Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/497

 ii s. v. MAY as, i9i2.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

409

DON CARLOS, Sox OF PHILIP II. Has the mystery of this prince's death ever been unravelled ? Motley says (' Rise of the Dutch Republic,' part iii. chap. iii. pp. 206-7, ii.. 1896) :
 * ' Bohn's Standard Library Edition," vol.

" The secret is buried in the bosom of the Vatican. Philip wrote two letters on the subject to Pius V. The contents of the first (21st January, 1568) are

known The second letter, in which he narrated,

or is supposed to have narrated, the whole course

of the tragic proceedings has never yet been

made public. There are hopes that this secret missive., after three centuries of darkness, may soon see the light." A foot-note runs as follows :

" I am assured by M. Gachard that a copy of this important letter is confidently expected by the Commission Royale d'Histoire."

Has this expectation been fulfilled ?

WM. H. PEET.

ST. JAMES'S BOAT. The author of ' Quiet Days in Spain,' Mr. C. Bogue Luffmann, writes (p. 272) :

" St. James is said to have arrived in a cockle- shell on the coast of Galicia " ;

and he states that

li out of this legend of the shell-boat of Santiago arose the custom of ornamenting the habits of pilgrims with shells." P. 281. The story of the navigable cockle-shell is new to me. When, and with whom, did it originate ? ST. SVVITHIN.

SQUIRE AUTY. Can your readers give information of the burial-place of the famous Early Victorian political leader Squire Auty of Bradford, and state whether there are any representatives of the family now ?

WILLIAM MACARTHTJR.

TAVAREZ OR TAFFARE. I should b e greatly obliged if the registrar of an Amster clam church or district could supply me with an official record of the baptism of Charles Tavare, whose name was formerly written Tavarez or Taffare. His birth took place at Amsterdam on 5 November, 1771.

FREDERICK LAWRENCE TAVARE.

Manchester.

LEGENDS OF FLYING. In his learned tome on Jewish literature M. Steinschneider refers to the legend of how Rabbi Eleazar of Worms made a journey through the air into Spain, in order to convey to Nach- raanides, a celebrated Kabbalist, certain esoteric doctrines. Are there any similar legends in the literature of the Parsees or Buddhists, &c. ? M. L. R. BRESLAR.

'THE SHOTOVER PAPERS; OR, ECHOES FROM OXFORD ' (Oxford, J. Vincent, 1874-5). Is there any record of the authorship of shese undergraduate papers ? It used to be said at the time of publication that the hief writers were Mr. E. B. Iwan Miiller of New Coll., Mr. J. L. Pulling of Ch. Ch., and Mr. F. G. B. Campbell of Exeter. In the issue of 30 May, 1874, the editors print a list of people who niade a guess as to the name of the editor, and every one of these guesses gives only the name of Mr. Campbell of Exeter. The list includes the name of Mr. C. L. Dodgson of Ch. Ch., better known as " Lewis Carroll." A. B. B.-J.

THUMB-RINGS. I should be grateful- for any information about thumb-rings : when first worn, whether they were ever worn by women, &c. There is a monument to one of the Cholmleys in Whitby Parish Church which shows rings on tho thumbs of two clasped hands. A portrait of Henry VIII. by Holbein also shows a ring on the thumb. In Mackenzie Walcott's ' Sacred Archae- ology ' it is stated that the marriage ring was worn on the thumb in George I.'s time.

OLIVER TWIST.

[See 5 S. iii. 249 ; iv. 252. At the latter refer- ence Chaucer is cited for an example of a man wearing a ring on his thumb.]

THE VERNACULAR OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. Can any correspondent tell me of a work dealing with this ? G. E. P.

SIR HENRY VANE. In Thurloe's ' State Papers ' (vol. v. p. 430), in a letter from the Hague dated 29 Sept., 1656, it is said of Vane :

"Of the imprisonment of Sir Henry Vane was spoken in the States General, as of a business which doth deserve little compassion. The Royalists do hate him for the original quarrel : the well affected of Holland because he can do them no more good, and because he got some money by the marriage of the Prince of Orange and the Princess Royal." Can any of your readers explain the allusion in the last sentence of this quotation ? Vane was at this time imprisoned by Cromwell in Carisbrooke Castle for publishing ' A Healing Question,' which was pronounced to be seditious. The early part of the quota- tion is quite intelligible Vane was equally unpopular with Royalists and with the supporters of the Protectorate. But in what way did he get money by the royal marriage referred to ? This is, of course, the marriage of the Prince of Orange with the daughter of Charles I.

J. WH.LCOCK.

Lerwick.