Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/16

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii 8. v. JAN. e, 1912.

profession, such as Miss Arnold was at this time?

I shall be most obliged to any readers who can assist me in my quest.

LIONEL CRESSWELL.

The Hall, Burley-in-Wharfedale.

DECORATED SHOE-HORNS BY R. MIN- DUM. In the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Second Series, vol. vii. pp. 121-2 (1877), Sir John Evans publishes notes on three shoe-horns bearing dates 1593, 1600, and 1604, and inscriptions showing that they were made by one " Robart Mindum." Another, in the Saffron Walden Museum, is inscribed round the edge, " Robart Mindum made this shooing-horn for Bridget Dearsley, 1605." The decorations are carried out in dots and incised lines, into which some dark substance has been worked. The crowned Tudor rose is the principal orna- ment employed in the last specimen.

Who or what Robart Mindum may have been was not known to Sir J. Evans, who states that the above three were the only decorated specimens of the period which he had been able to trace.

I should be glad to know if any light has been cast on the matter since 1877, and also to hear of any other signed or dated speci- mens of English make.

GTTY MAYNARD.

The Museum, Saffron Walden.

DEAN SWIFT AND THE REV. GERY.

In the ' Journal to Stella,' Letter XL VI., p. 28, vol. iii. of the 'Works of Swift,' edited by Sir Walter Scott, 1824, Swift writes :

May 10th, 1712.

Did I tell you that young Parson Gery is going to be married, and asked my advice when it was too late to break off ?

And at p. 78 of same volume, Letter LVIL, Swift continues :

London, Dec. 18, 1712."*""

Lord-Keeper promised me yesterday the first convenient living to poor Mr. Gery, who is married, and wants some addition to what he has. He is a very worthy creature, &c.

In vol. xix. p. 336, there is a rather long letter from the Dean to. Vanessa. It is sent from " Upper Letcomb', near Wantage, in Berkshire," and addressed to Mrs. Esther Vanhomrigh, 8 June, 1714. Here are a few sentences :

" I have been a week settled in the house where I am.... I am at a clergyman's house, an old friend and acquaintance, whom I love very well.

We dine exactly between twelve and one;

at eight we have some bread and butter, and a glass of ale, and at ten he goes to bed. Wine is a stranger, except a little I sent him, of which

one evening in two, we have a pint between us .... I give a guinea a-week for my board, and can eat anything."

Has Mr. Gery ever been identified, or i& anything known about him ?

I cannot trace a reference to the name in any of the ten General Indexes of ' N. & Q., 1 numerous as are the entries under Swift. FREDK. CHARLES WHITE.

26, Arran Street, Cardiff.

SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT'S ' ENTER- TAINMENT AT RUTLAND HOUSE.' In ' N. & Q.' for 20 March, 1858 (2 S. v. 231), MR. RAYMOND DELACOURT made an inquiry regarding Sir William Davenant'a ' Entertainment at Rutland House,' &c., and quoted a description of the scene "from a con- temporaneous MS." MR. DELACOURT further stated that " five shillings a head was the charge for admission, and 400 persons were expected, but we learn that there appeared no more than 150 auditors."

Can any one furnish me with information respecting the MS. referred to ?

WATSON NICHOLSON. 20, Gordon Square, W.C.

J. R. : LETTERS TO LORD ORRERY. " Observations upon Lord Orrery's Remarks on the Life and Writings of Dr. Jonathan Swift. By J. R., Dublin, 1754," sm. 8vo. Who was the writer of the above, which are of considerable interest and value ?

CHARLES S. KING, Bt.

St. Leonards-on-Sea.

MINER FAMILY. (See 2 S. iii. 170.) According to an old pedigree now in the library of the Connecticut Historical Society, the descent of the Miners of Chew, Somerset, is as follows : Henry Bullman, of Mendippe Hills, Somerset, having proffered himself and his " domesticall and menial servants," armed with battleaxes and in number a hundred, for service in the French wars, was rewarded by Edward III. with the name of Miner and the coat of arms Gules, a fesse argent between three plates. The crest now borne by the family, a mailed hand holding a battleaxe armed at both ends, all proper, and the motto " Fortis qui prudens," are, I believe, of later date. Henry died in 1359, leaving issue Henry, Edward, Thomas, and George. Henry mar- ried Henretta, daughter of Edward Hicks of Gloucester, and had issue William and

Henry. William married Hobbs of

Wiltshire, and had issue Thomas and George. Thomas (1399) married " Gressley, daughter of Cotton" of Staffordshire, and had issue Lodovick, George, and Mary. Lodovick