Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/378

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. XL APRIL IT, im

Such games, in connexion with ancient holydays or sacred sites, are usually of pre- historic origin. I should be obliged to any one who could inform me whether there is any indication, however slight, that the

fame was once a ceremony of importance, ince Scone was once the capital of the Pictish kings, and afterwards became the coronation-place of the Scottish kings, it would be interesting to learn whether there is a probability that prehistoric rites were performed there. P. A. O. Ni

SALT-CELLARS WITH RAISED LOBSTER AND SHELLS IN COLOURS. There was a specimen (lot 43) in the sale of the first portion of the Bohn Collection, 15 March, 1875. The late Sir A. W. Franks mentions four white ones ; in the catalogue of the Horace Walpole Sale there are three, also white ; but I am unable to trace any coloured example. Are others known ? J. S.

Beckenham.

HARE FORECASTING FIRE. It is generally believed in Hertfordshire that if a hare enters a town or village an outbreak of fire will shortly occur. It is said that several of the great conflagrations which have taken place were foretold in this way. What is the connexion between the two ?

W. B. GERISH.

Bishop's Stortford.

SEVENTH LIGHT DRAGOONS. I should be much obliged if one of your readers could give me some information relating to the movements of the 7th Light Dragoons from 1790 to 1810, or any detailed accounts of the regiment during the above period. Please reply direct.

F. M. R. HOLWORTHY.

Elsworth, Tweedy Road, Bromley, Kent.

COLLAR OF SS (IRELAND). In The World of 2 February appears a portrait of Lord O'Brien, the present Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, wearing a collar of SS, composed entirely of S's, meeting in an apparently shield-shaped badge surmounted by a crown. The collar worn by English Chief Justices consists of S's alternated with garter-knots, meeting in two portcullises and a Tudor rose. Is there any reason for this dis- crepancy ? or does the Irish form depend upon the taste and fancy of the wearer In the 'Memoir of Chief Justice Lefroy (1871) by his son, Thomas Lefroy, Q.C., there is a portrait representing the Chie: Justice in a collar apparently in the English form. Is the collar of SS confined to the Chief Justice of Ireland, or was it worn by

the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas till the abolition of that office in 1887 ? and is it still worn by the Chief Baron of the Ex- chequer ? Lincoln's Inn.

W. DIGBY THURNAM.

THOMAS SHAKSPEARE, 1613. Is anything known of Thomas Shakspeare, who witnesses (mark) the will dated 28 May, proved P.C.C. (72 Capel) 27 July, 1613 of Joan Vtatthew of St. Michael's parish, Coventry ? Foan Matthew was widow of Stephen Matthew of Coventry, and mother of Thomas Matthew of that town, and of Roger Mat- thew, Vicar of Bloxham, Oxon, and author see 10 S. iv. 488). OXONIENSIS.

PIMLICO : EYEBRIGHT. (10 S. x. 401, 457, 514 ; xi. 75, 133, 194.)

COL. PRIDEAUX is mistaken in supposing that there are no " allusions to these Pimlico proverbs " in the ' N.E.D.' One of them is alluded to, and two extracts (dated 1687 and 1760) given, under the definition of Pimlico : "3. Some white dress fabric." The ' N.E.D.' is so vast that it is easy to overlook what is in it.

COL. PRIDEAUX now seeks to break the force of the evidence afforded in the ' His- torye of the Bermudaes ' by three argu- ments, which I proceed to consider.

1. He calls that work " anonymous." Since writing my previous reply (10 S. x. 514) I have ascertained its authorship. When he edited it for the Hakluyt Society in 1882, Lefroy believed that it was written by Capt. John Smith. In 1884 Prof. Arber (' Works of Smith,' p. 624) stated that Smith " clearly was not the author," and queried whether Governor Daniel Tucker was the author. In The Academy of 31 Dec., 1892, p. 609, it was proved that the author was Capt. Nathaniel Butler, Governor of Ber- muda 1619-22.

2. COL. PRIDEAUX speaks of the work as " undated." " The earlier part," writes Prof. A. E. Verrill, " from internal evidence, was written in 1619 ; the last parts, perhaps, as late as 1624 or 25 " (' Bermuda Islands,' 1902, p. 552, note). Hence the description of the bird was written in 1619.

3. COL. PRIDEAUX'S interpretation of the passage in the ' Historye of the Bermudaes ' is as follows :

" The story of the ' Alebanters of London : sending over a bird whose note put the sailors