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City horsemen, I presume, are nearly the same every-
where; that is, stiff, timid, and ungraceful. They seem
to be of the opinion of Doctor Sitgreaves in the 'Spy'-
the wider the base, the greater the security; and in con-
formity thereto, brace out their feet as if they had been
tutored in Signor Gambado's riding school. In fine
weather, Hyde Park, I am told, usually exhibits the
same appearance on Sunday, from 2 o'clock till dinner;
although I have had no opportunity of witnessing it
before. To the actors, it is doubtless an agreeable, but
can scarcely be called a profitable substitute for an
attendance in the house of God in the afternoon. The
scene is far too gay and entertaining to harmonize with
a day of rest and religious contemplation."-Pp. 218-19.
Mr. O'Connor Sydney, whose works on social
England in the seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
turies are well known, told me of Mr. Wheaton's
book.
F. J. F.

BASIRE FAMILY. (See 7th S. ii. 189, 275, 391,
497; vi. 31; 8th S. iii. 14.)-All Dr. Basire's
children, in all probability, were born at Eagles-
cliffe Rectory, by Yarm-on-Tees, between the
dates of 1637 and 1648. The Dict. of Nat.
Biog.' gives the date of his marriage as 1635,
but Darnell, his biographer, who published his
correspondence in 1831, prints a letter dated
Aug. 10, 1636, in which Dr. Basire still addresses
the lady who eventually became his wife by her
maiden name.
On the other hand, Darnell's book
is full of errors, and his dates cannot be relied on.
The doctor's eldest son, Isaac, married Lady
Elizabeth Burton, and had issue a son (also Isaac),
who died in infancy, in 1678. Isaac was a bar
rister. There are letters extant from him dated
Gray's Inn, and others addressed to him to his

house at Durham.

Charles was chosen fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, on March 29, 1669. He married Elizabeth Baker, of Boldon, in the county of Durham, of which place he was the rector.

John was also educated at St. John's College, I believe. His father left him in his will Prior Close Colliery.

Peter is not even mentioned in his father's will, which bears date Sept. 14, 1676. He must have died before that date, or was then still in disgrace for his change of religion, mentioned in the 'Dict. of Nat. Biog.'

Mary, the youngest child and only daughter, married Jeremy Nelson, Prebendary of Carlisle.

Most of the above information is derived from Darnell's work, and must, therefore, be used with great caution. It is given here as it may be useful as a basis for further research.

Darnell has made inquiries about the other Basire family, the well-known engravers, and states in his book that they also hail from Normandy (but it is not known at what date they came to England), and that they did not claim kindred with Dr. Basire, and had not even heard of him. L. L. K.

NOM DE PLUME.-Some time ago there was a lively discussion in N. & Q.' as to the origin and use of the convenient phrase nom de plume, M. FERDINAND GASC, the lexicographer whose admirable dictionary should be in the hands of every serious student of the French language— strenuously contending that its origin was most certainly not French, and that it sounds in a Frenchman's ears as absurd as it would be to say nom de marmite for a cook, or nom de balai for a housemaid. Now I should not like to set my opinion as to the origin of this expression against that of such an authority as M. GASC; but as regards its use by Frenchmen, I thought at the time that I had met with it as used by French writers, although I could not find an example to quote. Now, however, I have just done so, and here it is. Le Temps, the Paris journal, of Feb. 17 last, in its bulletin du jour has :—

"Il leur plaît d'attribuer à l'inspiration directe de l'ambassadeur de Russie à Berlin certaines correspondances peu germanophiles qui paraissent sous le nom de plume de 'Protée' dans la presse de Pétersbourg et de Moscou."

Curiously enough, on the same day that I read the above in Le Temps, I was reading O'Shea's amusing 'Roundabout Recollections,' and noticed that he says (vol. i. p. 75): "There is no such phrase in French as nom de plume." He appears to be mistaken; and whatever may have been its origin, whether French or Anglo-French, its utility appears to be recognized on the other side of the Channel, so that we English need not be ashamed of employing it. Pace M. GASC, too, I cannot think that the phrase, whoever invented it, is either absurd or inelegant, but much the contrary. Metonymically it is indeed amply justifiable. This trope is defined as a change of names which have some relationship to each other," and surely it would be difficult to find a closer relationship than that of the pen and authorship. E. M. S.

Chichester.

[See 7th S. iii, 348; iv. 17, 331, 494; v. 52, 155, 195, 274, 412.]

TENNYSON: 'POEMS BY TWO BROTHERS.'-Mr. Arthur Waugh, in his recent admirable 'Life of Lord Tennyson,' repeats the assertion previously made in Tennysoniana,' that the above volume elicited but a single contemporary notice, namely, that in the Literary Chronicle and Weekly Review. It is strange that the following review in the Gentleman's Magazine for June, 1827, p. 609, has been overlooked :

"Dr. Johnson has a remark, 'that no Book was ever spared in tenderness to its Author'; we think otherwise, and we believe that occasion and circumstances have frequently tended to mitigate, if not to reverse the censure of criticism. Why to such a volume as this should a test be applied which should have reference only to high pretensions? These poems are full of amiable feelings, expressed for the most part with eloquence

and correctness-are we to complain that they want the deep feeling of a Byron, the polished grace of Moore, or the perfect mastery of human passion which distinguishes Crabbe? We would rather express our surprise and admiration that at an age when the larger class of mankind have barely reached the elements of thought, so much of good feeling, united to the poetical expression of it, should be found in two members of the same family. The volume is a graceful addition to our domestic poetry, and does credit to the juvenile Adelphi." RALPH T. Bradbury.

Redhill,

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.

MARYLEBONE LANE GREEN.-In a case that was recently tried on appeal at the London County Sessions one of the witnesses said that at the time the alleged incident that formed the subject-matter of appeal occurred "he was in that part of Regent's Park known as Marylebone Lane Green, near the Broad Walk." I should be glad to learn what the exact boundaries of this part of the park are, as the designation is new to me. No portion of the original Marylebone Lane is included within the park limits, I believe. The old lane that separated the parishes of St. Marylebone and St. Pancras, and a portion of which is included (so far as I can judge from a comparison of maps) in the present Broad Walk, was known as Green Lane. Near the entrance of this lane, which opened out a short distance to the eastward of Marylebone Lane, the well-known old hostelry the "Queen's Head and Artichoke " was situated. The part of the park referred to by the witness is, I presume, the segment bounded by the Outer Circle on the south and east, by Chester Road on the north, and by the road leading from the Botanical Gardens to York Gate on the west. This formerly was included in Marylebone Park, and was, I think, known as the Green, but not as Marylebone Lane Green.

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that Yetminster means "at the minster," and Ockford means "at the ford." On what ground these dictatorial etymologies laid down There is no example in the English language, at any date, of such prepositions as yet or ock, with the sense of "at." If there is, let us have the references. WALTER W. SKEAT.

SAMPLERS.-What is the earliest known child's sampler with a date? Has a collection of these interesting pieces of needlework ever been brought together and described? Where are some good typical examples to be seen ?

ANDREW W. Tuer.

The Leadenhall Press, E.C. [See 4th S. vi. 500; vii. 21, 126, 220, 273, 331, 465, 525; viii. 176, 248, 376.]

TYING STRAW TO A STREET-DOOR.-At a recent trial in the Probate and Divorce Court, the learned counsel for the respondent, in his cross-examination of the petitioner, said that at Caldecot, in the county of Monmouth, there was a custom, when it was known that a man was beating his wife, to tie straw to his door, in order that he might beat the straw instead of his wife. The custom of laying loose straw or chaff before the door of a house "where discipline was necessary to ensure the obedience of love," was noticed in N. & Q.,' 1st S. i. 245, 294; 7th S. v. 405, and was said to be practised in Gloucestershire, Kent, and Warwickshire. Does the custom exist elsewhere? What is its origin and meaning? Can it denote, as suggested by an esteemed correspondent, "Thrashing done within"? EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

71, Brecknock Road,

BARNARD. In 1847 Edward George Barnard, Esq., M.P., was living at the Green, Deptford. What is known about him? Was he of the same family as Mr. Barnard, the shipbuilder of that place during the latter part of last century? Any

facts as to the Barnards will be welcome.

BEAULIEU.

ROBERT AUGUILLON, TEMP. HENRY III.-I shall be much obliged for the names of any books referring to the history of this favourite of Henry III. and to the grants given to him by that king, or for any notes respecting his family in England or Ireland, and his descendants, as far as is known. I am tracing a family (presumably extinct in the last century) whose arms identical with those of Rob. Auguillon and their name an evident corruption of his. As to the latter, his name is spelt in more than eight different ways; I give the one generally used.

B. FLORENCE SCARLETT.

are

THE EARL OF LINDSAY'S COAT OF ARMS.What are the correct bearings of the Earl of Lind

say?

He is descended from the Betbunes of Kilconquhar, whose name and arms he should bear under the entail of the estates.

The coat of the Kilconquhar Bethunes is given by Nisbet, under the heading of Bethune of Nether-Tarvit (Kilconquhar having been purchased subsequently) as: Quarterly, 1 and 4, Azure, on a fesse between three lozenges or, a betune slipped

leaf vert; 2 and 3, Argent, on a chevron sable, an otter's head erased of the first. Crest, a physician's quadrangular cap proper. "" Motto, Resolutio cauta." Berry gives the arms of Bethune of Kilconquhar, Bart., as Quarterly, 1 and 4, Azure, a fesse between three lozenges or; 2 and 3, Arg., on a chevron sable, an otter's head erased of the first, all within a bordure embattled or; the bordure being possibly added when the baronetcy was created, and perhaps as a difference for the female line.

But now, according to Burke's Peerage,' the Earl of Lindsay bears the ordinary arms, crest, and motto of Bethune of Balfour, viz.: Quarterly, 1 and 4, Azure, a fesse between three mascles or ; 2 and 3, Arg., on a chev. sa. an otter's head erased of the first. Crest, an otter's head erased, and motto, Debonnaire." And Lodge's 'Peerage' gives the same, thus ignoring altogether the Kilconquhar descent, through which alone the earl bears the Bethune name and arms.

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Foster's Peerage' gives the arms as those described in Berry for Bethune of Kilconquhar, Bart., but he makes the bordure arg. instead of or.

Debrett's 'Peerage' gives the arms as those of the Kilconquhar, Bart., as described in Berry. I end as I began, What are the correct bearings? ST. ANDREWS.

SIR J. POOLY.-Can any one give me the pedigree of Sir John Pooly, knighted at Dublin in 1599? From which of the Suffolk Poleys does he descend? WILLIAM BUTLER.

16, Holbein Buildings, Sloane Square, S.W.

SIR W. CROSBY.-I should be glad of any information of Sir Warain Corsby (Crosby?) who married Dorothy Howard in 1707. W. B. T. Heaton.

BLACKWATER.-Was the river Blackwater, which runs through the Careysville property, co. Cork (Ireland), named after the river Blackwater, in Essex, near Raleigh and Rochford Manors, held by Swain, Earl of Essex and Somerset, and after by the Careys, Lords Hunsdon? T. W. C.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF JACOBITE LITERATURE.I should be glad to know if any bibliography of the kind exists. A search through the Catalogues at the British Museum and the Indexes of N. & Q.' has proved fruitless, and I venture to think such a compilation is a desideratum. I should also feel obliged for any reference to MS. or printed matter,

re Jacobite intrigues in England or Scotland in the intervening period between the risings of '15 and '45. The extracts from Stuart Papers at Windsor, which have been printed, do not, I believe, cover this period. NATHANIEL HONE. Henley-on-Thames.

will kindly state when clan badges were first reCLAN BADGES.-Perhaps some reader of 'N. & Q' cognized, and where and when it is first stated that the various clans had badges. For instance, the oak is asserted to be the badge of one clan, the juniper of another, the pine of a third, and so on. find in one 'History of the Highland Clans' that the badge of the Mackays is the broom, but another states that it is the bulrush. Which is either statement? Are these badges really ancient correct; or is there any undoubted authority for cognizances of the Highland clans; or are they the outcome of the "Highland revival" which was inaugurated by the publication of the 'Lady of the ject through the columns of N. & Q.' will be Lake' and Waverley'? Information on the subvery welcome.

Wiesbaden, Germany.

JOHN MACKAY.

'THE NEW TIMON.'-I wonder if any of your readers who may happen to possess 'The New Timon,' written by Bulwer Lytton in 1846, would kindly copy out and insert in N. & Q.' the lines on Tennyson in that book, beginning,—

Not mine, not mine (O Muse forbid) the boon Of borrowed notes, the mock bird's modish tune. I am very anxious to have them, but cannot find the book in any of my friends' libraries. TANG JE PUVs.

"IMPOSSIBLE, YET PROBABLE.”—Fielding ('Tom Jones,' book viii. chap. i.) says, Some are, with M. Dacier, ready to allow that the same thing which is impossible may be yet probable"; and he adds in a note, "It is happy for M. Dacier that he was not an Irishman. Where does Dacier make the remark here referred to ? B. D. MOSELEY. Burslem.

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THE FATHER OF ABIGAIL HILL, LADY MASHAM. -On reference to 'N. & Q.,' 2nd S. viii. 9, 57, I find the father of Abigail Hill, Lady Masham, is variously given as Francis and Edward. I have reason to believe his name was Francis, and that he married Mary, the sister of Richard Jennings, of Sandridge, near St. Albans. I know nothing further about him, except that he was a Turkey merchant of London who became bankrupt. As I have not found his name in the Sandridge registers, I conclude that he lived in London. I should be glad to know (1) in which London parish he lived; (2) dates of birth, death, and marriage of him and his wife; (3) the names of his parents, which I cannot find with certainty from the above references in 'N. & Q.' R. H. E. H.

TROLLOPE'S NOVELS.-Can any of your readers give me the order in which to read Trollope's novels about the Bishop and Dean of Barchester, commencing with the Warden' and' Barchester Towers'? R. A. S.

ALEXANDER WALKER.-Who was he? We

hear a good deal now concerning him. Was he an artist, or a surgeon? His book, the Analysis of Beauty in Women,' has been a popular work for some time. W. WRIGHT. Westminster.

FAIRMAN, OF LINSTED AND TEYNHAM, KENT. -Can any one give me information concerning this family? KNOWLER.

TRURO STANNARY COURT.-I should be obliged if any reader of 'N. & Q.' could tell me where I could find a list of persons who held positions in the Stannary Court at Truro. It should be an early list, for the son of the official whose name is sought died in the parish of St. Clement Danes in 1716.

3, Pump Court, Temple.

THOS. A. MARTIN.

CHRISTIAN COLE, BRITISH CONSUL AT VENICE, 1701-14.-Is anything known as to him or his family, or of Mr. Robert Cole, Consul at Algiers, who died in 1712? Christian is a name which occurs in the Enniskillen pedigree. BEAULIEU.

LEWIN FAMILY.-Harriet Lewin, who married George Grote, historian, was the daughter of Thomas Herbert Lewin, of Eltham, Bexley, and Sidcup, in Kent, who was the son of Richard Lewin, of Bexley, married 1752, died 1810. How was she descended from Lowyn, of Hertfordshire (Heralds' Visitation, 1572; Harl. MSS., No. 6147, fol. 13), and from Lewyn, of Kent (Heralds' Visitation, 1619)? Was she descended from Sir Justinian Lewyn, of Otringden, in Kent? Her first cousin was Sir Gregory Lewin, Knt., who was lawyer to Mr. William Lewin, a civil engineer, who left London and settled in Boston, Lincs., early in this century. He was a cousin of Sir Gregory and son of (William ?) Lewin, who married twice-once, I believe, a Miss Woolgar-and had several children. He (William) was, I think, in the Deptford victualling yard. How was Mr. William Lewin, C.E., connected with Mrs. Grote ? PELOPS.

GEORGE TOWNSHEnd, of Dereham, NORFOLK. -Could any contributor to 'N. & Q.' help me in a search for the descendants of George Townshend,

of Dereham, Norfolk, son of Sir Roger, who was knighted at the wedding of Henry VIII. There was also a Sydney Townshend, of Salop, son of Robert (buried at Ludlow, 1614), and his wife Anne Machell. Is anything known of his descendants? MRS. TOWNSHEND.

80, Woodstock Road, Oxford.

Replies.

MERE-STONES.

(8th S. iii. 289.)

Mere is a pure English word, independent of the Greek μeipojat, "I receive as a portion." It is not a misprint for milestone, but is quite right. The old verb to mere, spelt mear by Spenser, is not an old verb, but a mere invention by Spenser himself, coined out of the substantive; and the substantive is also used by Spenser, in a quotation duly given a Johnson's 'Dictionary.'

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Mere-stone is not in my 'Etymological Dictionary'; nevertheless, it is in a dictionary in which I had a hand; and I here quote the article: "Mere, ab. limit, boundary, S2; meer, Prompt. Comb.: mere-stane, boundary stone, Cath.-A.-S. (ge)māere."Mayhew and Skeat, 'Concise M.E. Dictionary, Oxford, 1888, p. 146.

"S2" means that the word occurs in 'Specimens of English,' ed. Morris and Skeat. Here is the passage: "Mere set thou whilk ouerga thai ne sal"; i. e., thou didst appoint a bound which they may not go beyond; Old Northumbrian translation (ab. 1300) of Psalm ciii. (civ.) 9. The A.-S. version of the same verse, as edited by Spelman, has "gemaere thū settest"; see Bosworth and Toller, A.-S. Dictionary,' where are given many examples; for, indeed, it is a common word (from the nature of the case) in Anglo-Saxon charters that give boundaries of lands.

uarium Parvulorum' (Camden Society). "Prompt." means that it is given in the 'Prompt"Cath." means that mere-stane is a compound given in the 'Catholicon Anglicum.' A reference to Stratmann's 'Middle English Dictionary' will furnish quotations from Layamon, the Coventry Plays,' the Alliterative Poems,' Trevisa, &c.

The

Here the Vulgate has: "A finibus eorum.' The best example is in St. Mark's Gospel, v. 17. Old Northumbrian Version has "from gemærum hiora." The older A.-S. version has: "Of hyra gemærum "; and the later A.-S. version has: "Of hire mæren." marked.) For these quotations, see my edition of (The ce is long, though not here so St. Mark, in the Old Northumbrian and A.-S. Versions.

"

Hence, though I do not give it in my 'Dictionary' (which does not usually include obsolete words), it occurs in the above work; it is duly explained in my glossary to Morris's Specimens' first quoted. I now deal with it for the fourth and is explained once more in the M.E. Glossary

time.

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WALTER W. SKEAT.

GLADSTONE BIBLIOGRAPHY (8th S. ii. 461, 501; iii. 1, 41, 135, 214).-If internal evidence is to weigh, there seems no doubt that MR. W. D. MACRAY'S pencilled note, "The review said to be

by Gladstone," in reference to the article in the Quarterly for June, 1847, upon From Oxford to Rome,' represented the fact.

bination. Yet we believe, and the opinion is not wholly speculative, that many a heart will inwardly echo back the words of the volume before us- the old Want, a thousandfold fiercer, devours his life.'"-P. 146. ALFRED F. ROBBINS.

Mr. Gladstone is the author of the article on

Homer in the new edition of 'Chambers's Encyclopælia,' vol. v. pp. 754-7.

J. R.

The review was evidently written by one who (1) had a personal knowledge of the topography of Rome (see Q. R., vol. clxi. p. 142); (2) was acquainted with the latest writings of Döllinger (p. 155), was accustomed to quote Dante (p. 153), and was familiar with the works of Christopher Wordsworth (ibid.); (3) was one who "knew the "DAMMER" (8th S. iii. 149).-Your correspondreligious turn and spirit of our public schools and ent, by turning to the 'Antiquary,' chap. xxiii. universities, even so little as twenty years ago "(p. 227, Centenary Edition), will find Edie Ochil

(p. 163); and (4) who was interested in the colonial bishopric question, and who could write, "Amply have the hopes been justified with which we welcomed the beginning of her [the Church of England's great and systematic efforts in this department," with the reference to Quar. Rev., No. 149, December, 1844 (p. 163).

Apart from the phraseology of the article-and there are whole paragraphs of purest "Gladstonese" -each of these points is fulfilled by the theory of Gladstonian authorship.

(1.) Mr. Gladstone was in Rome in the winter of 1831-32, and again in that of 1838–39.

(2.) In a letter to J. R. Hope[-Scott], dated Baden-Baden, Oct. 30, 1845, he mentioned having been at Munich, where he had made the acquaintance of Döllinger, a visit he described in a contribution to the Speaker of Jan. 18, 1890. As to his love of quotation from Dante, there needs no illustration, while Christopher Wordsworth was brother of Charles, his private tutor at Oxford.

(3.) The article was written in 1847; Mr. Gladstone was at Eton in 1827, and was entered at Oxford in 1828.

(4.) He had long been interested in the colonial bishopric question, and he was the author of the Quarterly article to which reference is made, and which he has republished in the fifth volume of his "Gleanings of Past Years.'

It is further to be remembered that Mr. Gladstone was personally interested in the question raised in the book, seeing that a sister of his had five years previously joined the Roman Catholic communion, and had become a nun, in which connexion the following extract from the review under notice may be considered significant:—

"Time, and time only, will inform us whether our author is correct in the belief that the cravings which have seduced men into the Church of Rome, remain in very many instances unappeased there......We must not suppose that, until after the lapse of much time, we shall hear otherwise than secretly and separately of their sufferings and remorse. The Roman Catholic Church no longer subjects recreant nuns to the fate of Constance in 'Marmion'; but by means of Direction she has almost as effectual powers of bearing down disappointment and repugnance; first, by detecting it in its beginnings; next, by her command of a great variety of modes and appliances of treatment; lastly, by maintaining and securing secresy, so as to prevent contagion and com

tree saying he "niffered a sneeshing-mull wi' George Glen, the dammer and sinker"; and Oldbuck's reply, "So you exchanged it with a miner.”

A. W. B.

ST. GOVOR'S WELL, KENSINGTON GARDENS (8th S. iii. 288). In the Rev. W. J. Loftie's Kensington, Picturesque and Historical,' on pages 25 and 26, R. C. D. will find two views of St. Govor's Well, and on p. 24 the following information:

"There has been some controversy lately as to the wells in Kensington Gardens. One which is a little way from the Round Pond in Black Pond Wood was observed to run dry when the pond was drained. It is called St. Govor's Well. The water does not deserve the organic matter. St. Govor is the patron saint of the reputation it has acquired for purity, as it is loaded with Church of Llanover, and Sir Benjamin Hall, who was First Commissioner of Works when, in 1856, the name was put on the well, was owner of the parish, which is in Monmouthshire."

Mr. Loftie suggests that St. Agnes's Well, in the furthest part of Kensington Gardens, on what used to be called Buck Barn Hill, may owe its dedication to some similar cause.

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288, 311; Loftie's History of Kensington,' p. 24; See 'N. & Q.,' 5th S. iv. 427, 523; 6th S. xii. and (if I may refer to anything I have written) the Antiquary, vol. xxii. p. 183. The name cut on the stone wall of the well is Govor, not "Gover." There are two sketches of the well in Mr. Loftie's work, and there is one in Old Kensington,' by Miss Thackeray. H. G. GRIFFINHOOFE.

34, St. Petersburg Place.

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[Many replies are acknowledged.] GLASGOW UNIVERSITY MACE AND STAFF (8th S. iii. 222, 278).—Since my last communication I have discovered the sequel. The mace of the University of Aberdeen is of silver, manufac

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