Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/20

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. x. JULY *. 191*.

another cheerful wayside hostelry, found its occupation gone ; what was left standing of the house was turned into labourers' cottages, and the extensive stabling devoted to farm purposes. Its isolated, desolate situation must have made it doubly welcome to the half-frozen outside passenger, whose twenty-mile drive over the -N"orth Oxfordshire downs enabled him to regard the blazing fire and good old English cheer which awaited him with feelings which may well be envied by the modern occupant of an artificially heated railway carriage."

" As for the chapel, which gave the place its name, it belonged to the Priory of Cold Norton . . . .ami was intended for the use of the laity ; the site of the Priory is marked by the Priory Farm, half-a-mile to the east ; while a further relic of the foundation is to be found in the Priory mill, more than a mile to the north. This Priory of Augustinian canons was founded in the twelfth century by William Fitzalan, lord of Chipping Norton, ' to the honour of God, St. Mary, St. John the Evangelist, and St. Giles.' After the death of the last Prior, in 1496, the foundation died out, and its estates were bestowed by Henry VII. on the Convent of St. Stephen at Westminster. From this house they were soon after purchased by William Smyth, Bishop of Lincoln, and given by him to his new foundation of Brasenose Col- lege, in whose possession they still remain."

A. R. BAYLEY.

Chapel House is 72J miles from Marble Arch, almost midway between Woodstock and Shipston. In the 1824 edition of Paterson's ' Roads ' the name of the inn there is given as " Shakespeare's Head/' Modern maps mark an inn at the cross-roads, but, though I have ridden past it many times. I cannot now say that I remember it.

C. B. WHEELER.

Chapel House is near Chipping Norton and the inn mentioned was probably an old coaching house called " The Silent Woman," now converted into several cottages. Chapel House will be found on the Oxfordshire Ordnance Survey Map. WM. JAGGARD.

FA. C. C., MR. WILLIAM MERGER, and MR. WM. H. PEET also thanked for replies.]

TIPPOO SAHIB'S STICK (US. ix. 408, 477). A stick formerly belonging to Tippoo Salu'b is in the possession of some members of my family in Hampshire. It is built up of alternate lengths of ivory and ebony, and has a crutch handle consisting of an ivory tusk about 5 in. long. It was given to my great-grandfather, Rear-Admiral Henry Stuart, R.N., by his uncle, Lieut. -General James Stuart, who commanded the Bombay army at the siege and capture of Seringa- pat am in May, 1799. This officer was formerly in the Seaforth Highlanders, of which regiment he became Colonel -in -Chief.

He was also Commander-in-Chief of the Madras army.

I believe this stick has no inscription on it, and, as far as I know, it has never been exhibited. EVAN W. H. FYERS.

Wellington Club, S.W.

" BLIZARD " AS A SURNAME (11 S. ix. 290, 396, 437, 456). The name of Blezard is also found in Westmorland ; the author of 'Original Westmorland Songs' was T. Blezard, who resided near Windermere about 1858. The above work, of which I have seen only part i., related chiefly to scenes and incidents in the districts of Kendal and Windermere, and contained notes and a glossary of the local words to be found in the songs.

ARCHIBALD SPARKE, F.R.S.L.

While the owners of this name are not numerous, they are fairly well distributed over the North American continent. Here are a few of the cities where they are to be found :

Atlanta, Atlantic City, Baltimore, Boston, Brooklyn, Camden, Columbus, Dayton, Den- ver, Des Moines, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Louisville, Montreal, Xew York, Philadelphia, Portland (Oregon), Richmond, Rochester, Salt Lake City, Scranton, Seattle, Spokane, Toledo, Toronto, Washington. JOHN E. NORCROSS.

Brooklyn, U.S.

MISSIONARY SHIP DUFF (11 S. ix. 410, 457, 512). The following may be more acces- sible works on the above subject : Cousins, ' The Story of the South Seas ' ; Stead, ' Captain James Wilson ' ; Home, ' Story of the London Missionary Society.' I have obtained these references from a little book lately published by the S.P.G. entitled ' Yarns of the South Sea Pioneers,' pp. 13-20.

W. R. B. PRIDEAUX.

ALEXANDER STRAHAN (11 S. ix. 490). Mr. Strahan, the publisher, was born about 1830, and is, I believe, still living. He had no connexion with the Moxon business, although he succeeded that firm as the publisher of Tennyson's works. Mr. Strahan gave some account of his career, under the title of ' Twenty Years of a Publisher's Life,' in a magazine entitled The Day of Rest, published by himself during 1881. It was announced in 1882 as to appear in volume form by Messrs. Chatto & Windus, but it was never issued. See also ' A Great Publisher from the North of Scotland ' (Alexander Strahan), Inverness Courier, 20 Dec., 1903, and an article by Mr. Sfcrahan on