Esk, he says,— country. the abbey composed by a monk named Richard name of belladonna, and not very common in this J. FOSTER PALMER. OSTRICH EGGS IN CHURCHES (8th S. v. 348, 434, 511).-Apropos of the custom of eggs being exhibited in churches, the following excerpt may, perhaps, be admissible, though not strictly speaking relevant with regard to ostrich eggs: Hæc vallis tenuit olim sibi nomen ab herba In English "This valley took its name a long time ago from the herb Bekan, the bittersweet, where it flourished. Thence the name of the house 'Bekan's gill' was known aforetime. Now it receives the auspicious name* for so important a dwelling place." From the foregoing it appears that the vale was named Bekansgill before the arrival of the monks (1127). They finding an abundance of woody nightshade or bittersweet, renamed it "The Vale of Nightshade." Now the name Bekan cannot be found in any modern or obsolete language as the name of a plant, therefore it must be understood that the fact of the finding of woody nightshade when the monks arrived or the discovery of plants of the "deadly nightshade" since can have no real connexion with the title Bekansgill given to the valley. How, then, has the name originated? Is it not possible, nay very probable, that the name Bekan, which can only be found in Cleasby's 'Icelandic Dictionary' as a surname of Gaelic origin, is responsible for the creation of this title? It is well known that the Norsemen occupied Furness before the Norman Conquest, as is proved by the Doomsday Survey. THOS. K. FELL. Barrow-in-Furness. "It was at this period that a hen laid a miraculous egg on the High Altar of the Cathedral [at Lisbon] bearing in raised characters the words Death to the French.' In a few minutes the anathematizing egg was conveyed to Head Quarters and estimated at its real value as an ill executed deception on the part of the priests. Junot directed his aides-de-camp to write on each of them in laughed at the incident, sent for a quantity of eggs and grease that the former egg was a liar, immersed them in acid, and the next morning sent these eggs with their inscriptions in relief to all the altars in Lisbon together with a recipe for the performance of the miracle."1893, vol. iv. p. 69. 'Memoirs of Madame d'Abrantès,' English edition of See also a different account of the exhibition of miraculous eggs in the churches given in Napier's 'Peninsular War,' vol. i. p. 153, edition of 1835. R. B. LADY DANLOVE (8th S. v. 88).-At the above reference I inserted a query regarding a supposed "Lady Danlove." It elicited no reply; and no wonder. The spelling I gave on the strength of the Rev. F. H. Fisher's Endowed Charities of ye Antiente Parishe of Fulham,' printed by that gentleman from the original MS., which I had not then seen. In going through the rate book for Under "ffulham streete" there is rated for these 1628-36, I got at the bottom of the mystery. vicar mistook the old-fashioned V for a D, which years the Lady Vanlore. Evidently the late it much resembles, while the German form of the r passed muster for a v, and so poor Lady Vanlore appeared as Lady Danlove, an impossible personage. Faulkner, I now notice, gives the name as "Lady Vanlowe." My own examination of the MS. has convinced me that there is not a particle For "John le Bacun" he refers to 'Excerpta e of doubt that the true reading is "Vanlore." In Rotulis Finium in Turri Londinensi.' F. C. BIRKBECK TERRY. I presume the plant spoken of as growing in Furness Abbey is the Solanum dulcamara, or woody nightshade, belonging to the order Solanaceæ. This is a common British plant, but is only in a minor degree poisonous, and is not what is usually known as "deadly nightshade." It is, I am aware, so called in Bentham's' Handbook of the British Flora,' but in Bentley's Manual of Botany,' the 'British Pharmacopoeia,' and all other books that I am acquainted with, this name is applied, and much more appropriately, to the highly poisonous Atropa belladonna, of the order Atropaces, the plant employed in medicine under the * St. Mary's Furness, the 1636 assessment I find, "The executors of the Ladie Vanlore or tennants" are rated, so that her death must have occurred just before, as her ladyship is duly rated for 1635. I do not know when her will was proved, but it seems to have been made shortly before her death. should much like to discover it, as it may throw light on some very interesting points now involved in obscurity. I Lady Vanlore was Jacoba or Jacomina, daughter of Henry Teighbot, of London, merchant stranger, and wife of Sir Peter Vanlore, Knt., a Dutch merchant, naturalized by Act of Parliament. In the Chelsea registers I find that "The ritte was buried April 30, worshipful Lady Wanlore 1636, a date which just fits in with my Fulham assessments. The fourth daughter of Sir Peter and Lady Vanlore, Mary, was married to Sir Edward Powell, Bart., of Munster House, Fulham, and Pengethly, co. Hereford. As Sir Ed. Powell does not come into the Fulham rating till 1639, it seems very probable that Lady Vanlore may have been his predecessor at Munster House. I shall be glad of any information concerning Lady Vanlore, and especially of any facts which may help to show the circumstances of her connexion with Fulham. CHAS. JAS. FÈRET. 49, Edith Road, West Kensington. N.B.-Mr. Fisher writes me, in reply to a note of mine, drawing his attention to the "Danlove" error: "Danlowe is clearly my mistake; both Faulkner and myself copied from the same book, viz., the old Benefaction Book, of whose strange fortunes you know. If you look at it, I hope you will find some justification for my blunder." "THE KING'S HEAD" (8th S. vi. 7).—This sign was not adopted for inns on account of the beheading of King Charles I., as there is an earlier instance of its use by nearly a century. When Princess (afterwards Queen) Elizabeth left the Tower, Nov. 17, 1558, she first thanked God in the church of All Hallows Staining for her deliverance from prison, and then proceeded to the "King's Head," in Fenchurch Street, where, it is stated, she dined on pork and peas. 71, Brecknock Road, EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. It also mentions that Princess (afterwards Queen) Elizabeth, after returning thanks for her deliverance from prison (Nov. 17, 1558) at the church of All Hallows Staining, went to the "King's Head" in Fenchurch Street, and dined on pork and peas. These signs were set up as tributes of respect to the persons whose portraits were painted thereon. The book is worth perusing, especially by those interested in the signboards of the past. JOHN RADCLIffe. "NUTS IN MAY" (8th S. v. 319, 426).—Mr. H. M. BATSON's suggestion does not at all fit in with the version of this game with which I am most familiar, the one commonly used in and near Liverpool. The words run thus : Here we come gathering nuts in May, Here we come gathering nuts in May, On a fine summer's morning. Who (sic) will you have for your nuts in May, Who will you have for your nuts in May, And so on. I do not think children would ever ask Who will you have for your nuts away— the phrase is not a likely one at all. On the other hand, "knot" is still in common use as a synonym for "bunch," and bunches of may would not be more out of season in summer than nuts themselves. If I remember rightly, Mrs. Gomme has other authority than her own for referring this game to marriage by capture. C. C. B. 66 nuts In my Traditional Games' (vol. i. p. 426), MR. BATSON will find that a version " gathering nuts away," sent me from Newbury, Berks., by Mrs. S. Batson, is given. It is much more probable that "gathering nuts away" is a modern alteration of nuts and may " to "make sense" of the words than the reverse, the rest of the words and the method of playing being practically the same. Out of the very large number of versions of this game sent me from different parts of the country, by far the larger number is "nuts in May" and and may." I do not attribute much importance to the word "nuts" in considering the probable meaning and origin of the game; and my theory that it owes its origin to a survival of the custom of marriage by capture is derived from the method of playing the game and all the words. These taken together show that this is a contest game, but differing from ordinary contest games in the fact that one party does not wage war against the posite party for possession of a particular piece round or for the purpose of taking prisoners, ndividual against individual for the possession individual. One player is selected for capd another player is definitely appointed to or "fetch her away," this player being expected in the larger number of cases to be always successful. Further evidence is given (pp. 430-432) of its probable connexion with the custom and the May festivals. The way in which a game is played is often older than the words said or sung. These frequently get altered when their meaning is forgotten and other words take their place. It is only when all the words of a game and the way in which it is played are considered together, and this of more than one version, that an opinion can well be formed as to its meaning and origin. The survival in custom of marriage by capture is surely too well known for surprise to be expressed at the suggestion that it is to be found in children's games, this being exactly the place where we should expect to find traces of it. Children playing at gathering fruit of any kind would not be at all likely to invent a game like "Nuts and May" for the purpose. I may add that an ordinary version ("Nuts and May") was sent me by another correspondent from Newbury. This will show MR. BATSON that "nuts away" is not even universal in that place. I think, too, that your correspondent, before becoming a critic of my views, might at least have looked at the book itself, to ascertain what evidence, if any, was given in support of them. ALICE B. GOMME. Your correspondent does not state in what part of the country he has heard the variant "nuts away." This variant is new to me, though I have frequently heard children singing Here we come gathering nuts in May. In Mr. G. F. Northall's 'English Folk-Rhymes' (p. 386) is the remark : PRINCE OF WALES, 1805 (8th S. vi. 9).-In 1783 the 10th Dragoons became the 10th or Prince of Wales's own Regiment of Light Dragoons," and in the following year the colour of the jackets was changed from red to blue. His Royal Highness was in 1793 appointed commandant of the regiment; 1805, the date of the engraving inquired about by R. J. F., was the last year of its appearance as a Light Dragoon Regiment; and this print represents H.R.H. as a 10th Light Dragoon previous to its change into Hussars. The jacket should be blue, with red facings. HAROLD MALET, Colonel. WILSON (8th S. v. 448).-No place bearing this name will be found in Northumberland (England), but there is a town in Northumberland, New Brunswick, lat. 47° N., long. 65° 37′ W.; also another in Carolina, United States. 71, Brecknock Road. EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. Miscellaneous. NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. Dictionary of National Biography. Edited by Sidney WHILE memories are still fresh of the honours paid the Lee. Vol. XXXIX. (Smith, Elder & Co.) publisher of the Dictionary of National Biography,' the thirty-ninth volume makes its appearance with customary and exemplary punctuality. The letter M, one of the most exacting as regards space, has now appeared, and half the letters of the alphabet, including nearly all the most important, are completed. Neither the late nor the present editor occupies much space in a volume largely taken up by Mortimers, Mowbrays, Murrays, and Musgraves. The most interesting life supplied by Mr. Sidney Lee is that of Edward Moxon, a man of no special attainments or importance. Moxon's associations with Lamb, Wordsworth, Talfourd, Tennyson, and others assign him a reflected splendour, and his marriage to Emma Isola, Lamb's adopted daughter, is an interesting feature in his life. "Puny" is the adjective Mr. Lee accepts as appropriately applied to Moxon's position in literary society, and as the "discriminating verse. Moxon, however, himself held a recognized patron of young or little-known poets" deserves to be remembered. Fynes Moryson, of the Itinerary, has also been selected by Mr. Lee, who describes him as "a sober and truthful writer, without imagination or much literary skill," and speaks of his work as "invaluable to the social historian." Thomas Morgan, the Catholic conspirator and faithful and devoted servant of Mary romantic. A personal interest attaches to Mr. Stephen's Stuart, is in the same hands. His life is sufficiently life of James Augustus Cotter Morison, who, besides being the friend of Mr. Leslie Stephen, was that of most modern men of English letters. Morison's ambitions were greater than his powers, but he had an original and a very attractive personality. The only other life by Mr. Stephen we have is the brief life of Thomas Morgan the Deist. Moxon is not the only publisher dealt with in the volume, since three John Murrays-grandfather, father, and son-are included in the volume. The first two of the name are brightly depicted by Dr. Garnett, while the third is in the hands of Mr. Thomas Seccombe. Another paper of high interest by Dr. Garnett is the life of Dinah Mulock Dr. Garnett had some knowledge of the lady in ques(Mrs. Craik), the author of John Halifax, Gentleman.' tion, concerning whom he writes very sympathetically. Mr. Seccombe's position on the 'Dictionary' enables him to send in many biographies of high importance, Anthony Munday, actor, poet, and dramatist. the best of all and the most interesting being, perhaps, much curious and valuable information is herein appended, and the list of works is of great importance. Among other valuable lives by Mr. Seccombe is the biography of Capt. Morris, the author of Lyra Urbanica' shady side of Pall Mall." Motteux, the translator of and the inventor of the well-known phrase, "The sweet Rabelais, is the subject of a capital life by Mr. Aitken, and Sir Thomas Morgan, the coadjutor of Monck, of a second, no less excellent, by Mr. C. H. Firth. In addition to his lives of sailors, Prof. Laughton depicts the romantic, if execrable, career of Sir Henry Morgan, the buccaneer. Mr. J. M. Rigg sende many lives of importance, including that of Lord Mansfield; and Mr. W. P Courtenay's list is headed by Morritt, the friend of Scott Canon Venables supplies a valuable record concerning Thomas Musgrave, and a second concerning Thomas Morton, both of them ecclesiastics. Mulready, with many other painters, is dealt with by Mr. Cosmo Monk Very house; "Lucretius" Munro is in the hands of Mr. Duff, and Mudie in those of Mr. Boase. Mr. Thomas Bayne's Scottish writers include men of mark, as Motherwell and Alexander Murray. Prof. Tout sende numerous lives of Mortimers, and Mr. Tait of Mowbrays. Mr. Cust, Mr. Russell Barker, and Mr. Graves are well represented. died before she was able to revise it for the press. This is to be deplored; for although Father Gasquet is an excellent editor, we cannot doubt that had Mrs. Hope lived to see it through the press the information on some points would have been fuller than we now find it. The idea of giving a history of Henry's divorce from Katherine undisturbed by any of the many side issues which arose from it is an admirable one. The latter bered by contending parties and principles that it is well-nigh impossible for any one but a student who is willing to devote years to the task to arrive at a distinct view of what was really occupying the minds of men at any given period. The separation of the divorce proceedings and intrigues from all irrelevant matter has been most useful; for whether we take the author's view or not as to the characters of the many persons who played their parts in that long and tedious litigation, we cannot but feel that the society in which such duplicity and perjury could take place was perhaps viler than at any other period of our history. The hearts of the common people were sound; but among the nobles and the more powerful ecclesiastics there were very few indeed who seem to have understood what common honesty signified. The Coinage of the European Continent. With an Intro-years of the reign of Henry VIII. are so encumduction and Catalogues of Mints, Denominations, and Rulers. By W. Carew Hazlitt. (Sonnenschein & Co.) MR. HAZLITT is the author and compiler of many books of very varying degrees of merit. In dealing with the works of so voluminous an author, some of whose productions we do not claim to have read, it would be very unsafe for us to institute comparisons. We are bound, however, to say that, so far as we know his writings, the volume before us seems to be the most thoughtful. We are certain it will appeal to a far wider circle of readers than any of the others with which we have come in contact. It is well worthy of a place on the same shelf with Hawkins's 'Silver Coins of England,' a work which has no superior in numismatic literature for accuracy and minuteness of detail. It is, we need not say, written on a different plan. Embracing as it does the coinages of the whole of Europe, with the exception of the British Isles, it was not within the favourable. Roman Catholic writers have been wont to The picture Mre. Hope has given of Gardiner is not limits of possibility to give for any one state the elaborate praise him on account of his zeal for Queen Mary and details which Mr. Hawkins furnished for England. No the restored Roman Church, forgetting, or casting into human life would have been long enough for such a task, shadow, his conduct in her father's time. How far he and no collection in this country, public or private, contains the necessary material. Even in the more modest was honest in the earlier period it is not for us to deterJimits by which Mr. Hazlitt has circumscribed himself, honest men did that Henry was entitled to a divorce; mine. He may have thought-as undoubtedly many we are puzzled to know where he has found some of the but cannot have considered his violence to the Pope, pieces he has figured and described. They are every whom he regarded as his ecclesiastical superior, as in one of them, he tells us, in his own cabinets; but that any way to be justified by the manners of the time. removes the difficulty only one stage further back. We, All historians worthy of the name, whatever may have in our ignorance, had conceived it to be well-nigh im- been their views regarding this great ecclesiastical "law possible to have made such a gathering without visiting plea," have been unanimous in representing Queen every town between Lisbon and Moscow. The plates Katherine's character as marked by a deep sense of are of a high order of merit. On the one hand, they do personal dignity. We do not remember ever before to not cause the moneys to look better than they are; and have seen her character illustrated so fully. The cruel on the other, they do not reproduce the rude barbarisms sufferings she endured, almost without complaint, ought of the old coin-books, where every object engraved has the to give her a high place in the hearts of all Englishmen. same uniform character of ungainly ugliness. We need We have but one fault to find with the editor. He has not, indeed, limit ourselves to the illustrations of former not compiled an index. We trust that when a second days. In the Dictionnaire de Numismatique,' pub-edition is called for he will supply this deficiency. Jished some forty years ago in the great series of works of reference issued by the Abbé Migne, we find some engravings which would have disgraced a book-illustrator of the seventeenth century. Mr. Hazlitt's volume will prove very useful to many of our readers who have not a single old coin belonging to them. The dated list which he gives of European rulers will be useful to every one engaged in historical studies. The value of tables of this kind depends on their accuracy. We have, so far as our own knowledge extends, tested them carefully, and have found no errors. The glossary of the names of coina has been very carefully compiled. It will be of wide usefulness. We doubt if any one of our readers can remember the interpretation of all the various names which coins have borne during the last twelve hundred years of European history. The First Divorce of Henry VIII., as told in the State Papers. By Mrs. Hope. Edited by Francis Aidan Gasquet. D.D., 0.8.B. (Kegan Paul & Co.) THE late Mrs. Hope was well known in Roman Catholic circles as a careful and picturesque writer. Her works on the early Christian martyrs and on the conversion of the Franks evidence much research and an independence of judgment which was very praiseworthy. The book before us is of high character. Unhappily, its author Notices to Correspondents. We must call special attention to the following notices: ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately. To secure insertion of communications correspondents must observe the following rule. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. Correspondents who repeat queries are requested to head the second communication "Duplicate." J. H. HARRISON ("Nelson Relic ").-Not traceable. NOTICE. Editorial Communications should be addressed to "The Editor of 'Notes and Queries'"-Advertisements and Business Letters to "The Publisher"-at the Office, Bream's Buildings. Chancery Lane, E.C. We beg leave to state that we decline to return communications which, for any reason, we do not print; and to this rule we can make no exception. 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