Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/293

 ii s. m. APRIL i5,i9ii.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

287

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.

NELSON AND THE VICTORY. Can any of your readers refer me to a poem or verses on the .subject of the bringing back to England the body of Nelson after the battle of Trafalgar ? Reply direct to

LIONEL G. ROBINSON. Reform Club, S.W.

JOSIAH CHORLEY. The late Prof. Cosmo Innes in his preface to the * Munimenta Alme Universitatis Glasguensis,' pp. xxii, xxiii, speaks of Josiah Chorley, an English non-conformist student, who entered the University of Glasgow in 1672 :

" His account of his sojourn at Glasgow shall be given in his own words, as found in a little note- book which he entitles ' Chorle*yana, or a Register commemorating some of the most remarkable pas- sages of God's providence towards me from my

nativity, by Josiah Chorley': I am indebted to

Prof. Fleming for calling my attention to an extract from this journal, which appeared in the preface to a work published anonymously by Messrs. Longmans in 1827- Through the kindness of Mr. Thomas Longman I was enabled to discover the author, and I take this opportunity of expressing my great obligation to Mr. W. Bennet of Chapel le Frith, Derbyshire, for the courteous and liberal permission he has granted me of using this curious journal. He informs me that the Volumes came into his hands among the papers of a near relative, the Rev. William Bennet, who was formerly minister of the Independent Chapel at the Pavement in London, an accomplished and highly educated man, and very fond of literary reliques of this kind."

I wish to ascertain the name of the " work published anonymously," and the present whereabouts of Chorley' s manuscript journal. P. J. ANDERSON.

Aberdeen University Library.

WALL CHURCHES AT BRISTOL. On the western circuit of the wall of mediaeval Bristol a distance of rather more than a quarter of a mile there stood no fewer than five churches : St. Nicholas's over the Southern Gate, St. Leonard's over the Western Gate, St. Giles's over Small Street Gate on the north-west, St. John's over the northern gate, and St. Lawrence's touching St. John's Tower on the west. Of these the only one now remaining is that of St. John, the tower and spire of which stand over the arch at the foot of Broad Street. Of these churches. St. Nicholas's and St. Leonard's were in existence before 1153, and St. John's before 1193.

This custom of perching churches over gateways, or on a town wall, does not seem to have been common in England ; at any rate I can find no other instance where churches were thus systematically ranged on a wall. Is there any district abroad where the arrangement is usual ? The point may be of some importance, for hardly anything is really known about the history of Bristol before the reign of Henry II., and if it could be shown that at some particular period there was connexion between Bristol and some foreign region where this custom was in use, we might have a clue to the date of the building of the wall to the west of the borough. The motive for placing the churches on the wall may have been that of economy of space. The little borough was shut in by the Frome on the north and west, by the Avon on the south, and after the time of Geoffrey, Bishop of Constance, by the Castle on the east, so that every yard of ground must have been of value.

C. S. TAYLOR. Banwell, Somerset.

SIR WALTER SCOTT'S POET ANCESTOR. Can any one tell me the title and name of a Scottish peer who flourished and wrote verse in the earlier years, of the seventeenth century and was, in the female line, an ancestor of Sir Walter Scott ? I have seen a pedigree showing this, and am aware that a collection of his verses has been printed, I think in a folio volume. ASTARTE.

BLACK BANDSMEN IN THE ARMY. Can any reader versed in military matters throw light on this subject ? It appears that when it was fashionable for ladies to have a black page, it was the custom to have black drummers in military bands. With regard to the first, there will occur at once, as an instance, the celebrated picture where Dr. Johnson is waiting for an interview with Lord Chesterfield, or the revival of ' The School for Scandal,' where, in accordance with fashionable custom, Lady Teazle was accompanied by a black page. With regard to the second, we can see in the King's Library, British Museum (maps, 100 d. 5), 'A View of the Court Yard, and Part of St. James's Palace, London, with the Relief of the Guard.' There is a band of eight, headed by a drum-major. Some of the instruments are, to say the least, very curious. At the rear are a boy drummer and a diminutive triangle player, followed by fifteen fifers and drummers, headed by thred blacks in the same uniform, but wearing