Bygone Christmas Days. Sir Edwin Arnold in Household Words, Sept. or Aug., 1896. An article on fare for particular seasons. The Queen, 1899. Christmas Customs. In The Queen, 11 Jan., 1868, quoted from The Broadway. Christmas in Mediæval England. By G. Holden Brand's Popular Antiquities. Bohn, 1853, vol. i. Christmas in Mexico. The Globe newspaper, 23 Dec., 1903. Yule-Tide Celebrations. The Globe, No. 810. 29 Dec., 1866. Christmas-Tree Land. The Queen, 20 Dec., 1902. Post, 1 May, 1871. Games for Christmas Parties. Pearson's Weekly, 1 Jan., 1898. Twelfth Night: its Decay as a Festival. Household Words, Nov. or Dec., 1896 Christmas Cards: their Origin and Manufacture. The Windsor Magazine, I think, of the year 1897. Also a note by Peter Lombard in The Church Times, 1 Jan., 1892. Twelfth Night in 1810. The Globe, 8 Jan., 1904. Christmas Stories. The Globe, 26 Dec., 1903; also a paragraph of the same date, Mumping' and 'Furmety.' 6 In the collection of seals in the British Museum there are two impressions of these arms: the one is said to belong to Paul Crab (A.D. 1310), bearing the words s' PAVLVS CRAB; the other is that of William Crab, burgess of Aberdeen (A.D. 1499), which has, besides the arms, a crest on a helmet, "a cherub's head in profile, between two wings erect"; supporters, two swans rising; and the legend "S: wilelmi crab." The numbers of these two seals are 15,987 and 15,988. The original founders of many towns in Scotland were Flemish settlers. One of the most famous of these was John Crab, who is first mentioned in the siege of Berwick, 1319, where stones discharged from his crane shattered the roof of the English "sow," and payments occur for his services at Berwick (1329-31). When Edward Balliol besieged Berwick, 1332, he conducted ten ships from Berwick to the Tay and captured Henry of Beaumont's ship, the "Beaumonts Cogge"; but his vessels were burnt in the engagement which followed, and the Treasury paid 3591. 4s. to the Flemings who owned them. Shortly afterwards Crab acquired land near Aberdeen, and became burgess and custumar of that town. His name is spelt in various ways, Crawe, Crab, Crabb, Crabbe. An Adam Crab was Bailie of Aberdeen between 1384 and 1387; and a Sir John Crab, chaplain, was a custumar of St. Andrews between 1384 and 1402. I think the arms dexter could be traced by reference to Papworth and Morant's 'Dictionary of Coats of Arms,' which I have not to hand. I venture to call attention to my own heraldic query, under the name Waterton (10th S. ii. 29), of which I have at present received no solution. CHR. WATSON. MR. RADCLIFFE'S description of the arms on his tankard conveys no indication of tincture. That of the dexter side might apparently be the coat of (1) Kelland of Painsford, Devon (Sable, a fess argent, in chief three fleurs-de-lis of the last); or of (2) Kempton, of Cambridge, or of Hadley, in Middlesex, or of London (Azure, a fess or, in chief three fleurs-de-lis of the last); or of (3) "Sire W. Wolford, a Gascoigne" (Sable, a fess or, in chief three fleurs-de-lis of the last). That of the sinister side may be the coat of (1) Crabb of Castlewich, in Cornwall (Azure, a chevron between two fleurs-de-lis in chief and a crab in base or); or of (2) Crab of chevron a Robslaw, in Scotland (Azure, H. A. W. CHILDREN AT EXECUTIONS (10th S. ii. 346, 454, 516).-In 'Nollekens and his Times,' by John Thomas Smith, the author, amongst very many curious and interesting reminiscences, narrates the following: "I remember well, when I was in my eighth year, Mr. Nollekens calling at my father's house in Great Portland Street, and taking me to Oxford Road to see the notorious Jack Rann, commonly called 'Sixteen-string Jack, go to Tyburn to be hanged for robbing Dr. William Bell, in Gunnersbury Lane, of his watch and eighteenpence in money; for which he received sentence of death on Tuesday, the 26th of October, 1774. The criminal was dressed in a pea-green coat, with an immense nosegay in the button-holes, which had been presented to him at St. Sepulchre's steps; and his nankin small-clothes, we were told, were tied at Such were the barbarous notions then in United University Club. atted West Haddon, Northamptonshire. The inscriptions at the Estrella were copied by the late Rev. C. B. Norcliffe, of Langton Hall, Malton, in 1876, and the MS is doubtless still at Langton, in the possession of his brother. The oldest M.I. he copied were those of Sir Samuel Wright, 21 January, 1737-8; Henry Fielding the novelist, and Dr. Philip Doddridge. Mr. Norcliffe informed me that many were concealed by the luxuriant growth of the prickly pear. Some of the residents at Lisbon prior to the earthquake are mentioned in the notes in William Carew's Prayer Book, printed in the Miscellanea Genealogica, vol. iv., New Series, pp. 321-3; and numerous letters which tell the history of the factories in Portugal (Lisbon and Oporto) are in the English Foreign Office. G. D. LUMB. Even as late as 1869 there were a few oldfashioned schoolmasters who still permitted their pupils to witness executions, from the object-lesson point of view. I was a small boy at a school in Norwich during that year, and I vividly remember being taken by the usher-we called assistant masters ushers then to see the last public execution in Norwich. The criminal's name was Hubbard Lingley, and I think he murdered his uncle; but I have never heard the details of the crime. The whole ghastly scene made a very profound impression on me, and I remember College. It would be worth while inquiring it distinctly to this day. For years I kept whether the College library contains any one of the broadsides purporting to contain account of the cemetery in the last century, "the last dying speech," &c., with a little as it very likely may do. woodcut, supposed to represent the actual execution, at the head of it, which were hawked about amongst the crowd. FREDERICK T. HIBGAME. ALGONQUIN ELEMENT IN ENGLISH (10th S. ii. 422). Would MR. PLATT kindly tell us whether the word woodchuck," in its meaning of Picus viridis, is the same as that which signifies the Virginian marmot (Arctomys monax)? Further, does the form avoodchuck render the the sound of the Algonquin word exactly? or has it been modelled by the influence of folk-etymology? Berlin. G. KRUEGER. ENGLISH BURIAL-GROUND AT LISBON (10th S. ii. 448). Some years ago I endeavoured to obtain through 'N. & Q' information concerning the graves of Dr. Doddridge and Henry Fielding, both of which are in the English Cemetery at Lisbon. I failed to obtain any first hand particulars; but should MR. MARSHAM-TOWNSHEND like to refer to what was said, he will find Doddridge at 7th S. viii. 8, 112, 177, and Fielding at 8th S. iv. 164, 314. I very much wish a list of those buried in the English Cemetery at Lisbon could be inserted Some years since some records with reference to English Roman Catholics buried at Lisbon were obtained from the English FREDERICK T. HIBGAME. BLOOD USED IN BUILDING (10th S. ii. 389, 455).-MR EDWARD PEACOCK is in error when he ranks blood with "other materials equally useless" for imparting strength to mortar. Standage's Cements, Pastes,' &c. (Crosby Lockwood & Son, 1893), includes certain recipes for blood cements for filling joints between brick and building stones, &c., bullock's blood, slaked lime, ashes, and alum being the ingredients. A Chinese blood cement, said to be in general use for making wooden pasteboard and other vessels waterproof, is composed of 100 parts of slaked lime. 75 parts of bullock's blood well beaten, and 2 parts of alum. In another recipe iron filings and cement are used along with the blood and lime. Milk, cheese, and eggs (chiefly the white) appear in others. The albumen in the blood, white of eggs, &c., appears to be the medium of value. Wood Hall, Calverley. LIONEL CRESSWELL. That this practice has been continued into recent times is certain, for when I spoke to a local builder on the subject, he informed me that his father, some years ago, made a lime-ash floor in a cottage situated in the adjoining village of East Budleigh, and to the use of sugar as an ingredient of the mortar. It would be interesting to know whether sugar has ever been subjected to expert building tests in this country, and if there are practical possibilities of its regular employment as a constituent of mortar. FRANCIS P. MARCHANT. Streatham Common. THREE TAILORS OF TOOLEY STREET (10th S. ii. 468). - A propos of the three tailors of Tooley Street beginning their address, "We, the people of England," a district councillor of New Malden, in April, 1902, having just been elected, announced, by way of thanking the electorate, that they had from obscurity to a niche in history." raised him J. HOLDEN MACMICHAEL. HIGH PEAK WORDS (10th S. ii. 201, 282, 384, 472). - It will be interesting to MR. ELWORTHY and your readers to know that win'raws is a very common word in Dumfriesshire, and is used to describe peats set up to dry in open form, so that the wind can pass freely through. It is also applied to hay raked into loose rows to dry. GEO. IRVING. BEN JONSON AND BACON (10th S. ii. 469). — There is no intimation whatever in my copy of 'Ben Jonson,' by John Addington Symonds (Longmans, Green & Co., 1888) of Rare Ben having been in the service of Bacon. HENRY GERALD HOPE. 119, Elms Road, Clapham, S.W. BATTLEFIELD SAYINGS (10th S. i. 268, 375, 437; ii. 275).-An English book called 'La Compagnie Irlandaise, by Capt. Kirwan, was published shortly after the FrancoPrussian War, and I read it when it first appeared. It was an interesting account of the adventures of the Irish Company of the Foreign Legion in the service of France. When the company were advancing under fire at the siege of Montbelliard, a very tall Irishman was observed to duck his head every time a shell flew over the ranks. "Pas de gymnastique!" cried a sergeant; "hold up your head, man." "Faith, I will, as soon as there's room enough," said the soldier. A man who had been through a campaign Adamnan, 'S. Columba,' ed. Fowler, p. 137. George, chap. xvi. Southey's 'Madoc, 1853, note on p. 294. Addy, Hall of Waltheof,' 1893, chap. ix. Literature, 30 July, 1898, p. 91. I remember in W. C. B. my schooldays an Indian missionary who bought ht and demolished old idol temples. He found extreme difficulty in breaking down the walls, and ascribed this soldier, who for the first time found himself in the firing-line, called out to his captain, when the enemy's missiles began to whizz past, "Please, sir, they're firing real bullets!" JOHN HOBSON MATTHEWS. Monmouth. I have been told of a colonel who, during the Peninsular War, addressed his regiment before going into action in these words, "My men, you are going to hold the worst post there is. By to-night you will be either the most distinguished regiment in the British | army, or the most extinguished." General Prim, when colonel of his regiment in the Spanish army during the war of Morocco, is said to have flung his cap into the enemy's trenches, crying out to his men, "Follow me! O caja ó faja!" ("Either a coffin or a general's sash!") W. L. POOLE. Montevideo. GEORGE WASHINGTON'S ARMS (10th S. ii. 327, 417).-I think Dr. Conway is mistaken in saying that the estate (is the family meant?) gave name to the village of Washing ton, co. Durham. Is not it more likely to be the other away about-that the village gave name to the family, especially taking into account the prefix "de," de Wessington or Washington? R. B-R. PARISH DOCUMENTS: THEIR PRESERVATION | (10th S. ii. 267, 330, 414, 476, 512, 535). In the discussion of this subject at these refer ences parish registers are mixed up with parish documents (or records), which it would have been better to have kept apart. one for the Government to grapple with, if we may judge from their consumption of time over it. Five years have been spent thus :- The Committee was appointed 10 August,. 1899. The official letter from the Treasury and two Schedules of Queries to England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland, 30 November. Latest date of a reply to this letter, 26 August, 1902. Report of the Committee, 29 October. Bill of Mr. Bull presented, read a first time in the House of Commons, 19 March, 1903. Bill of the Marquis of Salisbury, presented and read a first time in the House of Lords, 12 August, 1904. It would be an inestimable boon if the authorities of all the remaining City parishes would at once decide upon following the most excellent example of their City brethren, and send all their "local records" to the Guildhall Library as soon as possible. Of the sixty-one City parishes (within the Bills of Mortality of former times), forty-three have sent in their local records, leaving eighteen more parishes to do likewise. 29, Emperor's Gate, S. W. C. MASON. By clause 17, section 8, of the Local Government (England and Wales) Act of 5 March, 1894, church registers are excluded from ARMORIAL VISITING CARDS (10th S. ii. 509). — parish records by these words: "The cusSuch cards are still used in Italy. I have tody of the Registers of Baptisms, Marriages, before me now the card of one of the comand Burials, &c., shall remain as provided mittee of the Exhibition of Sienese Art of by the existing law unaffected by this Act." last autumn, which he was good enough to That being the case, the two subjects should give me in September. It bears his coat of be dealt with separately. separately. As regards parish documents (or records), no mention has yet been made of a Bill for the Preservation of Public and Private Local Records. This Bill (108) was presented to the House of Commons by Mr. Bull (Hammersmith) on 19 March, 1903, and was read the first time. It was down for the second reading on 7 April, 1903, but Parliament adjourned on 8 April for the Easter holidays, and (so far as I know) nothing further was done with this Bill. It was proposed in the Bill to be cited as "The Local Records Act, 1903." The Bill presented by the Marquis of Salisbury in the House of Lords on 12 August, 1904, and mentioned by MR. PAGE at the last reference, is of a much more comprehensive nature than Mr. Bull's Bill of 1903; but in my humble opinion the definition of the expression "Local Records" is most unsatisfactory and perfunctory (see clause 6, section 6, on p. 4 of this Bill). This subject appears to be a very difficult arms and coronet in the left-hand corner. WILLIAM GEORGE BLACK. Dowanhill Gardens, Glasgow. These are in use in Portugal at the present. time. E. E. STREET. "PHIL ELIA" (10th S. ii. 527). -As most lovers of Charles Lamb are aware, the socalled preface to the 'Last Essays of Elia, signed Phil Elia, was one of Lamb's own "lie children." This was a form of mystification in which he delighted. The 'Biographical Memoir of Mr. Liston' and the Autobiography of Mr. Munden' are other well-known instances. As Procter (Barry Cornwall) states in his edition of the 'Essays.' the preface was evidently intended originally as a postscript to the first series of 'Essays.' Lamb at the time did not intend to furnish any more contributions to The London Magazine, in which the first 'Essays' had appeared, except possibly a few pieces he may have had in hand, and was only prevailed upon to continue them at the solicita tion of the publishers. The preface, as 4, Nelgarde Road, Catford, S. E. [MR. J. R. NUTTALL sends a cutting from The Manchester Guardian of 5 January confirming MR. RUSSELL'S conclusion.] HEACHAM PARISH OFFICERS (10th S. ii. 247, 335, 371, 431). - Although MR. HOLCOMBE INGLEBY appeals specially to DR. FORSHAW for "chapter and verse respecting my statement that it is the duty of a parish constable to communicate personally with the coroner and empanel a jury in cases of sudden death or suicide, perhaps I may be allowed to say a word or two as well. Since I penned my note I have been looking up information concerning the duties of parish constables; but as I have found it rather a any reason, failed to do it, the police constable would have to carry it out. He showed me a book bearing the following title: "Code | of Rules and Regulations | for the Northamptonshire Constabulary | approved by | the Court of Quarter Sessions | April, 1881; | Issued by the Chief Constable | October, 1881. | Northampton | Stanton & Sons, Printers, Abington Street.' From it I copied the following paragraphs. Sec. 56, p. 12: "It is the duty of the Constabulary on hearing of any case of sudden death to enquire into the circumstances and inform the Coroner, provided the Parish Constable does not do so," &c. West Haddon, Northamptonshire. 'HARDYKNUTE' (10th S. ii. 425, 536). In his disquisition Mr. A. C. JONAS ignores two of difficult task, I will detail my experience. First of all I wrote to Eyre & Spottiswoode, the points raised at the first reference, and to ask if any Act of Parliament was in their possession containing such information. The only they could one in a somewhat hasty and inconclusive fashion grapples with the third. "I am not aware," supply me with was he observes, "that all along there have been An Act to render unnecessary the General Appointment of Parish Constables, 35 & 36 Vict., chap. 92, 10 August, 1872. From this it appears that after 24 March, 1873, no where the Court of General or Quarter Ses- parish constable would be appointed, except sions deem it necessary. Section 4 states :"The vestry of any parish......after due notice any time resolve that one or parish constables shall be appointed for their parish, and in such resolution may fix the amount of salary to be paid to him or them, which salary shall be paid out of the poor rate of the said parish," &c. On the establishment of parish councils in 1891 this power of the vestry passed to them, under section 6, subsec. 1 (a), of advocates for the authorship of Sir John Bruce of Kinross." It might have been expected that, in the circumstances, he would have endeavoured to supplement the imperfect knowledge thus admitted, but this he does not appear to have done. He refers to Percy's "threshing" of Lady Wardlaw's claim, and leaves his readers to infer that the result established the lady as the author of the ballad given by Ramsay. If he will look a little more closely into the matter, he will find that Percy writes : "Hence it appears that Sir John [Bruce] was the author of 'Hardyknute, but afterwards used Mrs. Wardlaw to be the midwife of his poetry, and suppressed the story of the vault; as is well observed land's 'Scot. Poets, vol. i. p. cxxvii." the Local Government Act, 56 & 57 Vict., by the editor of the Tragic Ballads, and of Mait chap. 73. I have had the opportunity of looking through the "instructions" in Percy and the authorities he cites may be the possession of our local parish con- all wrong, but that is not to the immediate stable, but they simply relate to his duties purpose, which is the attribution of the poem with respect to the preservation of the to Bruce. In the contents of the 'Reliques,' peace. There is not a word in them govern- vol. ii., this descriptive entry speaks for ing his action in case of a sudden death or itself: "Hardyknute. A Scottish Fragment. suicide. Finding no information here, I then By Sir J. Bruce." applied to our resident police constable. He told me that as the duty of communicating with the coroner was the only one to which any appreciable pay was attached, the parish constable generally performed it. If he, for THOMAS BAYNE. "SARUM" (10th S. ii. 445, 496). -I fear MR. HAMILTON has not noticed the second word in the second line of my note, which is its "point." I took it for granted that most |