that in a heavy thunderstorm they had encountered a shower of frogs. Another correspondent writes that on the road at Lassodie, near Dunfermline, he had been overtaken about noon by a shower and had sheltered himself at the side of an unpointed stone wall by the roadside. The shower finished, he found on the road a considerable number of the smallest frogs he had ever seen. Another correspondent, evidently the captain of a steamer, states that when four days out from Aden, on his voyage to Bombay, his officer drew his attention to a dark cloud which was coming in their wake. A part of the cloud struck the ship, when it was found that from stem to stern the ship was covered a foot deep with live locusts. The newspaper in question winds up the correspondence with a leading article on the subject, in which the writer states that Major Forbes Mackenzie, Fodderty, Ross-shire, some years ago found a field partially covered with herring fry, also that herrings of a larger growth have been found at Syke and other points some distance from the sea. It is also recorded that during a severe gale a quantity of herrings were transferred from the Firth of Forth to Loch Leven, and that fish three inches long fell before an English officer in 1839 within the space of a cubit at a spot not far from Calcutta. The writer of the leader in question considers that such a phenomenon as a shower of frogs is not impossible, for why should not a young frog or a colony of young frogs (a very juvenile frog is not much heavier than a leaf) be lifted up by a whirlwind or cyclone? "The unfortunate thing," he adds, "about frog showers is that none of them has ever been reported to fall upon the roof of a house or down a chimney, or on some spot which could not be reached by a frog by the ordinary peripatetic means.' Can any of the readers of 'N. & Q.' furnish a statement which would prove that frogs have been found in positions which are, so to speak, abnormal? In a little book, published in 1882, by William Andrews, F.R.H.S., entitled 'The Book of Oddities,' I find it stated that "Thomas Cooper, the popular lecturer on Christianity, in his well-written life, states that when a boy he witnessed a shower of frogs in Lincolnshire. He says: 'I record the natural phenomenon, because I have read, not only in that beautiful old book of Ray's "The Wisdom of God in the Creation," but in later books affecting great fidelity to facts in science, that such a sight is impossible. I am as sure of what I relate as I am of my own existence. The minute frogs, jumping alive, fell on the pavement at our feet, and came tumbling down the spouts from the tiles of the houses into the water tubs." Mr. Andrews also records that at Selby, in June, 1844, there was a shower of frogs, and that several about the size of a horse-bean were caught in their descent by holding out hats for that purpose. Three other showers are also noted by Andrews which are abnormal in so far as the localities named could not be reached by the "ordinary peripatetic means." The first is a shower of live lizards which fell on the side walks and in the streets of Montreal, recorded in the Montreal Weekly Gazette of Dec. 28, 1857. The second is a shower of pilchards at Mountain Ash, Glamorganshire, recorded in a letter to the Times of Feb. 25, 1859, by the Rev. Aaron Roberts, B.A., curate of St. Peter's, Caermarthen. The third and last is said to have taken place on Wednesday before Easter in 1666, at Cranstead, near Wrotham, in Kent, as noted by Carriber in Odd Showers,' and is a shower of young whitings on a two-acre pasture field. Since the above was written the following letter has been published in the Glasgow Herald : Dundee, July 19th, 1894. SIR,-During a walk with my wife before we were married, in Scotscraig grounds, near Tayport, we came upon a shower of minute frogs. They fell on our clothes, and the ground for a considerable distance was covered with them. I gathered a few and carried them home in my pocket. I am quite sure they fell from the sky. This occurred in the year 1847 or 1848.—I am, &c. CHARLES R. BAXTER. The above, at any rate, is personal evidence. Will readers of N. & Q.' kindly note any instances which would go towards meeting the very sensible reservation the leader-writer in question makes regarding frog showers as an authentic fact in natural history? R. HEDGER WALLACE. CRESSING, CO. ESSEX.-The following curious memorandum I have transcribed from a parchment. It bears no date, but from the handwriting I should say it was written in the thirteenth or fourteenth century: Memorandum quod Elphelinus atte Gore et Penelok uxor sua fundauerunt capellam de Kyrsingg [Cressing] et idem Elphelinus dedit viginti acras terre ad sustinendum dictam capellam imperpetuum et ad inveniendum omnia necessaria in capella predicta et rector ecclesie de Witham recepit dictas viginti acras terre cum onere predicto et jacent predicte viginti acre terre in quodam campo vocato Scolhous [schoolhouse] field. Item post hoc Rex Stephanus dedit rectoriam de Witham canonicis Sancti Martini Londonie et decanus ejusdem loci ordinavit et constituit suum vicarium qui tenetur sustinere predictam capellam per compositionem inter eosdem factam, Et Memorandum quod Brungor Le Wythye dedit quatuor acras terre ad inveniendum panis undecim in dicta capella imperpetuum Et Johannes de Stondone recepit dictas quatuor acras terre cum onere predicto et predicte quatuor acre terre jacent sub cimiterio predicte capelle. Memorandum quod idem Brungor dedit tres acras altari et vicarius ejusdem loci recepit dictas tres acras terre ad inveniendum duos cruces processionarios summo terre cum onere predicto et predicte tres acre terre jacent sub vicaria predicta. EMMA ELIZABETH THOYTS. Sulhamstead, Reading. PHILIPPE ÉGALITÉ.-There is a finely engraved portrait of Louis Philippe Joseph, Duke of Orleans surnamed Égalité, large folio in size, representing him in uniform, in a standing posture, and in the background to his right hand is seen the head of an orderly holding his horse. He was guillotined in 1793, having voted for the death of his cousin Louis XVI. only a few months before. The painting from which it is taken is said to be by Sir Joshua Reynolds. It would be interesting to know the circumstances under which it was painted, and in whose possession the original picture is at the present time. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge. " JOHN H. REYNOLDS. (See 8th S. v. 361.)-I referred to Mr. Reynolds as the author of " a pen-andink sketch of a trial at Hertford" (Thurtell's), signed Edward Herbert, in the London Magazine of February, 1824. MR. HEBB's article is a corroboration of my belief that Mr. Reynolds was the writer. But I never heard that he was joint author of Hood's 'Odes and Addresses to Great People' (not to "Eminent Persons as MR. HEBB states). I have the first and second editions of the 'Odes,' both printed in 1825 (Baldwin, Cradock & Joy). I see in Hood's Comic Annual' for 1830 (the first published) three contributions from E. Herbert, 'The Pillory,' 'Lines to Fanny,' and 'Sonnet to Vauxhall'; also two designs for engravings from Mr. J. H. Reynolds, the two (Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Herbert) being one and the same person. But Mr. Reynolds's most curious literary performance was his 'Peter Bell, a Lyrical Ballad. Wordsworth's 'Peter Bell' had been advertised, but was long in coming out. Reynolds got to know of the peculiar metre of the poem, and indeed must have seen a copy or proof-sheet in advance, for he wrote Peter Bell the Second (and Shelley wrote 'Peter Bell the Third'). Mr. Reynolds wrote the parody, got his 'Peter Bell' out first, and the original advertisement of Wordsworth's Peter Bell' sold 'Peter Bell the Second.' It has forty-two stanzas, all in the peculiar metre of the original, and the preface states, missal containing a mass composed by Pope Clement VI. for preservation from this scourge. An account of it may be seen in the Tablet of March 17, p. 403. K. P. D. E. "LONDON BRidge." (See 1st S. ii. 338.)Mrs. Gomme, in her valuable book on 'Traditional Games,' says, in reference to this old set of rhymes, that it would be interesting to find out which is the more ancient of the two-the song or the game. Although played as a children's game now, "London Bridge" would appear to have been originally a dance, to the tune of which the words were adapted. As Mrs. Gomme points out, the tune of the dance is given in Playford's 'Dancing Master.' The following quotation from The London Chaunticleres, a Witty Comoedy,' 1659, is earlier than any of the references given by Mrs. Gomme: "Heath. ......thou sha't be the Lady o' the Town. "Curd. I have been one in my daies, when we kept the Whitsun-Ale, where we daunc't the building of LondonBridge upon wool-packs and the hay upon a Grasse-plat, alwaies went to the Cushion daunce."-Scene viii. and when we were a weary with dauncing hard, we versions of the cushion dance illustrate the tranMrs. Gomme shows (p. 92) how the different sition from a dance to a pure game, and this transition has probably taken place in the case of "London Bridge," "Green Grass," "Green Gravel," and many other children's games. Amongst able, accompaniment of all religious ceremonies, savage races, dancing is the usual, if not invariand Mrs. Gomme is probably perfectly right in games and the marriage, burial, and building rites tracing a lineal connexion between these modern of our forefathers. It is fortunate that this interesting branch of folk-lore has fallen into such competent hands. Jaipur, Rajputana. W. F. PRIDEAUX. "HANGING AND WIVING GO BY DESTINY."Shakspere, in the 'Merchant of Venice,' VI. ix. 82, 83, has : The ancient saying is no heresy "As these are the days of counterfeits, I am compelled to caution my readers against them, for such are abroad. However I declare this to be the true Peter; this the old And again, in All's Well that Ends Well,' I. iii. original Bell, I commit my ballad confidently to posterity. I love to read my own poetry, it does my heart good.-W. W." 63: Your marriage comes by destiny. The verses are admirable burlesques of Words-In looking up the history of Simon Heynes, Dean worth, printed by Taylor & Hessey, 1819, twenty- of Exeter, &c., who died in 1552, I have come nine pages, and motto on title from 'Bold Stroke across a curious illustration of the first passage for a Wife': "I do affirm that I am the real Simon John Foxe, in his 'Acts and Monuments' (vol. v. above quoted, which may interest your readers. Pure." It was a regular literary sell, in two senses. W. POLLARD. p. 474), under date 1543, says :— Hertford. BLACK DEATH.-As Dr. Gasquet's important book on 'The Great Pestilence of 1348-9' has drawn attention to the Black Death, it may not be out of place to note in your columns that there is preserved in the town library at Bruges a "At this time the Canons of Exeter, had accused Dr. Haynes their Dean to the Council for preaching against holy bread and holy water, and that he should say in mony), that marriage and hanging were destiny; upon one of his sermons (having occasion to speak of matriwhich they gathered treason against him, because of the king's marriage." Simon Haynes, though a priest, was married, which was unusual at that time. He was accused of being a Lutheran, and imprisoned in the Fleet. C. R. HAINES. Uppingham. Queries. We must request correspondents desiring information on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct. DERAIL.-I should be glad of assistance in tracking the first appearance of this verb. I find it in Webster's 'Dictionary' of 1864, 66 from the rails of a railway, as a locomotive," on the to run off authority of Lardner. If any one can tell in which of Dr. Lardner's works the word appears he will do a service to the 'Dictionary.' Possible sources are his Railway Economy,' 1850, and Cabinet Cyclopedia,' 1829 44; but both of these seem rather early in date. Webster's explanation "to run off from the rails," reads as if the verb were intransitive, though it is lettered v. t. English use is transitive, "a train was derailed" (for The common which I have a quotation of 1881); but the intransitive use is occasional, and was recorded in N. & Q.' 7th S. iv. 365, from the Times of Sept. 15, 1887. The intransitive use," sortir des rails," is the only one given for dérailler, or derailer in French. The verb, with its derivative déraillement, occurs in Littré, 1873-4, and from his discussion of the current orthography, as well as from the admission of the words by the Académie in 1878, it appears that they were not then entirely new. Neither Littré nor Darmesteter derives the French word from English; the question, therefore, arises, In which language did it originate? Railway terms, in general, have passed from English into French; but in the case of derail, dérailler, there is some reason to think that the French word was adopted in America, and thence came into Great Britain. Can any correspondent supply information on the point? To run down the Lardner reference would be most useful. Oxford. J. A. H. MURRAY. ADAM BUCK.-I shall feel much obliged to any one who will refer me to a work containing particulars of the family and life of Adam Buck, portrait and subject painter, exhibiting in London between 1793 and 1833. I am aware of the biographical note in the National Portrait Gallery Catalogue. Kindly reply direct. Portland, Oregon. RICHARD H. THORNTON. the Satire Ménippée.' It was written in imitation of [There is only one sixteenth century work known as IV., and was directed against the League. You will find the Satires Ménippées' of Varro by partisans of Henri a full account in the Dictionnaire Universel des Littératures' of Vapereau (Paris, Hachette, 1876).] WILLIAM HURD, D.D.-I shall be glad if any tion about this author. I have before me a 'His contributor to N. & Q.' can give me some informatory of the Religious Rites, Ceremonies, and Cus toms of all Religions,' published in 1815 by J. Gleave, 196, Deansgate, Manchester, and stated to be a sixth edition. I find this Dr. Hurd is mentioned in Allibone's Dictionary of English and American Authors,' where the reference to him runs thus: Rites, Ceremonies, and Customs of the Whole World,' June contains a criticism of Mr. Walker's (the in the Academy, when suggesting a new reading My son tells me that a few weeks ago a writer in a verse of Chaucer's (I think), used the word in which textual critics employ "dittography." "contamination," apparently in the technical sense There is no reference to this use in the 'N. E. D.,' 12, Egerton Gardens, S. W. nor, indeed, to the one familiar to students of Latin literature. Is this new use borrowed from SOURCE OF QUOTATION.-Can you tell me where from the States"} writers on natural science; or has it 66 the following lines are to be found ?— come in J. P. OWEN, HAROLD MALET, Col. Oh, Hudson Low(e), oh, Hudson Low(e), By name and, oh, by nature so. EDWARD PICK.-Can any of your readers inform me how the late Dr. Edward Pick, in his system As it refers to Hudson Lowe, Governor of St. of mnemonics, treated dates and numbers? His book is decidedly hard to get; but I have the Hence my query. J. N. SHEARMAN. and AN OXFORD SOCIETY.-A quaint little sheet, seven and a half inches by five and three-quarters inches, which has lain among my curios unheeded for twenty years, runs as follows, in the form of a letter: Sir,-For the Improvement of Society and Trade amongst Gentlemen Born in the County and City of Oxford, there is, by the Desire and Advice of several Gentlemen formerly Stewards of the Oxfordshire Feast, and others, a Society of the said Countrymen Settled at Mr. Richard Trubey's at the King's-Arms Tavern in St. Paul's Church-yard, who will meet every Wednesday Night; in the Summer Season from Seven to Ten, and in the Winter from Six to Nine; no Gentleman to be confin'd to come but when he pleases, at the Expense of One Shilling, there being no Quarterly Feasts. N.B.-The Society will begin on Wednesday the 28th of August, 1717. The word "will" in the N.B. is altered to did in ink, and the letter bears the inscription "To Mr. Briquit." Can any reader of 'N. & Q.' give me any particulars of this friendly society or of the apparently defunct Oxfordshire feast referred to; also when the club ceased to exist, and who was Mr. Briquit? TENEBRÆ. BRAZIL SALTS.-What did the medicine termed Brazil salts consist of; and what was it taken for? It was in use some sixty or seventy years ago, and seems to be unknown at chemists' shops now. C. H. SP. P. 'SHAKSPEARE'S EARLY DAYS.'-In April, 1832, a play was performed at Boston (Lincolnshire) entitled 'Shakspeare's Early Days; or, the Reign of Good Queen Bess.' Is it known who was the writer? Did it appear in a printed form? An advertisement of the performance occurs in the Boston Herald for April 24 of that year. K. P. D. E. [It is doubtless the work, in two acts, with the same name, by Somerset, produced at Covent Garden, Oct. 29, 1829. Charles Kemble was Shakspeare; Keeley, Gilbert Shakspeare, his brother; Mrs. Gibbs, Mary Shakspeare; Abbott, Lord Southampton; Warde, Burbadge; and Wrench, Tarlton. It was acted eleven times.] ARMORIAL.-In Boston Church, Lincoln, is a hatchment with the following armorial bearings, viz., on a chief three stags' heads cabossed, quartering a chevron argent, three swans argent, gules, and azure. In the centre, on an escutcheon of pretence, the Tilney arms are represented. To whom does this hatchment refer? Are the swans the alternative Carey coat? Has Carey Street (Lincoln's Inn Fields), London, a connexion with the above; and when did Tilney Street (London) acquire its name? T. W. C. 'ROMEO AND JULIET.'-Will one of your ShakeQueen Mab" speech in Act I. sc. iv. is printed spearian scholars kindly tell me why Mercutio's as prose in the 1623 Folio (Booth's reprint)? Is it so printed in any more modern edition? JONATHAN BOUCHIER. ATTACK ON THE REFORMED RELIGION.-The following words are quoted from a "German writer" in Mr. E. G. Kirwan Browne's' Annals of the Tractarian Movement,' third edition, 1861, son was who used them, and give such a reference p. 190. Can any one tell me who the violent perthat I may see them with their context? "Delenda est ista infernalis, scelerata, sanguinea, et execranda religionis Christianæ deformatio, quæ falsissime vocatur, Reformatio." ASTARTE REFERENCES SOUGHT.-Will some one kindly say to whom and to what works the Archbishop of Church Congress, Birmingham, on October 2, 1893, Canterbury referred when, in his sermon at the and in speaking of Balaam, he said :— greatest word-painter of Scripture have, each in their Taking his stand, THE POET'S FLOWERS: BUTTERCUPS.— Home Thoughts, from Abroad.' cup is no slug-a-bed. I suspect it was rather more What does Browning mean by this? The butterawake at the time than the poet. C. C. B. PORTRAIT.-Can any of your readers tell me what has become of a portrait on panel of Nicholas Heath, Archbishop of York, 1555-1559, which a few years ago was in the possession of Mr. Grindlay, Duke Street, St. James's Square? J. R. K. obliged for any information concerning Mr. Justice SIR MARTIN WRIGHT.-I should be much Wright, who purchased Holcrofts, Fulham, about 1742. Sir Martin was one of the Justices of the King's Bench. He died at Fulham in 1767. The property descended to his only surviving daughter, Elizabeth Wright, who was residing here when Lysons wrote his Environs' (1795). In 1811 the house was the property of the devisees of Lady Guise, the niece of Elizabeth Wright. Any further facts about these two ladies would also be of service. CHAS. JAS. FÈRET. INEZ DE CASTRO.-Among the poetical works of Mrs. Hemans there is a poem entitled 'The Coronation of Inez de Castro.' The lady has gone the way of all flesh, and been buried in the great cathedral; but her husband, King Pedro, anxious to show honour to his wife even in death, causes her remains to be disinterred, and at a weird midnight service her corpse, clad in queenly attire, is crowned. All the flower of the nation's nobility attend to pay homage to the dead queen; and, when the solemn and awful ceremony is over, her body is borne once more to its resting place in the tomb, and her crown and jewels laid with her there. Who was this lady, and is the story true? Cambridge. W. H. SWIFT. [She was a queen of Portugal, assassinated Jan. 7, 1355. The subject, which is partly historic, has been frequently treated in poetry, drama, and painting.] JOHN OF TIMES.-What is the origin, or supposed origin, of the story of John of Times? Ralph Higden, after describing the flight of Matilda from Oxford in the reign of Stephen, concludes his 'Polychronicon' thus: "Quo etiam anno Johannes de Temporibus, qui vixerat trescentis sexaginta uno annis et armiger magni Karoli extiterat, obiit." Or, as the Harleian MS. 2261 has it : "In whiche yere John of Tymes dyed, which hade lyvede ccclxj yere, somme tyme esqwier to grete Kynge Charls." I quote from 'Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden,' vol. vii. p. 496 (Rolls Series, 1879). Shadwell mentions "John of the Times and Old Parre" in 'The Miser,' 1691, Act II. ORIGINAL KNIGHTS OF THE GARTER.-In the 'Dictionary of National Biography' it is stated that John, second Lord Grey of Rotherfield (1300-1359) was an original K.G. I am unable to refer to the histories of the Order of the Garter, but I see a list of the original knights in Burke's 'Extinct Peerages,' in a note under "Audley," copied from Camden, and Lord Grey's name is not included. I am very desirous to know whether the omission is a mistake, there being (exclusive of King Edward) twenty-six knights named. One of them was Sir Cupdall de Buche (or de Buz), whose real name, however, appears to have been Sir John Grayllie (see Dugdale's 'Ancient Usage of Arms,' referring to Ashmole's 'History of the Garter'). What were the circumstances under which this name was given to Sir John? H. LOFTUS TOTTENHAM. Beplies. BACON AND SENECA. (8th S. v. 407.) Montaigne, before Bacon, had the same thought and expression ('Essais,' l. i. 19, "Que philosopher c'est apprendre à mourir "):— "Je crois, à la verité, que ce sont ces mines et appareils effroyables, dequoy nous l'entournons, qui nous font plus cris des meres, des femmes et des enfants; la visitation de peur qu'elle: une toute nouvelle forme de vivre; les de personnes estonnees et transies; l'assistance d'un nombre de valets pasles et esplorez; une chambre sans jour, des cierges allumez; nostre chevet assiegé de medecins et de prescheurs; somme, tout horreur et tout effroy autour de nous nous voylà desia ensepvelis et enterrez. Les enfans ont peur de leurs amis mesmes, quand ils les veoyent masquez: aussi avons nous. [This is from Seneca, Epist. 24.] Il faut oster le masque aussi bien des choses que des personnes, osté qu'il sera, nous ne trouverons au dessoubs que cette mesme mort, qu'un valet ou simple chambriere passerent dernierement sans peur. Heureuse la mort qui oste le loisir aux apprests de tel equipage." And later, Jeremy Taylor (1613-67) is much in the same vein :— "Take away but the pomps of death, the disguises and solemn bugbears, and the actings by candlelight, and proper and fantastic ceremonies, the minstrels and the noise makers, the women and the weepers, the swoonings and the shriekings, the nurses and the physicians, the dark room and the ministers, the kindred and the watches, and then to die is easy, ready, and quitted from its troublesome consequences. It is the same harmless thing that a poor shepherd suffered yesterday or a maid-servant today." in Montaigne's essay. Whomsoever Bacon meant by There is a good deal of Seneca and Lucretius tion is very applicable to Montaigne. the "natural man and philosopher," the descrip Twickenham. G. T. SHERBORN. "Pompa mortis magis terrat, quam mors ipsa." (Ought not "terrat" to be terret?) Perhaps Bacon refers to the following: "Illud autem ante omnia memento, demere rebus tumultum, ac videre quid in quaque re sit: scies nihil esse in istis terribile, nisi ipsum timorem. Quod vides accidere pueris, hoc nobis quoque, majusculis pueris, evenit: illi, quos amant, quibus assueverunt, cum quibus nibus tantum, sed rebus persona demenda est, et redludunt, si personatos vident, expavescunt. Non homidenda facies sua. Quid mihi gladios et ignes ostendis, et turbam carnificum circa te frementium? Tolle istam pompam, sub qua lates, et stultos territas! Mors es, quam nuper servus meus, quam ancilla contempsit.”—' L. Annæi Senecæ Epist.,' xxiv. sect. 12. be ranked amongst the best," translates the passage Lodge, who speaks of this epistle as "worthy to as follows: "But above all things, remember thou to esteeme things simply as they be, and despoyle them of the tumult and bruit that is accustomably given them, and thou shalt find in them, that there is nothing terrible, but only feare. That which thou seest befall young |