Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/121

 10 s. x. AUG. i, loos.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

97

Dallaway's ' History of West Sussex ' (ii. 30) and in Berry's ' Sussex Genealogy ' (p. 49).

The arms of Richardson of Findon were : Sa., on a chief arg. three lions' heads erased out of the field. Crest : Out of a mural crown or, a dexter arm, in armour, couped at the elbow, brandishing a falchion arg., the gripe vert, pommel and hilt or.

LEONARD J. HODSON. Robertsbridge, Sussex.

" MESCHIANZA " (10 S. x. 30). A full account of the fete given to General Howe before his departure from Philadelphia will be found in Trevelyan's ' American Revolu- tion,' part iii. pp. 309-12 (Longmans & Co., 1907). The author says there that a medley ; and the entertainment in question certainly deserved the title. The festivity took place on 18 May, 1778, and began with a grand regatta. This was followed by a tournament, at which two Queens of Beauty (one English and one American) presided, and six knights arrayed in crimson and white challenged and con- tended with six dressed in black and orange. In the evening there was a ball, with supper for twelve hundred guests, while outside there was a grand display of fireworks, rockets, &c. The historian con- cludes the account with the dry remark that " this was the last gunpowder which General Howe saw fired in America."
 * ' Meschianza " is an Italian word, meaning

T. F. D.

This word is apparently the Italian mischianza, a medley. In vol. ii. of ' The New Foundling Hospital for Wit ' (new ed., 1784), pp. 138-9, is a poem of 42 lines with this heading :

" The following verses were intended to have been spoken at the Mischianza, Philadelphia, addressed to General Howe on his leaving the army ; but the General would not permit them to be spoken." It will be seen that this is the same fete to which the passage in the query refers.

EDWARD BENSLY. [CAPT. C. S. HARRIS also thanked for reply.]

OUR, OLDEST MILITARY OFFICER (10 S. i. 389 ; ii. 17). The Globe of 15 July inci- dentally supplies an answer to the original query by stating that

"Col. John Bower, of Droxford, Hants, whose name is a household word among the last generation of English Army officers as the inventor of the idea of mounted infantry, reaches the ripe age of 99 years to-day, having been born at Kincaldrum on July 15, 1809. A representative of The Globe

called upon him yesterday afternoon * When I

was at school,' he said, ' they wanted me to study

for the Bar, but I preferred a cadetship in the Indian Army, and, having obtained it, set sail on the Clydesdale in December, 1825. We went via the Cape, and our vessel arrived at Madras in June, 1826.' He proceeded to say that he served in the 28th Madras Native Infantry for 15 years, and was afterwards given a staff appointment, subse- quently going to the Cape in connection with the development of that colony's industries for the purpose of supplying the Indian troops. He retired in 1853. ' I have lived under five sovereigns, and served under four,' added Col. Bower."

ALFRED F. BOBBINS.

THE SWEDISH CHURCH, PRINCE'S SQUARE, ST. GEORGE'S-IN-THE-EAST (10 S. ix. 369, 416). I have not been able to trace any separate history of this building, and the books on London topography are exceed- ingly brief in their references to it, it being apparently thought that the fact that Emanuel Swedenborg reposed within its walls was all that rendered it noteworthy ; but to those who know their London this is not so. The Daily Graphic of 31 March and 8 April contained .illustrations referring to it. The first was an interior view of the building and the memorial to the famous Swede ;. the second was a representation of the service on the previous day over the remains, prior to the removal of the coffin to Sweden.

It has been proposed to demolish the church, so it may therefore be well to place upon record in the columns of * N. & Q.' that this " exceptional property " was offered for sale by Messrs. Ellis & Son early in June, and, notwithstanding that it is freehold, "was passed" at 4,900?., as reported in The Daily Telegraph of 15 June.

W. E. HARLAND-OXLEY. Westminster.

TELLING THE BEES (10 S. viii. 329 ; ix. 433). In many parts of Germany, e.g. in Thuringia, not only the bees, but also all the other animals belonging to a house- hold, the quadrupeds kept in stables, and the birds in their cages, are told if a death occurs in a family ; even the flowers are shaken for the same purpose. This shows that the custom does not originate from a belief in some divine nature of the bees or in their connexion with the gods.

G. KRUEGER. Berlin.

EARLY LAW TERMS (10 S. x. 29). Devorciant " = the divorcing party, in contradistinction to the divorcee. " Im- pedient" = an intervener, who interposed in a divorce suit in defence of his own interests. " Tenant " = tenant in frank-