Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/63

 io* s. i. JA.V. 16, 1904.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

Record Office, and have made inquiries at the Office of the Privy Council. Any references to unpublished documents, however brief, re- lating to this rebellion would be of interest to me. (Mrs.) F. ROSE-TROUP.

Beaumont House, Ottery St. Mary.

GLOWWORM OR FIREFLY. Can any reader inform me what modern poetry has been written on the firefly or glowworm? Or has the subject been almost as neglected in our day as in classical times ? F. G.

[Mrs. Opie wrote some sentimental lines in the " Anna Matilda" vein addressed to the glowworm, beginning, "Gem of the lone and silent vale." Montgomery (? James) has a poem to the same, beginning, " When Evening closes Nature's eye." A poem in ' Time's Telescope,' 1830, opens : Little being of a day, Glowing in thy cell alone.

Barry Cornwall has a poem to the firefly ; and Heber, ' Tour through Ceylon,' writes : Before, beside us, and above The firefly lights his lamp of love. We do not know if you will consider "modern" these effusions of the early nineteenth century. ]

TINSEL CHARACTERS. Can any reader put me in communication with collectors of tinsel characters ] I have a very nice collec- tion of such in folio volumes, and should be pleased to exchange notes or show the same to any one interested. J. KING.

304, Essex Road, Islington, N.

'OXFORD UNIVERSITY CALENDAR.' I have one dated 1845, which I would not part with for many reasons ; one is that it contains lists of heads and colleges from the founda- tions thereof. Modern calendars do not con- tinue these valuable lists. Can any old Oxford man tell me when first they ceased 1

M.A.OxoN.

FITZHAMON. It is stated in Hoare's c History of Wilts ' that a Stephen Fitzhamon having established himself at Burstow, Surrey, in the reign of John, changed his name to Stephen de Burstow, and it is suggested that he was a descendant of a younger brother of Sir Robert Fitzhamon, the conqueror of Glamorgan, who died 1107. Can any one tell me what was the name of this younger brother, and where a pedigree of the Fitz- hamon family may be found ? On the seal of Stephen de Burstow appear the words "Sigillum Stephani filii Hamonis." Does " filii Hamonis " necessarily mean the sur- name Fitzhamon, or may it not mean only the " son of Hamon " ? Was Hamo or Hamon a common Norman Christian name ? In the Surrey Fines there are Walter fil Hamo and Richard fil Hamo (1199), Norman fil Hamo

(1205), John fil Hamo (1251). Was " fil Hamo " and Fitzhamon the family name, or was Hamo only the father's name in these cases ?

G. H. W.

VENISON IN SUMMER. Lemery, in his 'Treatise of Foods,' of which an English translation was published in 1704, has the following passage in the chapter dealing with the stag :

" However, some are of opinion they ought not to be eat in Summer, because this Animal then feeds upon Vipers, Serpents, and the like Creatures, which they look upon to be very Venemous, as if the Stag did not eat of them all the Year round."

Was this idea general at the time 1 Lemery apparently believed it. W. D. OLIVER.

COMBER FAMILY. In 1887 (7 th S. iii. 515) a reference was made to some manuscripts relating to the above family which were offered for sale by Mr. Wm. Downing, of Birmingham, and I should be very grateful if any reader of 'N. & Q.' could put me on the track of the purchaser or present pos- sessor. I applied a few years ago to Mr. Downing, but most unfortunately all his books relating to that period had been de- stroyed by fire. I have been for some time engaged on a history of the family, and should be very glad to correspond with any one in- terested in it. JOHN COMBER.

High Steep, Jar vis Brook, Tunbridge Wells.

"SYNCHRONIZE" : " ALTERNATE." Am I a prig, or am I an ignoramus, that I object to the use made of these words in the following passages? According to the Art Journal of September, 1903, one reason why " Mr. Whistler was considered a man of absurd pretensions was because no one before him had dared to synchronize the terms of music to those of painting " (p. 267). The Athenceum of 12 September, 1903, in heralding the issue of Dr. FurnivaU's Shakespeare in the old spelling, asserts : " The plays will each occupy one volume of square octavo shape, and two alternate qualities of paper will be available " (p. 351). ST. SWITHIN.

MRS. BROWNING'S 'AURORA LEIGH.'

As he stood

In Florence, where he had come to spend a month And note the secret of Da Vinci's drains. I. 7-.

What does this mean ? Can the word " drains " be a misprint for dreams ? Lucis.

[No : Leonardo was a famous hydraulic engineer.]

THE HEAD OF HENRY GREY, DUKE OF SUFFOLK. A writer* in the Antiquary for December, 1903, in alluding to the Duke of


 * ' Rambles of an Antiquary,' by George Bailey.