' A sedan-chair, however, would be neither traînée nor poussée, but portée. Were what we call Bath-chairs known in either France or England in the seventeenth century? Are not wheelbarrows used at the present day as a means of personal conveyance in China? I MONTGOMERY FAMILY.-Hugh Montgomery of Derrybrosk (Derrybrusk), in county Fermanagh, ancestor of Montgomery of Blessingbourne, and of Archdale of Castle Archdale, was a member of the Braidstane branch of the family of Montgomerie of Eglinton, in Scotland. (See Hill's 'Montgomery MSS.,' pp. 99 and 389; Burke's 'Hist. of the Commoners,' vol. ii. p. 108; Lodge's 'Peerage of Ireland,' 1754, vol. ii., note to article on Earl of Mount Alexander, &c.). According to Paterson's History of the County of Ayr' (ed. 1847, vol. i. p. 280), this Hugh Montgomery was the son of the fourth son (name unknown) of Adam John Montgomery, Laird of Braidstane, grandfather of Sir Hugh Montgomery, first Viscount Montgomery of Ards. Can the name of this fourth son of Adam John Montgomery be ascertained; or was Hugh of Derrybrusk himself Adam John Montgomery's son, and not his grandson? I may mention that in the Montgomery pedigree, printed in Mr. J. H. Montgomery's book (Philadelphia, 1863), and in the history by General George S. Montgomery, C.S.I., Derrybrosk is misprinted Donnybrook. H. DE F. MONTGOMERY. Blessingbourne, Fivemiletown. CHARLES LAMB AS A RITUALIST.-Charles Lamb, in his essay 'On some of the Old Actors,' referring to Dodd, who had been chorister in St. Paul's Cathedral, speaks of "a surplice-his white stole and albe," as if such garments might have been worn by him in that capacity. In the twentyfirst century perhaps some historian of the postTractarian movement called Ritualism might be led into antedating it, if he trusted to Lamb as qualified to speak on the subject as an accurate observer of things ecclesiastical. Has this error been pointed out anywhere? PALAMEDES. Paris. discover its origin or exact meaning, I venture to hope one of your readers may be able to help me. See chapter lii. : "You must have a great deal of Shillam eidri, nevertheless you startled me when you asked," &c. J. PLATT, Jun. RICHARD SMITH. -I am desirous of obtaining any information about this person, who is the author of the following book, published by Robert Dexter (4to., 1691): "The Trial of Trueth, a Treatise wherein is declared who should be Judge betwene the Reformed Churches and the Romish, in which is showed that neither Pope nor Councils nor Fathers nor Traditions nor Succession nor Consent nor Antiquitie of Costumes but the only written worde of God ought to determine the Controversies of Religion." The Groves, Chester. T. CANN HUGHES, M.A. PAGANINI'S PHYSIC: LEROY.-Mr. Haweis, in his interesting account of Paganini ('My Musical Life,' second edition, 1888, p. 292), says: "Paganini seldom consulted doctors, but his credulity was worse than his scepticism. He dosed himself immoderately with some stuff called 'Leroy'; he believed that this could cure anything. It usually produced a powerful agitation in his nervous system, and generally ended in upsetting the intestinal functions. Sometimes it seems to have deprived him of the power of speech." Is it known what this stuff was? "PHILAZER."-Iu 'Calendar of State Papers,' 1660, I came across this: "Office of Philazer in the Court of Common Pleas for the County and City of Lincoln." What is meant by "Philazer"? WM. STONARDE. "DE MORTUIS NIL NISI BONUM." - Is the author Perhaps the Rev. of this trite expression known? Perhaps E. Marshall, with his usual erudition, will be able to give the authorship, which all books of quotations consulted by me have failed to supply. Ray, in his 'Collection of English Proverbs,' sub "Speak well of the dead," has: "Mortuis non conviciandum, et de mortuis nil nisi bonum. Namque cum mortui non mordent, iniquum est ut mordeantur." The expressions "Mortuis non conviciandum" and "Mortui non mordent" are given in 'Erasmi Adagia, but I cannot find "de mortuis," &c. therein. The phrase occurs in the margin of * Maronides' by John Phillips, 1673, bk. vi. p. 24. F. C. BIRKBECK TERRY. CLAYPOOLE. Can any of your readers inform me whether Wingfield, Gravely, and Benjamin Claypoole (brothers of Lord John Claypoole, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Oliver Cromwell, Protector), married and left issue? If so, how can I get their names, &c. ? I would like copies of family records of all Claypoole, Claypole, Cleypole, or Claypool descendants, with items of history, &c., that would interest the present and future generations of the family. Will all members of the family or descendants now living please write me? EDW. A. CLAYPOOL. 112, E. Randolph Street, Chicago, Ill., U.S. ST. THOMAS'S DAY CUSTOM. - What is the explanation of an old custom of distributing little Joaves of bread to children on St. Thomas's Day ? This is done in a village near Birmingham by some old ladies. M. E. G. APPLES AND ST. CLEMENT'S DAY. - Why on St. Clement's Day should children go round to the houses singing about apples and beer, and receive presents of apples at the different doors? M. E. G. ANNE VAUX. She is said in Burke's 'Landed Gentry' to have been fifth in descent from John of Gaunt. I could never find out how. She married Sir Thos. L'Estrange, and was daughter of Thomas (? Nicholas), Lord Vaux. C. MOOR. Barton-on-Humber. "KODAK."-What is the derivation of this new word; and when did it first appear? Madison, Wis. JAMES D. BUTLER. JOHN CUTTS. - He is said to have "greatly distinguished himself at the siege and capture of Buda [in 1686], being the first to plant the flag upon the walls." (Cf. Mr. C. R. B. Barrett's Essex, p. 124.) I should be glad to have the authority for this statement. Jacob Richards, the English engineer, who was serving in the beleaguering army, does not even mention Cutts in his diary (Harley MS., 4989). Hammer mentions a "Cuts" among the "lords anglais" who fell on the fatal July 13. According to the 'Dict. of Nat. Biog.' Cutts was among the English volunteers serving under Charles, Duke of Lorraine, against the Turks in Hungary, and greatly distinguished himself by his heroism at the siege and capture of Buda, for which he received the appointment of "adjutant general" to the Duke of "TRISSINO TYPE." - G. G. Trissino's 'Gram- I send you a trifle, a head of a bard, In a letter to Robert Ainslie, dated Mauchline, The earliest engraved reproduction of the Miers profile I have seen is that appearing in Cunningham's octavo edition, published by James Cochrane & Co., Waterloo Place, London, 1834-5. Should there be no earlier engraved transcript, the question arises, What was it engraved from? Had they they access to the original "shade," or outline? |