Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/255

 10 s. VIIL SEPT. M, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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BRAMPTON BRIDGE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. An incident which occurred on this bridge during the imprisonment of Charles I. at Holdenby forms the basis of one of the most spirited episodes in Whyte-Melville's ' Holmby House ' (chap, xxx., ' A Ride across Country '). It is thus briefly de- scribed in Wetton's ' Guide-Book to North- ampton and its Vicinity ' (1849) :

" When King Charles I. was a prisoner at Holmby House, lie used to visit Lord Vaux's at Boughton Park for the purpose of playing at bowls. In one of his journeys to that place a Major Bosville, dis- guised as a countryman, apparently fishing, was loitering near the mill, when the miller, who hap- pened to be looking out of the window, saw the King receive something from the supposed country- man ; the miller betrayed the circumstance, and it has been the popular belief in this locality that no one ever succeeded at the mill afterwards. The mill was rather a picturesque object, but is now destroyed."

I understand that this attempted delivery of a letter to Charles by Bosville on Bramp- ton Bridge has formed the subject of a picture by an eminent artist. Any par- ticulars concerning such a picture would be appreciated by JOHN T. PAGE.

Long Itchington, Warwickshire.

ROBERT BTJRROWES, DEAN OF CORK. Burrowes's name does not appear in the ' Diet. Nat. Biog.,' but I venture to suggest that the pages of ' N. & Q.' should contain a few particulars of the author of ' The Groves of Blarney ' and ' The Night before Larry was Stretched.' Lockhart (' Life of Scott,' chap. Ixiii., one-vol. ed., 1842, p. 564) refers to " the poetical Dean of Cork " when describing Sir Walter's visit to Blarney ; but in ' The Reliques of Father Prout ; (1860, p. 56), where versions of ' The Groves ' in English, Latin, Greek, French, Italian, and Celtic are given, Mahony ascribes the song to " Dick Milliken of Cork." Burrowes's claim to ' The Night before Larry was Stretched ' is likewise disputed. It is defi- nitely given to him in Prout's ' Reliques ' (p. 267), though, on the other hand, Mr. Farmer, in his notes to this song in ' Musa Pedestris ' (1896, p. 220), declares that it is certainly not by Burrowes, but probably by " Will Maher of Waterford, shoemaker." The erudite readers of ' N. & Q.' will doubt- less elucidate these questions, as well as inform me where others of Burrowes's effusions are to be found.

R. L. MORETON.

Heathfield, Gerrard's Cross, Bucks.

[Mr. A. P. Graves, the editor of ' Songs of Irish \\ it and Humour,' 1884, said: "I have indis- putable evidence before me that the Dean had no hand in the writing of it [' The Night before Larry was Stretched ']." See 7 S. viii. 74, 237.]

NASH OF PORTUGAL. In 17 30* John Nash, j of Oporto, with H. Burmester, founded the I firm now known as Butler, Nephew & Co. In 1751 Fynn Nash married there Mary Trollope (of the family at Casewick in Lin- colnshire), and their son Thomas was bap- tized in 1753 at Coimbra, by the Rev. Dr. J. Nash. A Henry Nash, of Ipswich, Esq., in his short will dated in 1728, names a son Fynn. The arms used by the Oporto branch were : Az., on a chevron between three doves' heads erased arg., a pellet between four cross-crosslets sa., which were also those of Robert Nash, LL.D., Chancellor of Norwich, who in his will, dated 1751, bequeathed a farm to his brother James Nash, of Lisbon, merchant.

A Joseph Nash, consul at Figueira, where he died 18 Aug., 1786, was son of a Rev. Wm. Nash, rector of Great Bradley in Suffolk. Owing to the absence of all monuments to British subjects in Portugal, and lack of clergy and parish registers, it is difficult to prove a pedigree in that country, and I shall therefore be grateful for any notes relating to the above names.

V. L. OLIVER. Sunninghill, Berks.

WAREHAM, DORSET. I should be glad of any information respecting this ancient town, particularly as to the probable date of the walls or earthworks which surround it, and whether a sister or a daughter of Alfred the Great founded a priory here. For what reason is a small chapel on the south side of the sanctuary of the parish church (Lady St. Mary) called the Thomas a Becket Chapel ? FRANCES PALMER.

The Avenue, Datchet, near Windsor.

[Wareham was visited in July by the British Archaeological Association. The walls are discussed at some length in The Athenaeum of 3 August.]

BETH REYNOLDS. I have lately come across the unusual surname of Beth Reynolds in the registers of this parish. Can any of your readers say whether they have met with it, or if it still exists ? It doeslnot appear to be a double name (there is no hyphen), but "Beth" seems to be some sort of prefix. What does it mean ? It occurs first about 1600. H. P. BOWEN. 84, Pell Street, Reading.

GOSLING FAMILY. I am anxious to trace ,he history of Joseph Gosling, who married

Sarah, probably about 1760, near

Wolverhampton. Can any of your readers lelp me with information likely to throw ight upon earlier members of this family ? THTTRSTAN MATTHEWS.