PATRICK BELL, LAIRD OF ANTERMONY (10th S. ii. 487). The estate of Antermony, or more properly Auchtermony, originally belonged to the Flemings, Earls of Wigtown, and was probably acquired by Alexander Bell, the father of Patrick, before the middle of the seventeenth century. Alexander was succeeded by his eldest son James. Patrick Bell, the second son, studied and held a bursary in theology in the University of Glasgow, 1678-83. He became minister of the parish of Port of Menteith, May, 1683; succeeded his brother in the paternal estate 1685; and was

deprived of his benefice by the Privy Council in 1689, for not reading the Proclamation the Estates, not praying for their Majesties William and Mary, and not observing the thanksgiving. As his successor in the parish was not appointed till 1697, it is probable that some understanding was arrived whereby Bell continued his ministrations till

that date. When he left he carried off a quantity of the session records with him, and refused to give them up until legal proceedings were taken against him in 1706. He married Annabella, daughter of John Stirling, of Craigbarnard, and died 4 July, 1722, having had issue at least two sons: Alexander, who died vita patris, and John, who succeeded to Auchtermony. He was a merchant in Constantinople and a distinguished traveller, and was sent by the Emperor of Russia on an embassy to Persia, 1715-18, and to China, 1717-22. He published Travels in Diverse Parts of Asia, 2 vols. 4to, Glasgow, 1762-3, and died 1780. J. B. P.

The Rev. Patrick Bell, minister of Port of Menteith, born in or about 1660, studied and held a bursary of theology at Glasgow University from 1678 to 1683. He was presented by

of Port,

who had probably bought the property. This Alexander married, before 1657, a namesake, probably a relative, Grizel Bell, daughter of James Bell, Provost of Glasgow, lasgow, whose wife was Isobel, sister of Campbell of Blythswood. Grizel was one of Provost Bell's three daughters and heirs-portioners. The Provost had a son Patrick, a merchant in Glasgow, who predeceased his sisters. He had married Margaret, daughter of James Hamilton, of Dalziel. The Rev. Patrick married Annabella, daughter of John Stirling, of Craigbarnet. They had a son John and a daughter Grizel. John was born in 1691, and passed as a physician in 1713, and went into the Russian service, and accompanied embassies from that country to Persia and China. He was a keen Asiatic traveller, and was for some years in Constantinople. He wrote 'Travels from St. Petersburg to Various Parts of Asia.' In 1746 he married Mary Peters, and settled at Antermony, where he died, without issue, aged eighty-nine. The half-sister of Mary Peters was Jane, daughter of Benjamin Vigor, of Fulham, who married the last Earl of Hyndford in the Scottish peerage, and died in 1802, aged eighty-six. Dr. Bell sold Antermony to Capt. John Lennox, reserving, however, his life-rent. His sister Grizel married a Mr. Brown and had two daughters, who were both dead by 1766, and are interred in the churchyard of Glasgow Cathedral. See further Scott's 'Fasti,' The Retours,' 'Scots Lore,' and others there cited.

Edinburgh.

J. L ANDERSON.

Patrick Bell was educated at Glasgow University (1678-83), and was married (not born, as stated) in 1685. He was the last of the Episcopalian clergymen, and was deprived of his living (Port of Menteith) by order of the Privy Council, 3 October, 1689, for not reading the Proclamation of the Estates, and for refusing to pray for their Majesties King William and Queen Mary. Shortly after 1689 he erved heir, in succession to his elder brother, of the estate of Antermony, of which his father, Alexander Bell,

was

was former proprietor. From what stock Alexander Bell first of Antermony came would be interesting to hear; also the name of his wife, who, it is surmised, was related to or connected by marriage with the Grahams of Gartur.

HENRY PATON.

[Information as to Alexander Bell's wife is supplied above by MR. ANDERSON.]

should inquire for a "Mrs. Carey," although the lady referred to was well known at the commencement of the last century as Mary Anne Clarke. Huish, in his 'Memoirs of George IV.,' also calls her "Mrs. Carey." Did she ever adopt that name?

In the preface to the work 'Evidence and Proceedings upon the Charges preferred against the Duke of York,' by Col. Wardle, M.P., 1809, now before me, she is stated to

her log should be at the Public Record Office or perhaps at the British Museum. If she belonged to, or was hired by, the East India Company, her log would be at the India Office, Whitehall.

The birth would not have been officially registered in England, as the Act 6 & 7 William IV., cap. 86, sec. 20, making a record of births compulsory, did not come into force until 1 March, 1837. It is also impossible

builder of Snow Hill, London, the offspring being two boys and a girl then living. In 1802, in consequence of Mr. Clarke's dissolute life, she separated from him, and in the following year placed herself under the protection of the Duke of York. These particulars differ in every respect from those given in 1st S. iv., 4th S. xi., xii., 6th S. xi., 7th S. viii., 8th S. vii., 9th S. vii.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

BIRTH AT SEA IN 1805 (10th S. ii. 448, 512). -Perhaps this birth may be entered in the

records of the Royal Navy at the Admiralty

in Whitehall, or at the Public Record Office.

If the ports are known from which the vessel departed and at which she arrived in 1805, Lloyd's List and Lloyd's Register of Shipping (at the library of Lloyd's, Royal Exchange, London) would show the names of the vessels which left the port of departure in 1804-5, the ports they sailed for, the dates of departure from, and of arrival at each, respectively, and their owners' names.

The newspapers, gazettes, magazines, &c., of that time, both at the ports of departure and of arrival, would probably give the list of passengers embarked and landed. If the business of the then owners be traced down to the present time, it is probable that the log or journal of the particular vessel required may still be in existence, and contain an entry of this birth

entered in any such record. But in any case, if the name of the vessel be known, there can be no very great difficulty to find a record of the birth, especially if the ship's log or journal is extant. 29, Emperor's Gate, S.W.

C. MASON.

THE MUSSUK (10th S. ii. 263, 329, 371, 431). — Olufsen, in 'Through the Unknown Pamirs,' p. 44, writes:

"The chief means of water transport employed by the people is, however, the 'gupsar.' The word gupsar,' also called by its Turkish name of 'sanach,' is of Iranian origin, meaning 'ferry.' The gupsar is made of the entire hide of an animal, the skin of a goat or wolf being preferred. It is tanned quite smooth, the holes at the head and three of the legs are tied taut, while in the fourth leg is placed a wooden tap with a wooden stopple. Through the tap the skin is blown full by the native, who seizes the tap with his left hand, and with his left elbow presses the distended hide close up to his chest. He now throws himself into the stream, and whilst the hide keeps him above water, he, with his legs. and right arm, works slantwise across the river." There is more on the same subject.

Н. А. ST. Ј. М.

'STEER TO THE NOR'-NOR'-WEST' (10th S. ii. 427, 490).-I shall be much obliged to any one who will inform me who was the captain to whom this incident issaid to have happened. My grandfather, the late John Matthews, of St. Ives, Cornwall, owner and master of the schooner Eldred, who died in Australia 1866, was a master mariner from about 1825 to 1850, and made several voyages across the Atlantic. Many years after his death, a reputable person informed the deceased's son that he (Mr. Matthews) had related the

that Bill was as follows: "All ancient statutes prohibiting the use of O or Mac before Irish surnames are hereby repealed." It is evident that the promoters of the Bill were under the impression that the prefixes mentioned were prohibited by law, although they were apparently unable to refer to the particular statutes. When the Bill was in Committee the Attorney-General for Ireland stated that there was "no statute or principle of common law to prevent any one taking the prefix O or Mac." The Bill was afterwards dropped, and has not been reintroduced. It may, therefore, be inferred that its promoters were convinced that the supposed "ancient statutes" have no existence in fact.

F. W. READ.

MR. ALASDAIR MACGILLEAN wishes to know if at any time the prefixes Mac and O were prohibited in Ireland. In 1465 (5 Edw. IV. cap. 3) a law was passed enacting

"that every Irishman that dwells betwixt or amongst Englishmen in the County of Dublin, Myeth, Uriell, and Kildare......shall take to him an English surname of one town......or colour......or arte or science......or office."-Blue-book on 'Surnames in Ireland, 1894, p. 15; Irish Penny Journal, 1841, p. 383.

I myself know that it was fashionable in Belfast forty years ago, and doubtless earlier, when a person "came into town" to drop the paternal O or Mac. I have known persons named Connor, Allen, Waters, and Alexander, whose rural relatives still retained the original cognomens of O'Connor, McAllen, McWaters, and McElshender. Dr. Killen, in his 'Reminiscences,' 1901, p. 172, says:

"The Rev. Henry Cooke is by far the most celebrated name connected with the ministry of the Irish Presbyterian Church in the nineteenth century. When he entered College he was known as Mac Cooke, and is so designated in the earliest printed Minutes of the Synod of Ulster. He dropped the Mac from his name before he appeared as a licentiate."

There are families of the name of Leane, but as they all occur in county Cork or Kerry, I presume they are of pure Irish extraction, Leane being the ancient Gaelic name for the Lake of Killarney.

JOHN S. CRONE.

INSCRIPTION ON STATUE OF JAMES II. (10th S. i. 67, 137). The inscription given in the first reply at the second reference corresponds with that now on the pedestal, except that in the latter there is "gratiæ" "gratiæ" instead of "gratia," and that there are full stops after MD and cin the date, while there is none at the end.

The second reply says that the inscription has evidently been shorn of its greater part

and the last word altered. The words quoted in the query were only an extract, i.e., the first two lines. The inscription as given by Chamberlayne in the 1723 edition of his 'Magnæ Britanniæ Notitia,' to which reference is made, is actually shorter than the existing inscription, in that JCOBUS appears instead of JACOBUS, and the date "1686" (Arabic figures without "anno") is given, instead of "Anno M.D.C.LXXXVI" (Roman) Also there are five commas and two full stops, which do not appear in the pedestal inscription. On 11 August, 1904, in the House of Commons, Lord Balcarres, representing the First Commissioner of Works, replied to a question drawing his attention to the error in the Latin inscription. He said :

"The inscription is a facsimile of that on the original pedestal. stal. When the statue was removed some years ago from Whitehall-yard it was found to be necessary to renew the pedestal, but it was thought best to make no alteration in the old inscription, which was probably contemporaneous. In the circumstances the First Commissioner of Works considers it would be preferable to leave it alone." See Times, 12 August, 1904. There is no doubt that "gratiæ" for "gratia" was in the inscription on the old pedestal. I have seen at the Office of Works the rubbing taken from it.

One would think that a grammatical error was not worth renewing. If the mason had cut an extra c in the date, I suppose that the official mind would have thought it right to reproduce it. ROBERT PIERPOINT.

BENJAMIN BLAKE: NORMAN: OLDMIXON (10th S. ii. 447). -The 'D.N.B.,' under John Oldmixon (1673-1742), the historian and pamphleteer, says:

"In his 'History of the Stuarts' (p. 421), Oldmixon, speaking of the disinterment of the remains of Admiral Blake, a native of Bridgwater, says that he lived while a boy with Blake's brother Humphrey, who afterwards emigrated to Carolina. Mr. John Kent of Funchal has pointed out that Oldmixon was in all probability author of the 'History and Life of Robert Blake......written by a Gentleman bred in his Family,' which appeared without date about 1740."

This publication is called by Prof. J. K. Laughton, under Admiral Robert Blake, "an impudent and mendacious chap-book."

No doubt your correspondent has consulted MR. JOHN KENT's reference to the Norman family at 8th S. v. 149. A. R. BAYLEY. Could Oldmixon be Old Mike's son? Mike was formerly pronounced with an ee.

Berlin.

DR. GUSTAV KRUEGER.

TRAVELS IN CHINA (10th S. ii. 408). Two "lists of works of various descriptions re