Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/88

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. xn. JULY 24, im

ing " is just the word he might use tD describe the great leaves spreading out like a large umbrella of the true palm. In Book VIII. he writes of the

fruits of palm tree, pleasantest to thirst And hunger both.

There, at least, the true palm must be meant. I. M. L.

ALEXANDRA. INSTITUTION AND HOME FOB THE BLIND. This Institution was founded in 1865, and located at 6, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, its secretary being J. H. Yates. In 1876 it made an offer to turn over its assets and liabilities to the School for the Indigent Blind an indication of being in low water.

I am anxious to learn the work it did, the objects of the Institution, and how it was supported in brief, to what extent, and how, it benefited any class of the blind. (See 10 S. x. 232.) J. E. D. H.

IMPRISONMENT : JURY. The following statements are made in ' The Inquisition,' by E. Vacandard, translated by B. L. Con way, 1908 :

" It is interesting to note that imprisonment for crime is of purely ecclesiastical origin. The Roman law knew nothing of it. It was at first a penalty peculiar to monks and clerics." P. 32.

After mentioning that the assessors of the inquisitors voted the sentence, the author remarks : " We have here the beginnings of our modern jury " (p. 140).

Can these statements be supported ?

W. C. B.

HOMER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

I have been reading during my holidays a very interesting volume entitled 'An En- quiry into the Life and Writings of Homer.' It is the second edition, and has these words on the title-page : " London : Printed in the year M.DCC.XXXVI." Neither publisher's nor author's name is there given, but at the end of the book I find a page of advertise- ments of " books printed for J. Oswald, at the Rose and Crown in the Poultry," who, I suppose, sent it forth. It is dedicated "To the Right Honourable A****, Earl of volumes produced in the eighteenth century, so far as I can judge. It is adorned with twelve plates, designed by Gravelot, nearly all of which are engraved by G. Vander Gucht ; one (p. 58) is by P. Fourdrinier, and two are by G. Scotin. Furthermore, there are eleven tail-pieces, designed by Gravelot and engraved by Gucht. The
 * ," and is one of the most beautiful

book contains 346 pages, and is furnished with a copious index, consisting of 78 pages, unnumbered.

I can find nothing about this admirably printed and artistically illustrated volume in Pickering's edition of Lowndes's ' Manual.' I have a copy of Robert Wood's ' Essay on the Original Genius and Writings of Homer,' printed in 1824, but first published in 1775, in which a reference is made on p. 79 to the book mentioned, but no name is given. In Jacob Bryant's ' Dissertation concerning the War of Troy,' &c., of which I have the first edition, published, according to Lowndes, at London in 1796 (no date is on the title- page, neither is the place), no reference is made to the work about which I am writing. I do not find a word about it in Boswell's ' Life of Samuel Johnson.' I should much like to know the name of the author, who was a ripe scholar and wrote admirable English. JOHN T. CURRY.

[ By Thomas Blackwell the younger, for whom see 'D.N.B.' and the authorities quoted. The first edition appeared in 1735.]

" THE SCOMER UPON THE HOPE." What was a scomer, that it should be placed on a hoop as a sign in Birchin Lane ? In 1497 the Prioress and Convent of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, granted to Thomas Knight a '* brue hous called the Scomer upon the Hope for three score years at a yearly rent of v']li. xiijs. iiijd. sterling."

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

ELIZA FENNING'S EXECUTION. Eliza Fenningwas hanged at Newgate in July, 1815, for having administered poison in dumplings to the family of Robert Gregson Turner, a law stationer in Chancery Lane. Timbs in his ' Curiosities of London ' mentions that years afterwards a nephew of the Turners, on his death-bed at Chelmsford, confessed that, irritated with his uncle and aunt because of their refusal to give him money, he sprinkled powdered arsenic on the dumplings during the temporary absence of the servant from the kitchen ; Eliza Forming, he added, knew nothing of this. Is there any authentic evidence of such a confession having been made, and where can it be found ? WALTER BELL.

" THE " PREFIXED TO PLACE-NAMES. In a district with which I was familiar when a boy the people speak of The Dullatur, Tftf Haggs, The Arns. Why should the3e names, have the article prefixed ?

ALEX. RUSSELL. Stromness.