Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/281

 10 s. xii. SEPT. is, im] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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DIXON FAMILY. I am anxious to find descendants of the ancient family of Dixon of Kent, who bore for their arms variations of Or, a cross formee between four eagles displayed sable. In the Visitation of Kent, 1619, this family is traced back to Thomas Dixon of North Frith in Tunbridge, whose second son Humphrey bought the manor of Hilden in 1494. This manor remained in the possession of the Dixon family until the marriage, about 1700, of a Dixon heiress to Percival Hart, Esq., of Lullingstone Castle, whose grandson Sir John Dixon- Dyke, Bt., procuring leave from Parliament sold it in 1767.

In ' Villare Cantianum ' we read : " Dixon, descended originally from the Dixons of Scotland, gentlemen of no despicable account in that nation."

In Ireland's ' Kent ' :

" Thomas Dixon, Esq,. of North Frith, in this parish, descended from a good family of that name in Scotland."

And yet again in ' Mag. Brit, et Hibernia ' : " Hilden, the estate anciently of the Vanes, and lately of the Dixons, a Scotch family of account."

If any reader can give me information about this " Scotch " family, I shall be greatly obliged.

Finally, information is required concerning families and descendants of the following :

1. The Dixons of Unthank Hall, North- umberland, who bore the ordinary Dixon arms conterchanged bendwise.

2. Dixon of Loversal, Yorks, 1783, who bore the Dixon cross " flory."

3. John Dixon of Middleham and Brighton, whose only daughter married Christopher Topham (see Burke's ' Heraldic Illustra- tions '). Same arms.

4. William Henry Dixon, Vicar of Bishop- thorpe, Yorkshire, in 1824, and Rector of Eyton or Etton, Yorkshire, in 1837, who quartered Arg., a lion rampant guardant with two heads azure, with his own Dixon arms.

5. William Dixon, citizen and mercer of London (d. 22 Jan., 1742), and Lidgate, Suffolk, whose only child Elizabeth married John Lock of Midden Hall, Suffolk.

Please reply direct. JAMES A. DIXON. 73, Twyford Avenue, West Acton, W.

GOVERNORS OF ICELAND. His Excellency Frederick, Count Trampe, was Governor of Iceland in the first decade of last century. In the middle of the century Count J. D. Trampe was Governor. Was the latter a son of the former ? ST. HEIRIC.

JOHN BELLAMY, TRANSLATOR OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. Can any of your readers give me, or direct me to, biographical matter concerning this author (1755-1842) ? I know somewhat of his connexion with the early " Swedenborgians " (1792-3), and I have the ' Prefatory Notice ' to his transla- tion of the Book of Daniel published by his friend Dr. Peter Stuart of Liverpool in 1863. CHARLES HIGHAM.

169, Grove Lane, S.E.

' SUR LA PIERRE BLANCHE ' : PHILO- PATRIS. The epigraph to Anatole France's work ' Sur la Pierre blanche ' is " * Tu sembles avoir dormi sur la pierre blanche, au milieu du peuple des songes.' Philopatris, xxi." Who was Philopatris ? and what is "la pierre blanche " ? JOHN HEBB.

['Philopatris' is a dialogue discrediting Chris- tianity, sometimes attributed to Lucian, and may be found in his ' Opera ' (vol. iii. p. 279 of Dindorf 's Tauchnitz edition). The French given is a trans- lation of some words in the twenty-first section, " Sur la pierre blanche " is tiri Aev/caSa Trcrprjv, on the rock of Leucas, the White Rock, doubtless so named from its colour. Carr in his spirited translation of 1798 (vol. v.) refers the reader to the twenty-fourth book of the ' Odyssey,' in which the souls of the slain suitors speed past Oceanus and the White Rock, the gates of the sun, and the land of dreams. Christians being accused of wicked designs on their country, the dialogue is called ' The Patriot,' or by another title * The Learner.']

SIR ISAAC NEWTON'S ' PRINCIPIA,' 1687. The ' D.N.B.' notice of Newton by Mr. R. T. Glazebrook makes the statement that " the ' Principia ' was published, but without a -date, about Midsummer, 1687." I have tried to find a copy of this first edition undated, as asserted, but have been unsuccess- ful, and doubt if one exists. Do any of your readers know of one ? G. J. GRAY.

SIR ISAAC NEWTON AND KING'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. In the ' Diary of Samuel Newton, Alderman of Cambridge' (1662- 1717), edited by J. E. Foster, 1890, is the following entry (p. 102) : 1689, 29 Aug. <k The weeke after vizt on Thursday before the King and Councell was heard the matter of King's College about Mr. Isaac New- ton, why he or any other not of that Founda- cion should be Provost, and after the reasons shewed and argued Mr. Newton was laid aside."

This was after his ' Principia ' had been issued. I do not remember in Brewster's ' Life of Newton ' any reference to his being put forward for the vacant Provostship. Is anything more known about the matter ?

G. J. GRAY. The Elms, Chesterton, Cambridge.