Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/280

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NOTES AND QUERIES. tn s. xn. OCT. 2, 1915.

folks' insides," a power derived from licking his finger when scalded by serpent's broth, which a magician bade him brew, but forbade him to taste. The story recalls the common folk-tale of the midwife who, when bidden to anoint the eyes of her new-born fairy charge, touches her own also with the magic ointment, and straight- way beholds sights otherwise hidden from mortal ken.

After Neis the members of the family decline in picturesqueness, though James Ramsay I., when little more than a lad, so distinguished him- self on 28 November, 1666, at Bullion Green, or the Battle of the Pentland Hills, that Charles II. conferred a baronetcy, not on the young soldier, but on his father Gilbert. Here and there we touch on noteworthy events or famous names not always in any close connexion with the Ram- say family. Thus in 1559 there is an allusion to monastic buildings lately " destroyed by fire," the work of the zealous Reformers of Perth; and a grant to one of the Crawfords dated 3 July, 1561, is made out in the joint names of King Francis and Queen Mary, though Francis II. of France had died on 5 December of the preceding year. The editor suggests that Mary, who landed six weeks after the date of this charter, brought with her the tidings of her husband's death, an almost incredible instance of the tardy transmission of news. It is easier to suppose that there may be some slip in the dating of the document itself a copy in Sir James's collection.

The most generally valuable of the Bamff charters are written in the Scots vernacular ; one of these, a " decreet arbitral " about the marches of Woodrae, has the astonishingly early date of 1388, when a corresponding document south of the Tweed would assuredly have been couched in French or Latin. We gain passing glimpses of household life in the marriage contract of 1482, where provision is made for filling a bed- tick (mattress), and in two very instructive in- ventories : one of the goods and gear of Alexander Ramsay, who died about 1535, showing the poverty- struck condition of a laird of those days; and another of the effects of Master Samuel Ramsay, minister at Montrose, showing the com- parative ease and affluence of his great-grandson. "The laird's " hall," says Sir James, " was furnished with a table of boards laid on trestles, with forms to sit on. There is also one chair with two cushions, and an almery or cupboard for holding provisions, also table linen. The kitchen utensils include a big ' beef-pot ' (for holding salt beef), a spit for roasting, ' girnels ' for meal and malt, and all requisites for brewing beer. But there is not a word of churn or cheese-press, and the farm utensils do not comprise a milk-pail. Oatmeal porridge washed down with home-brewed beer must have been the staple diet. The plough is drawn by a yoke of oxen.'' Some of the items are of great interest. The " pouset " must be the " jjosnet " of Southern inventories; a " midling pann ' must be one of middle size, since it is associated with " mekle " and " small " specimens : probably these terms referred to well-knowii standard sizes. The meaning of " gyle-fattis " is uncertain. Among the minister's effects are ane the historie of Abrahame feasting the angells, the uther of the historie of Isaak and Jacob " ; "twentie four serwits " (serviettes), and " thrie JSbrowa hams."
 * ' twa great tables, wrocht weill in Holland, the

There is an aristocratic touch about the name- index, where precedency slightly overrides mere alphabetical sequence in the matter of Christian names. We could wish Sir James had furnished us with a glossary, but still more do we wish for the good of British social history that other families of long descent would turn out their deed chests, and see to it that the documents are edited with the care Sir James has bestowed on the
 * Bamff Charters.'

bituarg.

MR. JOHN TAVENOR-PERRY.

The Daily Telegraph of Saturday, 25 September, contained a notice of Mr. John Tavenor-Perry, who died at his residence, 5, Burlington Gardens, Chiswick. An architect by profession, Mr. Tave- nor-Perry was also an enthusiastic antiquary, and was especially interested in London remains, as may be seen from his contribution^ recorded in the General Index to the Tenth Series of ' N. Q.' Besides writing articles in various antiquarian magazines, he edited the ' Memorials of Old Middlesex.' He also published volumes on 'The Mediaeval Antiquities of the County of Durham,' ' An Account of the Priory of St. Martin's, Dover,' and ' A Chronology of Mediseval and Renaissance Architecture.'

WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately, nor can we advise correspondents as to the valiu of old books and other objects or as to the means c disposing of them.

To secure insertion of communications corre- spondents must observe the following rules. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. When answer- ing queries, or making notes with regard to previous entries in the paper, contributors are requested to put in parentheses, immediately after the exact heading, the series, volume, and page or pages to which they refer. Correspondents who repeat queries are requested to head the second com- munication " Duplicate."

MR. JOHN T. PAGE. Forwarded.

T. RATCLIFPE (' Lord Chesterfield's Advice to his Son '). First issued in 2 vols. 4 to, 1774. A fifth edition, in 4 vols. 8vo, appeared within a year. See the article on Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, in the 'Diet. Nat Biog,'

OUR correspondent MR. HUGH SADLER possesses an odd volume of the First Edition of the ' D. N. B.' (1886), vol. v. (Bicheno Bottisham), which he picked up (the only one they possessed).at a small shop at Brompton, in 1913. He thinks it possible there may be some set of the work from which this volume has strayed, and if the owner of a set thus defective will make himself known, he offers to hand the volume over to him to complete the set. The copy in question is in good condition, though it has evidently seen some use. but bears nothing to indi- cate to whom it belonged.