there has been but little "modernizing" for
many years. It is understood that the two
wings of the house are to be restored
and devoted to their former uses. The
fourteenth-century hall, with its superb
roofing and timbers, may well be brought
back to its old design; and if the more
modern masonry be judiciously replaced
with the proper stone, and the repairs be
carefully kept in hand, this fine monu-
ment of the past may well be looked
upon as a gem of domestic architecture.
The Wordsworth cedar happily remains in
fine preservation by the moat, and is in
excellent accordance with the placid sur-
roundings.
W. H. QUARRELL.

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.

that gris was the Norman-French rendering
of the old name in England of the badger-
the " grey ? An article on The Destruc-
tion of Vermin in Rural Parishes,' by the
late Dr. T. N. Brushfield, in Transactions of
the Devon Association, vol xxix. p. 310,
cites many examples from parish registers
and other documents of the use of the word
gray" and its variants "grea'
and "
with plural "greas," giving the compounds
greashead,' grayes hedes," and graies
hed," e.g., East Budleigh Accounts, 1664:
"To William Burch for a grays head,
1s 0d," the reward having been fixed by
the Act of 8 Eliz., "for the heads of every
Foxe or Gray, xijd.”

66

66

66

gree,

Would the fur of the badger in mediæval times have been accounted a worthy garniture for a "riche robe " ?

ETHEL LEGA-WEEKES.

SKATING IN THE MIDDLE AGES.-In' Salad for the Solitary,' by an Epicure (F. Sanders), Bentley, 1853, it is stated in an essay, 'Pastimes and Sports' (p. 113): "This diversion [skating] is mentioned, by a

FAMILIES: DURATION IN MALE LINE. -MR. PAGE hints that it was a judgmonkish writer as far back as 1170." Does ment on the Bradshaws that the regicide's family wholly died out in the male line in the course of a century (see 11 S. iv. 344, 456).

It

Surely this is not at all remarkable. would be interesting if genealogists would tell us what is the usual duration of a family in the male line, and which is the family that has undoubted proofs of the longest descent in the male line. I believe it to be much shorter than most people think. The custom for the impoverished heir of an old estate to marry an heiress often has the effect of shortening pedigrees.

WILLIAM BULL.

this refer to the well-known allusion to bone skates by Fitzstephen, translated by Stow ? And will any one be kind enough to give me any other early references to skating, and the first introduction of steel skates in Holland, France, Germany, or England?

A. FORBES SIEVEKING.

'GIL BLAS.'-Many years ago I picked up at a second-hand bookstall six small volumes (Italian), bound in leather and in good condition, entitled

Galante |

"Gil Blas di Santillano | Storia Tratta dall' Idioma Francese | nell Italiano | Dal Dottor D. Giulio Monti | canonico Bolognese Edizione quarta | Illustration, trade-mark.] GRISE: GREY : BADGER. In turning In Venezia MDCCL. | Presso Antonio Bortoli | Con over the pages of John Watson's History Licenzo de' Superiori, e Privilegio.” of the Earls of Warrenne and Surrey' lately, Until recently the books remained unread, my attention was caught by a discussion lost sight of in a bookcase, but now I find (p. 297) of the meaning of the word gris or to my intense surprise that the first four grys, occurring in descriptions of dress, such volumes embrace the whole of Le Sage's as "furratas de gris"; and the rather vagueHistory' as published, finishing up with definition of it as some fur sent me to the marriage of Gil Blas, while the remaining the N.E.D.,' which, I find, offers the two form a continuation of the History,' scarcely more explicit signification, A Gil Blas having subsequently left his home kind of grey fur," with the derivation from and disappeared. His nephew then sets the French adjective gris grey, the earliest forth to find him, and, after many adventures instance quoted being from the Cursor and meetings with people who relate their Mundi' (1300): "Riche robe wit veir & adventures on the lines of the well-known grise." published work, he and Gil Blas's faithful servant eventually find him as a hermit.

66

I had always supposed my own interpretation of the word to be the established one, and may it not, after all, be right-namely,

My object in writing is to ask whether any one is aware of a publication of Le

Sage's work including any indication of this further portion. I have it in English, French, and Spanish, but all are alike in concluding with the marriage. It is stated on the title-page of each volume that it is translated from the French; but though it is indubitable that the original is Le Sage's work verbatim up to the end of vol. iv., and the balance is of equal merit, Le Sage's name is not mentioned.

I think you will esteem these facts sufficiently curious and of sufficient literary interest to justify my troubling you with the inquiry. CHAS. T. DRUERY.

EPIGRAM ON ST. LUKE.-Can you kindly inform me what is the source of the following words?

Lucas evangelii et medicinæ numera pandit
Artibus hinc illinc relligione potens.

St. Luke, by medicine and religion joined,
Restores the body and relieves the mind.
Blest in both labours, dark diseases part,
And darker ignorance forsakes the heart.
Thrice happy Luke! sustained by God on high,
Preserves in life and teaches how to die.
They are quoted as from a speech by
the late Rev. Dr. McNeile, 1867 (afterwards
Dean of Ripon).
J. A. OWLES.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION WANTED.

1. BARROW.-Aubrey in his Brief Lives' (1898), vol. i. p. 94, says that the father of Isaac Barrow, Master of Trin. Coll., Camb., was one Barrow, a brewer at Lambith: a King's Scholar at Westminster." I am aware that the Dict. Nat. Biog.,' iii. 299, says that Thomas Barrow, linendraper to Charles I., was the father of Isaac Barrow, but I am anxious to obtain further information about this Lambeth brewer to whom Aubrey refers. Can any reader of N. & Q.' kindly supply it? .

2. COL. JOHN HENRY BELLI, eldest son of John Belli, sometime secretary to Warren Hastings, served in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo. Can any correspondent of 'N. & Q.' kindly give me the full dates of his birth and death?

3. COL. HENRY MORDAUNT CLAVERING, second son of Major-General Sir John Clavering, K.B., was born 16 Dec., 1766. When did he die? He married first Lady Augusta Campbell, elder daughter of John, 5th Duke of Argyll. Who was his second wife?

4. ROBERT CLAVERING was admitted to Westminster School in 1777. I should be glad to obtain any information concerning his parentage and career. G. F. R. B.

BOLIVAR AND THE JEWS.-I have read somewhere that Bolivar, the South American Liberator, addressed a letter to the Jews of the City of London asking their help for his enterprise, and I think his appeal was Can any reader assist me with successful. ISRAEL SOLOMONS. references?

SAMARITAN BIBLE.-In ancient works on star lore it is said that the world was formed when the sun was in the zodiacal sign of Capricornus, the goat. This statement is said to be founded upon the Samaritan version of the Pentateuch. Information required. WM. WYNN WESTCOTT.

BELLS RUNG FOR KING CHARLES'S EXECUTION.-There is said to be a tradition that a peal of bells was rung in some parishes when the news arrived that King Charles was beheaded. I shall be much obliged by any information-especially as to whether any Sussex parish was among those that did R. A. B.

so.

GELLYFEDDAN, CYNGHORDY, AND LLETTYSCILP.-Will one of your readers please give the English translation of the above Welsh J. F. J. place-names? Minneapolis.

Can

AUTHOR OF QUOTATION WANTED.
any of your readers tell me whence the
following portions of verses are taken ?—
What miscreant knave dares disturb the quiet of
Old Wiscard's grave......?

I wot the world is fangled all anew, thou tiny elf,
Prithee tell me, are other folks like thee......?
Go, bear thy pygmy corpse elsewhere, and disturb
not the quiet of Old Wiscard's grave.
am led to believe that they may be from
Colley Cibber, but this is only conjecture.
A. J. IKIN.
Creosote, Washington.

I

JONES AND BLUNKETT.-Can any of your readers inform me what branch of the family of Jones bear the following arms: Serpents nowed, quartered with fleurs-de-lis? They are the arms of Robert Jones of Babraham, THE HURLOTHRUMBO SOCIETY.-I have Cambridgeshire, M.P. for Huntingdon, who recently come across the very elaborate and died 1774. I am anxious to identify him artistic invitation card of the Hurlothrumbo and his family, and where they came from Society bidding Mr. West of Compton in Wales. He was a director of the East Street, Soho, to meet "the President, India Company, and was a merchant whose Senior Fellows, and the rest of the Society counting-house was in St. Clement's Lane.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION WANTED.-1. BARROW.-Aubrey in his Brief Lives' (1898), vol. i. p. 94, says that the father of Isaac Barrow, Master of Trin. Coll., Camb., was one Barrow, a brewer at Lambith: a King's Scholar at Westminster." I am aware that the Dict. Nat. Biog.,' iii. 299, says that Thomas Barrow, linendraper to Charles I., was the father of Isaac Barrow, but I am anxious to obtain further information about this Lambeth brewer to whom Aubrey refers. Can any reader of N. & Q.' kindly supply it? .

2. COL. JOHN HENRY BELLI, eldest son of John Belli, sometime secretary to Warren Hastings, served in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo. Can any correspondent of N. & Q.' kindly give me the full dates of his birth and death?

3. COL. HENRY MORDAUNT CLAVERING, second son of Major-General Sir John Clavering, K.B., was born 16 Dec., 1766. When did he die? He married first Lady Augusta Campbell, elder daughter of John, 5th Duke of Argyll. Who was his second wife?

4. ROBERT CLAVERING was admitted to Westminster School in 1777. I should be glad to obtain any information concerning his parentage and career. G. F. R. B.