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NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. x. JULY is, 1914.

ROBERT BURTON'S SYMBOL. In his ex- tremely interesting little volume, ' Some Oxford Libraries,' Mr. Strickland Gibson says (p. 104) :

" In the Lower Library, preserved as a separate collection, are the books bequeathed to Christ Church by Robert Burton, the author of ' The

Anatomy of Melancholy' A portion of his library

is in the Bodleian Fortunately, for the most

part, they [' baggage books 'J have Burton's name or initials on their title-pages, and may thus readily be identified. A curious symbol, composed of three

r's, r r r, is also found in most of the books in all

they number about a thousand."

What is the key to this symbol ? I fancy the letters represent the three r's in his Christian name and surname. If this conjecture be correct, they would represent his monogram. J. B. McGovERN.

St. Stephen's Rectory, C.-on-M., Manchester.

[See the explanation by Mr. P. Henderson Aitken in The Athenceum of Aug. 24, 1912, p. 193.]

SIGNS OF CADENCY. I should like to know when heralds first began to use the signs of cadency ; and whether, in the fourteenth century, if you find a mullet imposed upon a coat of arms, you can be as sure as you would be, for instance, in the seventeenth, that the bearer was a third son. JOHN R. MAGRATH.

Queen's College, Oxford.

["Cadency" has been discussed at 4 S. viii. 12, 75, 175, 254 ; x. 44 ; 6 S. iii.. 80 ; 7 S. iii. 517 ; iv. 177, 353.]

ISAAC SAVAGE OF KINTBURY (1730-40). Can any of your readers give me any infor- mation on the following point ?

In a manuscript notebook of the Rev. Thomas Leman of Bath (1751-1826) the course of the Roman road from Speen to Bath is thus described : "Also from Spene to Wickham Chaple, from thence to Clapham high-raised with pollards on it. to a great ash tree, then to a new brick house built by Mr. Savage, thence thro' a wood called Winding Wood where it is visible with ditches on each side, thence thro' Rugeley Farm" [now Radley r arm].

The above description was probably taken by Leman from the manuscript notes of Smart Lethieullier (1701-60), for in an- other manuscript book, written by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, there is added the following note relative to Mr. Savage :

l? 1 i^ clearin8 tt lit $ le c PP ice to make a garden about 1/32 was obliged to remove an entire piece e bank [of the Roman road], where he found the strata of sand and gravel near the surface, and under them several layers of flints and great stones lam in a bed of mortar."

To this Sir Richard adds a reference to Smart Lethieullier MSS., p. 359."

Through the kindness of the Vicar of Kintbury, I have ascertained that Isaac Savage was " supervisor :! there in 1731 and 1740, and churchwarden in 1736. What I \\ ant to discover is, Where did he live ? It must have been either in Elgar's Farm or Orpenham Farm, or in one of the adjoining homesteads, all in the parish of Kintbury. The point is an important one, because it will determine the exact course of the Roman road, which cannot now be traced at this spot. I shall be glad to hear from any one who can throw any light on the matter. 6. G. S. CRAWFORD.

The Grove, East Woodhay, Newbury.

MARIA RIDDEIX AND BURNS. Messrs. Kerr & Richardson of Glasgow (in a Cata- logue of second-hand books issued about 1890) state, when advertising a copy of 'The Metrical Miscellany,' that

this volume was edited by Maria Riddell, to

whom Burns sent his own MS. copy of ' Tarn o' Shanter,' with a quotation beginning 'How gracefully Maria leads the dance.' "

I can find no confirmation of Burns having sent a copy of his ' Tarn o' Shanter ' to Maria Riddell, nor have I been able to trace the quotation attributed to him. Pos- sibly some of your readers may be able to assist me. HUGH S. GLADSTONE.

REV. JAMES THOMAS, c. 1819. I have a mezzotint engraving (10 in. by 9 in.) of the Rev. James Thomas, painted by I. Lonsdale, engraved by T. Lupton, London, published 1 July, 1819, by I. Lonsdale, Berners Street. The portrait is of a clergyman, aged about 60 to 70, wearing the usual clerical wig.

Who was he ? He does not appear in Phillips's ' Dictionary of Biographical Re- ference,' 1871, or in the 'Dictionary of National Biography.'

ROBERT PIERPOINT.

52, NEWGATE STREET, E.G. : A SCULP- TURED STONE. Can any reader of 'N. & Q.' inform me what became of a well-known stone embedded in the front of this house, which was pulled down in 1868 ? It seems hardly possible that a sculptured stone of some considerable merit should wantonly have been destroyed ; but although I have made a somewhat exhaustive search, I can find no trace of it. The stone is men- tioned in the ' Survey of London and Middle- sex,' vol. iii. pt. i. (Nightingale, 1815); by John W. Archer, 1851, in ' Vestiges of Old London ' ; and in ' The History of Signboards,' by Larwood and Hotten, 1866. The two