Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/301

 .Y.MARCH 31, 1906.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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colonists on these shores was at Jamestown, fifty miles above the mouth of the James River, Virginia, in 1607."

The Rev. Robert Hunt, who had been rector of Reculver, Kent, accompanied these settlers, and regularly conducted the services of the Church of England. A wooden church appears to have been erected some years later, which finally gave place to the brick one built in 1640, the ruins of which still remain.

St. Luke's Church, Smithfield, Virginia, dates from 1632, and is the oldest Protestant church on the continent actually in use to day, though the third church founded in the U.S.A. the two previous ones having perished.

The oldest religious edifice in the U.S.A. is the Roman Catholic cathedral at Santa Fe. St. Augustine's, Florida, was destroyed by fire a few years ago.

Neither in Dr. Shinn's book nor in another compilation, entitled * Old Churches in America/ by Dr. Peri-y, I think, can I find any reference to Bruton Church. Perhaps some American reader of 'N. & Q.' will kindly contribute a note on the subject. Some years since I visited a number of old Episcopal churches in the U.S.A., and par- ticularly many of those referred to in Bishop Meade's 'Old Churches and Old Families in Virginia' by far the most interesting book on the subject and I was much struck with the admirable way in which most of them were preserved, and the keen interest every- where manifested in them.

FREDERICK T. HlBGAME.

"Up": ITS BARBAROUS MISUSE. Before the 'New English Dictionary' reaches the letter U may one be permitted a protest against the constant and meaningless addi- tion of this word in everyday life?

A new route will "link up" all the cross roads, &c. ; the train " slowed up " ; one is invited to have "a brush up" (in this case an actual reversal of meaning) ; one " touches up" a sketch, "works up" (? works out) observations, and so on. R. B.

Upton.

JOHN ADAMS'S EPITAPH. Close to the pulpit in the church at Quincy, near Boston, is the following inscription. As it is little known, it may deserve to appear in 'N. & Q.' :-

Libertatem, Amicitiam, Fidem, Retinebis. D.O.M. Beneath these walls are deposited the mortal remains of John Adams, son of John and Susanna (Boylston) Adams, second President of the United States ; born 19-30 October, 1735. On the Fourth of July, 1776, he pledged his Life, Fortune and Sacred Honour to the Independence of his

Country. On the third of September, 1783, he- affixed his seal to the definitive Treaty with Great Britain, which acknowledged that ihdependence- and consummated the redemption of his pledge. On the Fourth of July, 1826, he was summoned to- the Independence of Immortality, and to the judgment of his God. This house will bear witness- to his piety; this Town, his birth-place, to his> munificence ; History to his Patriotism ; Posterity to the depth and compass of his mind.

At his side sleeps till the Trump shall sound Abigail, his beloved and only wife, daughter of Wm. and Elizabeth (Quincy) Smith. In every re- lation of life a pattern of Filial, Conjugal, Maternal and Social Virtue. Born Nov. 11-22, 1744, deceased 28 October, 1818, set. 74.

Married 25 October, 1764. During a union of more than half a century they survived in harmony of sentiment, principle, and affection the tempest of civil commotion, meeting undaunted and sur- mounting the terrors and trials of that Revolution, which secured the Freedom of their Country, im- proved the Condition of their times, and brightened the prospects of Futurity to the race of man upOD Earth.

PILGRIM.

From lives thus spent thy earthly duties learn, From Fancy's dreams to active virtues turn, Let Freedom, Friendship, Faith, thy soul engage r And serve like them thy Country and thy age.

To this blustering epitaph might be applied part of an epigram : " Hunc tumulum baud Charites servant, sed Erynnies atrse, non Musce, sed sparsis anguibus Eumenides."

" ROMAN'' MOUND. A daily paper re- cently described how the extraordinary high tides swept away the sea-banks on the little island of Greenborough, in the Medway, and how sheep, cattle, horses, and men found refuge "upon an old Roman wall, or elon- gated mound, that still exists in one part of the island." Such mounds of refuge (vlooythuivel) are quite common on the polders in Holland, and probably the one on the island in the Medway is also of Dutch origin ; but I am open to conviction.

L. L. K.

CHEYNE WALK : CHINA WALK. I do not know if it has previously been noted that the famous Dr. Dominiceti, on opening his- establishment in Cheyne Walk, advertised his address as "China Walk" (see The London Chronicle, 17 August, 1763). Pre- sumably this was merely an inaccurate rendering of the old name.

ALECK ABRAHAMS.

39, Hillmarton Road, N.

SAMPLERS. A friend having expressed a wish to know the author of verses worked upon three old samplers in my possession, I thought it might be of interest to readers of k N. ifc Q.' if I reproduced them. The first