Various

“ Having now clearly released the annotator from all farther interference with Mary Kirke's private history, and having excluded her handsome face from any future illustrated edition of Grammont, I must leave him to deal with Miss Warmistre. It seems most probable that Dr. Thomas Warmistre, dean of Worcester, who died October 30, 1665, was her father, as he is known to have been a Royalist. ”

“ Lastly, as to the model-like appearance of stereographs taken at a large angle, for the fact I need only refer the objector to most of the beautiful foreign views now so abundant in our opticians' shops: for the reason, is it not palpable that increasing the width of the eyes is analogous to decreasing the size of the object? and if naturally we cannot "perceive at one view three sides of a cake, two heads of a drum, nor any other like absurdity," it is only because we do not use objects sufficiently small to permit us to do so. ”

“ However remarkable the conduct of the rustic esquire of Downham may appear in the present duly, when he accepted and wore the livery of his neighbour the Knight-Baronet of Houghton Tower, it was a Common practice for gentlemen of good birth and estate to accept and wear, and even to assume without solicitation, upon state occasions, the livery of an influential neighbour, friend, or relation, in testimony of respect and affection for the giver of the livery. ”

“ Agreeing with Mr. Peter Cunningham (vide History of Nell Gwyn) , that a new edition of Grammont is much wanted, I beg to avail myself of your pages, and to offer a few remarks and notes which I have made in reference to that very entertaining work for the consideration of a future annotator.
Of the several maids of honour mentioned therein I will begin with those of the queen. They are Miss Stewart, Miss "Warminster," Miss Bellenden, Miss Bardon, Miss de la Garde, Miss Wells, Miss Livingston, Miss Fielding, and Miss Boynton. ”

“ Where is the line to be drawn? A mere selection is valueless, or next to valueless; because, setting aside the differences in opinion in such matters, we want to know what conjectures are new, and which are old? ”

“ This, πέτρῳ στάθμην ἁρμόζων, he translates,—
"Whose mind the God leads to destruction; but that he (the God) practises this a short time without destroying such an one."
But for the Italics it might have been an oversight: they would seem to imply he has some authority for his translation. I have no edition of Sophocles by me to discover, but surely no critical scholar can acquiesce in it. The only active sense of πράσσειν I remember at the moment is to exact. It surely should be translated, "And he, whom the God so leads to ἄτη, fares a very short time without it." ”

“ William Howard, a younger son of Thomas first Earl of Berkshire, at Westminster Abbey, November 12, 1677, went the same year to the Hague as master of the household to the Prince of Orange (Evelyn) , became privy purse to James II. (The British Compendium, or Rudiments of Honour) , died at his house in Leicester Fields, January, 1696-7, and was buried in the church of St. Martin. It was his second wife, and widow, who died October 13, 1730.
If, as it is possible, Miss Bellenden did hold the appointment of maid of honour to the queen, she must have replaced Miss Stewart or Miss Warmistre ”

“ Now in Ireland, when a person is seen laughing immoderately without any apparent cause, it is usual to say, "O, he has found a mare's nest, and he's laughing at the eggs." This perfectly agrees with the above passage from Bonduca, and is doubtless the original sense and original form of the adage.
There is another of these proverbial expressions which, I think, has also lost its pristine sense. By "Tread on a worm and it will turn" is usually meant that the very meekest and most helpless persons will, when harshly used, turn on their persecutors. ”

“ In the west of Scotland the phrase is now restricted to a young woman who has had an illegitimate child, or what is more commonly termed "a misfortune," and it is probable never had another meaning. Legen or leggen is not understood to have any affinity in its etymology to the word leg, but is laggen, that part of the staves which projects from the bottom of the barrel, or of the child's luggie, out of which he sups his oatmeal parritch; and the girth, gird, or hoop, that by which the vessel at this particular place is firmest bound together. ”

“ In France the person making oath lifts his right hand. The oath is administered by the presiding judge without any reference to the Deity, but the person who swears is required to answer "Je le jure." ”

“ Assuming that A. was not attainted, or that the consequences of his attainder were thus restricted to himself, or that his attainder has been reversed, it is clear that his lawful posterity are still entitled to his arms, notwithstanding the acceptance by his grandson C. of a new grant, which obviously could no more affect the title to the ancient arms than the creation of a modern barony can destroy the right of its recipient to an older one. ”

“ I entirely agree with G. K. (Vol. viii., p. 269.) respecting the original sense of "Putting a spoke in one's wheel." It surely meant to aid him in constructing the wheel, say of his fortune. As the true sense of this expression seems to have been retained in America when lost in its birthplace, so Ireland has retained that of another which has changed its sense here. By "finding a mare's nest" is, I believe, meant, fancying you have made a great discovery when in fact you have found nothing. I certainly remember the late Earl Grey using it in that sense in his place in parliament. ”

“ It was founded by William le Gros, Earl of Albemarle, and Lord of Holderness, about the year 1139, for Austin Canons, and was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Dugdale says, that when first founded it was a priory, and the monks were introduced from the monastery of Kirkham; but was changed into an abbey by Pope Eugenius III., A.D. 1148. Though Henry VIII. suppressed the Abbey, he reserved the greater part of the lands to endow a college, which he erected in its room, for a dean and prebendaries, to the honour of the Holy and Undivided Trinity. ”

“ However this may be, it is still somewhat remarkable that, in the seventeenth century, Nicholas Assheton of Downham, Esq., and other gentlemen of Lancashire, upon a less important occasion than a coronation feast, dressed in the livery of Sir Richard Houghton and voluntarily attended, day after day, at the lords' table at Houghton Tower, and served the lords with biscuit, wine, and Jelly. ”

“ The plane of delineation being a flat, instead of a curved surface, has nothing whatever to do with this point, because the curves of the retinas are not portions of one curve having a common centre, but each having its own centre in the axis of the pupil. That a plane surface for receiving the image is not so good as a spherical one would be, is not disputed ”

“ I can hardly suppose that a writer of so much ability and learning can be unknown, and shall feel much obliged by any information as to him or his writings.
J. Ward.
Coventry.
Birthplace of King Edward V.—Can you give me any information as to the exact birthplace of this monarch?
Hume (vol. ii. p. 430.) merely says that he was born while his mother was in sanctuary in London, and his father was a fugitive from the victorious Earl of Warwick.
Commynes (book iii. chap. 5.) also says that she took refuge "es franchises qui sont à Londres," and "y accoucha d'ung filz en grant povreté." ”

“ I remember to have seen men from some of the Baltic ports, when told to lift their right hands to be sworn, double down the ring finger and the little finger, as is done by bishops in the Roman Catholic Church when giving the benediction. ”

“ Nicholas Assheton also appears to have the support of this royal precedent in so far as relates to his accepting and wearing the livery of a friend and neighbour; and the custom of his day evidently lends its sanction to his forming, upon a state occasion, one of the body of menial servants in attendance upon Sir Richard Houghton, when he went to meet the king. ”

“ Cunningham to five letters, written by Count de Comminges, the French ambassador in London, and printed Lord Braybrooke in his Appendix to Pepys, which Mr. C. has very unaccountably overlooked when settling the chronology of Grammont.
The first, to M. de Lionne, dated "Londres, Janvier 5-15, 1662-3," announces the arrival of the Chevalier the day before "fort content de son voyage. Il a été ici reçu le plus agréablement au monde. Il est de toutes les parties du Roi." ”

“ It is scarcely necessary to suggest what a person devoid of taste (in which category I am no doubt included) might do in producing monstrosities by adopting the radial method, as such an one is not very likely to produce good results at all. ”

“ That circumstances may and do arise in which a better result is obtained in producing stereographs, when the chord of the angle of generation is more or less than 21⁄2 inches.
2nd. That the positions of the camera should not be parallel but radial.
I certainly thought that I had, as I intended, expressed the fact that I treat the cameras precisely as two eyes, and moreover I still contend that they should be so treated; my object being to present to each eye exactly such a picture and in such a direction as would be presented under certain circumstances. ”

“ There's not an honest man dwelling;
And I'll tell you the reason why,
Because Shooters' Hill's so nigh."
Unless this is preserved in "N. & Q." it will probably be forgotten with the highwaymen, whose proceedings at Shooters' Hill, no doubt, originated it.
G. W. Skyring.
Samuel Pepys's Grammar.—I have lately been looking over the Diary of this very clever person, and I confess it has surprised me to find him, a graduate of Cambridge, and, in fact, I may say a man of letters, constantly employing such vulgar bad grammar as "he do say," and such like. ”

“ To introduce Clouds (Vol. viii., p. 451.) as desired by your correspondent Σ., the negative must be treated in the sky by solution of cyanide of potassium laid on in the form desired with a camel's hair pencil. This discharges a portion of the reduced silver, and allows the light to penetrate; but great care is required to stop the action by well washing in water before the process has gone too far. White clouds are produced by painting them in with a black pigment mixed in size. ”

“ Thos. Gawdy married three wives, and by each had a son Thomas. The eldest was a serjeant-at-law, and died in 1556. The second was a judge of the Queen's Bench, and died in November, 1587 or 1588. The third is known as Sir Francis Gawdy, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas; but he also was baptized by the name of Thomas. Lord Coke, who succeeded him as Chief Justice, says (Co. Lit. 3. a.) :
"If a man be baptized by the name of Thomas, and after at his confirmation by the bishop he is named John, he may purchase by his name of confirmation ”

“ See Mosheim, as cited before, or D'Aubigné, book IX. ch. vii. and viii.
H. W.
Rev. Urban Vigors (Vol. viii., p. 340.) .—My great-great-grandmother was a sister of Bishop Vigors, who was consecrated to the see of Leighlin and Ferns, March 8, 1690. He, I know, was a near relative of the Rev. Urban Vigors. An Urban Vigors of Ballycormack, co. Wexford, also married my great-great-aunt, a Miss Thomas, sister of Vigors Thomas, Esq., of Limerick. I should, equally with your correspondent Y. S. M., wish to know any particulars of the "Vigors" family ”

“ We would also express a hope that those gentlemen who may at once succeed in obtaining any desired volumes will be good enough to notify the same to us, in order that such books may not unnecessarily appear in such list even a second time. ”

“ In taking down a wall in the ruins of the abbey, a human skeleton was found, with a table, a book, and a candle-stick. It is supposed to have been the remains of the fourteenth abbot, who, it is stated, was for some crime sentenced to be immured—a mode of capital punishment not uncommon in monasteries. Four views of the abbey are given in Allen's History of Lincolnshire, vol ii., and some farther notices of its ancient state will be found in Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. ”

“ Legge (vol. v. p. 296.) , Pepys writes "His R. H. does think," &c., which in the Diary would surely be "His R. H. do think," &c. In a similar way I would account for the use of come instead of came in the Diary, as there is nothing of the kind in the Letters. Should I be right, I may have rendered a slight service to the memory of an able and worthy man. ”

“ No object, however minute, can be clearly seen if brought nearer to the eyes than a certain point, because it will be what is technically called out of focus. It is true that this point differs in different individuals, but the average distance of healthy vision is 10 inches. ”

“ I perceive that this is the case from two illustrations he was kind enough to forward me, being stereographs of a square, placed with the points of junction towards the observer, and the tail receding from him; and in one case the angle of the square is made the centre of radiation, and while its distance from the camera is only six feet, the points of delineation are no less than three feet apart.
To push an argument to the extreme to test its value, is quite right ”

“ I am able to mention another instance of a woman acting as parish clerk at Ickburgh, in the county of Norfolk. It is the parish to Buckenham Hall, the seat of the Honourable Francis Baring, near Thetford. A woman there has long officiated as parish clerk, and still continues acting in that capacity.
F. R.
I beg to refer Y. S. M. to the following passage Madame d'Arblay's Diary, vol. v. p. 246.:
"There was at Collumpton only a poor wretched ragged woman, a female clerk, to show us this church: she pays a man for doing the duty, while she receives the salary in right of her deceased husband!" ”