Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/401

 10 s. XIL OCT. 23, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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HOPSCOTCH. Where can I find anything bearing on the history and distribution of this well-known children's game ? Strut t gives a short description, to which Dr. Cox, in his useful edition, with much new matter, of 1903, makes no addition. I have just had a letter from a friend in Calcutta in which the writer speaks of witnessing Hindoo children playing it in a by-way of the Indian capital. G. L. APPERSON.

GEORGE GORDON, FRIEND OF PORSON. Timbs (' Club Life,' ii. 200) describes an incident of 1795, when George Gordon went to St. Martin's-in-the-Fields to see Person married to Mrs. Lunan. Who was this Gordon ? Was he George who became Dean of Lincoln ? J. M. BULLOCH.

118, Pall Mall, S.W.

THEODORE HOOK'S ANECDOTES. I desire exact references to three anecdotes in Theo- dore Hook's works, viz., (1) the coin marked 55 B.C. ; (2) the horns of the lean kine ; (3) the Manx cat. G. LORD.

H.M.S. Antrim.

KIPLING'S 'ACTIONS AND REACTIONS.' On p. 174 of his new book 'Actions and Reactions ' Mr. Kipling refers to the hero of the story ' A Deal in Cotton ' as " the little fellow I wrote a story about." I should be glad to know the title of the story referred to and in which of the author's books it is to be found. M. G. D.

PERCHEVAL OR PERCIVAL FAMILY. Did the above family derive its name from the valley of the Perche in Normandy, above which hang the old ruins of the Chateau de Mortain ? or was the village of Perci the cradle of this family ? T. W. CAREY.

Guernsey.

MACAULAY ON DRYDEN. In which of Macaulay's writings occurs his condemnation of Dryden on the ground of indecency of mind ? The censure is quoted by Mr. W. D. Christie towards the end of his Introduction toDryden's' Poetical Works' (Globe edition).

T. M. W.

THE DEATH-BED OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN. I have recently met with an exquisite engraving entitled as above, and evidently very old. The name in the corner of the plate is indistinct, but appears to be "Marattus." The date is undecipherable. The picture represents the Virgin lying on a couch, with hands folded upon her breast, and above the head is a dove sur- rounded by a nimbus. Around the bed are

grouped Apostles, some kneeling, some standing, and gazing anxiously on the face of the Virgin. Can any of your readers supply the name and other particulars of the artist of this work ? H. S.

Bloom sbury.

HON. ANN STRATFORD. I shall be glad if any of your readers can tell me who the Hon. Ann Stratford (not Stafford) was, to whom Ben Jonson presented a large-paper copy of the first edition of his ' Works ' (1616), now in my possession. He calls it " number two," evidently presented the year of publication. There is also in the volume the autograph signature (of rather later date) of " Robt. Stewart."

JOHN PEARSON. Cecil House, Sydeiiham, S.E.

PICTURE BY BROCKY. The late Mr. Norman Wilkinson's collection, which was sold at Christie's in April, 1880, contained a picture by Brocky entitled * Granting a Charter to Hungary.' According to the sale catalogue, it was bought by the late Mr. Mendoza, the well-known picture- dealer ; but his books, I am told, were destroyed after his will had been proved. Can anybody kindly inform me in whose possession the picture is at present ?

L. L. K.

PARAMOR FAMILY OF KENT. I shall be glad if any reader can supply me with a pedigree of, or give me information con- cerning, this family anterior to 1700, beyond what is contained in the Heralds' Visitations, in Hasted' s ' Kent,' and in Planche's ' Corner of Kent.'

The Paramors appear to have been settled from very early times in Kent, and I am endeavouring to make a complete pedigree of the family. EDWARD R. MARSHALL.

Furnace Mill Farm, Hawkhurst, Kent.

ENGLISHMAN'S NEEDS SUPPLIED FROM ABROAD. Will any reader kindly give me the reference to a poem or article which I think appeared in Truth about ten years ago? It described how nearly every article an Englishman used was of foreign manu- facture. W. J. O'B.

WHEATEAR. What is the derivation of this English name of Saxicola cenanthe ? A writer in The Church Times of 3 September, p. 286, evidently imagines that the word refers to the habits of the bird, for he says : " The little wheatears nestle round the ears of wheat, without breaking the stiff hollow stalk as they peck and take their fill." In