Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/474

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NOTES AND QUERIES. m s. iv. DEC. 9, 1911.

of Belgium will be grateful for any informa- tion relating to those of its name in Scotland or Ireland.

JOHN DE COURCY MAC DONNELL, Chairman of Union Celtique,

Brussels.

EUGENE ARAM. I am preparing a monograph on the above, and have consulted all the authorities on the subject at any time mentioned in ' N. & Q.,' except (1) the MSS. of the inquests referred to at 11 S. ii. 105, and (2) the phrenological observa- tiDns on Eugene Aram's skull referred to at 6 S. xi. 131. These are not in the B.M. Catalogue, though the Museum is trying to get a copy. Did Spurzheim, who also ex- amined the skull, write any report on it ? No printed account I have seen gives the verdict at either inquest. The G.M., 1759, and the 1832 Richmond edition comment on this. No doubt the purchaser of lot 120 at Sotheby's sale could enlighten us.

Do any contemporary newspapers of 1759, over and above the following, refer to A ram: Universal Chronicle, Gazetteer and London Daily Advertiser, London Evening Post, Whitehall Evening Post, The Public Advertiser, The London Chronicle, and Read's Weekly Journal? I found nothing in the last, though it gave other circuit news.

As a barrister and LL.B. I can, of course, fully deal with all legal and medico-legal aspects of the ca.se, and hope to shed much new light on it. Does any one know where the family of Theakston (the coroner mentioned at 11 S. ii. 105) reside ? I should like to get in touch with them.

Direct replies will greatly oblige. I am aware that Eugene Aram's cranium is now in the R.C.S. Museum, next Thurtell's. I should be glad to hear of a copy of the Inglis pamphlet. ERIC R. WATSON.

45, Charlwood Street, S,W.

JAMES AUGUSTUS ST. JOHN was born in Carmarthenshire in 1801, and died in 1875. He was a journalist and miscellaneous author of repute, connected also with the foundation of the paper from which the present Court Journal sprang. I am engaged in writing his biography, and shall be exceedingly obliged for any personal details. Please reply direct. H. ROY DE LA HACHE.

24, Kenilworth Avenue, Wimbledon Park, S.W.

THE RATING OF CLERGY TO FIND ARMOUR. Some time about the middle of the six- teenth century the clergy were first ordered to provide armour and weapons for the militia,

but I cannot find the exact date. There are several references to the matter in ' The Life of Parker ' and ' The Parker Correspond- ence ' under the year 1568, when it seems to have been an innovation. The first assess- ment found for the diocese of Ely is dated 1570, and the last is dated 1636. These lists begin with the bishop and end with the poorest parish priest, giving the particular portion of a soldier's accoutrement which each was to find. Information is desired as to the origin of the usage, .and when it was discontinued. W. M. PALMER, M.D.

Linton, Cambs.

' THE CONVICT SHIP.' Verses under this heading, beginning,

Morn on the waters ! and purple and bright

Bursts on the billows the flushing of light.

O'er the glad waves, like a child of the sun,

See the tall vessel goes gallantly on ! were foiind recently in the papers of an Oxford scholar. Are they known ? and, if so, who wrote them ? HIPPOCLIDES.

EARLY ENGLISH BOOKBINDINGS. I am engaged in putting together some notes on this subject, and should be very glad to have particulars of any well-authenticated ex- amples of English stamped leather binding dating from, say, 1200 to 1450. The loan of any photographs or rubbings, for repro- duction, would also be welcome.

R. BURCH.

79A, Woodbridge Road, Guildford.

FELICIA HEMANS, who by many is thought to have been the greatest of our English female poets, died on 16 May, but in what year we have not ascertained. She was buried in Dublin, but we are not aware that any worthy monument was erected to her memory. Can these things be inter- preted to us, and our minds directed to a competent biography ? N. M. & A.

[The 'D.N.B.' states that Mrs. Hemans died in 1835. The bibliography appended mentions memoirs by her sister and Mr. W. M. Rossetti, besides H. F. Chorley's 'Memorials of Mrs. Hemans,' 1836, 2 vols.]

BEAUCLERK FAMILY. Topham Beauclerk, only son of Lord Sidney Beauclerk (St. Albans), was born December, 1739. Where was he baptized ? Where was his daughter, Lady Mary Beauclerk, baptized ? She was born probably 1766-70, and married Count Francis Jenison in 1797. Is anything known about Count Jenison' s first wife, Charlotte Josephine, daughter of Baron Cornet ? She was divorced between 1788 and 1796. Particulars wanted.

LEO C.