Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/75

 ii s. in. JAN. 28, MIL] NOTES AND QUERIES.

69

F 3. What improvements, if any, were introduced in the construction of ships-of- war between 1714 and 1727 ? AITCHO.

[The second and third queries are too technical for discussion in our columns. We should advise application to Prof. Sir J. K. Laughton, the Secre- tary of the Navy Records Society, King's College, Strand, W.C.]

BEATRIX GORDON=ROBERT ARBUTHNOT. I should be very grateful if any one could tell me who was the father of Beatrix Gordon. She married Robert Arbuthnot of Scots Mills, and was the grandmother of the celebrated Dr. John Arbuthnot. Both she and her husband are buried in the churchyard of St. Fergus, about six miles from Peterhead. I have been informed that she was the daughter of Robert Gordon of Pitlurg, but I cannot see any mention of her in that pedigree.

CECIL LISTER KAYE.

Denby Grange, Wakefield.

BIRD QUOTATIONS. I shall be glad to learn the authors of the following :

1. Speckled, mellow-throated thrush.

2. Sweet thrush, whose wild untutored strain.

3. Farewell, sweet bird ! Thou still hast been (willow

warbler).

4. Each spangled back (sunbird).

5. Welcome, dear swallow, to thy well-known nest-

6. As I was walking all alone, I heard two corbies.

7. Say, weary bird, whose level flight (crow).

8. Thou shrill proclaimer of the lonely hour (owl).

M. SEATON.

[6. A well-known ballad, 'The Twa Corbies,' first printed in Scott's ' Minstrelsy ']

SWALLOW IN GREEK CAROL. Who was the translator into English of the following Greek carol ?

The swallow, the swallow, she does with her bring, Soft seasons, &c.

M. SEATON.

entitled ' Farewell to the Swallows,' attri- buted to Thomas Hood, was referred some twelve years ago to Canon Ainger, who expressed great dubiety that Hood was its author. It would be gratifying to know by whom it was written if not by Hood. The first stanza begins :
 * FAREWELL TO THE SWALLOWS.' A poem

Swallows sitting on the eaves, See ye not the falling leaves ? See ye not the gathered sheaves ? Farewell !

T. F. DWIGHT. La Tour de Peilz, Vaud,' Switzerland.

BAGDAD. Has the Iranian or Old Persian origin of the name of Bagdad, first advanced by Fr. Spiegel (author of ' Eranische Alter- tumskunde,' 3 vols., 1871), as stated by Isaac Taylor in his * History of Place-Names ' (1898), i.e. = " God's Gift," derived from Zend or Old Persian Bagha = Sanskrit or Old Indian Bhaga, denoting divine power, and d<2d=gift, been generally accepted ? The Old Slavonic name and word for God, Bog, which is preserved in all Slavonic languages of the present time, has also been found to be originally akin to the Zend and Sanskrit name of divine power -Bagha and Bhaga. Cf. Uhlenbeck's 'Alt-Indisches Worterbuch' (1899), p. 193. H. KREBS.

ADDERS' FAT AS A CURE FOR DEAFNESS. A man employed as a navvy on the line from Tunbridge Wells to Brighton kills adders in the season on the railway banks, and extracts their fat, which is in demand as a cure for deafness. " One lady " (in her gratitude) " gave him quite a lot o' money." I have heard the same specific vaunted among the peasantry of East Suffolk. Can any reader tell me whether the belief is ancient, and also whether there is any ground for supposing the ointment really efficacious ?

SCRUTATOR.

JACOBUS CLERK'S name appears in a Bible of about the middle or end of the seven- teenth century. The family was subse- quently connected with the South of Ireland. His eldest son was probably named John. Has any reader come across the name in pedigrees of English Clarkes ?

R. S. CLARKE, Major.

Bishop's Hall, Taunton.

COL. OAKES AND QUEEN CAROLINE'S FUNERAL. Can any of your readers inform me where I can find particulars respecting Col. Oakes, who commanded a squadron of the 1st Life Guards employed to suppress the riot at the funeral of Queen Caroline in 1821 ? I believe that on this occasion he shot a man dead, and was in consequence cashiered ; but, later, an attempt was made to reinstate him in his former position. When this was found to be impracticable, he received a vote of thanks for the effectual manner in which he had prevented a riot, and was appointed to the Chief Constableship of Norfolk. I should be very glad to learn if these facts are correct, or to know where any details respecting his action in this matter can be found. (Mrs.) A. M. W. STIRLING,

30, Launceston Place, Palace Gate, W.