Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/303

 10 s. vm. SEPT. 28, 1907. ] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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tjtimts.

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.

" SOPS AND WINE." We have in Cornwall an apple so called. It is the queen of apples, both for appearance and for flavour, if seen in a full-sized and well-sunned specimen. Can the name be a corruption of " soup9on de vin " ? Many of our apples came of old from Normandy. B. W. R.

[The Assistant Editor of The Gardeners 1 Chronicle kindly supplies the following information :

" There does not appear to be any evidence to show that the old Cornish apple Sops in Wine was originally introduced from Normandy. In Hogg's ' Fruit Manual,' p. 215, it is described as an ' ancient English culinary and cider apple, but perhaps more singular than useful.' No attempt was made to relate its history, therefore we may conclude that Hogg had failed to trace it, because in ' The Fruit Manual ' historical particulars of most varieties are recorded.

" In the ' Dictionnaire de Pomologie,' by Andre 1 Leroy, an excellent work consisting of six volumes, no mention is made of the variety ; yet we should expect to find it described there if the variety was introduced here from Normandy.

" In another French work, ' Guide pratique de 1' Amateur de Fruits,' Sops of Wine is described as an American variety introduced to the nursery establishment of Simon-Louis freres, at Plantieres- les-Metz, in 1872. In this work there is also a description of another variety named Winesap, which was introduced from America at the same time (1872). This variety, Winesap, is described in Scott's ' Orchardist,' 2nd ed., p. 113, and attributed to America ; but Sops in Wine is not mentioned. In this country the variety, I believe, is commonly known as Sops in Wine, also as Sops of Wine ; but less frequently as Sops and Wine. If Sops in Wine be accepted as the earliest name, it might still be a corruption from ' soupcon de vin ' ; but I know of nothing to prove this. On the contrary, it has been found that when the variety is included in French lists, it is described there under the English name."]

GREGORY : ALLEN : HAMPDEN. Can any of your readers enlighten me on the following points ? Robert Austen, of Shalford, Surrey, married in 1772, Frances Annesley Gregory, daughter of John Wentworth Gregory, whose wife's name was Frances Allen. John Wentworth Gregory was the eldest surviving son of the Rev. Thomas Gregory, who married the Hon. Helena Thomson, eldest daughter of Sir John Thomson, Bart, first Lord Haversham, by the Lady Frances Wyndham, nee Annesley, daughter of Arthur Annesley, first Earl of Anglesea. Who was the Rev. Thomas Gregory ? Is anything

known as to his University career or the livings which he held? The Frances Annesley Gregory referred to above is said to have been descended maternally from the patriot John Hampden. If this is correct, her mother, Frances Allen, must have been some sort of connexion of the Hampden family. Can any one inform me what that connexion was ?

A. H. BINGLEY, Lieut. -Col. Simla.

MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, IN EDINBURGH CASTLE. Under the heading ' The House of Stewart ' appeared in the number of T.P.'s Weekly for 30 August an article " by Monkbarns " in which the following passage occurs :

" It seems not to be generally known that about thirty years ago I forget the precise date some workmen engaged in repairing the small chamber in Edinburgh Castle where Mary Stewart was con- fined during the siege in 1566, in removing a large stone, discovered the remains of a still-born infant. It was wrapped in clothing declared by experts to be such as corresponded with that pertaining to the period in question, and worn by people of quality. The Scottish Society of Antiquaries in- spected the remains ; but by order from London, they were hurriedly replaced and closed up in the wall once more. Contemporary rumour openly said that Queen Mary brought forth a dead child, and that the newly born offspring of a soldier's wife of the garrison was substituted."

The writer proceeds to express his entire belief in the story, for reasons which need not be here recapitulated. I do not re- member seeing any notice of the occurrence in the papers of the day ; but it was re- cently mentioned to me (with certain varia- tions from the foregoing accounts) by a friend as having appeared in The Scotsman ; the date of publication, however, not haying been ascertained, I was unable to trace it.

I shall feel greatly obliged to any corre- spondent of 'N. & Q.' who can give a reference to the periodical or periodicals which gave currency to the amazing rumour. J. ELIOT HODGKIN.

" THE TROUT DART DOWN," &C. Not

long ago a rimester, not altogether mute, but quite inglorious, was borne by Fancy to a place " aback o' beyont," where some unforgettable days of childhood had been spent. Again the wide moorlands, again the busy beck, which once ministered both to wonder and delight. A verse of the con- eequent jingle ran:

The trout dart down the clear brown stream, Or neath the stones lie hid

Ah ! I have learnt so many ways : The fish do as they did.