Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/472

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. v. MAY is, 1012.

Houses. ' There was an interesting discussion afterwards, and the paper, with a plan and an appendix giving a chronological list of goldsmiths from 1434 to 1729, appeared in the Journal of the Institute, pt. v. vol. vii. It was republished in pamphlet form with the discussion omitted ; and the matter appeared again without the appendix in a handsome volume called ' The Signs of Old Lombard Street.' Now, according to the plan, No. 85 is " The Golden Lion," which it appears was sometimes called " The White Lion " ; but the situation, as denoted in the will, hardly agrees with the site of 85, as shown in the plan. A. RHODES.

(SJmms.

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.

EARLY FOUNTAIN PENS. Fanny Burney wrote in her 'Diary,' 18 Aug., 1789, "I took a fountain Pen and wrote my rough journal." Can any reader give a descrip- tion of the kind of pen she must have used ? The invention was by no means new, it seems. The earliest quotation in the ' N.E.D.,' s.v. ' Fountain,' is from the year 1823; but s.v. 'Pen' the Dictionary quotes from 1710M. Henry, ' Exp. Bible,' Zech. iv. 2, " So that without any further Care they received Oil as fast as they wasted it (as in those which we call Fountain-Inkhorns, or Fountain Pens)." Another quotation in the Dictionary (1750) says, "The expeditious or Fountain Pen .... is so contrived as to contain a great quantity of ink and let it flow by slow degrees." But a few more par- ticulars would be welcome.

L. R. M. STRACHAN. Heidelberg.

" BABBYLUBIE." Can any of your readers give some derivation for the word " Babby- lubie " ? It is a Pembrokeshire name for water-worn large stones found at the top of the high cliffs of carboniferous rocks, and these are often used for decorative purposes, as copings to high boundary walls near houses and cottages.

FRANCIS LAMBTON, Lieut. -Col,

SNAKE POISON. Will any reader kindly tell me ( 1 ) the chemical formula for a snake poison say that of the viper ; and (2) whether such poison is now, or ever in any country has been, used as a medicine ?

RENIRA.

VOLTAIRE IN ENGLAND. Could you kindly print in ' N. & Q.' the following questions ?r

1. Who is the author of the following lines, quoted by Voltaire (then living in England) in his letter to Thieriot of 27 May, 1727 ?

To-morrow I will live, the fool does say. To-day 's too late, the wise liv'd yesterday.

2. Could any one give me the address of Mr. Henry Rutherford, to whom the late Prof. J. Churton Collins " was indebted for two hitherto unpublished letters of Voltaire written in England while he was at Wands - worth " ? These letters were published by Prof. Collins in his ' Voltaire, Montesquieu., and Rousseau in England ' (London, 1908).

3. Being engaged in editing Voltaire's correspondence during his stay in Eng- land (1726-8), I should welcome any infor- mation concerning unpublished letters of his. I should be especially glad to know whether a fragment of an English letter written by Voltaire to Thieriot, bearing the date of 15 Oct., 1726, is still in existence. It is written on a sheet of quarto paper : the first page is blank, the others are num- bered 1,2, and 3 ; the fragment terminates abruptly at the end of p. 3 with the words, " I intend to send you two or three poems of Mr. Pope." LUCIEN FOULET.

16, Rue d'Assas, Paris VI.

CAMBRIDGE BOATING SONG. Could any reader give me the names of the author and composer (both undergraduates at the time) of ' The Cambridge Boating Song ' ? The recitative commences

0, glorious Cam. The song commences

Oh, when I was a " fresher." This was first given at a Footlights per- formance in 1883 (possibly 1882 or 1884).

I should much like to see a copy of the song itself, of which only a few hundreds were printed at the time. C. W. A. B.

AUTHOR OF QUOTATION WANTED. A moth-eaten rag on a moth-eaten pole, It doesn't look likely to stir a man's soul. 'Tis the deeds that were done 'neath the moth- eaten rag When the pole was a staff and the rag was a flag.

(Rev.) S. SLADEN. 63, Ridgmount Gardens. W.C.

MILGROVE, 1731-1810. He or she com- posed a tune, No. 196, ' The English Hymnal.' I shall be much obliged if your readers can give me some particulars of the composer. M.A.OxoN.