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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. v. JUNE 2, igoe.

any theme, or when it is judged by any fail- standard, lie should know what he is talking about. Now I have been asked if I can point to any creation in Shakespeare of the truly heroic to any figure rivalling Prometheus, or the Satan of Milton. Will some one kindly help me to answer 1 Lucis.

ANNE GLIDDON. I should be very grateful for any information about this artist, who in the later thirties was governess to the family of my great-grandfather, the late Dr. Ansell, of Bow. A portrait of George Henry Lewes, drawn by her in 1840. was presented to the National Portrait Gallery in 1904. A portrait of Leigh Hunt " by Mrs. Gliddon (1841), drawn on wood by Mr. 0. Gliddon," is mentioned by Mr. R. B. Johnson ('Selected Essays and Poems of Leigh Hunt,' 1891, ii. 268); and the * D.N.B.' (xxxii. 209) states that Samuel Laurence (the portrait painter) married ** Anastasia Gliddon, cousin and adopted sister of Mrs. Thornton Leigh Hunt." Was Anne Gliddon related to these ladies ? R. L. MORETON.

Gerrard's Cross, Bucks.

NOTTINGHAM PSALTER. In my possession is a newspaper cutting of 1902 (about July, I think) announcing the dispatch to the United States of

"a valuable collection intended to exemplify the origin and development of the early illustrated book, starting from the illuminated manuscript, through the block-books, and onwards to the finished typographical specimen."

The illuminated manuscripts are stated to have included

"the Nottingham Psalter, dating from about 1220, with fine illuminations in the calendar, and initials throughout."

Can any one kindly supply further details of this manuscript and its present location ? In particular, I am anxious to learn on what evidence it is associated with Nottingham, to the ecclesiastical history of which I have devoted considerable attention.

A. STAPLETON. 158, Noel Street, Nottingham.

SPAIN AND ENGLAND. Can any one say to what period in the history of the two countries is to be referred the old saying, "Con todo el murido guerra, y paz con Inglaterra"? It may be an outcome of the Peninsular War of 1809-13.

PHILIP NORTH.

TWYFORD ABBEY, I shall be glad if any of your readers can inform me where I car find any books referring to Twyford Abbey. From searches I have made I find that no

religious body inhabited this house ; con- sequently little information is given by Dugdale or Lysons. J. L. JAMES.

"ROSE OF JERICHO."

(10 th S. v. 229, 272.)

REFERENCE may perhaps opportunely be made to the search for the flower at the place of its origin lately narrated by the [talian lady Matilde Serao, in the very in- teresting account of her travels entitled l ln the Country of Jesus,' as translated by Mr. Richard Davey, 1905.

Jericho, now represented by Rihah, a scanty and miserable group of houses or huts, was reached by the lady (who on this occasion rode in a palanquin or litter borne by two mules) in six hours from Jerusalem, the distance being fifteen miles, the de- clivitous road winding through "arid yellow- hills" and "rugged mountain sides." The situation of the village, said to be 700 feet lower than the level of the Mediterranean, and thus about 3,200 feet below the plateau of Jerusalem, causes its atmosphere to be peculiarly heavy and oppressive : " The air one breathes is like molten lead," writes the traveller. This condition, added to the extreme poverty of the place, rendered a night's lodging in a wretched kind of inn, kept by two silent old Russian women, ex- tremely uncomfortable and depressing ; yet endurance was necessary, for next day search had to made for the famed rose, and the journey extended to the Jordan and Dead Sea. In the morning, on inquiry as to roses of Jericho, it was replied that certainly there were roses, and to prove the fact " a lovely rose" was brought, which the old hostess declared to be the real rose of Jericho, adding that no other was known to her after living twenty-eight years at the place.

The traveller, thus highly delighted with her " lovely, fresh, bright - coloured rose, much like, though smaller than, those of her own country," found it unnecessary to make the toilsome exploration of the neighbouring Quarantania Mountains (the wilderness of the Temptation), where the traditionary rose is said to be met with. On her return to Jerusalem, asked as to the result of her search, she triumphantly produced her trea- sure. But then came the disillusion : it was not, said the courteous and learned doctor of the Consulate, the rose of Scripture ; he had several specimens, and would give one to the signora. It proved to be