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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. i. JAX. 9, ww.

animosity. Rosel endeavoured to rear several specimens of Maiiti-i reliyiosa, but always failed, the stronger constantly devouring the weaker. This ferocious propensity the Chinese children have, according to Mr. Barrow, employed as a source of barbarous amusement, selling to their comrades bamboo cages containing each a Mantis, which are put together to fight." Kirby and Spence, ' Introduction to Entomology,' seventh edition, 1856, letter ix. p. 160.

ADRIAN WHEELER.

CROWNS IN TOWER OR SPIRE OF CHURCH (9 th S. xii. 485 ; 10 th S. i. 17). I cannot find any such place as Champery in this county, and Kelly, usually to be relied on, fails to help to discovery. Has your contributor misread his notes, or has the compositor misread the MS. of the query 1 ?

FRED. C. FROST, F.S.I.

Teignmouth, Devon.

In a story published in ' Good Words,' 1863, it is stated that the Swedish Senate placed a large gilt copper crown upon the spire of a church in the Dalecarlian Hills, to commemorate the fact that in the church there the curate sheltered and hid Gustavus Vasa in the hour of his danger and distress.

FRANCESCA.

LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE WILLS (9 th S. xii. 485). There are very few Lancashire wills to be found of earlier date than the middle of the sixteenth century. At the Chester Probate Court your correspondent will find the wills for Cheshire from 1545 to the present date. Those for Lancashire south of the Kibble are also there up to a quite recent date. The wills of people living north of the Kibble were proved at Richmond, in Yorkshire, and are now preserved at Somer- set House, London, except those after 1724, which are at Lancaster.

A complete list of all these wills has been printed by the Kecord Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, as also a list of ' Wills, Inven- tories, Administration Bonds, &c., 1487-1620,' which are deposited at the Diocesan Registry, Cheshire. These documents have only recently been discovered. If your corre- spondent will write to me, I will give him further details. HENRY FISHWICK.

The Heights, Rochdale.

A complete index of the wills proved at Chester between 1545 and 1800 has been printed by the Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, and the originals may be con- sulted at Chester in the ordinary way. Some few Lancashire wills prior to the foundation of the Chester bishopric will probably be at Lichfield, where the earliest dated will is 1516. The index to these down

to 1652 has been printed by the British Record Society. W. D. PINK.

Lowton, Newton-le- Willows.

In a very useful little book which I have consulted on many occasions, entitled ' How to prove a Will,' by Thomas King (fourth edition, 1884), I find that the jurisdiction of the District Registry at Chester extends throughout the county of Chester, including the city. The office at Lancaster embraces the county of Lancaster, except the hundred of Salford and West Derby and the city of Manchester. Xo dates are given.

The Lancaster and Cheshire wills were edited for the Chethara Society by the Rev. G. J. Piccope, which may answer your correspondent's purpose.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

[MR. ARCHIBALD SPARKE sends similar informa- tion.]

ECONOMY (9 th S. xii. 486). The thought is from Juvenal, Satire xiv. 108-12.

H. A. STRONG. University, Liverpool.

WEATHER (9 th S. xii. 148). E. P. W. asks, " Who was the cynic who wrote ' When the English summer set in with its usual severity ' " ? See the postscript of Lamb's letter to Vincent Novello (cclxxvi. in Canon Ainger's edition): "Summer, as my friend Coleridge waggishly writes, has set in with its usual severity." The letter, or rather note, dated 9 May, 1826, begins, "You will not expect us to-morrow, I am sure, while these damn'd North-Easters continue."

EDWARD BENSLY.

The University, Adelaide, South Australia.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

The Letters of Horace Walpole, Fourth Earl of

Oxford. Chronologically arranged and edited by

Mrs. Paget Toynbee. 16 vols. Vols. I., II., III.,

IV. (1732-68). (Oxford, Clarendon Press.)

THAT a new edition of Walpole's letters is required

has long been known to scholars ; that one was in

E reparation under the care of the present editor as been evident to the attentive student of our columns. No special fault or shortcoming was to be attributed to the edition by Peter Cunningham in nine volumes, the latest issue of which in 1891 has been constantly at our elbow, and has proved useful and, in the main, trustworthy. The kind of editing which modern days demand was not, how- ever, in fashion when Cunningham's task was accomplished ; his materials were far from com- plete, his chronology was casual and inaccurate,, ind the work of explanation was, in the main, perfunctorily discharged. Imperfect collections of