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NOTES AND QUERIES. pi 8. XL FEB. 20, 1915.

common differ out of all ordinary proportion in their assessed value; e.g., Kyffin in 1253 was valued at two marks, and in 1291 at twelve marks; and so all through.

Can any reader of ' N. & Q.' tell me whether the great difference between these two almost contemporary documents has been explained, and where, or give me a clue as to how it can be explained ?

T. LLECHID JONES.

Yspytty Vicarage, Bettws-y-Uoed.

MB. VERNON, THE JACOBITE MERCER. I am anxious to obtain further information about this gentleman, who devised some 500 acres or so in Derbyshire and Cheshire to the first Lord Mansfield, and " whose only son (who predeceased him) had been a great friend of the future Earl when at West- minster " (G. E. C.'s ' Complete Peerage,' v. 217, note a). It was at his house in Cheapside or on Ludgate Hill that Murray was supposed to have toasted the Pretender. To save valuable space in ' N. & Q.,' I may say that I am familiar with the account of this incident given in Lord Campbell's ' Lives of the Chief Justices,' in Walpole's ' Memoirs of the Beign of George II.,' and in Walpole's ' Letters.'

I wish more particularly to ascertain the full names of both Vernons, senior and junior, and also the dates of their respective deaths.

G. F. B. B.

EDWARD SIMPSON, PREBENDARY or LINCOLN AND BECTOR OF PLUCKLEY, KENT. I should be glad to ascertain the dates and particulars of his two marriages, as well as the date and place of his death in 1651.

According to the ' D.N.B.,' lii. 269, his first wife was " the daughter of Bichard Barham of Kent." G. F. B. B.

TIMOTHY CONSTABLE. I shall be glad if any reader can give me any information relating to the ancestors of Timothy Con- stable, who married on 13 January, 1736/7, at St. James's Church, Westminster, Eliza- beth Hunting, and who was buried at Melforcl, Suffolk, in March, 1750.

CLIFFORD C. WOOLLARD.

OLD YORKSHIRE SONG.- Information is sought as to details of an amusing old Yorkshire song, believed to be called ' The Owl,' containing a line

Of all the gay birds that e'er I did see. . Also if it is still published.

J. LANDFEAR Glendora, Hindhead, Surrey.

ELLOPS (OR ELOPS) AND SCORPION. In Dr. Johnson's ' Plan of an English Dic- tionary ' he defends the inclusion of the names of species, and ends :

" Had Shakespeare had a dictionary of this kind, he had not made the woodbine entwine the honeysuckle ; nor would Milton with such assist- ance, have disposed so improperly of his ellops ajid tiis scorpion.''

The reference seems to be to lines 524 and 525 of the Tenth Book of ' Paradise Lost ':

Scorpion, and asp, and amphjsboena dire,

Cerastes horn'd, hydras, and elops drear.

The ' N.E.D.' gives " ellops," an obsolete word, of which the first meaning is a kind of serpent, and quotes the above passage. Latham's edition of Todd's ' Johnson ' does not include either " ellops " or " elops." In what way did Milton dispose improperly of these animals ? J. J.. FREEMAN.

Shepperton.

AUTHOR OF PARODY WANTED.

Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just ; And four times he who gets his fist in fust.

Who is the author of this ? Lucis.

DAY : FIELD : SUMNER : WHITTON. I desire information concerning the descend- ants of Charlotte, daughter of Sir Barry Denny, and wife of the Bev. John Day of co. Kerry.

Her eldest son, Thomas Denny, had issue as follows :

1. John Day, died in Australia.

2. Maurice Denny Day, 7th Hussars and 5th Dragoon Guards, b. 1825, m. 1855 Myra Lois, dau. of Bichard John Sutcliffe Mellin of Monkroyd, Pontefract (stepdaughter of Capt. Henley, 5th D. G.), and had, with other issue, a son, Maurice Ventry, b. 1863.

3. Agnes Day, m. first W. A. W. Field (or Edward Bulkely of Manchester) ; m. secondly John Sumner of Northendon, Man- chester.

4. Cherry Day, m. C. W. (or Thomas) Whitton of King's Inn, barrister.

Thomas Denny Day d. at Manchester in or about 1884. (Bev.) H. L. L. DENNY. 3, Lincoln Street, S.W.

MRS. MEER HASSAN ALI : ' OBSERVA- TIONS ON THE MUSSULMAUNS OF INDIA.'

This book was published in 1832 through Messrs. Parbury, Allen & Co., Leadenhall Street. Meer Hassan Ali appears to have been Assistant Teacher in Hindustani at the Military College, Addiscombe, about 1820, where he probably met his wife, an English lady. She lived with him for