Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/457

 s. in. MAY is, 1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

377

and he is there stated to be the only son of Nicholas and Mary Miller. I suggest that Hester was the daughter of Mary Miller by her first husband, Capt. Watts, and perhaps assumed the name of Miller on her mother's second marriage. Cussans ('History of Hertfordshire '), under 'Sandon,' in a foot- note quotes some characteristic comments of the Rev. Thomas Tipping on the marriage of Nicholas Miller to Mary Watts.

According to Cussans, the manor descended to Nicholas Franklyn- Miller's aunt Jane, widow of William Northcliff. On her death, in 1749, the manor came by will to Edward Forester, with remainder to Edward Mundy, of Shipley (Derby), who had married Hester, sister to the before-mentioned Nicholas. In 1767, at Edward Mundy's death, the estate came to his son, Edward Miller-Mundy, who in 1790 sold it to William Baker, of Bayford- bury, and it is still in the possession of the Baker family. W. B. GERISH.

Bishop's Stortford.

PORTRAITS WHICH HAVE LED TO MARRIAGES (10 th S. iii. 287, 334). The incident of a person falling in love with the portrait of a beautiful woman is a favourite one in Eastern tales. It is found in 'The Seven Vazlrs,' Girl ' ((Houston's ' Sindibad,' p. 166 and note 303) ; also in Scott's ' Tales from the Arabic,' &c., 108; the 'Katha Sarit Sagara,' Tawney's translation, vol. i. p. 490, and vol. ii. p. 370 ; and in the ' Dasa Kumara Charita' ('Adventures of Ten Princes'), which is translated by H. H. Wilson in The Oriental Quarterly Magazine, Calcutta, 1828. A. COLLING WOOD LEE.
 * The Story of the Goldsmith and the Singing

Walthara Abbey, Essex.

LAWRANCE FAMILY OP BATH (10 th S. iii. 308). The Bath Abbey registers have been published, and they would probably assist MRS. LAWRAXCE in her research.

CHAS. HALL CROUCH.

5, Grove Villas, Wanstead.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON DICKENS AND THACKERAY (10 th S. iii. 22, 73, 131, 151, 196, 275, 337). The late Mr. Richard Herne Shepherd, in the introduction to his collection of ' The PlaysandPoemsofCharlesDickens,'1885,gives full particulars of Dickens's comic burletta in one act, 'Is She his Wife? or, Something Singular,' and of the circumstances attendant on the destruction by fire of the printed copy, as detailed in ' N. & Q.' No doubt the omission by Mr. Forster of any mention of the piece in his ' Life of Dickens,' coupled with the statement by Miss Hogarth and Miss Dickens (vide 'Letters of Dickens,'

vol. i. p. 5) that 'The Strange Gentleman.' and 'The Village Coquettes' were the novelist's only contributions to the St. James's Theatre, may have created some confusion, and raised a little doubt which fact has set at rest.

The Literary Gazette, II March, 1837, speaks well of the piece. Harley, Miss Allison (after- wards Mrs. Seymour), and Madame Sala were in the cast. ROBERT WALTERS.

Ware Priory.

DRYDEN'S SISTERS (10 th S. iii. 288). The following details concerning Dryden's sisters may be of use to your correspondent. Seven were baptized at Tichmarsh, Northants, viz., Agnes, 8 Oct., 1632 ; Rose, 18 Oct., 1633 ; Mary, 13 Nov., 1634 ; Lucy, 30 Jan., 1635[/6]; Martha, 10 April, 1637; Abigail, 1 Aug., 1639; and Hannah, 26 Dec., 1644. Elizabeth, 1 bap. 1654 (see age at time of marriage) ; Frances, 1 bap. 1656 (see age at time of marriage) ; Hester ?

With regard to the marriages of the ten sisters I cannot give such full details as I should wish. Agnes is stated by Malone and others to have married Sylvester Emylyn, of Stamford. Rose married, as his second wife, John Laughton, D.D., of Catworth, Hunts, whose only son Erasmus died young, and whose epitaph was written by the poet. In the church of Culworth Magna there is an elaborate M.I. stating that Rose Laughton died 26 Dec., 1710, aged seventy-seven. Lucy Dryden married, in 1661, Stephen Womb well (not Umwell, as Scott has it), of St. Botolph's, Aldgate, distiller (see Chester's ' Marr. Lie.'). Elizabeth Dryden married, in 1684/5, Charles Bennett, of Christchurch, London, widower. Frances Dryden married, in 1684, Joseph Sandwell (a tobacconist according to Burke), of St. Botolph's, Aldgate. Of the remaining sisters I can find no particulars beyond those supplied by Malone and other biographers of Dryden. PERCY DRYDEN MUNDY.

Hove, Sussex.

"AN OLD WOMAN WENT TO MARKET" (10 th

S. ii. 502 ; iii. 10, 74, 271). I am afraid that neither MR. WATSON nor Mr. Innes, to whom he refers, can claim to be the discoverer of the intimate connexion that exists between this familiar old nursery story and its parallels in ancient times.

In the year 1889 I contributed a paper to the Folk-Lore Society, which was printed in The Folk-Lore Journal for that year (pp. 202- 264), on ' Dorsetshire Children's Games,' &c., and at p. 246 I state as follows :

" It is to be noted that these illustrations of forfeit rhymes or jingles are very similar in their