Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/138

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. i. FEB. 12, 1910.

that their house would catch fire. Of course, I do not believe in this superstition in the least, but one year some way or other the fragment that we had saved was accidentally burnt. Bather strangely, our chimney caught fire the same year. If it had not been quickly extin- guished it might have become more serious. I might add that instead of Yule Log my grand- father called it the Christmas Braun. I have never heard it called that by any person outside this parish. The log burnt well, and we could not sit with comfort within two yards of it that night. I remember well a very large one that we had several years ago. It was so large that it burnt all the rest of the week."

Is the superstition here noted generally entertained in regard to the Yule Log ? and does not " Christmas Braun " suggest " Christmas Brand n ? DUNHEVED.

PRESS YARD IN OLD NEWGATE PRISON. Although there are two elaborate works dealing with Newgate Prison, neither of them gives a clear account of the various structural alterations that took place during the eighteenth century. The gate itself, which spanned Newgate Street and was part of the prison, was erected in the reign of Charles II. after the Great Fire. In addition to the gate there was a block of buildings on the south side of Newgate Street, stretching down the Old Bailey in the direction of the Sessions House. It was in this portion of the prison, on the east side presumably, adjoining Phoenix Court, that the Press Yard was situated a narrow passage, 54 ft. long by 7 ft. in width, with a set of apartments on each of the three stories for those prisoners who could afford to pay for special accommodation. On 8 Sept., 1762, most of the rooms belonging to the Press Yard were consumed by fire. From Boswell's account of this catastrophe it would appear that these rooms were in " the brick part built as an addition to the old gaol." The fire must have caused Mr. Akerman, the governor, much inconvenience, but I can find no record of the building being restored. Howard, however, writing in 1777, speaks of since for condemned malefactors " being used still for the same purpose. Little is known of the state of the gaol from the time of the fire in 1762 until the foundation stone of the new prison was laid in 1770 The building does not seem to have been finished until 1778, and though the interior was burnt out during the riots of 1780, the facade and main structure, allowing for minor alterations, remained virtually the same until its final demolition. Can any one give information respecting the plan
 * ' the cells built in old Newgate a few years

and architecture of the gaol from 1762 to .770, and explain how the prisoners were

accommodated during the reconstruction

between the years 1770 and 1778 ? The rate itself cannot have been used as a prison ater than 1767, for in that year it was pulled

down. HORACE BLEACKLEY.

CAPT. BROOKE AND SIR JAMES BROOKE. ! wish to learn something of the paternal "elatives of Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak. His father was Thomas Brooke of the East India Co.'s Civil Service, Bengal.

ilis grandfather was Brooke of -.

3is great-grandfather was " Capt. Brooke " of.

By his mother Rajah Brooke belonged to he family of Sir Thos. Vyntner or Vintner,

L.ord Mayor of London in. One of

Sir Thos. Vintner's descendants married any descendant (grandson ?) of the Rev. Win. Brooke, then Rajah Brooke is one of
 * his Capt. Brooke, and it is of Capt. Brooke
 * hat I wish to hear. For if Capt. Brooke was
 * he most curious examples of the persistence

of family peculiarities that can be found. Can readers of ' N. & Q.' help me ?

WM. MTJIR.

[Have you consulted the work on Sir James Brooke just published by Messrs. Sptheran, 'A History of Sarawak under its Two White Rajahs ' ':]

'THE BOOK OF OATHS.'

(11 S. i. 82.) MAY I supplement the information so interestingly given by R. S. B. ?

The second edition appeared, not in 1715, but in 1689, in 8vo. The title is the same as that of 1649 as far as the two Scriptural texts, which are omitted, and the publishers are different :

" London, | Printed for H. Twyford, T. Basset, B. Griffin, | C. Harper, T. Sawbridge, S. Keble, G. Col | lius, J. Place, M. Wotton, and are to | be Sold in Fleetstreet and Holborn. 1689." The text is practically the same, with the addition of 41 oaths not comprised in the former edition. I have not attempted to classify them, but among the more interest- ing may be mentioned the Coronation Oaths of Charles II., James II., and William and Mary ; oaths and declarations required by the penal laws ; those to be taken by the Warden and Assistants of the Worsted Weavers or master weavers in the city of Norwich and county of Norfolk (13 and 14 Car. II. cap. 5) ; the manufacturers of