Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/497

 io s. xii. NOV. 20, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

409

VICOMTE VILAIN XIIII. Sir Henry Drummond Wolff writes in his ' Rambling Recollections,' vol. i. p. 239 (chap, xxi.) : " In July, 1856, I was appointed attache to

Special Mission to Brussels on the 19th July

Lord Westmorland was received by the Vicomte Vilain XIIII. The numeral was conferred on the Vicomte's family as a perpetual distinction by Louis XIV. His arms are, I believe, fourteen castles, the capture of which also earned him the distinc- tion."

Are there any other instances of this irregular form of the numeral, or is it a unique case ? FBANK SCHLOESSEB.

[See preceding query.]

DIGHTON'S CARICATURE PORTRAITS. I have several of these interesting portraits, but cannot identify the originals. Is there an authentic list anywhere to be seen ? The British Museum cannot assist much, relying mainly on the names pencilled by various owners, which are frequently inaccurate.

ISRAEL SOLOMONS. 91, Portsclown Road, W.

SWIFT ON WINDOWS IN THE BREAST. In one of Swift's poems, entitled ' On Seeing Verses written upon Windows at Inns,' is the following :

The sage who said he should be proud

Of windows in his breast, Because he ne'er a thought allowed

That might riot be confessed ; His window scrawled by every rake,

His breast again would cover, And fairly bid the devil take

The diamond and the lover.

Will any of your readers tell me who was the " sage n to whom the above boast was attributed ? W. E. B G.

' BALLAD OF INDISCRETION.' I have pictures (either Bartolozzi's or after Barto- lozzi) of ' The Ballad of Indiscretion,' prob- ably of 1824. Can any one tell me any- thing of that ballad ?

M. W. THORNBURGH.

SELBY, YORKS : ITS " PECULIAR " COURT AND PARISH REGISTERS. The wills from this Court, from 16^6 to 1715 are preserved in the British Museum, Add. MS. 36,582 ; but nowhere can I find the transcripts of the parish registers of Selby for the same period. They are not at York, and may have been sent to this " Peculiar " Court. In any case, have they been preserved, and where are they ? HENRY FISHWICK.

The Heights, Rochdale.

LADY WORSLEY. Can MR. HORACE BLEACKLEY (see ante, p. 324) quote the imaginary epitaph on this lady from 'The Abbey of Kilkhampton ' ? Particulars other and fuller than those given in the ' D.N.B.' concerning this notable, if not quite reput- able person are desired. LOVE-BEGOTTEN.

PIN AND NEEDLE RIMES. Can any readers of ' N. & Q.* tell me the earliest instance of the following verses ?

1. See a pin and pick it up,

All the day you '11 have good luck ;

See a pin and let it lie,

All the day you '11 need to cry.

2. Needles and pins, needles and pins, When a man marries his troubles begin.

" STRIPPING cows." I shall be grateful to any one who can tell me the meaning of this expression, which I do not find in the dictionaries. In an article in The Carlisle Journal for 27 April last, p. 3, I read that " there was a considerable falling-off in the number of stripping cows." What are they ?

JAS. PLATT, Jun.

[Annandale's 1883 edition of Ogilvie's ' Imperial

Dictionary ' has, s.v. strip : " 7. To press out the

last milk of, at a milking ; to milk dry ; as, to

strip a cow."]

DAVID'S SKETCH OF MARIE ANTOINETTE. I think that there is some record to the effect that, while the unhappy Queen was passing through the streets of Paris to her death on the Place de la Revolution, the painter David made a sketch of her. Where is that circumstance recorded ? And where is the sketch, or drawing, to be seen ?

RICHARD EDGCUMBE.

3. Not last night, but the night before,

Three great monkeys knocked at my door ;

I jumped up to let them in,

They knocked me down with a tirling pin.

I believe the last line is sometimes written,

They knocked me down with a rolling pin ; but in Scotland it is a " tirling pin. n

(Miss) ELEANOR D. LONGMAN. 18, Thurloe Square, S.W.

SCOTT'S ' SEARCH AFTER HAPPINESS.' Reference is made to this poem at 5 S. x. 98, in connexion with " Serendib,'* one of the names by which Ceylon is known to the Arabs. A quotation from the poem is given about a Sultan who,

disappointed, with sorrow and shame Went back to Serendib as sad as he came.

I have not been able to find this poem in Sir Walter's collected works. I should be glad if some one would kindly tell me in what book the whole poem may be found. A. L. MAYHEW.

21, Norhara Road, Oxford.