Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/121

 ii s. VIIL AUG. 9, IBIS.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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birth and death of Rebecca, and the year o the last child's birth, are not stated.

A list of the " passengers on board the Wellington from Madras to London in about 1830 " is probably given in the ' Shipping Reports ' published annually in ' The Ceylon Almanac.' I am writing to Colombo to ascertain whether there is such a list to be found. PENRY LEWIS.

OAK TREES IN A GALE (US. viii. 49). Trees grow towards the prevalent wind of the district in which they find themselves ; that is, the wind is largely the proximate cause of the angle at which they stand, and the criterion of their development. Their inherent strength and their peculiarities of form are in considerable measure due to their successful resistance of storm and tem- pest. The tre'es at the edge of a thicket, owing to continuous exposure, are those that have the best hold of the ground. When from any cause a breach has been made in the rampart presented by these, the wind readily makes havoc with the dependent and less stable forces in the rear. Some twenty years ago, or more, a violent gale from an unusual direction blew down thousands of trees throughout Scotland, com- pletely changing the appearance of the land- pe in many places. In this case the assailant easily made victims by attacking on the weak side.

HUMBUG (11 S. viii. 49). In one of his discursive essays De Quincey writes sug- gestively and .vigorously of humbug. Un- fortunately, at the moment memory fails to recall the particular theme into " which the essayist introduces the entertaining digression, and the indexes to Messrs. Black's edition of the Works give no help. But it may be profitable for the querist to follow up this slight clue. He may also find it useful to examine Ferdinando Killi- grew's ' The Universal Jester,' c. 1740, being, as it is described, " a choice collection of bon-mots and humbugs." Brewer has a paragraph on the term in his ' Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.' THOMAS BAYNE.

John Carnden Hotten published in 1866 "The Humbugs of the World,' by P. T. Barnum. WYNN WESTCOTT.

"HE" IN GAME OF "TOUCH" (11 S vii 449 ; viii. 34). When I was a lad a game Called Hunt the Devil to Highgate " was mU i Cl V n v lie - "He." as he ran, was flicked with the ends of moistened pocket- handkerchiefs. CECIL CLARKE

ELLIS WALKER (11 S. viii. 29). Ellis Walker, son of Oswald Walker, born in York, educated in Dublin tinder Mr. Ryder (afterwards, 1693-6, Bishop of Killaloe), matriculated at Trinity College, Dublin, 12 December, 1677, aged 16; Was elected Scholar 1679, and became B.A. 1682. He subsequently obtained the degree of D.D., the date of which is not recorded. His will (dated 16 July, 170t; proved in the Pre- rogative Court, Ireland, by his widow, 4 November, 1701) is endorsed "Testamentu' orile Ellis Walker nuper de Droghedagh S.T.D. dfti. 1701." He is described therein as "of the ToWne of Drogheda Doctor," and mentions his wife Elizabeth Walker, his son-in-law Peregrin Gastrell, his brother Nicholas Brown, and his mother Ann Walker. The seal is not heraldic, but he is apparently identical with Dr. Walker, school- master of Drogheda, for whom William Hawkins, Ulster King of Arms (1698-1736), recorded the arms. Argent, a lion rampant sable, a crescent for difference. Crest, a lion's head erased or, gorged with a laurel wreath proper. G. D. B.

HEBREW OR ARABIC PROVERB (11 S. viii. 30). This proverb appears in Ray's collec- tion (London, 1818) in Hebrew, thus : " The camel, going to seek horns, lost his ears." ALFRED CTIAS. JONAS.

THE MILLER OF HUNTINGDON (US. viii. 30). The meaning of Spedding's note ' Grancester in Res." in ' The Letters and the Life of Francis Bacon,' vol. iv. p. 137, is that in the collection of Bacon's pieces edited by William Rawley With the title Resuscitatio,' &c., first ed., 1657, the etter to Toby Matthew of 10 Oct., 1609, has ' the miller of Grancester." In Spedding's edition the letter is printed from a MS. The village of Grantchester, two and a half miles from Cambridge, with its Water-mill, the property of Merton College. Oxford, is as appropriate a place as Huntingdon to have been the home of a miller in a proverb or anecdote familiar to Bacon while an undergraduate.

AUTHOR OF QUOTATION WANTED (11 S. v. 108 ; vii. 475). The same " thought stolen from Cato " is expressed in the con- cluding lines of ' The Church Porch,' in George Herbert's ' Temple ' :

If thou do ill, the joy fades, not the pains : If well, the pain doth fade, the joy remains. See ' N. & Q.,' 11 S. iv. 356.

EDWARD BENSLY.