Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/211

 10 s. x. AUG. 29, iocs.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

171

" With the King's Counsel rank the Queen Con- sort's Attorney-General and Solicitor-General." 'The Laws of England' (Lord Halsbury), vol. ii.,
 * Barristers,' 'Precedence.'

When Caroline, the Princess of Wales, became Queen in 1820, she appointed Brougham her Attorney-General and Den- man her Solicitor-General. I do not know whether Adelaide, the Queen Consort of William IV., appointed an Attorney-General. Her Majesty Queen Alexandra has not ap- pointed an Attorney-General. She could, however, appoint one at any time if she should think it desirable to do so.

HARRY B. POLAND.

Inner Temple.

I do not know that the office has ever been formally abolished : it is probably open to Queen Alexandra to appoint an Attorney-General if she desires to do so. Previous queens consort, up to Queen Adelaide inclusive, have employed such an officer. The following is perhaps not a complete list for the period it covers, but may be useful as far as it goes :

To Queen Catherine (of Braganza). Hon. William Montagu. Sir James Butler.

To Queen Maria (of Modena). 1685. Hon. Roger North.

To Queen Mary II. 1689. Thomas Trevor.

To Queen Caroline (of Anspach). 1729. Hon. John Verney.

To Queen Charlotte. 1761. Richard Hussey. 1770. John Morton. 1782. Charles Ambler. 1794. George Hardinge. 1816. John Vaughan.

To Queen Caroline (of Brunswick'). 1820. Henry Brougham.

To Queen Adelaide. 1830. William Home. 1830. John Williams. 1832. William Taddy. 1845. Henry A. Merewether.

ALFRED B. BEAVEN, M.A. Leamington.

OLD ENGLISH DRAMATISTS (10 S. ix. 301). I regret to say that I find that some of the emendations and suggestions on the text of Elizabethan dramatists which I con- tributed to the above reference had been previously made by others four by Prof. J. Le Gay Brereton of Sydney in Englische Studien, xxxiii. 231 ; The Modern Lan- guage Review, Oct., 1907, and Anglia, Beibldtter, xvii. 122 ; and one (that on ' James IV.,' I. ii.) by Prof. Churton Collins in his edition of Greene.

G. C. MOORE SMITH.

TOOTHACHE (10 S. x. 121). W. C. B.'s note on toothache is well worthy of attention. It is an interesting, though an acutely pain- ful subject. The teeth now decay at a much earlier period of life than they did in former days. I have made many inquiries as to the reason of this change in human habits, but have learnt nothing of a satisfactory nature. Here is an example, however, of the fact which may be useful, though lack- ing interpretation.

About a quarter of a century ago a drain was made across the north part of Bottesford Churchyard, wherein there had been no interments for a long period probably never since the Reformation. About thirty skulls were dug up during the process. By far the greater part of these possessed perfect sets of teeth. There was one remarkably small skull, in which, though every tooth was in its place, and every one of them sound, they were all very much worn, as if the food eaten for long years had been of a hard quality. I and others who exa- mined it came to the conclusion that it had belonged to a very old woman.

Till comparatively recent times it has been the custom in this county, and I believe elsewhere, for blacksmiths to draw teeth. I have known more than one who did this, and have heard of several others ; indeed, I should not be surprised to discover that the custom is not yet quite extinct in the rural districts. For a long period profes- sional tooth-drawers have been well known in cities and towns, but it was not until travelling became swift and easy that they seem to have penetrated the rural districts. The following passage appears to prove that tooth-drawers by profession were in the habit of wearing scarves decorated with human teeth :

" The appointed hour for the operation being come, there was a great concourse of those Licen- tiates, who are distinguish'd from other Doctors by shoulder-belts inlaid with the Spoils of the humane Gums." ' Account of the Last Distemper of Tom Whig, Esq.,' 1710, Part I. p. 14.

In Jean Baptiste Thiers's ' Traite des Superstitions qui regardent les Sacremens,' 4th ed., 1777, there are many instances of toothache folk-lore. I have noted the follow- ing : vol. i. 326, 329, 340, 361 ; iii. 19.

In Lancashire a fragment of a gibbet- post was considered a cure for toothache. See H. S. Cowper, ' Parish Registers of Hawkshead,' p. Ixxxvii. A charm for tooth- ache, of which I do not possess a copy, occurs in Cornish Notes and Queries, 1906, p. 203. EDWARD PEACOCK.

W ickentree House, Kirton-in-Lindsey, Lines.