Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/137

 ii s. vii. FEB. is, 1913.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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curious to know somewhat more of this family of De Gothnrsfc, the date at which it flourished, and whether it was an original Devonshire family or emanated from the parish of Goat hurst in Somerset. Neither of the above coats of arms appears in Pap- worth, nor does Burke, in his ' General Armory,' make mention of the family.

ST. DAVID KEMEYS-TYNTE. The Beeches, Claverton Down, Bath.

' TESTAMENT DU CHEVALIER WALPOLE.' T am anxious to know who wrote a book of which the whole title is ' Testament politique du Chevalier Walpole, Comte d'Orford et Ministre d'Angleterre,' 2 vols., 12mo, Amsterdam, 1767. It deals in political prophecy, some of which is wonder- fully far-seeing. I have read extracts from it, but I have never seen the book itself, and I am told that it is not in the British Museum. It may be in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris.

E. MARTINENGO-CESARESCO.

Salo, Lago cli Garda.

EXTRAORDINARY FOUNTAINS IN IRELAND, BRITTANY, AND SICILY. Giraldus Cam- brensis, writing about Ireland seven hundred years ago, says :

" There is a fountain in Munster which, being touched or even looked at by any human being, will immediately inundate the whole province with rain. Nor will it cease until a priest, specially appointed, and who has been continent from his birth, has appeased the fountain by performing mass in a chapel, which is known to have been founded not far off for this purpose, and by sprinkling holy water and the milk of a cow having only one colour a rite, indeed, extremely barbarous, and void of all reason.

" There is a fountain in Armorican Britain [Brittany] of a somewhat similar nature ; for if you draw its water in the horn of an ox, and happen to spill it on the nearest road, however serene the sky may be and contrary to rain, you Avill not nvoid its immediately falling.

" In Sicily there is a most wonderful fountain- If any one approaches it dressed in a red garment, its waters, bubbling up, suddenly rise to the height of the man's stature, although other colours pro- duce no agitation of the surface. On the man's departure, the waters, sinking to their usual level, return into their former channels."

Is there anything known, in the present day, of the three fountains mentioned above by Giraldus Cambrensis, and are there still any superstitions attached to them ?

In Brittany last summer I did not discover the Armorican fountain referred to by Giraldus, though I came across many miraculous ones.

JONATHAN CEREDIG DAVIES.

Llanilar.

RICHARD SIMON : LAMBERT SIMNEL. It is commonly said that Richard Simon made his first appearance with Lambert Simnel in Ireland in the autumn of 1486. In June, 1487, was fought the battle of Stoke, in which both were taken prisoners, and it was not until then that their identity became known.

Can any of your readers explain the follow- ing note in Bacon's * Henry VII.' ?

" The priest's name was William Simonds, and the youth was the son of.... an organ- maker in Oxford, as the priest declared before the whole convocation of the clergy at Lambeth, Feb. 17, 1486 i.e. 1487."

This last date is correct.* How, then, can their identity have remained unknown to Henry until June, 1487 ? And, besides this, was not Simon or Simonds with Simnel in Ireland during the whole period from the autumn of 1486 until his capture ?

G. W.

" MONK " LEWIS. I am at work on the subject of Matthew Gregory Lewis (" Monk " Lewis). Lewis was a frequent visitor at Dalkeith and Boswell Castles, and wrote a good deal while he was staying there. I should be glad to be put into communication with the present owners of these places.

Lewis's sisters were married : Maria, the elder, to Lushington ; Sophia, the younger, to Col. Sheddon. I should be glad to hear of any of their descendants who might have in their possession documents, &c., relating to Lewis.

E. G. MOYNIHAN-NYMAN. 12A, Salisbury House, Highbury, N.

THAMES BRIDGE AT WALTON. What is the history of a bridge over the Thames as it appeared in 1751 ? I have a coloured print of it of this date. The bridge is of wood over the main part of the river, the arches at each end of stone, and in the picture is shown

" the House of Samuel Dicker, Esq., and part of the Terrass at Otelands, the seat of the Right Hon bli; the Earl of Lincoln appearing through the Great Arch "

of the bridge. In the foreground are two ladies and a gentleman, a horse which has sheep slung on its back in pannier baskets, a merchant who appears to be trying to sell something, a man and woman astride a horse, and some sheep and cattle drinking at a pool. Does the picture represent any particular event ? It bears the legend : " Luke Sulivan delin. et sculpt."

THOS. RATCLIFFE.


 * ride Reg. Morton, fo. 342.