Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/305

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

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Monros of Auchenbowie, Stirlingshire ? Alexander Mackenzie's ' History of the Munros ' (1898) omits Sir Alexander Monro's marriage.

I shall also be much obliged for the de- scents of Forbes I. of Culloden from Sir John Forbes I. of Formartin andTolquhoun, brother of Sir Alexander, first Lord Forbes. A. R. BAYLEY.

St. Margaret's, Malvern.

BAIRD SMITH or THE INDIAN MUTINY : GENERAL BAIBD. Was the former any re- lation to Daniel Smith, who in 1742 married in Holland Margaret, sister of David Gavine ? Gavine married in 1751 Christian Hearsey, and in 1770 Elizabeth Maitland. Their daughter Hearsey married Robert Baird, and handed the surname down as a fore- name in the Fullerton, Gavine, Baird, Drummond, and Wauchope families.

I also seek a General Baird, brother in- law to Edward Williams, drowned with Shelley. A. C. H.

J. SEGALAS, GUNMAKER, LONDON. About 1720 there was living in London a gunmaker named J. Segalas. Would readers of ' N. & Q.' ,tell me of anything that is known of him ? Was he of Polish origin ? If so, I wish particularly to know the town of his birth.

W. H. BARRACLOUGH.

Sydenham House, Otley Road, Bradford.

AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED.

1. Beware of the lust of finishing.

2. We think at first that home is heaven; we find at last that heaven is home.

3. Truth heals the wounds that Truth herself hath made.

C. W. S.

CURIOUS BOOK TITLES. Could any reader oblige with information as to where to obtain curious, humorous, punning, or fic- titious titles of books ? There is a long list in Rabelais, and Tom Hood also made one. Any titles or names of books where such may be found will be gratefully received direct by me. GEORGE BERRY.

2, South Oxford Street, Edinburgh.

[See the General Indexes of ' N. & Q.']

CRIMEAN WAR INCIDENT. In describing one of the battles of the Crimean War (I think the Alma), Kinglake says that when, time after time, a body of Russian troops had been broken up by the British fire, they were unfailingly rallied by a particular officer, whose appearance he depicts, and that it was only when this officer was shot

that the Russian regiment of which he was one of the leaders gave way. A similar incident is somewhere recorded as having occurred in another war. What was this ? and where is it narrated ? W. B.

" As DEEP AS GARRICK." Seventy years ago a common expression in Cornwall and Devon, in description of a specially acute or clever man, was that he was " as deep as Garrick." I have always understood this as referring to the famous actor ; but was it used elsewhere ? R. ROBBINS.

" BIDAXE," A FARM TOOL. Is there a derivation for the name bidaxe of a farm tool used in East Cornwall for digging ?

R. W. R.

BOUVEAR, BOUVIRE, OR BEAUVAIS. Information wanted of this Huguenot family, perhaps settled in Dublin. There is a tradition of a Comte de Beauvais ; and Bouvears appear in Dublin registers. Dr. Leland, of Trinity College, Dublin, is a near relative of certain Bouvears.

(Mrs.) B. DE Z. HALL.

11, Dingle Mount, Liverpool.

MARQUESS OF WATERFORD AS SPRING- HEEL JACK. According to Brewer's 'Reader's Handbook,' this sobriquet was earned by the first (or second) Marquess of Waterford about a century ago. Where is an account of this eccentric nobleman's doings to be found ? R. L. MORETON.

Heathfield, Gerrard's Cross, Bucks.

[This date for a Spring-heeled Jack seems earlier than the instances referred to at 10 S. vii. 206, 256, 394, 496.]

SOVEREIGNS AND HALF - SOVEREIGNS : THEIR WEIGHTS AND DATES. I have two brass disks for weighing sovereigns and half- sovereigns. On the obverse of each is Queen Victoria's head, and in the margin "Royal Mint 1843." On the reverse is " Curr 1 Weight," and " Sovereign " and " Half-Sovereign " respectively in the mar- gin. In the middle of the larger is " 5 dw 2J gr " ; in that of the smaller " 2 dw 13i gr." This gives the half-sovereign cur- rent as less than half of a sovereign by I grain.

W. Tate, in ' Modern Cambist,' eleventh ed. 1862, p. 4, after giving "5 Dwts. 3JH Grains " as the full weight of a sove- reign, says :

" The Sovereign, when less in weight than 5 Dwts. 2| Grains, or the Half Sovereign, when its weight is less than 2 Dwts. 13^ Grains, has no legal currency."