Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/374

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NOTES AND QUERIES, no s. XL APRIL 17, 1909.

Henry Walrond's work on archery. It has since occurred to me that her very name may be a survival from the days when an image of one of the Sallee pirates the ran- som of whose prisoners is so familiar an item in early churchwardens' accounts might have served at once as a target for military practice and a fetish.

ETHEL LEGA-WEEKES.

[A correspondent at 2 S. x. 117 said that Aunt Sally is the heroine of a negro melody in which she meets with ludicrous adventures ; but evidence in support of the statement was not produced. This was in August, 1860, the first quotation in the ' N.E.D., s.v. ' Aunt,' being from the Times of 1861.]

RAILWAYS IN THE FORTIES. Under this heading a recent number of The Guardian reproduced the following from its issue for 21 Feb., 1849 :

" The usual half-yearly railway meetings are now taking place.... At the Great Western the dividend was reduced from 7 per cent to 6 per cent, but all went smoothly. Messrs. Russell and Brunei exert a fascination for Paddington which it is difficult altogether to account for .... On this point a few observations may not come amiss, as they may serve to indicate what has been, in our opinion, a radical vice in Great Western management from the first. The line has been far too aristocratic in its ideas. Every- thing has been done to favour the rich at the expense of the poor. High fares and extra- vagantly luxurious accommodation for the rich ; pig-pens, starting at hours the most incon- venient, for the poor. Such has been the course of proceeding by the Great Western. They were the last great company to glaze the windows of their second-class carriages. Even now they are the worst we know of. But we are not going to contend for a moment that the Great Western is bound to carry the poor for nothing in a first- class carriage."

HARRY HEMS.

Fair Park, Exeter.

THE RULE OF THE ROAD. (See 6 S. iii. 468 ; iv. 34, 154, 258, 278, 316, 416 ; v. 76). At 6 S. iv. 34 MR. J. A. PICTON stated positively that the difference between the rule of the road in England and in America resulted from the American practice of driving with reins, whereas in England the carter usually "walks beside his team. Dr. D wight in 1821 gave an entirely opposite reason :

" The drivers of loaded carts and wagons usually walk on the left side. If you take the right, the driver is of course between you and his own team. He is therefore able to see that he gives you sufficient room ; which he could not do if you took the left side." ' Travels,' iv. 259.

RICHARD H. THORNTON.

36,'TJpper Bedford Place, W.C.

REV. THOMAS NICOLSON: DEATH'S HEAD RING. The following curious bequest is perhaps worth recording. The Rev. Thomas Nicolson (1573-1649), Rector of Stapleford- Tawney, Essex, made the following bequest in his will, dated 28 Jan., 1647/8, and proved in P.C.C. 12 Sept., 1649 :

" To Margaret Shearman, daughter of my brother William Nicolson, twenty shillings to buy her a ring ivith a death's head, which I intreat her to wear for my sake."

He was a cousin of William Nicolson, Bishop of Gloucester, and father of John Nicolson, D.C.L., Chancellor of that diocese.

G. R. B.

GRENADIER GUARDS' BAND. I notice a paragraph in The Musical Times for March which seems worth mention in the columns of ' N. & Q.' :

"As a contribution to the history of the Grenadier Guards' band (the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards) the following extract will be read with interest. It is taken from The London Evening Post of Tuesday, April 11, to Thursday, April 13, 1749, and is reprinted, without comment, verbatim et literatim :

" ' We are informed that on Sunday last the ENGLISH Band of Musick, belonging to the First Regiment of Foot Guards, commanded by his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, receiv'd their Dismission, to make Room for a Band of Germans, who mounted Guard on Monday last.' "

HERBERT B. CLAYTON. 39, Renfrew Road, Lower Kenuington Lane.

GLAMORGAN. As the word " Glamorgan- shire " has appeared several times lately in ' N. & Q.' may I venture to remind learned correspondents that the premier Welsh county is Glamorgan ? It is no more Glamorganshire than Kent is Kentshire or Cumberland Cumberlandshire.

ARTHUR MEE.

Uanishen, Cardiff.

JOHN CLAYTON : WILLIAM CLAYTON, LORD SUNDON. May I be allowed to point out two errors which I have just come across in the ' D.N.B.' ?

Under John Clayton, botanist, it is said that he sent " to the Royal Society in 1739 a statement of ' Experiments concerning the Spirit of Coals.' >: This certainly must be ascribed to John Clayton, Dean of Kildare (one of the Claytons of Fulwood). The paper was sent (with others) for publica- tion after Dean Clayton's death. The paper in which the experiment is described will be found in the Abridgement of Philo- sophical Transactions, vol. viij. p. 295.

Another manifest error is in the account of Lord Sundon (William Clayton) occurring