Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/37

 10 s. VIIL JULY is, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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purged of its dross and reduced to a roughly rectangular shape under the steam hammer. The ' N.E.D.' quotes O.E. bloma from Wright- Wiilcker's ' Vocabulary,' but gives no instance in Middle-English. The word occurs in ' Mirk's Festial ' (E.E.T.S., 1905), of the beginning of the fifteenth century, where, 80/24, devils are said to cast at St. Brendan " blomes of brennyng yerne," i.e., lumps. H. P. L.

NEWPORT, ESSEX. When revisiting New- port on 18 May I observed that the ancient Lepers' Hospital outside the village, and near the fine old inn, " The Coach and Horses," still happily intact has this year been demolished by Mr. Carl Meyer, of Shortgrove. I saw the old materials and oak beams and joists lying piled together near the site. I was informed that during the destruction the skeleton of a man, of great size, was found near the foundations : this was, at the instance of the vicar, reinterred in consecrated ground. Another relic of ancient Newport, the " Hercules " Inn, was destroyed by fire in 1905. The Hospital is referred to in Wright's ' Essex ' at some length : it was originally founded in the time of King John. The so-called Nell Gwyn house is standing, and externally is still untouched. The vanishing of the old Hospital should be mentioned in


 * N. & Q.' W. H. QUARBELL.

" MINK " : ITS MEANING. In a recent law case some curiosity was aroused as to the meaning of the word " mink," used by one of the parties in a letter, apparently in a depreciatory sense, the " mink " in a country-house party being proposed to be relegated to a barn. None of the counsel nor the judge was able to explain the word. I suggest that it is a contraction of the Italian minchione, a simpleton, blockhead (fool), according to the dictionaries; but how the word found its way into the English language I am unable to explain.

JOHN HEBB.

[Surely the word was a meaningless invention : many such are used and invented in particular circles.]

" SLINK " : " SLINKING." I do not find these words in the ' E.D.D.' " Slink " is that form of thin oilcloth that serves as the poor man's substitute for a white table- cloth. It is in everyday use in the Black- burn district of North-East Lancashire. It is customary, when inquiring for the material in the shops, to ask for so many yards of " slinking." ARTHUB MAY ALL.

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

SOUTHY'S AUTHENTIC MEMOIBS OF GEOBGE III. Is anything known of the author of the following book, which is not in the British Museum, the Bodleian, or the University Library, Cambridge ? ' 'Authentic Memoirs of our late Venerable and Beloved

Monarch, George the Third By Robert

Southy, Esq London. . . . 1820."

LEWIS MELVILLE.

PACKHOBSE CROOKS. Will any of your orrespondents kindly inform me where a pack-saddle fitted with long crooks can be seen, or a photograph of one be obtained ? The Torquay Natural History Museum possesses one with short crooks, and another with "pots." A direct reply will greatly oblige. T. N. BBUSHFIELD, M.D.

Salterton, Devon.

HAMILTON BROWN. Can any of your readers furnish biographical details or supply particulars of the career of Mr. Hamilton Brown, who was one of Byron's companions when he embarked at Genoa in July, 1823, to join the insurgent Greeks ? He was, I believe, the eldest son of Mr. Birnie Brown of Morpeth (a reputed son of one of the Dukes of Hamilton born at Dalserf, Lanarkshire, and died at Morpeth, 10 July, 1825, aged sixty) by his marriage with Catherine Grace (born at Dorking, 9 June, 1768), elder of the twin daughters and coheirs of John Cresswell of Cresswell by his wife Catherine Dyer, niece of Dyer the poet. J. C. HODGSON, F.S.A.

Alnwick.

LIBRARY IN ST. MARTIN'S STREET. In The Observer of 4 Dec., 1791, there is an advertisement on p. 4 of a subscription library at No. 36, St. Martin's Street, Leicester Square. It appears from the advertisement that the library had been removed from Greek Street. The names of the committee are given, and several well-known men appear in the list. Is anything more known of this library ?

R. B. P.

LIEUT.-COL. VALENTINE JONES-GRAEME.

I am anxious to have a few biographical

details of Valentine Jones (afterwards Jones- Graeme), who was educated at Eton and at Jesus College, Oxford, where he matricu-