a

poem of which the opening lines are, Scarce a wild bird tried to twitter. .

As I stood a welcome comer

On the steps of Castle Lea."

If so where can the poem be found, and if not who is the writer?

P. ALLSOPP.

VARIETIES OF CHEESE AND PRICES.-Prof. minster, and after the visit to have written Thorold Rogers in his History of Agriculture and Prices' notes a variety of cheeses under various years:-Essex and Gloucester in 1594, Holland in 1608, Morning's milk in 1636, Cheshire and Suffolk in 1655, Cream in 1686, Hall in 1705, Newbury in 1707, Warwick in 1709, Norfolk in 1712, Hants, Cosley Wilts and Lansdown in 1761, New milk in 1769, Old milk and Stilton in 1771, Double Gloucester in 1772, and Parmesan and Gruyère in 1791. I shall be glad of references to Morning's milk, Hall, Newbury, Warwick, Norfolk, Hants, Cosley Wilts, Lansdown and Old milk cheeses.

R. HEDGER WALLACE.

9, Walpole Street, Chelsea, S.W.3. WEB FAMILY.-Perhaps some correspondent will give me help in completing the following pedigree, made by Dugdale in his visitations of Westmorland.

Sir Wm. Web-
Lord Mayor of
London, 1592.

Christopher Web-

Alderman of the
City of London.

Sir Wm. Web, Knt.
Equerry to P. Henry.
Resided at Newby.
Died Aug. 1662.

William Web,
aet 36 an. 20,
Mar. 1664

Alice, d. of Sir Thos. Strickland, of Thorntonbrigge.

Thomas Web.

RONALD D. WHITTENBURY-KAYE. Newchurch, Culcheth, Nr. Warrington.

ALLINGHAM FAMILY.-I should be glad of information regarding the ancestry of Allen Allingham, who married Sarah Atkins at St. George's, Hanover Square, on May 7, 1792. He is described as of the parish of St. Paul Covent Garden," and the registers of that church contain mention of him and others of this name between 1781 THE REV. GEORGE HARRIS, the father of and 1803, viz., John Allingham, married on the first Lord Harris, is said to have been 4 September, 1792, and James Allingham, Curate of Brasted, Kent, to have married witness to a marriage 10 February, 1781, Sarah, daughter of George Twentyman, of together with the births and deaths Baintree, Cumberland, and to have died in number of children of John and Allen. 1759. I should be glad to learn the full From 1792 to 1836 there were nine Alling- particulars of his parentage, and the full ham marriages at St. George's Hanover dates of his birth, marriage, and death. Square, including that Allingham on March 30, the relationship of Allen, William?

of

a

William

of a 1796. What was i John, James and LAURANCE M. WULCKO. 142, Kinfauns Road, Goodmayes, Essex. "KAISER ZU DEUTSCHLAND."--I note this form of the title in Mr. G. H. WHITE'S contribution on Wife impaling Husband's coat.' at ante, p. 338. What is the authority for it?

E. R. R. CHARLOTTE BRONTE AND CASTLE LEA. Charlotte Bronté is said to have once paid a visit to Castle Lea, Wolverley, near Kidder

FORMAN. In

Fairbairn's Book of Crests' occurs the name of Forman. The Scotch branch of the family bore as crest a hand grasping a scimitar, with the motto: True to the End " or "Trustie to the can The name, though rare, be End." traced back as far as 1398.

66

AUTHORS WANTED.-1. Who is the author of this couplet, quoted in the Rev. Ernest Hawkin's Book of Psalms' (1857), on Ps. lxviii, 10?

In desert wild, thy pilgrims poor,
Dwelt as in homes of rest secure.
WALTER WORRALL.

I have a small engraving of the Wynnstay Theatre in 1789, and it was certainly not a attractive looking building on the outside I do not know anything of the interi 2.—I have been advised to seek your help arrangements or architect, and I presume l' in unearthing a quotation which I have been was burnt down when the old mansion was trying to trace for very many years. Bp. Durnford, in his primary charge to the destroyed in 1858, but I am not sure abca Diocese of Chichester, writes of the Church of this. The second Sir Watkin was exceed England: "It is lamentable that the strength ingly fond of music and theatricals, an her position should be impaired by differences and disaffection among its sworn many notable performances took place in the defenders.' Then follow the words in inverted old Theatre, some of them being under the commas Syracusae nostrae capiuntur et in pulvere pingimus."

of

Can any reader tell me the source of this quotation?

(REV.) FRANCIS HAINES.

Replies.

PRIVATE THEATRES IN ENGLAND.

(12 S. xi. 329).

stage management of old George Colman
One of the best amateur ladies was a certai
Miss Jones, known as "The Sparkler,
from the brilliancy of her eyes and conver
sation. I think a great deal of interestin
information could be put together (if it ha
not been done) about these Theatricals, ar
I know where several play-bills are sti
existent. Your correspondent might look 12
Colman's 'Random Records,' Roberts's
Wynnstay and the Wynns,' Shropshire
Begones,' and Wright's Caricature History
of the Georges.'

JOSEPH C. BRIDGE

I remember a private Theatre at Chelsea where the Bethels lived 1870-85, and perhaps later.

A FEW particulars of the performances at Wynnstay are preserved in Colman's Random Records,' i, 258-260, ii. 42 et seq. Briefly summarised the information is as follows:-The building was originally built as a kitchen on the occasion of the coming of age of the third or fourth I have epilogues written by my greatbaronet. Names of some of the pieces acted grandmother, Mrs. Parry Pryce Hurley are given, with their dates, as set out below, Wargrave-Lovelace. the casts being given for the plays tinguished by an asterisk :

·---

dis

1777. Chrononhotonthologos' (attended by Garrick).

1780.

Bon Ton.'*

E. E. COPE.

6

THE THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIVE 1779. The Royal Merchant'; The Jealous CHILDREN (12 S. xi. 351).-I had only a Wife'; Katharine and Petrucchio.' as Cymbeline, The Spanish Barber."* third of the 36 references collecte 1781. 'Rula Wife and Have a Wife *; by MR. ROLLINS, but he may like to have the following: Coryat Crudities 1780 or 1781. King Richard the Third' reprint of 1905, (probably 1780); The Liar;The Constant iii, 369: tells the Couple'; 'The Author' (all probably 1781). story, and adds "it is so absolutely true Colman refers to a ticket of admission as nothing in the world more." Merce designed by H. Bunbury: this was engraved Voyage D'Italie,' ed. 1702, I. 14, tells t by Bartolozzi and is headed Wynnstay story; and in the English edition of 174 Theatre, 1785," and the design contains the adds a note, appealing to the authority names of the following pieces, presumably Erasmus, Vives, Guicciardini, Cameraris.

Scriverius, Guill: Heda and Guy Dominick whom see Sir Walter Scott's Peveril of the Peter, author of the Annals of Flanders.' Peak.' Tom Thumb, however, was the I have sought for, but have not found, the traditional dwarf at King Arthur's court. reference in Erasmus. MR. ROLLINS knows His adventures were told in chap-books, and Vives and Guicciardini. Scriverius' Bat-may still be found in some collections of avia Illustrata' passed through countless fairy tales. A little creature only as long as editions in the seventeenth century. The a thumb, and yet a mortal, not a fairy, is a other two works are unknown to me. Among common figure in folk-stories; for example, modern writers, Mr. E. V. Lucas tells the Hop o' my Thumb in Perrault; Thumbelina story in 'A Wanderer in Holland,' but no in Hans Andersen; and in the English nurhaving the book, I cannot give the reference. sery rhyme: H. MAYNARD SMITH.

shields was simply because they were the
ensigns of the bearers' chief and distinguish
ing title.
The Earl of Salisbury and the
Earl of Warwick, both originally Nevills,
on acquiring these new honours displayed,
in the first place, the arms of the house they
chose primarily to represent, and they would
have done so as prominently had they
obtained them not jure uxoris but by any
other descent.

that it is of Malay derivation is qu unfounded, seeing that the pineapple. the potato and tomato, is indigenous South America. Doubtless the term * adopted into the Malay language when fruit was introduced to Asia.

Numerous instances of such berTURS words are quoted in Sir Frank Swetter ham's Malay Vocabulary,' office; gebenor, governor; jenis, kind (L. Mr. G. H. WHITE praying in aid of his genus); kauchi, couch; tuala, towel; char theory the high authority of Dr. Round, (Port., chabuco), whip, S. African sjam! appears to be as incorrect in his interpreta-cheroot, (Taumil cherut), a cigar; etc. I. tion of that historian as he is in his same remark holds good in the case of reference to "A Modern Kaiser zu Deutsch- Singhalese annasi.

land." In the article cited by Mr. G. H. │ At 9 S. iv. 419 a query as to the meani WHITE (Ancestor, vol. iv p. 144) Dr. Round, of "pineapple in the following sente speaking of Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, went unanswered: The pineapple who matched with the sole heiress of the tried on Sunday. .. and is worn ou Despencers, senior co-heirs of the great house the bottom." This had reference to a of the Clares, says that ment of some kind, the material of whi bore a pineapple pattern; for the N.ED first signification of the word notes, figure or image of a pinecone used as ornament or decoration," and it gives "1483. Blue cloths of g examples : wrought with nett and pyne appels. 16 Some take the leaves of this coat to be pi apples."

Her arms were merely placed on an escutcheon of pretence, instead of being incorporated as the first quarter of the Shield as would doubtless have been done if she had brought him an Earldom.

arms

as

Here is no sanction for the theory of precedence for the wife's such. If Henry V. quartered the lilies of France before the lions of England he probably had political rather than heraldic reasons for admitting that, of his two Kingdoms, France wore the oldest crown in Christendom."

PERCY HULBURD.

At 9 S. v. 402 the late Prof. Skeat de attention to the fact that before the dis covery of America pineapple" den · only the cone of the pine or fir-tree, as Chaucer (A.S. pin knutu, pine nut) and tha EXECUTION OF NONCONFORMIST MINISTER from its similarity in shape the a (12 S. xi. 233).—A correspondent asks if received its modern designation. there is any record of а Nonconformist | minister being executed. In Cobbett's 'State Trials' an account may be found of a minister named John James being tried and condemned to death. The sentence was carried out at Tyburn on Nov. 16, 1661.

26, Montague Street, W.C.

N. W. HIL

The, word anana is a Brazilian wal which probably was transplanted to the Mal Archipelago by the Portuguese navigators Skeat, the greatest authority on Philolog states the folowing in his mological Dictionary':

Concise F
Ananas,

Spr

(Span. -Braz.). ananas (Pineda); mod. Span. anake. Brazil. nanas or nana." It rather meat the fruit itself than the plant, and

A. D. T. ANANA = PINEAPPLE (12 S. xi. 108, 152, 215, 239 317). This luscious fruit was first discovered in Peru and Brazil in the six- pine-apple plant teenth century, and the Peruvian native name, nanas, became later ananas, seemingly by the addition to the initial n of the Portuguese definite article, a-Portuguese and not Spanish being the language of Brazil. But since this altered form was There is still another species of this fru taken to be a plural, the word was shortened more highly praised for its fragrance, wh to anana. The implication at ante, p. 152, is called abacaxi," another Braziliar

modern Portuguese it is written "anaba ananas," or ananaz."

66

word, from the Lingua Geral, like former one.

P. A. D'AREU-ALBANO.

the special boots in his youth, why did he not wear them in his later years when the defect was still apparent? The Countess Guiccioli (if indeed she was the real author of the Recollections') says that there was no suffered from a weakness of the ankles. She malformation in Byron's feet, that he only quotes the statement of the Southwell shoemaker that it was the left foot which was affected Thorwalden, on the authority of maker in the statue in Trinity College, Hobhouse, agrees with the Southwell shoeCambridge.

BREED OF CATTLE: BELTED GALLOWAYS (12 S. xi. 250, 314).-It is stated in the N.E.D., s.v. Belted, that Belted Cattle are of Dutch origin, and generally black with a broad band of distinctive colour. This probably refers to the breed of black and white cows called Holstein-Friesland, and to the Belted Dutch, which are black with a broad white band round the middle, both. kinds being good milkers.

N. W. HILL.

BETTON AND EVANS OF SHREWSBURY (12 S. xi. 249). Other works by Betton and Evans of Shrewsbury included the window in Bishop West's Chapel, Ely Cathedral (c. 1840), and the two transept windows at Lichfield Cathedral. The latter designed by Sir John Betton-were removed to the Guildhall about thirty years ago. Sir John Betton also erected the well-known Herckenrade glass in the Lady Chapel at Lichfield, and designed the new heraldic glass for the two four-right side windows. This heraldic glass was also removed, some thirty years ago, and replaced by ancient glass of the same period as that from Herckenrode.

WILFRED DRAKE.

directs my

46

There is a curious article in The New Monthly Magazine for 1830, the writer of which, T. Sheldrake, says he supplied Byron with a stock of necessaries which enabled the poet to conceal his defect, the nature of which is not stated, nor the foot affected. In a subsequent footnote, the editor of the magazine said the article was inserted without his knowledge, and he asked his readers not to confuse the writer," the spurious Timothy," with the really well known instrument-maker" of the name of Sheldrake. The latter, according to the editor of the Letters and Journals,' placed the injury in the left foot. Who was the spurious" Timothy, and what is the value of his evidence.

E.

This was every colbook of

CHEESE CEMENT (12 S. xi. 330). lection of medieval receipts or one of the stock recipes of almost secrets. It occurs in Theophilus (XII cent.) Diversarum Artium Schedula Book i. chap. 17; in the MS. of S. Audemar (late XIII or early XIV cent.), Recipe No. 163, Mrs. printed in Merrifield's Original Treatises,' i. 128; in the Bolognese MS. Segreti per Colori' (XV cent.) (Ibid. ii. 596); and in The Laboratory or School of Arts, 4th ed. 1755, vol. i, p. 171.

JOHN A. KNOWLES.

BYRON'S LAMENESS (12 S. xi. 272, 316, 339). Mr. Murray will see by reference to the original question that I had referred to the note in his edition of the Letters and Journals to which he now CHEESEMONGER'S SCORING: RUNIC CUSattention. It was in fact this note which TOM (12 S. xi. 311).-The "Runic custom " prompted my question, for it marshals so mentioned would now be called an "Old In the Old Norse or Old much contradictory evidence that further Norse custom." hundrath examination of the subject is, I think, worth Icelandic language generally making. It would be interesting to know if means 120; trau hundruth would be 240. the theory that Byron had infantile It is one of the proofs that the primitive paralysis of the right foot could be sup- Germans reckoned by a duodecimal as well ported by medical opinion. Could the boots as by a decimal system. See the English in the possession of Mr. Murray have been Dialect Dictionary, s.v. hundred 5, for worn in such a case? If Byron required examples of the long hundred " of six