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NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. v. JUNE i, 1912.

" DON'T NAIL HIS EARS TO THE

What are the origin and meaning of this phrase ? I saw it last quoted in The Church Times. G. E. H.

CLIYE AT BIRMINGHAM. In Wilson's ' Lord Clive,' and elsewhere. I learn that Clive, the victor at Plassey, was ill at Bir- mingham in 1768. Is anything known as to where he lived, and the other circum- stances of his visit to that town ?

WlLMOT CORFIELD. ST. WILHELMINA, PATRON SAINT OF

NURSING MOTHERS. At Brunate, above Como, there used to be a nunnery in which it is said a certain Wilhelmina, sister of a King of England, sought refuge and died in the odour of sanctity. Certain it is that many women make pilgrimages to the church at Brunate to obtain, by the inter- cession of St. Wilhelmina, power to suckle their infants. What is known of this saint ? JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

BALDWIN'S GARDENS, HOLBORN. Can any one tell me who and what Baldwin was, when he nourished, and if J. H. Jesse is right in saying that Baldwin's Gardens was a sanctuary, like its neighbouring White Friars ? G. W. E. RUSSELL.

THE WIDEST STREETS IN LONDON. I have seen the Whitechapel Road described as the widest street in London. Is this really the case ? What is the width ? It would be interesting to have a list of London streets with a width of at least 1 00 feet. The following is a tentative beginning :

Parliament Street. . . 150 feet.

The Mall

Victoria Embankment

Kingsway

Aklwych

I should be glad to know if the above figures are correct, also to have any addi- tions to the list. The eastern part of the Strand must be over the limit, and no doubt South Kensington would supply some instances. G. H. WHITE.

St. Cross, Harleston, Norfolk.

APPARENT DEATH. Could your readers refer me to any account of cases of apparent death, i.e., where people have been taken for dead and laid in their coffin or buried ? The article ' Death ' in ' Chambers's Ency- clopaedia ' refers to a collection of such cases made in France in 1742-5, but I want recent ones. I have read of many, but cannot now verify them, as I have no notes of them. There was one in the mortuary

at Mannheim, and another in the South of France. Graveyards which have been opened have also revealed the fact that many dead have been buried alive. I read an instance of this in a book written by a doctor's wife in the Jura, but cannot remember the name of the book.

ENQUIKER.

[See 3 S. x. 89, 139, 2cG, 5279; xii. 176, 399; 5 S. vi. 109, 256, 357J.

EDWARD CECIL, VISCOUNT WIMBLEDON Who is his senior representative ? He died in 1638. Lord Ranfurly is descended from a daughter through his ancestor Viscount Pery (Burke's ' Peerage,' Earl of Limerick), and quarters the Cecil arms.

ATHOR.

CASANOVA AND CARLYLE. In the Preface to his ' Memoirs ' (London, 1893, vol. i- p. v) Charles Godfrey Leland states that Carlyle has said of Casanova's ' Memoirs/ in the language of the precepts contained in Leviticus : " Whosoever has looked therein, let him wash his hands and be unclean until even. ' ' This certainly sounds very Carlylese, but I have been unable to find out where the author of ' Frederick ' has enunciated the dictum. Can anvbodv help me in the matter ? T. B.

Copenhagen.

HANCOCK AS A PLACE-NAME. In the Hundred Rolls, under Condover, in Salop, the name Thomas de Hancoc occurs ; and in the will of R. Rawstbrne. 1580 (' Lane, and Chesh. Wills,' Chetham Soc., li. 169), there is the following reference to a place called Hancock : " one sydde borde with other bordes at Hancocke unto Agnes my wyffe." Any other references to places of this name will be greatly appreciated.

Will some etymological student give an opinion about the name ? Could it be divided thus hanc-oc, the last syllable having reference to oak ? Has hanc a meaning ? It can be found in places written as Hankhurst, co. Line. (' Testa de Nevill '), and Hancford (reference mislaid). In McClure's ' British Place-Names ' there is Hane-hemstede, with a note by the com- piler to the effect that the hanc here seems to represent the Teutonic stem hanh to hang, A.-S. later forms hon, heny ; cf. Hanger, Ongar. LEO C,

SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY. Is anything known of this man. who posed as a Messiah of the Jews about' 1830 ?

ISRAEL SOLOMONS.