whose two brothers, of four children, also died without issue, 1761-72 (the last being the husband of Cowper's friend), and the manor house was sold for a girls' boardingschool. The sister of the last three had but one child living to maturity, a daughter, who had but two children. I do not know the fortunes of the two sisters of the elder branch; but the male line of both had been utterly wiped out in one generation, by the deaths childless of six brothers of two well-separated lines, five at least coming to maturity and successively inheriting the title. This curious and sudden failure of vitality in the male and at least part of the female strain was not due to environment, for the two branches lived a good distance apart; and it can hardly have been the result of war or accident. I do not know whether all the males married; but if not, the argument does not lose much of its force. Hartford, Conn. FORREST MORGAN. Queries. We must request correspondents desiring information on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct. "TALLY."-Will any one who can explain tally as formerly used in certain card games, like faro and basset, send an explanation to me at Oxford. I wish also to learn about French tailler, taille, similarly used. J. A. H. MURRAY. VERDANT GREEN IN 1744.-In reading a letter of the date 1744 I came across the name Verdant Green as a familiar allusion. Can anybody help me to discover who or what this prototype of Cuthbert Bede's famous character was ? JOHN MURRAY. 50, Albemarle Street, W. WARLY LETTERS.-On 4 Jan., 1870, a sale was held at Canterbury of the contents of what was known as the Church House, formerly belonging to the families of Oxenden and Warly. Although there is no express mention of any private letters amongst the lots, there may have been some. anxious to trace any letters of John and Mary Warly and Lee Warly their son (1700-1800), and shall be much obliged if any of your readers who possess such letters will communicate with me. HENRY R. PLOMER. 44, Crownhill Road, Willesden, N.W. I am "STANDING FOR PARLIAMENT."-What is the earliest use of the phrase "to stand for Parliament"? I find it in a letter of 20 Feb., 1678/9, mentioning a "Mr. Finch, who stands to be parliament man for this University [Oxford]"; and again in one of 8 Feb., 1685/6—written by the recipient of the other advising a friend to stand for the county (Historical Manuscripts Commission, Report on the MSS. of the Earl of Egmont,' vol. ii. pp. 79, 179). ALFRED F. ROBBINS. 22 66 SIR HENRY AUDLEY.-Will some reader kindly inform me whether Sir Henry Audley, elder son of John, Earl of Warwick, afterwards Duke of Northumberland, was executed for high treason? If so, was it for complicity in Sir Thomas Wyatt's plot or on some other charge? John, Earl of Warwick, had thirteen children, of whom two were named Henry and two Katherine. The younger Henry was killed at the siege of St. Quentin. EGERTON GARDINER. MOHACS: THE BATTLE.-Where can I find the best account of Eastern Europe at the time of the battle of Mohacs and immediately after, when the greater part of Hungary became a province of the Ottoman empire? I have been reading a drama in the Mirko Bogovic, and should like to see how Croatian language called Frankopan,' by the facts appear in the more sober light of history. JAS. PLATT, Jun. THE COLUMBINE IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.-What was the significance of the columbine flower in Great Britain in the sixteenth century, and what families in England or Scotland used it as a device or badge? MARY F. S. HERVEY. 22, Morpeth Mansions, S. W. FISHWICK OF ISLINGTON.-In Highgate Cemetery there is a marble tablet recording the births and deaths of several of this family-among others, Lucille, the wife of Richard Fishwick (who died in 1855, aged 88 years), and John her son (born in 1804, died in 1846). At the time of his death he was living in Canonbury Terrace, Islington, and had an office in Laurence Pountney. NOSEGAY IN THE PULPIT.-In "A Short Narrative of the Life of John Forster, of Wintringham, in the County of Lincoln, written by himself," Colchester (1810), p. 9, I find the following curious passage :— "As my way lay by the church, and the people were assembled, curiosity tempted me to go in; the minister was in his sermon, but instead of being a hearer, I became a spectator, and was censorious enough to fancy that he was more desirous of amusing himself with a nosegay he held in his hand than of benefiting his congregation." The date would be about 1760. As the writer had walked from Wintringham "about six miles," the place would probably be either Appleby or Burton Stather. Was it at all usual for ministers thus to amuse themselves (and their congregations) with a nosegay? J. T. F. Winterton, Doncaster. MISS ABBOTT'S PORTRAIT BY JOHN DOWNMAN. Can any one inform me as to the identity and family connexions of this lady, whose portrait was made by John Downman in 1793-original in the British Museum ? G. F. ABBOTT. Royal Societies Club, St. James's Street, S.W. LONDON VISITATIONS.-Is there any prospect of the publication by the Harleian Society, within the next couple of years or so, of the London Visitations of 1664 and 1687 ? It seems a little singular that the earlier of these Visitations, containing as it presumably does a complete record of the gentry of the City immediately before the Plague and Fire, has not yet been printed. W. McM. DE QUINCEY ON MEAT AND DREAMS.I desire confirmation of De Quincey's statement, in the Confessions,' that Dryden and Fuseli ate raw meat to obtain splendid dreams. V. H. C. "LE WHACOK."-Where was this sign (which I find mentioned in a London will of 1404) situated ? What is the meaning of the name? Whence is the derivation? Was it an inn? WILLIAM MCMURRAY. "ALTES HAUS, FIDELES HAUS."-What is the origin of the expression "altes Haus, fideles Haus 22 (=old fellow), used by German students? Why" Haus " ? J. R. C. H. COWES, ISLE OF WIGHT.--The origin of the name of Cowes has never yet been satisfactorily decided. The suggestions that it existent); from the number of cows who was derived from two coves (which are nononce frequented a well on the site of the or from two great guns present town; placed on the two castles built by Henry VIII., "which did roar from opposite sides of the Medina, do not appear convincing. I am anxious, therefore, to appeal to students of the early language of our islands for information as to whether the placename "Cowse" is known to them as describing a wooded shore. In a recent number of Lake's Falmouth Paper I find a few ancient Cornish names and places extracted from The History of Cornwall, by Fortescue Hitchens. Amongst these I have been struck by the following paragraph : : "The Grey Rock on the Wood.'-The name for St. Michael's Mount when what is now Mount's Bay is said to have been covered with forests. In ancient Cornish it was 'Caraclowse-in-Cowse.' Now we know that ancient woods covered the shores of the Medina and of the Solent; and vestiges of these woods remain in the form of copses all the way from Newport down both sides of the river, and westward on the Solent shores. Is it possible that this wooded harbour was known as Cowse by the early British inhabitants ? and has its name lingered on in spite of the very strong invasion of the Jutes, whose long occupation would seem to have swamped all or nearly all the traces of the earlier islanders? The title Comité du Salut public is obviously imitated from the American Committees of Safety, formed in the American colonies in 1774, the Boston Committee being particularly conspicuous at the era of the Stamp Act in opposing British rule and raising the first army equipped by the colonists. Hence it seems likely that the famous Parisian square owes its name, primarily or secondarily, to the occasion of the firing of "the shot heard round the Probably there are few places in England where the influence of but one race and one tongue is so strong, and where so very little of the Celt, and so much of the Saxon, can be noted as having blended in the words and the ways of the people. But there are at least two place-names suggestive of the earlier language, and it has seemed to me possible that the wooded harbour where no Saxon or Jutish settlement was formedwhere, in fact, no village stood till the six-world" at the Concord river. If so, it is a teenth century-may therefore have kept its ancient name. I should be very grateful if any one conversant with the subject would consider the question, for it appears to me that the fact of the same name Cowes being applied to the two towns on the banks of the river favours the suggestion that if Cowse means a wooded harbour, it would apply equally to both shores, as both were thickly wooded. In any case, it seems somewhat remarkable that a town which sprang into being under Henry VIII. should bear a name of which the origin and meaning are entirely unknown to local historians, whose guesses are more amusing than convincing. Y. T. compliment to the American people that has spondent's suggestion. After the Terror, concord MOHAMMED AND THE MOUNTAIN.-What is the origin of the proverb about Mohammed and the mountain ? V. H. C. "OLD LADY OF THREADNEEDLE STREET." By whom was this saying originated? The directors of the Bank of England were so called by William Cobbett, but I am told the saying has been also attributed to Sheridan. W. B. C. [The earliest instance in Farmer and Henley's PLACE DE LA CONCORDE.-According to Baedeker's Paris,' this square first received Slang and its Analogues,' vol. v., is 1797, Gillray's caricature The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street its name in 1795, it having been known since in Danger.' This use seems to imply that the term 1792 as the Place de la Révolution. It can was already familiar.] hardly be supposed that the former designation was bestowed by its authors, whoever they were, out of regard for any principles of harmony or solidarity which actuated their minds at such a time. It was there that Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette, Danton, and most of the revolutionary victims LYON'S INN ADMISSION REGISTERS.- suffered death. It was also the scene of the Russell House, West Kensington Gardens. DR. THOMAS BRAY.-Is it known where the Rev. Thomas Bray, D.D. (founder of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel), is buried? The date of his death is given as 15 Feb., 1729/30, but two or three biographies I have seen do not mention the GEORGE SMITH. Replies. WATSON'S HISTORY OF PRINTING.' (10 S. xii. 428, 511.) I AM obliged to Mr. SCOTT for his answer, although it does not give the information as to where Blades makes the statement that Watson's History of Printing was a translation of the French author, J. de la Caille. His Pentateuch of Printing' is not the book. I suspect that the statement may have been made in a Bibliography of Printing which Blades contributed to The British and Colonial Printer about 1875, but I have no means here of consulting the file. 66 : In regard to the further question of the authorship of the Preface to the History,' MR. SCOTT says I appear to have no doubt that it was Watson's. Well, in this case appearances are deceptive, for I do not know. All I know is that Watson has been credited with the authorship, and that it has also been assigned to John Spottiswood, his contemporary and law-agent. For that matter, the other book usually ascribed to Watson-the Choice Selections '--has also been handed over to Spottiswood. The title-page of the History is quite explicit it speaks of " A Preface by the Publisher," and Watson's name appears below as publisher. The newspaper advertisement which he sent out on the day in 1713 when the History' was ready has the same phrase. In his History of Edinburgh' (1788) Hugo Arnot, who is fairly accurate in his references to bibliography, wrote of "young Watson, author of the History of Printing" (p. 437). The Editor of the Spottiswood Club Miscellany, Vol. I., who contributed a short life of Spottiswood to that volume (pp. 229-32), in which he gives a list of the latter's works, seems to know nothing of his authorship of the Preface. So far as I can trace, the first who made the definite assertion that Spottiswood was the writer was George Paton, the Edinburgh antiquary, and he did so about the beginning of the last century--a hundred years after the book had appeared. He gives no proof. If it could be shown that Dr. David Laing referred to a claim by Spottiswood himself, the question would probably be considered settled. One or two additional facts will appear in a paper on Watson in the forthcoming number of The Scottish Historical Review. If Paton's story is not a myth, it has one of the prime qualities of a myth: it grows as it goes. Messrs. Bigmore and Wyman in their Bibliography of Printing' (Quaritch, 1886) say: "The didactic part, as stated in the preface, was written by John Spottiswoode, translated from a celebrated French writer." The meaning of the sentence is hard to discover, and shows considerable confusion of mind, but it is needless to say that the Preface makes no such statement. Bohn's edition of Lowndes has also a curious item in reference to the book. Among the sales at which copies were disposed of it notes-"Bright, 5960, 5s. Large Paper. Roxburghe, Suppl., 650, 17. 10s." It is impossible from the punctuation to say whether it was at the Bright or Roxburghe Sale this so-called large-paper copy was sold. Was there ever a large-paper copy? Νο mention of such an issue is made in the original advertisement; and I have never seen or heard of one, nor even of a second edition of the book. Has any one? to what does the Bohn entry refer ? Glasgow. 6 And W. J. Couper. 'SHORT WHIST,' BY MAJOR A. (10 S. xii. 264, 318, 357).—I was the first to disclose, in the Handbook of Fictitious Names,' 1868, the fact that Major A***** was C. B. Coles, and but for that it is probable the name of the compiler would be still unknown to the public. It is satisfactory to have the fact confirmed at the last reference by a living authority. But if Coles had not been the author, surely he would have repudiated such a piece of plagiarism as is disclosed in my Handbook." there is another (unless indeed he was the same) C. B. C., as is shown in the list of works below. If we reckon from Coles's age, which is given in The Times, 1 Dec., 1874, in the announcement of his death, as ninety-one, he was born in 1783. It would be interesting to know where Coles was born and the exact date of his birth. From the heading of one of his poems on p. 46 of The Discarded Son' Mr. W. P. Courtney (English Whist,' p. 371) infers that Coles was educated at Winchester. His name is not in Kirby's list of "scholars": it is on the College Register, but the authorities have no information about him. His books testify to his having received a good education, and his poem shows he was inclined to versify from boyhood. He was in the 7th Dragoon Guards, and was gazetted cornet 5 Jan., 1805, and lieutenant, without purchase, 5 June, 1806 (London Gazette). His name is in the Army List for 1810 for the last time. I am unable to find any mention of his leaving; if it is in The London Gazette, the fact is not indexed. As there are some inaccuracies in previous notes, I will name his publications that are at present known, with further information. 1. The Discarded Son, a tale, and other rhymes. By Charles Barwell Coles, Esq. London, Thomas Boys, 1823. 12mo, pp. 12 and 50. This is dedicated to his mother. It forms one volume only, and is autonymous. 2. Hints of a Plan to remedy the Evils of the Poor Laws......in answer to Thomas Walker, by C. B. C. London, Effingham Wilson, 1834. 12mo, pp. 12. "died Col. Aubrey, aged seventy-six: the deepest gambler and the best whist and piquet player of his day. He had passed through various vicissitudes two fortunes in India, which he successively lost; of wealth and poverty comme de raison. He made he then made a third at play from five pounds which he borrowed, and at last died in very meagre circumstances." 4. Hints on Life and how to Rise in Society. By C. B. C. Amicus. London, Longmans, 1845. 12mo, PP. 4 and 42. a highly finished frontispiece This has a highly finished etched by John Leech. As shown above, this book is pseudonymous, and not anonymous. This makes a great difference, for a person looking for it unable to find it, and, if told simply that as anonymous under Hints' would be to look for it. It is under Amicus in the it was pseudonymous, would not attempt B.M. Catalogue, and the author's name is not known there. Coles was then sixty, so should have been fully qualified to give the excellent advice he does in this little book. 5. The next book will be the short history of Russia mentioned by MR. NICHOLSON, who will do a literary service by forwarding to N. & Q.' an exact copy of the title of this book, and, if there is no author's name, stating if there is any to the preface or elsewhere. It is impossible to identify the book among the numbers of such that were issued during the Crimean War. 6. Tea, a poem. London, Longmans, 1865. 12mo, pp. 4 and 45. Price one shilling. This is autonymous. 3. The next known is the 'Short Whist,' There is no mention in any of these 1835, published as by Major A*****, which works that Coles published any other book. might be a mask for the author's real name. Coles died at a pension or boarding-house, As I have said, it was a plagiarism, and No. 2, Cité Odiot, Paris, on 28 Nov., 1874. further a supercherie as to the name ; I will now give some extracts from his nevertheless it brought him in a small annuity. None of his really original publications ever reached a second edition. The sixteenth, and last, edition of Short Whist,' in 1865, was provided with an essay by Prof. Pole. I have commented somewhat severely on this in the Handbook.' The tendency of Coles's publications is educational and excellent, and after reading last testament, as there is so much of his biography to be learnt from it. His will, dated 3 Aug., 1864, which is very short, with a codicil, shorter still, dated 11 July, 1868, and a second dated 5 Oct., 1873, was proved 4 Jan., 1875, as under 1,500l. He is described as formerly of Alpha Place, St. John's Wood. He leaves legacies, among others, to his nephew |