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Bishop Kennett, in his Glossarial Collections (Lansd. MS. 1033), mentions dredge mault,' malt made of oats mixed with barley malt, of which they make an excellent fresh, quick sort of drink used in Staffordshire."

We have frequently seen peas, oats, and beans growing together in France. The words Drage, Dragetum, is of constant occurrence in early accounts.

INTENDED MURDER OF JAMES II.-In Letters from the Bodleian, vol. ii. p. 134, Mr. T. Carte, the historian, writing to Mr. G. Ballard, May 4, 1754, says:

"I had a letter in the beginning of this week from Mr. Monkhouse, and inclosed in it a relation of the design of murdering K. James II. at Warminster. It agrees with one which I had from the late learned Mr. G. Harbin, who had it from Dr. Sheridan, Bp. of Kilmore, who assisted Sir G. Hewet at his death, when he expressed his repentance of having been engaged in that design."

In what work are any particulars to be found of this intended assassination of James II.? J.

[Some particulars of this intended assassination are printed from Carte's Memorandum Books in Macpherson's Original Papers, i. 280-283, edit. 1776, 4to. Consult also Sir John Reresby's Memoirs, p. 167, edit. 1784. After the desertion of Churchill and Grafton at Salisbury, 66 'a new light," says Lord, Macaulay, "flashed on the mind of the unhappy King. He thought that he underderstood why he had been pressed [by Churchill], a few days before, to visit Warminster. There he would have found himself helpless, at the mercy of the conspirators, and in the vicinity of the hostile outposts. Those who might have attempted to defend him would have been easily overpowered. He would have been carried a prisoner to the head-quarters of the invading army. Perhaps some still blacker treason might have been committed; for men who have once engaged in a wicked and perilous enterprise are no longer their own masters, and are often impelled, by a fatality which is part of their just punishment, to crimes such as they would at first have shuddered to contemplate." Hist. of England, ii. 512, ed. 1856. We learn from Nichols's Anecdotes of William Bowyer, 4to, 1782, p. 203, that Thomas Carte's manuscripts, consulted by Macpherson, are now in the Bodleian library.]

ROBERT DAVENPORT. I desire to be informed where I can gain the most complete account of this old poet, including his pedigree, family, &c. He was the author of The City Night Cap, published in 1661.

D. DALE.

[No particulars are known of Robert Davenport, the author of The City Night Cap, which was licensed in the year 1624. It appears that he wrote in the time of James I., as two of his more serious poems were published in 1625. These were written at sea, and were dedicated to Richard Robinson and Michael Bowyer, who were both

players. He was living in 1655 when King John and Matilda was printed. Mr. Malone says, he was the author of a play not published, called The Pirate, of which there can be little or no doubt, for in S. Sheppard's Epigrams, Theological, Philosophical, and Romantic, 1651, is one "To Mr. Davenport on his play called The Pirate." Davenport seems to have written a good deal of poetry which has never been printed. In Thorpe's Catalogue of Manuscripts, 1836, No. 1450, is a volume of his poems, dedicated to William, Earl of Newcastle, Viscount Mansfield, Lord Boulsover, and Ogle, an original autograph manuscript,

4to.

Also, in the Cambridge University Library, Dd. x. 30, there is a poem by him, entitled "A Survey of the Sciences."]

SIMNEL SUNDAY: CURFEWS.In the Daily Telegraph, Sept. 23, before the Bury magistrates, a witness is represented as speaking of meeting a person on Simnel Sunday. Whence is this derived?

At Halnaker House, Boxgrove, Sussex, there are said to be two curfews as old as the Conquest (vide Allen's Surrey and Sussex, ii. 519, ed. 1830). Are they still extant? I. M. N. OWEN.

[Simnel Sunday is better known as Midlent, or Mothering Sunday, and was so called because large cakes, called Simnels, were made on this day. (Baines's Lancashire, ii. 677.) Bailey, in his Dictionary (fol. 1764, by Scott), says Simnel is probably derived from the Latin simila, fine flour, and means a sort of cake or bun made of fine flour, spice, &c. Herrick, who died in 1674, has the following in his Hesperides:

"A Ceremonie in Glocester.
"Ile to thee a Simnell bring,
'Gainst thou go'st a mothering,

So that, when she blesseth thee,
Half that blessing thou'lt give me."

The two copper curfews, riveted together, are now in the hall of the seat of the Duke of Richmond, Goodwood House, to which Halnaker is attached.]

FORD QUERIES.-1. John de Ford, Abbot ofFord, Devonshire, was confessor to King John. Is anything known respecting the history of this worthy's family?

2. Simon Ford, an elegant Latin poet (born 1619) was, by his mother's family, the Worths descended from the founder of Wadham College, Oxford. In what way were the Worths connected with the founder of the college?

3. Are the Devonshire, Sussex, and Warwickshire families of Ford in any way related to each other?

4. In whose county history can I find a pedigree of Ford of South Brent, Devonshire ?

Cape Town.

CARILFORD.

[1. Nothing is known respecting the family of the Abbot of Ford. Vide Oliver's Monasticon Diocesis Exoniensis, p. 339; More's History of Devon (Biography), p. 25; and Prince's Worthies of Devon, p. 295.

2. Simon Ford's mother was descended from Nicholas Wadham, uncle to the founder.

4. Consult Pole's History of Devon; Westcote's History of Devon, and Tuckett's Devonshire Pedigrees, p. 156.]

"PHILOMATHIC JOURNAL."-About 1824, a serial bearing the foregoing title was commenced. Who were its projectors, conductors, and contributors? It seems to have been ably supported. Is it to be had readily? How long was it kept up? SAMUEL NEIL.

[The Philomathic Institution was founded in the year 1807, and received the patronage of the Duke of Sussex. Its objects were to cultivate the intellectual powers, and promote the advancement of science and letters. Its Journal, published quarterly, commenced in 1824, and closed its brief career in 1826, making four vols., 8vo. The names of the contributors were not given, because

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[O'zone (w, to smell), is a new elementary substance, to which Prof. Schönbein, of Basle, ascribes the peculiar smell evolved in electrical operations, at the anode or positive surface. He supposes it to be a constituent of an electrolyte, small quantities of which exist in both air and water. Vide Hoblyn's Dictionary of Medical Terms, edit. 1858, p. 446; and Ogilvie's Imperial Dictionary, Supplement. Both these authors accent the first syllable. We learn from the papers lately, that Mr. W. C. Barder has, after eight years' study, discovered something of the whereabouts of ozone. Wind which has recently come over the sea, he tells us, is almost invariably charged with ozone; while land breezes bring but little of it on their breath.]

JAMES BURnet. -I have a copy of Burns's Works in two large octavo volumes, published at Edinburgh in 1811, containing many illustrations, mostly from drawings by Burnet, some of which are engraved by him. They are well done, and full of character. Can you inform me where the original drawings are, and where a life of Burnet may be seen? S. B. [Biographical notices of James Burnet, landscape painter, may be found in Allan Cunningham's Lives of British Painters, vi. 313; and Chamber's Biog. Dict. of Eminent Scotsmen, v. 57. It appears that some of Burnet's paintings are in the possession of his relatives, and others among the costly picture galleries of our nobility.]

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tionary of Architecture, issued by the Architectural Publication Society, it has been the custom from the commencement of that work to verify every quotation, where practicable. I put this saving clause because occasionally an author gives a reference so vague that much research has failed to discover the passage. Sometimes, indeed, the Committee is accused of not citing a well-worked reference, some revisor having found its incorrectness. But probably most of your studentreaders are but too well acquainted with "loose quotations," and with the little value the general public set upon the labour of obtaining correct

ones.

A little jeu-d'esprit was handed about a short time since illustrative of the practice of the revision above-named, and of the good-humoured feeling that prevails among the active members engaged on that work.

99 66

The

It was written for one of the working evenings of the Architectural Publication Society, when certain of the editors, contributors, &c. meet to compare notes, and despatch business. phrases "Biogs," Geogs," "Poliogs," are abbreviations in use among the editors, and signify the "biographies" of the various architects, the "geography" of the countries described, and the "poliography" or account of the cities remarkable for fine architecture. The phrases "Materials," "Nomenclature," &c. allude to the leading heads under which the various articles fall. The lines run thus, and are entitled

"THE A. P. S. ALPHABET."
A is an Architect, driving his pen :
B our Biogs,' some of rather small men:
C are the Critics, who look rather shy:
D is the Dictionary-never say die!
E is the Editor, surly and grim:

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F is the Fun, which we oft poke at him:
G are the Gengs,' long, tedious, and dull:
H Half-and-Half, how I long for a pull!
I Illustrations, they're famous no doubt:
K the Kind Keepers, who forage them out:
L the Lithographers, always behind:

*

M are Materials,' those we don't mind :
N'Nomenclature,' what work for the pen:
O are the Oysters we ordered at ten:
P are the Poliogs,' oh! what a lot :
Q is a Letter the shortest we've got:
Rare Revises, they're always dull work:
S is our Secret'ry, out-and-out Turk!

Earnest remonstrances being made as to the severity of the expression, the author burst out with this parenthetical and indignant justification of his verse

"Yes; I call him a Turk,
For he drives us to work,
And blows up like bricks if we venture to shirk:
He bores for MS.,'

For Proofs' and for Press,'
And scolds for Revise,' till we're quite in distress:

*The Keepers of the drawings and engravings.

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He'll have ev'ry word, and he won't be said nay to: The Latin Apicius,

The Dutch Burgersdicius,

Theocritus, Pliny, Severus Sulpicius,

Pausanias or Pindar, Solinus or Varro,

Tertullian, Augustine, or Bingham, or Barrow,

He makes you transcribe him, line, chapter, and verse, or he

Writes you to say, 'Your citation's too cursory.'

And should a poor scribbler but venture to nab as his
Own, a snug bit from the Clouds' or 'Anabasis;'
Or make any blunder in metre or grammar,
By Jove! Sir, he's on you, as down as a hammer;
Nor spares you one morsel, nor bit-no! nor half a bit;--
So now I'll go on with my A. P. S. Alphabet."

T are the Tables, our columns that swell:
Vare the Volumes, they're certain to sell:
W the Writers, who think their works fine:
X the 'Xpenses, a farthing a line:

Y is Yourself we're delighted to tease:
Z is Zo-o-phorus, alias a frieze:

But here come the oysters, and here comes the beer-
Success to the A. P. S. number.' Hear! hear!
Three rattling huzzas, and a finishing cheer!"

The above appeared in print in The Builder, vol. xviii. p. 474. It is hardly necessary to say that the "Turk" of a secretary is Mr. Wyatt Papworth. The writer of the lines is understood to be Mr. Arthur Ashpitel, F.S.A., a constant contributor to your pages. A MEMBER.

ST. PATRICK AND THE SHAMROCK.
(3rd S. iv. 187, 233.)

Thanks to your obliging correspondent F. C. H. for his remarks on the tradition respecting the use made by St. Patrick of the shamrock, to illustrate the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity.

It is somewhat remarkable, that in none of the histories of St. Patrick, nor in the histories of Ireland, with which I am acquainted, mention seems to be made of St. Patrick having made use of the shamrock, &c. And yet, though no historical evidence can be cited, it does not seem "unreasonable" to inquire about the origin of the tradition for many other traditions, not written, can be traced to a probable origin. I should wish, therefore, for some additional information on the subject. F. C. H. is respectfully informed, that Colgan-who was Professor of Theology in the Franciscan convent of St. Anthony of Padua, at Louvain-published a folio volume in 1645, entitled Acta Sanctorum Veteris et Majoris Scotia (Louvain). A second volume was published at Louvain, in 1647, under the title of Triadis Thaumaturgæ, &c. It contains the Lives of St. Patrick, St. Columb, and St. Bridget. This appears to be the work referred

* The Secretary.

to by the writer of the article in the last number of the Quarterly Review. (See the Abbé MacGeoghegan's History of Ireland, vol. i. p. 112, ed. Dublin, 1831). J. DALTON.

Norwich.

The plant always worn in Ireland, on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, is the Trifolium repens. The Oxalis acetosa, or wood sorrel, though not a rare plant, does not grow in great profusion. It is also too delicate a plant, as it is one of the most beautiful of the wild flowers. It would fade and droop in an hour after it was plucked. It is, I believe, very rare in parts of England. In the beautiful beech woods of Brückenau, in Franconia, it grows in the greatest profusion. Connected with the fire-worship which prevailed in Ireland, there is one curious and interesting circumstance in the tradition: the white clover, the blanche fleur of the old Troubadours, was the most sacred herb after the misseltoe in the mythology of the Druids. Suppose St. Patrick, when asked to explain the mystery of the Trinity, took a leaf of this plant-one of the holiest in the old mythology-and used it to explain his meaning, it requires no great stretch of imagination to feel what the effect would be on his hearers. Would not this be a fine subject for some of our great artists? FRANCIS ROBERT DAVIES. Ynischawr.

Without wishing to interfere with the arguments on this point, I may be permitted to say that there exists a mistake somewhere as to the identity of the grass called the shamrock. The real Irish trefoil (shamrock) is not clover, nor wild sorrel, but a grass peculiarly indigenous to some parts of Ireland only. This may seem a strange assertion, yet it is perfectly correct; and as a proof, there is not a peasant in Ireland who cannot point out the difference between clover and the genuine trefoil: the latter being much smaller, and less silky in leaf and stem, than any other species of trefoil grass, exotic or native (and there are several specimens of both), found S. REDMOND. in the country.

Liverpool.

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Florilegium Insulæ Sanctorum (1624),* the Cistercian Monk supplies but little beyond a congeries of miracles, which, certain Mosaic and evangelic imitations excepted, are generally as trivial as apocryphal. His narrative is simply this: At sixteen the saint was carried off by pirates into Ireland, and there sold as a slave; after six years' swine-herding, he (miraculously, of course) escaped; was again taken, and sold for a kettle, which declined its daily function of boiling water, and incontinently turned the blazing turf-sods into ice; whereupon the disappointed purchaser was but too glad to let him return home unransomed. He then studied Theology eighteen years under Bishop Germanus, afterwards under Bishop Martin of Tours, and at last in a monastery. "The staff of Jesus (2nd S. v. 375, 427; 3rd S. iv. 82, 132) having been (miraculously, again) consigned to his hand, he used it in driving out of Ireland the threefold plague of serpents, of demons, and of magicians; compelling them to the top of a high mountain, whence they threw themselves head foremost into the sea; meaning, so far as the natural nuisance was concerned, the Ophiolatreia (ibid.); as my learned friend and far-off kinsman, the Rev. John Bathurst Deane, has shown in his Tractate on Serpent- Worship, 1833. Thirty-five years' episcopate, and thirty-three of monachism in Armagh, rounded the hundred and twenty-three years of St. Patrick's life; his death and obsequies being foreshown and attended by troops of angels, and by a yet higher and holier Witness. It is singular that Jocelin says nothing of the shamrock, the triune symbol, whereby other hagiographers record the tutelar saint of "the Island of Saints" to have confuted and converted the Unitarian Bard, Ossian.

In 1809 the full credence, not credulity, and biblical style of Jocelin, had won me to read through his Legend, and to render it into English, preserving as diligently as I could, its peculiar characteristics. Historically, it is valueless; poetically, or scripturally, its readers could not have pronounced a more adverse sentence than now, when fifty-four consequent years have sobered his judgment, does its translator.

EDMUND LENTHAL SWIFTE.

*This is, probably, the book referred to by F. C. H. (3rd S. iv. 233) as published, together with the Biographies of SS. Bridget and Columba, in 1636; and, it may be, a second edition of Messingham, whose volume has three cartes de visite of St. Patrick and of these holy personages. The engraving is marked "T. Messingham fecit. 1624." By-the-bye, St. Patrick is there represented with a swarm of serpents crawling away from under his robes, and with a double-crossed crosier (2nd S. v. 378.)

E. L. S.

FAMILY OF DE SCURTH, OR DE SCUR.

(3rd S. iv. 89, 170, 317.)

In the west mainland of the Orkney Islands there are several valleys or glens named Scarth, or Skarth; generally with the addition of a distinctive appellative, the meaning of which is now lost, such as Settis-scarth, Danis-scarth, Hundscarth, and Binzie, or Bina-scarth.

At the date of the impignorating of the islands by Christian I. of Denmark to James III. of Scotland, for the dowry of his daughter Margaret, Sept. 8, 1468, these valleys seem to have been wholly occupied by Norse "Udallers" or "Rothmen;" of the name, as it was then spelt, Skarth. In a Scotch translation of a decree of the Lawman of Orkney and Shetland, given out" at Kirkwall in the Lawting in the moneth of Junii, the Zeir of God ane thousand fyve hundreth and fourtein Zeirs," there is a list of the Lawman's Council, "being Rothmen and Rothmenis sons ;" and one of them is "Andro Skarth, in Bina Scarth."

After the Scotch had been two centuries in the full exercise of their tyrannic power over the lives and fortunes of the Norse Udallers, there was still to be found, on the Scotch Valuation Roll of 1652-53, a James Scarth in Scarth, and a Nicol Skarth in Settis-Skarth. James had many sons; and in 1680 we have one of them, William in Caldell; and Robert Skarth's widow, in Caldell, is that year entered in the Cast Book, or Cess Roll, for the Scotch land-tax on account of Settisskarth. From this family the Scarths of Leith are descended. It is curious that the scopulus, or clam shell of their quartering, as well as the oyster, is to be found in abundance on the sea shores near these valleys. Of the sons of James, in Settis-scarth, three at least went to sea: two eventually settling down at Sunderland, and one at Whitby, as ship owners. The Scarths of Leeds are descended from the one at Whitby; and as, like all Scandinavians, the Scarths were sea-going, more of them may have found their way to the shores of Northumberland, and other parts of the English coast, from Orkney. The name may be descriptive, as all the valleys bearing it have a resemblance; but it has been borne very far back, as a standing stone in Holstein marks the place where fell " Skartha, the friend and companion of Swein."

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After having been evicted from the possession of people of the name since 1715, or thereabout, one of the valleys leading to the famous lake of Stennis, named Bin- or Bina-scarth, is now the property of Robert Scarth, Esq., of Binscartha descendant of James of 1653-by whom several properties have been added to it, and the whole district otherwise greatly improved.

After centuries of Scotch insolence and extortion, and of the grossest neglect and robbery, the Orkney Islands are at last under the equal laws of Great Britain; and are now making extraordinary progress, by the exercise of the truly Norse vigour and energy of their inhabitants.

P.

CHURCH OF THE HOLY GHOST, HEIDELBERG (3rd S. iv. 99.)-With respect to this church, the following extract may be acceptable:

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Up to the year 1545, this church (of the Holy Ghost) was exclusively in the possession of the Roman Catholics. In later times it was in turns occupied by the reformed and Roman Catholics, according as the Electors were Catholic or Protestant. In 1705 it was divided into two parts: the choir (where formerly the University Library was kept) was assigned to the Catholics, the rest to the Reformed. When Charles Philip, successor to John William, came to the Palatinate, and took up his residence at Heidelberg, he asked the reformed congregation to resign their claim to their portion of the church, offering in return for this concession to build for them another place of worship. This, however, the Protestants refused. Whereupon the Prince caused the partition wall to be pulled down (Sept. 4, 1719), and took forcible possession of the church. The townspeople appealed to the Diet, and the decision went against the Elector. For some time he refused to give way, but at last was obliged to do so (April 19, 1720); whereupon he left the town in disgust, and went to live at Mannheim.

"The church of the Holy Ghost was founded by Rupert III., in 1398. Louis the Bearded continued the work. The tower was not completed until after the death of Frederic I.". Guide Book to Heidelberg and its Neighbourhood, by K. C. Von Leonhard, p. 60.

Heidelberg.

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H. DOWNING.

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of the marriage register, under the signature of the Rector of St. Andrew's, Plymouth, in which the name "Margaret Hay McClellan" twice occurs. I did not make the statements respecting the pedigree which are questioned without good grounds for them. If I have been misled, I shall be willing to acknowledge my error when I see sufficient reason for doing so. ALFRED T. LEE.

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BLACKGUARD. In "N. & Q.," 2nd S. ix. 373, an explanation of the word blackguard is extracted from "an old French dictionary." The name of the dictionary is not given. The extract is followed by an editorial query, "Whose, and of what date?" The name of the dictionary is The Royal Dictionary, by Abel Boyer. Unfortunately the copy I possess wants the title, and I am therefore unable to supply the date. The quotation is not fully given; I subjoin it, with spelling, capitals, punctuation, italics, &c.:

"The Black-Gard, On appelle ainsi de jeunes Gueux qui servent dans un Corps de Garde, les Goujats."

The definite article "the" seems to refer to a particular body of men who were known by the name of The Black-guard. Under the word "Goujat " I find

"GOUJAT, S. M. (Valet de Cavalier ou de Fantassin) a Soldier's Boy, a Black-guard." HENRY JONES, Jr.

JOHN DONNE, LL.D. (3rd S. iv. 149.)-I have a copy of the Dean of St. Paul's BIAOANATOZ (4to, 1649, though undated on title-page), which is a presentation copy from his son to "S Constantine Huygens, Knight;" to whom he has written a singularly interesting letter on one of the fly-leaves. This letter is dated "Couent Garden, London, Julie 29, 1649." I presume this Huygens is the brother of the great astronomer. 1st Manse, Kinross.

A. B. G.

LAURENCE HALSTED (3rd S. iv. 187.)-Laurence, son of John Halsted, of Rowley, Gent., was baptised at Burnley, July 1, 1638; married and had issue, an only surviving son, Charles Halsted. In his will, dated May 1, 1690, he describes himself as "Laurence Halsted, of Rowley Hall, in the parish of Burnley, co. Lanc., Gent.;" and settles shire, upon his said son and his issue. Failing his lands at Woking, in Surrey, and in Lancaissue, to Alice (Barcroft), wife of the testator, for her life; and at her death, to descend to Mr. Henry Halsted, Clerk, Rector of Grace Church, London, and his heirs in fee. He bequeaths legacies to his uncle Laurence Halsted, of Jamaica (who was probably the individual named by Whitlocke and Whitaker); and to his brother Matthias Halsted, also to Charles Halsted, of the parish of Clerkenwell, watchmaker; to Robert, son of Robert Halsted, at the Crown in Fleet

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