Belton (Mr.), bookseller, 1768.

Ibbs (C.). bookseller and printer, 1796-1837. Ibbs (William), printer, 1835.

Ibbs (Charles William), printer, 1835.

Ibbs (R. C.), printer, High Street, 1849.

The Inn" (no longer such) and the handful of houses that compose the old

Ibbs (-), printer, 1855.

The above are some of various imprints of the Ibbses. "R. C." was Robert Carroll Ibbs, who died 1 March, 1907, at the age of 84 years. Mr. Ibbs was in business at Kimbolton for upwards of sixty years, succeeding his father as a

"printer, copper-plate printer (while you wait), bookseller, stationer, bookbinder, picture frame maker and gilder, paperhanger, and photographer,"

and a thoroughly competent man at each of his trades. Mr. Ibbs disposed of the printing portion of his business about 1897 to Mr. W. J. Short, who still continues it.

In concluding these notes I should point out that the dates given are the earliest and latest I have seen of the various firms, and are necessarily fragmentary and disconnected. I have, however, compiled a MS. Bibliography of Huntingdonshire which includes over a thousand works printed by the various firms I have mentioned in the county.

Cirencester.

HERBERT E. NORRIS.

"TREDEKEILES."-This opprobrious term was used by a woman to some workmen preparing ground for building a house, to whom the men replied that they would make her work with them and tread the ground ("cum eis operaret et terram calcaret"), and forthwith bumped her on the ground ("ita

in Phillip's youth they were more lively. The canal from Port Elphinstone to Aberdeen went along the back of the inn, and as the canal boat passed up and down, the horses were changed there. The inn was kept by Mrs. Allardyce, a widow with a large family, who conducted her business in a very exemplary manner. Though there was no Forbes-Mackenzie Act then, the rule of the house was that customers had to be all outside and the door barred at ten o'clock, after which the landlady sat down and read her nightly chapter in the Bible.

Phillip was a distant relation of Mrs. Allardyce, and often walked out from Aberdeen to stay with her. To the city boy there was a great attraction in the inn, with its lively household of young folk not too for whom he had a great regard. The passtrictly ruled by the kindly widowed mother, sing and repassing of the canal boat, the freedom of country life, and the animals about the farm all appealed to him, and he was fond of spending the long summer day herding the inn" kye." He would sometimes trot away out of the town to Dyce without leave, and be duly sent back, only soon to turn up again; and he might have been found lying in bed there till Mrs. Allardyce had washed and ironed his only shirt.

Of all the family at the inn his favourite was Nelly, who, being something of a rustic beauty, seems to have pleased his artistic sense. It was with her as a subject that he

made what was probably his first attempt at portrait-painting. Nelly was invited to a dance, and naturally took pains to dress as well as possible. Phillip had never seen her looking so "braw" as when she thus appeared before him all in white, and he declared that he would paint her picture, "an' paint her richt too." So Nelly's portrait was painted, and is now in Fdinburgh; but Nelly herself was of those whom the gods love, and died young. He also painted for Mrs. Allardyce the signboard with the Gordon arms. In time the inn was done away with, and long afterwards the signboard was found in an outhouse connected with Parkhill House, the residence of the late John Gordon of Parkhill, Pitlurg, and Dyce. By his instructions it was cleaned and put into Parkhill House for preservation.

Some time after Mr. Gordon's death his son let the house, and sent the family pictures to Robert Gordon's College, Aberdeen. What became of the signboard is unknown.

A. W.

A more important point is that there was already an earldom of Lincoln in existence, created in 1572 in favour of Lord Clinton, and now held by his descendant, the Duke of Newcastle. Even assuming that the earldom is of the city and not the county, this would seem likely to lead to confusion, and I believe that there is no exact precedent for such a duplication of titles, although there have been two instances somewhat similar. In 1837 "Coke of Norfolk" was created "Earl of Leicester, of Holkham (which reads like a contradiction in terms), though the Marquess Townshend held the earldom of Leicester created in 1784: probably the early extinction of the latter title was anticipated. And in 1784 Earl Temple was created Marquess of Buckingham, although the Hobarts had been Earls of Buckinghamshire since 1746. I remember reading somewhere that " Buckinghamshire," instead of " Buckingham," was adopted as the title in 1746, and also in the case of the dukedom held by the Sheffields from 1703 to 1735, owing to the existence of claimants to the earldom of Buckingham bestowed on

(The

the notorious George Villiers in 1617. remainder included his brother, Viscount Purbeck, but, as it was known that the latter was not the father of his wife's son, the House of Lords refused to acknowledge the claim of their descendants.) This suggests that the earldom of 1617 was the earldom of the town of Buckingham, but it would be more natural to suppose that it was of the county of Buckingham. This leads to a really important point.

In the reign of Elizabeth, when the earldom of Lincoln was created, an earl was still normally earl of a county-comes comitatus. This was sometimes obscured by the fact that the earl might take his usual style from the capital of his county, instead of from the county itself; a surviving instance of this practice is the earldom of Shropshire (1442), the earls of which have always been styled Earls of Shrewsbury. So the Earls of Lincoln presumably held the earldom of Lincolnshire. It is difficult to believe that Elizabeth would do anything so eccentric as to create an earldom of the city, instead of the county; but it is also difficult to believe that the Crown's present advisers would sanction the creation of a marquessate of Lincolnshire if an earldom of Lincolnshire were already held by another peer. Can any reader of N. & Q.' find out the actual wording of the Letters Patent of 1572 ? If the earldom is of the county of Lincoln, it is even possible that the validity of the marquessate might be technically impugned. G. H. WHITE.

St. Cross, Harleston, Norfolk.

UNNOTED SHAKESPEARE ALLUSIONS IN THOMAS SHADWELL :—

1668.

Ninny. 'Pshaw! you! I'll pluck bright Honour from the pale-fac'd Moon, (as my Friend Hot-spur says) what do you talk of that?

'Sullen Lovers,' 1720 ed., vol. i. p. 94.

1 Clerk) [reads]. I do acknowledge, and firmly believe, that the Play of Sir Positive At-All, standing it was damn'd by the Malice of the Knight, called The Lady in the Lobster, notwithAge, shall not only read, but it shall act with any of Ben Jonson's, and Beaumont's and Fletcher's Plays

Sir Positive). Hold, hold! I'll have Shakespear's in; 'slife, I had like to have forgot that. 'Sullen Lovers,' 1720 ed., vol. i. p. 60.

1673. Bev(il). What, I warrant, you think we did not know you? Lucia. O by Instinct. at all.

yes, as Falstaff did the true Prince, You are brisk Men, I see; you run 'Epsom-Wells,' 1720 ed., vol. ii. p. 225.

race. It is God's own method of producing an entente cordiale, and no other plan is worth a farthing."

Mr. Fisher Unwin adds:

"I think this is one of the earliest and perhaps first use of the words."

Is an earlier use of the phrase to be found? F. C. J.

[Mr. Fisher Unwin is mistaken in supposing that Cobden's use of entente cordiale in 1859 is a

very early example of the phrase. MR. ALFRED

F. ROBBINS showed at 10 S. ix. 194 that it was used in September, 1848, by Queen Victoria in a letter to Lord John Russell, then Prime Minister; and that it had become so familiar during the Crimean War that The Times on 8 Jan., 1856,

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headed an article on omnibuses with the words 'The Omnibus Entente Cordiale.' At p. 472 of the same volume of N. & Q.' D. stated that the words were commonly used of all the three ententes which, during the Monarchy of July, preceded the entente of 1860." For other instances see 10 S. viii. 168; ix. 338, 418; x. 37, 178; xii. 216.]

DANVERS FAMILY OF SWITHLAND AND LONDON.-I shall be glad if any reader of 'N. & Q.' will kindly enlighten me as to the relationship between the following members of this family. From about 1743 to 1767 there appears in the Rate-Books of the parish of St. Clement Danes a house in Surrey Street, Strand, in the name of Sir John Danvers, Bart., as the owner. I am not sure whether this person can be identified with Sir John Danvers, Bart., of Swithland, Leicestershire, who died in 1796, and whose only surviving daughter and heiress married the Hon. Augustus Richard Butler, second son of the Earl of Lanesborough, who sold the London property about the year 1799. In Boyle's Court Guide for the years 1790, 1792, 1793, and 1796 the name of a Sir John Danvers occurs at No. 11, Hanover Square, and it is significant that this house was sometimes occupied by the abovenamed Hon. A. R. Butler.

The question I want, if possible, to decide is whether the Sir John Danvers of Swithland before mentioned and the Sir John Danvers of 11, Hanover Square, are one and the same person with, also, Sir John Danvers, owner of the house in Surrey Street, Strand. ALFRED S. FOORD.

WEDDING PIECES. I learn from L'Intermédiaire, 10 janvier, 1913, that in France it was customary till about 1850 for a bridegroom, during the marriage service, to offer his bride a number of coins or medals in a case. Generally they were embossed, rarely engraved or struck on a die. These weddingpieces are now replaced by the marriage

medal, which the priest blesses with the two wedding-rings. One writer on the subject considers that the gift represents the dower which was formerly settled on the bride by the bridegroom. According to another opinion the custom of giving these marriage-pieces, which still survives in Barrois and in Berry, descends from the days of marriage by purchase. In the eleventh century a father "bought a wife for his son." Apparently purchase - money became dower, and the pieces given may indicate both the money settled on the wife and community of goods.

The present King of Spain gave his wife thirteen pieces of gold called "arras," in testimony of their union. Marriage-pieces are also known from Saxony. Were they formerly used in the British Isles ?

B. L. R. C.

BRITISH TROOPSHIP WRECKED ON RÉ UNION ISLAND.-What was the name of the British troopship wrecked on Réunion (Bourbon) Island many years ago? and in what year did this happen? I heard about it on a French steamer in 1907, when the commandant gave me a glowing description of the heroic behaviour of the Highlanders (les higglandères) on board the illfated vessel, which was on its way from the Cape to Mauritius, but got out of its course in a small bight. All the horses had to be and ran at almost full-speed on to the rocks shot, and all the luggage, including the regimental plate, was lost. There was a ball intimation the islanders had of the accident on board at the moment, and the first was when they saw people of both sexes in full evening dress, and others in their nightdress, wandering about the fields.

L. L. K.

A PORTCULLIS AS A COAT OF ARMS.-At a recent antiquarian meeting at the Town Hall, Romsey, Hants, when various objects of local interest were exhibited to a large gathering of the Southampton Ramblers' Club, a discussion arose as to the origin of the town seal, and whether it was merely a seal or had been granted as a coat of arms. One of the speakers remarked that if it was a coat of arms it was registered, and this fact could easily be proved by reference to the proper quarter. What is the proper quarter? The seal, dated 1578, is a portcullis, with the legend, "Sigilleum de Romsey Infra." Can any reader of

N. &. Q.' help to clear up its origin? In 1672 an oil painting on panel was made of this portcullis, with the Mayor's initials

as

The town of Romsey stands on an island, surrounded by tributaries of the River Test, and the borough can only be reached by crossing numerous bridges, such Porters Bridge (anciently Porte Brigge), Broad Bridge, Middle Bridge, &c. In the paper read to the Ramblers' Club it was suggested that the portcullis was possibly chosen as a seal for the mayor, who was guardian of the gates on the bridges, reference being made to the title of the chief citizen of London at the Domesday Survey, namely, "Porte Grave," governor of the water gate. Romsey was, of course, never fortified, being but a small forest town, but its proximity to the hunting in the New Forest caused it to be visited three times by James I. and also (tradition says) by Queen Elizabeth. The portcullis was the badge of the houses of Beaufort and Tudor, and borne by the former with the motto Altera securitas." Any information would be gratefully received by a party of

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ÖLD ROMSONIANS.

PARKE AND SCOLES IN EGYPT AND NUBIA. -Sir Gardner Wilkinson in his Modern Egypt and Thebes,' 1843, vol. i. p. 155, states that Mr. Parke and Mr. Scoles visited

Egypt in 1823. On p. 89 of the same work he recommends Parke and Scoles's Nubia' as a useful book. I am not aware of any other reference to this work. Where can I obtain information about it, or about Parke and Scoles's observations ? Prince Ibrahim-Hilmy, in Literature of Egypt and the Soudan,' vol. ii. P. 441, 1888, has an entry: “Park (....). Egypt and the East; or, Travels on Sea and Land,' London, 1852, 8vo." Is this by one of the travellers referred to by Wilkinson ?

་

MILTON.-Among Milton's books was a copy of Dante's Convivio,' with the sonnets of Giovanni della Casa and Benedetto Varchi, bound together in one volume, and bearing Milton's signature with the date 1629. This volume was once in the library of Richard Heber, and afterwards passed through several hands. In 1861 it belonged to Mr. Arthur Roberts. Can any one tell the name and address of its present owner? JOHN S. SMART. Glasgow.

HUMBUG. Can any reader tell me the name of any writer who has written on Humbug,' be obtained? and where such article can

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.

KELSO.

afford some material; and Literary Forgeries,' by [The careers of Cagliostro and Casanova might J. A. Farrer, published in 1907 by Longmans, might also be of service. "Mimicry" in animals would probably also prove a fruitful line of search-vide Poulton's 'Colours of Animals and Beddard's 'Animal Coloration.']

DR. GREGORY SHARPE'S CORRESPONDENCE.-Two volumes of Gregory Sharpe's (1713-71) correspondence were recently sold among the Phillipps MSS. They are mentioned in Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary.' These volumes appear to be part of a larger correspondence, and I should be much obliged if any reader of N. & Q.' could tell me whether any further volumes are in existence, and if so where they may be found, more especially any before 1750. There do not seem to be any at the British Museum. L. E. T.

2, Little Dean's Yard, S. W.

OAK TREES IN A GALE.-Is there any foundation for the belief that oaks become more firmly fixed in the soil through the force of a strong wind ? It is found in several places, e.g., in 'Rule, Britannia' :

As the loud blast that tears the skies Serves but to root thy native oak. Common sense would suggest that shaking the trunk of a tree would tend to loosen its roots.

"WEAR THE BLUE." In Graham of Gartmore's well-known song 'If Doughty Deeds come the lines :

For you alone I ride the ring,

For you I wear the blue.

Blue has at different times been the mark of a Tory, a beggar-man, and a learned lady; but I do not think this doughty cavalier would have declared himself to be any of these. Is there a more probable explanation ?

C. B. WHEELER.