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. iv. AUO. s, 1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 113 special value to collectors for this reason. True, the scenes depicted are "fanciful," but the same may be said of the great artist's work in 'Windsor Castle,' 'The Tower of London,' cum multis aliis. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge. IRISH SOIL EXPORTED (10th S. iii. 328, 394). —A few decades ago an enthusiastic Irish- man, living near Rose Bay, Sydney, N.S.W., imported a quantity of Irish earth, and laid it down all round his house in order to keep away the " varmint." The experiment seems to have had but poor success. The late Sir John Hay, President of the LegislativeCouncil of N.S.W., told me that one of the few fatal cases of snakebite within his recollection had occurred on the hallowed soil. ALEX. LEEPER. Trinity College, Melbourne University. MR. HIBGAME'S interesting statement that sentimental reasons, as well as commercial, exist for exporting the soil of Ireland, may be corroborated by a kindred sentiment in relation to the soil of Palestine. It is the cherished hope of many pious Hebrews—I have known many myself—to end their days in the Holy Land : supreme causes some- times prevent the attainment of so noble a longing. In that case these pious souls im- port some of the sacred soil, and leave specific orders to have it placed in their coffins. In this they respire the ardent poesy of that prince of Hebrew poets Jehudah Halevi, who in his masterpiece on the Holy Laud sings : O that I might kiss thy clods And water thy stones with my tears! M. L. R. BRESLAR. OWEN BRIGSTOCKE (10th S. ii. 86, 237; iii. 452).—In the interesting contribution at the last reference it is stated that Owen Brig- stock was eldest son of John Brigstock, of Croydon, &c.; that he was born 1628-30, and married three times; and that by these marriages he had four sons: William; Thomas, barrister -at- la w ; Francis, "who seems to have been a scapegrace": and John, ob. s.p. 1665. Permit me to supplement this by the following. The parish church of Croydon (St. John the Baptist) is mentioned in Domesday Book, and there is every probability the church was in existence as early as 962. Unfortunately the old church was destroyed by fire in January, 1867 : but luckily there were lovers of antiquity who had thoroughly investigated matters connected with the ancient building, and so we have a pretty fair record of what the old church contained more than a cen- tury and a half before the fatal fire: Ducarel's quarto (1783); Lysons's ' Environs of London' (1792-1811); Manning and Bray's 'History and Antiquities of Surrey,' the last two con- taining information which, although brief, is. not found in Ducarel. The best account i» found in G. Steinman Steinman's 'History of Croydon' (1834), from which I quote :— " On the ground, a little to the west of Durand's, on a large black marble ledger :— Sub hoc marmore deposita sunt corpora Rachelis Uxoris Thomas Brigstock, Armig. quie obiit XVII. Kal. AUK. A.D. 1756: retails ejus- XLVI. Thomse Brigstock supra nominati, CarolifiliiThoniieBrigstockjumorisetAnnffl Papwell conjugis ejus, nepotis ThomtB et Rachelis Quorum Thomas obiit X. Kal. Mart, tetatig LXIV. Carolus quatuor hebdomadutn infans X. Kal.ejusdem Mensis et anni Avus et Nepos eodem die sepulti sunt. Hie etiam jacet Ricardus Papwell Brigstock Caroli frater infans, Qui XII. hebdomadas natus denessit VII. Idus Decembris A. 1785. Neonon Anna Rachel Brigstock, filia Thorn* Brigstock et Annas Papwell uxoris qua; obiit VIII. Nonas Mail, 1737, retatis A. XIII. et Thomas Brigstoek armiger, qui obiit Pridie Idus Celebris, A.D. 1787, ajtatis XLIX. Esto Fidelis usque ad mortem, Et Dato tibi cpronam Vitffi. Thomas Brigstock, films Thome Brigstock et. Anna; Papwell, uxoris, qui obiit XXVII. Octob. 1792, netatis XVI. "South Aisle.—On an oval white marble tablet affixed to the wall, opposite Archbishop Sheldon's monument, is the following inscription :— " ' Beneath this place were deposited the remains of Thomas Brigstock, Esq.: he died of a decline, 27th October, 1792, in the 17th year of his age. If a suavity of manners and goodness of mind could have preserved his life, he had not now been num- bered among the dead.'" From another source we are told of the vault of the Brigstocks, and that Alice- Brigstock, wife of Richard Brigstock, died 18 March, 1750, aged fifty-nine; also that Richard Brigstock, her husband, died 14 November, 1779. A note to the last mentioned informs us, "The Brigstocks were originally brewers in the South end" (of Croydon). Curiously enough, MR. BRIGSTOCKE has touched, at 10th S. ii. 237, a chord which will vibrate in the hearts of all lovers of absolute justice, and ought to move with greater motion the inhabitants of Croydon, Lambeth, &c. MR. BRIGSTOCKE brings us in close con- tact with that spirit which actuates, or ought to actuate, all genuine lovers of antiquity and