Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/349

 10-8. iv. OCT. 7, loos.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 287 Gam, thought to be the prototype of Shake- speare's Fluellen, he rightly states that Dafydd Gam was a nickname meaning "David the crooked," but he adds, "I do not find the word yam in a modern Welsh dictionary, but it is often heard in Shrop- shire and on the borders to-day, where a lame person is said to have a ' gammy leg.'" Of course he should have looked under cam for the word, when he would have had no difficulty in finding it. D. M. K. [flu HI ma is in the ' N.E.D. as dialectal and •lang.] JEHAN OSTERMAYER.—Dr. Naylor in his 1905) prints a galliard by "Jehan Oyster- mayre (sixteenth century)," and gives in a foot-note, "for what it is worth," a state- ment about a musician of the same name (but the Christian name Jerome) from the 'Allgemeine Deutsche Biographic.' He should have consulted Robert Eitner's ' Bio- graphisch-Bibliograpliisches Lexikon ' in the Reference Library of the British Museum, wherein he could have found some informa- tion about Jehan and Jerome Ostermayer, and one or two musicians of the same name. L. L. K. St. Margaret's Bay, Kent. ROBINSON CRUSOE, 1619.—In this year Daniel Robinson was admitted into Qonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and his surety was Mr. Cruso ('Admissions,' by J. and S. C. Venn, 1887, p. 141). W. C. B. •GENIUS BY COUNTIES.' —An article so entitled appeared in The Strand Magazine for August. Genius was attributed to men of energy and distinction, as well as to those possessed of the intangible gift which shows itself independently of physical con- dition or of the favour of fortune. The author was content with Yorkshire, which he credited with Lord Lawrence, Wilberforce, Capt. Cook, Bentley, Lord Leighton, Flaxman, Charlotte Bronte, and Sraeaton. In Lincolnshire he recognized Lord Burleigh, Algernon Sidney, Isaac Newton, John Wesley, and Lord Tenny- son. I cannot but think that he has materially underrated the output of illustrious men and women from both of these vigorous shires, and I should like to know if there be readers of ' X. & Q.' who share my opinion. Many Yorkshire names occur to me which ought to be added to such a list, and I feel that there must be some of Lincolnshire quite worthy to appendix the five which Mr. Gordon Col- fcorne has brought together, though he has probably picked out those which are most famous. Is it possible that Derbyshire has nobody but Samuel Richardson and Herbert Spencer, and that Archbishop Cranmer is the only illustrious man who may be claimed by Nottinghamshire ? Macaulay represents Leicester, and Drayton Northamptonshire. " Huntingdonshire took many centuries to produce that really great man Oliver Crom- well, and having produced him was so ex- hausted that she has achieved nothing since but mediocrity in genius. Rutland is still hatching her swan. Apparently, many of the southern counties have been very richly dowered, and probably more so than Mr. Gordon Colborne is aware of. I leave their case to somebody who is better versed in their history than I can claim to be, and offer, above, sufficient matter for discussion. ST. SWITHIN. Qutritt. WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct. " THE MOST ELOQUENT OF ANCIENT WRITERS." —I am anxious to trace the author alluded to in the following passage from Lord Charles Somerset's proclamation (issued in 1818) establishing the Public Library at Cape Town, and declaring the design of the library to be "to lay the foundation of a system which shall place the means of knowledge within the reach of the youth of this remote corner of the globe, and bring within their reach what the most eloquent of ancient writers has considered to be one of the first blessings of life—Home Education." The only passage of an ancient writer which occurs to me as referred to here is Pliny the Younger's " Children should be brought up where they are born, and should accustom themselves from earliest infancy to love their native soil and make it their home." But is Pliny the Younger ever described elsewhere as the most eloquent of ancient writers 7 Any references to such description or to other passages will be much appreciated. B. L. DYER. Public Library, Kimberley, S.A. TOUCHING FOR THE KING'S EVIL.—I am anxious, before publication, to make as com- plete as possible a collection of records of this ancient practice, and shall be much obliged to any of your correspondents who will be good enough to furnish me with extracts upon the subject from parish regie-
 * An Elizabethan Virginal Book' (London,