Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/41

. iv. JULY s, 1906.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 29 HARRIET : JOSEPH LANCASTER.—In an un- Sublished letter, dated "23 of 2nd mo. 1811," oseph Lancaster writes :— "I have carefully perused Harriet's report and address, and, however for a time it may take, 1 see she hag not got Sampson's [*ie] heifer, nor yet will she know his riddle. 1 see nothing but what is quite in a line with her regular conduct since she set up in trade for herself with a portion of my stock-in-trade as capital." To whom does he refer ? The chief women writers on education living in 1811 were Maria Edgeworth, Priscilla Wakefield, and Hannah More. Harriet Martineau was only nine years old. Lancaster's opponent, Mrs. Trimmer, died in 1810, and her name was Sarah. DAVID SALMON. Swansea. MOON AND HAIR-CUTTING.—My son, who has been many years in California, recently wrote home thus:— " Since I went to the hair doctor I have had to get my hair cut in the moon—that is, between the new and first quarter of the moon. The theory is if you get it cut at the new of the moon it grows with the light of the moon, and is stronger in growth." Now Thiselfcon Dyer, in his ' English Folk- lore,' writes:— " In Devonshire it is said that the hair and nails should always be cut during the waning of the moon, as many beneficial consequences are supposed to result." The Rev. Timothy Harley, in his 'Moon- Lore' (London, 1885), says :— " A superstitious person will not commit his seed to the earth when the soil, but when the moon requires it. He will have his hair cut when the moon is either in Leo, that his locks may stare like the lion's shag, or in Aries, that they may curl like a ram's horn." Does this superstition still survive? and, if so, where ? EVEKARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road. BOWTELL FAMILY. — I should be glad of information respecting the parents of John Bowtell, of Cambridge, 1753-1813 (benefactor of Addenbrooke's Hospital and other chari- ties). His parents, Joseph and Margery, appear to have settled in Holy Tnnity parish, Cambridge, circa 1747. Can any reader of ' N. it Q.' assist me to trace the direct family previous to the date named ? ARTHUR B. GRAY. 10, Green Street, Cambridge. "MoniBE MELANIQUE."—In a magazine of 1804 I find the following :— 'Moiree JfelaniqM.—'Ihe Marquis Ridolfi has suggested a modification of this ornamental material, which consists in sketching flowers, figures, or other designs upon the tin plates with pale or coloured varnishes before they are dipped in the acid bath. The figures are, of course, left with the original appearance of the tin, and may be brought out in great perfection; or they may be made by laying on gold leaf or silver, the latter metals with the varnish defending the surface of the tin covered with them from the acid. " A variety of these ingenious improvements have lately been made. They furnish a very innocent amusement, and are also highly useful, as they find employment for many who would otherwise be much in want of it." Can any of your readers tell me where I can find "moiree melanique" described fully? A. S. HUGHES. " LONNING." — " He joost ganned doon lonning tappey lappey." " He ran down the lane as fast as he could." Is " lonning " or " loaning" a synonym for " lane" in North-Country dialect ? NORTH MIDLAND. [We fancy not.] JOHN KOLT NIXON. — Can any of your readers inform me respecting Mr. John Bolt Nixon, who wrote a book of poems entitled ' Early Wild Flowers,' between 1840 and 1850 —one of them is dated 1845—published by G. Mansell, 115, Fleet Street, but with no date attached? In a preface he says they were all written before he was seventeen. The father resided in Farnsham, and took the business of Mr. Thiselton, a bookseller in Market Place, Farnsham, in 1846, but left it about four years later. When the poems were published, the author was living in Stepney, where by the list of subscribers he seems to have had many friends. CHARLES SMITH. Farnsham. BRUDENELL : BOUGHTON.—On a portrait of a lady as Diana, of Romney or Reynolds character, is the following inscription:— " Elizath Brudenell, wife to General Thomas Brudenell, and daughter of Sir Willia_ Boughton, Bart." As no pedigree of either family in Burke mentions such a marriage,will some courteous correspondent of ' N. & Q." help me to identify the lady ? A Lieut- General Thomas Brudenel died in 1767. (See ' Book of Dignities.') Kindly address replies GEORGE MACKEY. 155, Hagley Road, Birmingham. CAPRI ANTIQUITIES.—In the several accounts of excavations in Capri mention is made of antiquities given to or purchased by English- men, but of which I have been unable to discover the present resting-place. In Hadrava's 'Ragguagli di Varii Scavi nel Isola|di Capri (Napoli, 1793), at p. 21, men-