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 ii s. i. MAR. ID, i9io.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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work of compilation placed in the hands of a small committee. It is anticipated that by the end of the present year we shall possess a fairly complete list of deceased Hertfordshire persons whose actions have made them worthy (in a broad sense) of inclusion in the volume, but the Committee desire the aid of individuals possessing local knowledge who will assist in recording what may be termed the lesser men and women whose deeds may be perpetuated in this manner. The only particulars required at present are : names in full, dates of birth and death, place in the county in which one or other of these events occurred (a lengthy residence alone might make inclusion per- missible), and qualifications, the last in detail. It may be stated in connexion with this that actions alone will be con- sidered. Accidents of birth, wealth, or local position are not grounds* for admission.

W. B. GERISH. Bishop's Stortford.

RUSKIN SOCIETY OF LONDON. About 1885 this Society advertised in The Athenceum, offering a prize for an essay on John Ruskin as a Social Reformer. The Society was in existence in November, 1886, Mr. A. Gibson being the Hon. Treasurer. Can any information be given as to this Society, which, I assume, is now defunct ? What was the nature and what were the objects of the Society ? Who were its members, and how long did it exist ?

J. J. FREEMAN.

JOHNSON AND HIS CIRCLE. Will any one give me a list of books concerning Samuel Johnson ? Boswell's ' Life l and ' Journey,* of course, are known to me. As far as possible, I should like to know of contem- porary Lives, memoirs, and essays dealing with Johnson or with any of his friends or those who were in his circle, e.g., Garrick, Foote, Hume, Thrale, &c. Please reply direct. ALLAN Y. ANNAND.

13, Park Terrace, South Shields.

[A Bibliography of works used by Dr. Birkbeck ill will be found in the last volume of his anno- tated edition of Boswell's 'Lite.' We do not, however, think it advisable to fill our pages with knowledge which is fairly accessible to students.]

SPEAKER PELHAM. Mr. Henry Pelham, member for Grantham, was chosen Speaker on 27 July, 1647, on the withdrawal of Speaker Lenthall ; and on 6 August the late Speaker was restored by the Army. There s no notice of Henry Pelham either in Manning's * Lives of the Speakers l or in the

' Dictionary of National Biography l ; but his parentage is set forth in ' Lines Pedi- grees,* Harl. Soc., p. 766.

Can any one add to the facts of his life there recorded ? Did he ever marry ? When did he die ? In the returns to Parlia- ment of 1642 he is described as of Belvoyre, which is evidently the Earl of Rutland's Belvoir, near Grantham ; but I have been unable to find any special association beyond friendship, or any relationship with Earl Thomas, unless it is implied that he stood as nominee, and therefore was described as of his patron's castle.

ALFRED C. E. WELBY.

26, Sloane Court, S.W.

SIR T. BROWNE ON OLYBIUS'S LAMP. Can any one explain the allusion in the following ?

"Let him have the key of thy heart who hath the lock of his own, which no temptation can open ; where thy secrets may lastingly lie, like the lamp in Olybius's urn, alive and light, but close and invisible." Sir T. Browne, 'Christian Morals,' Part III. sect. 18.

A. H. J.

AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED. Who is the author of the following lines, quoted by Dr. Tupper in ' Sensation in Vegetables, 2 1820 ?

Each moss,

Each shell, each crawling insect, holds a rank Important in the plan of Him who fram'd This scale of beings ; holds a rank which, lost, Would break the chain, and leave behind a gap Which Nature's self would rue.

H. K. ELLACOMBE. Bitton Vicarage, Bristol.

With a gathering sound they come, Like a king in his pomp : with the sound of the

tronip, And the roar of the mighty drum.

R. P. H.

A rose, a lily, a dove, a serpent,

A little honey, and a handful of clay.

S. S.

"MOTHER OF FREE PARLIAMENTS." By whom, and when, was this descriptive phrase first applied to the British Parliament ?

POLITICIAN.

BRITISH BARROWS : GREENWELL COLLEC- TION. In 1877 the Rev. William Green- well published his ' British Barrows,' record- ing the opening of 234 sepulchral mounds in six counties. Subsequently he examined 61 more, and recorded the results in a paper read before the Society of Antiquaries on 17 Jan., 1889, and 23 Jan., 1890, and re- printed in vol. Hi. of Archceologia.