Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 7.djvu/214

 206 NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. vn. MAR. 15,1913. Stow also describes the effigies of Ed- ward III. and Philippa, Henry V. and Katherine, Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York, Henry (Prince of Wales), Elizabeth, •James I., and Queen Anne, as shown in the chamber close to Islip's Chapel. Of these the wooden blocks, from which all the ornament has vanished, remain. But there .are five royal effigies in a tolerable state of preservation. That of Queen Elizabeth was -worn out in 1708, and the existing figure is, no doubt, the one made by order of the •Chapter in 1760 to commemorate the bi- oentenary of the foundation of the Collegiate •Church; as late as 1783 it stood in the Chapel •of Henry VII. The remaining royal figures are Charles II. (which used to stand over his grave), William III., Mary II., and Queen Anne. There are also effigies of General Monk (now too dilapidated to be shown), •which stood beside his monument by the grave of Charles II.; John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, and his duchess and child; and the Duchess of Richmond (1702), which stood at the corner of the great east window, in robes and coronet worn at Queen Anne's coronation ; this is the last genuine effigy. The two remaining figures, of Lord Chatham (1779) and Nelson (1805), we owe to the Minor Canons and Lay Vicars of the Abbey, •who helped out their incomes by the fees paid to see the figures, and, in order to make the collection attractive, added these two favourites, as the custom of making them for funerals had ceased. The collec- tion was called " The Ragged Regiment " or " The Play of the Dead Volks." In Eng- land these effigies can be traced back to the fourteenth century, and they are worthy of attention from visitors to the Abbey. I am indebted to Dean Stanley's ' Memorials of Westminster Abbey ' for much of the above information. JOHN ARDAOH. 40, Richmond Road, Drumeondra, Dublin. [Further notes on this subject will be found at 3 8. x. 192.J AN UNCOEBECTED ERROR IN EVELYN'S 4 DIARY.'— Oct. 9, 1644. Leaving Marseille, " We took tmiles, passing the first night in sight of St. Baume. The next day we lay at Perigeux [«c], a city built on an old foundation." There follows mention of an " amphitheatre called les Rolsies" (Rolphie), and a " Tower called the Visone" (Tour de Vesone), both of which are indeed at Perigueux. Oct. 10. " We proceeded by the ruins of a stately frcqueduot" (Le Font du Card ?). Oct. 11. " We lay at Canes " (tic). Suoh doubling back is, of course, out of the question as a possibility in those days, and would be unlikely even in the day of the motor-car. The most casual consulta- tion of a modern map would have led to the rectifying of the passage in the two generally accessible editions by Bray. PAUL T. LAFLEUR. McGill University, Montreal. ' COMUS ' AND GRAY'S ' ELEGY ': A PARALLEL.— Rich and various gems inlay The unadorned bosom of the deep. ' Comus,' 22-23. Cp.:— Full many » gem, of purest ray serene, The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear. ' Elegy,' 53-54. P. A. McELWAlNX. Colter us. WK 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. " SHARPSHIN."—It would appear that this word (the original sense of which was probably a sharp-shinned hawk, Accipiter fttscita) was at some period used in the United States as a slang or colloquial name for some coin of very small value. Thorn- ton's ' American Glossary ' quotes an ad- vertisement of 1804 which offers " three sharpshins reward " for a runaway ap- prentice. The offer is no doubt jocular, but Mr. Thornton cannot well be right in ex- plaining aharpshin in this example as "a small and worthless hawk." In Capt. Marryat's 'Peter Simple' (1834) a negro, when asked what he means by a bit, replies : " A bit, lilly massa T what you call um bit ? Dem four sharpshins to a pictareen." The word has been used by American writers in expressions like " not worth a sharpshin," but it is not given in ' The Century Dictionary,' ' The Standard Dictionary," or the last edition of ' Webster.' Is anything known of aharpshin as a colloquial name for a small coin, and, if so, what was the reason of its being so applied ? HENRY BRADLEY. Oxford. LOVELACE : TURNER.—Simon Turner of Dover married at St. Mary's Church, Dover, in 1670, Judith Lovelace. Whose daughter was she ? Any particulars respecting them will be acceptable. R. J. FYNMORE. Sandgate.