Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/113

 10 s. XIL JULY 31, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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dation of his Guests, Mr. Graham has furnish'd his Canals, &c., with fine Carp, Tench, and Perch. Any Gentlemen, &c., who have Ponds of Fish to dispose of, that are handy for Water-Carriage. Mr. Graham will be a Purchaser. An accomplish d Cook-maid is wanted."

The other announcements before me do not add much to this, except to say that "'tis much the genteelest Public House and Garden in England," and that " Boats and Barges may land within a little Way of the House."

Lysons quotes an advertisement from The Daily Advertiser, 4 April, 1750 ; and Thorne also deals at some length with its history. Does the place still exist ?

ALECK ABRAHAMS.

DORCHESTER : BLRRELL'S ENGRAVING. On 5 June there was a review in The Athe- nceum of ' The Municipal Records of Dor- chester, Dorset,' in which it is stated that the Town Hall (1798) was engraved in a nice little plate by Birrell after Nash, which shows the High Street with many old houses since demolished. Could any of your readers inform me where this engraving can be seen ?

A. W. GOULD.

Staunton, Briar Walk, Putney, S.W.

HOTEL MORAS (OTHERWISE BIRON), PARIS. Who was the architect of the Hotel Moras, Paris, the residence of the Due de Biron between 1753 and 1788, and until recently occupied by the Community of the Sacred Heart ?

Jacques Franois Blondel illustrated the building in ' L' Architecture Fran9aise ' (pp. 205-9), and attributed the design to the elder Gabriel, architect to the King ; but in an article in ' The Dictionary of Architecture,' in which I think I trace the hand of that indefatigable antiquary the late Mr. Wyatt Papworth, the Curator of the Soane Museum, Blondel's statement is controverted, with- out, however, a precise indication to whom the design of the H6tel is due.

JOHN HEBB.

MORLAIS CASTLE (now a ruin), near Merthyr Tydfil, is said to have been built by Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester, in the time of Edward I., as a border fortress to protect his estates, which were constantly being invaded by the tenants of the lords of Brecknock. As these properties were not well denned, the building of the castle gave rise to contention between the Earl of Gloucester and Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and lord of Brecknock, resulting in the intervention of the king. In the dispatches and Parliamentary records of 1290

no name is given to the fortress more than a " certain castle." Hence it seems quite probable that the edifice was not called Morlais when it was erected, or that there may have been some motive for not alluding to it by that name. Can any one throw some light upon this obscure point ? There is reason, from the disposition of the rubbish, to infer that the walls and towers were regularly pulled down from the top, and not, as usual in later days, blown up ; so that the castle was undoubtedly deserted and dismantled at an early period.

TALFYBYDD. Merthyr Tydfil.

NOAH HICKEY OF DUBLIN. Can any one give me information as to the parentage of Noah Hickey of Capel Street, Dublin, who died in 1766 ? Any light on the subject would be gratefully received.

(Miss) EMILY HICKEY.

49, West Hill, S.W.

'THE BLACKHEATHEN.' What was the full issue of The Blackheathen, a publication of the Blackheath Proprietary School over forty years ago ? I have No. 2, May, 1865, and No. 4, May, 1866, each of 24 small quarto "pages. Some of the contents are by no means devoid of merit, and I should be glad of information as to how long the periodical continued and the writers who contributed to it. W. B. H.

SLIP OF THE TONGUE A BAD OMEN. In the * Orkneyinga Saga,' chap, xviii., we read :

"Then the Earl made a slip of the tongue in speaking, and said : ' We shall be old enough when these fires are burnt out,' but he intended to have said that they would be warm enough ; and when he noticed his blunder he said : ' I made a slip of the tongue in speaking just now ; I do not remember that I ever did so before, and now I recollect what my foster-father King Olaf said at Stiklastad when I noticed a slip of the tongue which he made namely, that if it ever so happened that I should make a slip in my speech, I should not expect to live long after it.' "

Can any one quote parallels ?

ALEX. RUSSELL.

Stromness.

WALKING IN Two PARISHES ON THE SAME DAY. Here, in North Devon, where many superstitions linger, I have lately been told the following. A woman of the peasant class, aged about seventy, came to the doctor for advice. Her indisposition turned out to be quite trifling, and in reply to the doctor's questions as to any indiscretion she might tax herself with having com-