Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/447

 ii s. vi. NOV. 9, i9i2.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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brother and " Jervis," the Oriel stroke, but I could never believe, in the face of his own assertion, that he was really describing bom or any other of the aforesaid people.

E. L. H. TEW. Upham Rectory, Hants.

ANCIENT OBSERVANCE AT BRAUGHING. The following is taken from The Hertford- shire Mercury of 12 October, under the heading 'Braughing': ,, ,._^^^

" Some three hundred years ago Matthew Wall, an inhabitant of Green Street, passed away, leaving a legacy for certain peculiar acts to be carried out perpetually on the anniversary of his death, October 2. The quaint old custom was duly observed this year. At 10.45 A.M. the clerk tolled the bell, and while this went on the sexton, who had earlier in the day repaired the grave of the deceased, used a new broom and swept the path from the house formerly inhabited by the deceased to his grave. This done, the tolling ceased, and then after a very brief interval six ringers repaired to the belfry and rang a merry wedding peal. The sexton, who has for over thirty years carried out this strange observance, receives Is. lOd. for repairing the grave and Is. for sweeping the path, the clerk has Is. for tolling the bell, and the remaining Is. pays the six ringers the testamentary sum of 2d. each. Evi- dently in Matthew Wall's time Braughing Church had only six bells. The modest payments seem quite as odd as the eccentric observances enioined by the will."

W. B. GERISH.

' ' BULGARS " : " HUNGARS. ' 'I notice ^hat a daily paper has started to call the Bulgarians " Bulgars." If so, why not call the Hungarians " Hungars, ; ' as did, e.g., the translator of Fumee's ' History of the Troubles of Hungary ' in 1600 ?

L. L. K.

THE ORIGINAL " UNCLE TOM." (See 9 S. xi. 445, 512.) The following note, taken from The Illustrated London News of 21 March, 1857, may be added to the literature of this subject :

" Death of Uncle Tom. The Indianapolis Journal mentions the death in that city of Thomas Magruder, an old negro, aged 110 years. He is supposed to have been the one who suggested the name and the leading features of the character hi Mrs. Stowe's novel, ' Uncle Tom's Cabin.' This supposition is based on the coincidence of name and character, and on the fact (says the Journal) that Henry Ward Beecher during his residence here was a constant visitor of Uncle Tom's, well acquainted with his history, and a sincere admirer of his virtues. We have been told that Mrs. Stowe herself sometimes called to see the old man. Uncle Tom's Cabin, too, was the name of his house among all his acquaintances, and was a familiar phrase here long before Mrs. Stowe immortalised it. At all events we know

that it is the impression with all the friends of Mrs. Stowe and her brother in this city that old Uncle Tom was the original, or at least the suggestion, of the hero of the ' Cabin.' "

JOHN T. PAGE, Long Itchington, Warwickshire.

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of onty private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.

ENGLISH FAMILY. I have a portrait on panel of a member of this family, to judge from the arms : Argent, on a. chevron gules, between three lions passant sable, three lozenges of the first. The arms are painted in the right-hand corner of the picture, and over the shield is STATES STJJE. 36 . 1598. I shall be very glad if any reader can tell me of which particular member of the family my picture may be a portrait, and where the family was located. JOHN LANE.

The Bodley Head, Vigo Street, W.

LUDLOW THE REGICIDE'S STAY IN SWIT- ZERLAND. Being exempted in the Act of Indemnity passed at the Restoration, Ludlow retired to Vevey in Switzerland, where he resided for years under the protection of the lords of the Council of Berne. His estate at Maiden Bradley, Wilts, was held under a ' r grant from the Crown by Sir Edward Seymour. In 1690 Ludlow returned to England, with the view of taking part, if allowed, in the Irish campaign, but the House of Commons voted an Address to King William to issue a royal proclamation for his arrest. The King complied, but not until Ludlow had sailed back to Holland, whence he returned to Vevey, where he wrote his ' Memoirs.' Have we any memorials, other than literary, of his stay in Switzerland ?

WILLIAM MACARTHUR.

PORTRAIT BY JAMES GODBY : IDENTIFI- CATION SOUGHT. Can any reader of ' N. & Q.' identify an engraved portrait in stipple, by JamesM3odby, after " T. Law- rence, Esq., R.A." ? The margin is partly destroyed, but the inscription " Edward W[?]. . . .Esquire " remains.

The picture represents a man of middle age standing, with right hand on a table on which is an elaborate vase. His coat is buttoned high up with a roll collar, and from the fob harws a bunch of seals.

P. D. M,