Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/41

 11 S. V. JAN. 13, 1912.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

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and to have a copy, if possible, of the whole song, which, according to Bishop Burnet, contributed considerably towards fanning the Revolution of 1688.

M. L. R. BRESLAR.

RAILWAY TRAVEL : EARLY IMPRESSIONS. I am desirous of collecting references to contemporary impressions of early railway travel, many of which, I fancy, have only recently come to light. The kind of thing I want is contained in Lady Dorchester's memoirs of John Cam Hobhouse, Lord Broughton, viz., a glimpse of Hob house's first journey in a railway train from Manches- ter to Liverpool in 1834 :

" The effect was overpowering. My little child, as we sat quietly in our carriage, was not the least alarmed, nor seemed sensible of the prodigious speed of our movement. Indeed, it was only when a train met us and we passed each other at the rate of forty miles an hour that I was aware of our wonderful velocity. There was something awful, bordering on the terrific, in our moving through the last tunnel."

Good descriptions contained in contem- porary novels would also be welcomed, such, for example, as we have by the author of ' Handley Cross.' H. G. ARCHER.

29, Sussex Gardens, Hyde Park, W.

' THE ARABIAN NIGHTS.' Of the ordinary editions of this book the story of ' Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp ' forms a promi- nent feature. But I find no mention of it in the work of E. W. Lane, edited by his nephew, E. S. Poole. Lane remains, I sup- pose, the standard authority on the subject. Was this story interpolated from some other source, and therefore rejected by him ?

I miss also other familiar tales, notably that of the black stones, singing tree, and talking bird. My copy is dated 1877.

E. L. H. TEW.

Upham Rectory.

[The story of Aladdin, like that of AH Baba, is not found in any early MS. or collection of the '.Nights.' See Dr. S. Lane Poole's revised Bohn edition of Lane's ' Nights,' 4 vols.]

' THE MARRIED MEN'S FEAST, OR THE BANQUET OP BARNET, 1671.' This does not appear to be in the British Museum collection. Can any one state where a copy is to be found, or give a brief account of the narrative ? W. B. GERISH.

Bishop's Stortford.

THE HTTRLOTHRUMBO SOCIETY. I have recently come across the very elaborate and artistic invitation card of the Hurlothrumbo Society bidding Mr. West of Compton Street, Soho, to meet " the President, Senior Fellows, and the rest of the Society

at the Devil Tavern on Thursday, 17 Feb., 1736, at 7 o'clock in the afternoon." The invitation is dated from " the Apollo, Feb. 10, 1736," and is signed by the Secre- tary, Charles Middlebrook. Above the text is a mythical figure a compound of man, woman, beast, bird, and fish, surrounded by rustic work, and with the words " Risum teneatis, amici " above, and " Ab origine mundi " below. Can any of your readers give me any information about this Society, or the Brotherhood of the " Grand Khaibar," which existed at the same time ?

A. M. BROADLEY. The Knapp, Brad pole, Dorset.

ROBIN HOOD. Has any one published a bibliography relating to him, including the casual references made to him in pre- Reformation literature ? What reprints are there of plays about Robin Hood ? Is there a list of the places named after him in Notting- hamshire, Yorkshire, and other counties ? In North Lincolnshire Robin Hood's Well, or Spring, on Hardwick Hill, not far from the Trent, in the parish of Scotton, is a healing well to which children suffering from whooping-cough are still taken. A piece of land in Northorpe, not many miles from Hardwick Hill, is also named after him ; and it is possible that May games were formerly held at the spot. Has the relation- ship of the Robin and Marion of the spring festival, with the outlaw, ever been eluci- dated ? Were not the former in reality of Norman - French origin ? It would be natural that a confusion should take place between a Robin of the May games and a popular freebooter who loved the merry greenwood. H. W. D.

POT oo os, ENGLISH RACEHORSE. The recent discussion of Roman numerals in ' N. & Q.' recalls to my memory the name of this famous racehorse of the eighteenth century. How comes it that in all sporting books it is thus printed : Pot oo os, the figure 8 laid on its side being employed to represent the syllable -at- ? N. W. HILL.

JONES AND BLTJNKETT. Can any of your readers inform me what branch of the family of Jones bear the following arms : Serpents nowed, quartered with fleurs-de-lis ? They are the arms of Robert Jones of Babraham, Cambridgeshire, M.P. for Huntingdon, who died 1774. I am anxious to identify him and his family, and where they came from in Wales. He was a director of the East India Company, and was a merchant whose counting-house was in St. Clement's Lane.