Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/385

 10 s. XIL OCT. 16, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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story. In The City Press of 24 July, 1897, an extract from a letter on the subject from Messrs. White, Borrett & Co., of Whitehall Place, appeared to the following effect :

" With regard to the remains of King James IV. of Scotland, we find that special instructions were given to the company employed in removing the human remains to communicate with the church- wardens in case any trace of them was found, but no sign of them appeared. They were supposed to have been placed in the charnel-house of the church, which probably disappeared long ago, and with it the remains."

A sword, dagger, and rings, said by tradi- tion to have belonged to this monarch, are still preserved at the Heralds' College.

ALAN STEWART.

According to Stow, it was the head only of King James IV. which was buried by the sexton of St. Michael's, Wood Street (pre- sumably in the churchyard), " amongst other bones taken out of their charnel." The body appears to have remained at Sheen House " lapped in lead," and "thrown into a waste room amongst the old timber, lead, and other rubble." There possibly it remained till the demolition of Sheen House in 1904, although the structure for which the Adam brothers were responsible replaced an older one marked on Rocque's map, on a more westerly site. The old lumber found in the earlier building may have been considered his " perquisites " by the builder, who would probably make short work of any mortal remains found incased in such a valuable metal as lead.

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL. ZlROPHOENIZA, A WOMAN'S NAME (10 S.

xii. 226). Since the publication of my note I have discovered another example, also in Wales. William Herbert of Cold- brook, who was dead before 29 Aug., 1608, when administration was granted to his widow, had five sons and five daughters. One of the latter was named Syrophinecia (Bradney, ' History of Monmouth,' p. 189). This is the Biblical spelling.

A. RHODES.

THE EEL-PIE SHOP (10 S. xii. 26, 93, 153, 198, 232). Whilst it may be perfectly true that the names and addresses of upwards of ninety tradespeople are given in the current ' P.O.D.' under the heading of ' Eel-Pie Houses,' yet there are but few of these who really make and sell eel pies. There is still, however, a first-class one at 162, Shoreditch, where these delicacies are sold. I took the trouble to sample them a few weeks ago, in order to verify this, and

found them excellent ; bui that the vendors are not doing the trade they once did is somewhat proved by the following doggerel lines printed on the paper bags of this place of business. The verse is surmounted by a woodcut representation of a man wriggling through a globe, copied from the illustration in Larwood and Hotten's ' History of Signboards,' plate v. ' Help Me through this World,' from Banks' Bills, 1812 :

The World I 'm struggling to get through,

Pray lend your helping hand. What more can I desire from you

Than your esteemed commands ?

I may add that the staple commodity of these shops appears to be hot stewed eels, but cold stewed eels, and stewed eels in jelly, are also to be had. Some of them sell boiled tripe and onions (the only other vegetable vended being mashed potatoes), whilst others add fruit pies, meat pies, and currant cakes, all made in the same shaped dish (au oval yellow-ware one) as the aforesaid eel pies. These shops are peculiar to London, and are not to be con- founded with fried-fish shops, cookshops, coffee-shops, or common eating-houses. As to prices, the eel pies are generally two- pence ; the fruit and meat pies, and currant cakes, one penny. Tripe and onions cost from about fourpence per plate ; and eels, hot, cold, or jellied, may be had in any quantities from a pennyworth.

In this connexion it may be stated that in many of the lower-class neighbourhoods there are open-air street stalls on which shell fish are sold ready cooked for imme- diate consumption thereat ; jellied eels may also be obtained, in many cases small portions of bread being provided, free and ad libitum, for all purchasers of the latter ; but up to the present no eel pies or hot eels have made their appearance in the gutter. E. E. NEWTON. 7, Achilles Road, West End, Hampstead.

FIRST ELEPHANT EXHIBITED (10 S. xi. 467 ; xii. 197, 257). At the last reference we are reminded that the first live elephant was brought to England in 1255. The earliest-known carved example is in Exeter Cathedral (c. 1222-44, misericorde No. 23 from west on north side of choir), and is truer to nature than many more recent ones, but the hocks are turned the wrong way. There was a popular notion that this beast could not kneel, down. So Shakespeare makes Ulysses say, " The elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy ; his legs are legs for necessity, not for flexure " (' Troilus,'