Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/154

 150

NOTES AND QUERIES. in s. vn. FEB. 22, u:j

CHARLES JOHN MOORE MANSFIELD (OR MANSFEILD), CAPTAIN OF THE MINOTAUR AT TRAFALGAR. Can any one help me to find out his birthplace and the name of his father ? How did he enter the Navy ? His name does not occur at the Record Office until he obtained his lieutenant's commission. (Miss) F. C. BALSTON.

Springfield, Maidstone.

LIONS IN THE TOWER. In ancient times there were lions kept at the Tower of London, and a keeper appointed to look after them. Can any reader give particulars as to the purpose for which they were kept whether for amusement, or otherwise ? P. G.

SAMPLER : FYTCHE FAMILY. I have a sampler with no mottoes or signature, but with the dates of birth and death of six or seven members of the Fytche family. Are there any members of that family now alive who could throw light on it ? W.

REFERENCE IN BURKE WANTED. Mr. Boiiar Law, in a recent speech, quoted the following from Burke :

" No man can point to the exact moment when daylight merges into darkness, but the difference between day and night is fairly distinct."

Where is the passage to be found ?

EMERITUS.

PETER HUME, an elder brother of Sir Abraham, the first baronet, was probably born about 1700, and died before March, 1771. He married and had children. I should be grateful if any of your correspond- ents would give any further particulars of Peter, especially as to whom he married, or when or where he married or died. He is supposed to have gone to America.

B. e.

' MARGIANA ' : NAME OF AUTHOR WANTED. Can any one tell me anything about a novel with the above title ? Jane Austen mentions it in a letter dated 10 Jan., 1809, and it was probably then a recent publica- tion. Apparently some character in it was immured in Widdrington Tower, North- umberland. R. A. A. L.

POLICEMEN ON POINT-DUTY. Can any reader refer me to any account of the date, circumstances, &c., of the beginning of the present method of controlling the London traffic ? Is there any record of the men who were the first to be told off for this service ? At how many centres was it started ? And which were these ? HYLLARA.

ST. BRIDGET'S BOWER, KENT. Spenser in his * Shepheards Calender,' July, after speak- ing of " holy hylles, : ' writes (1. 43) : And of St. Brigets bowre, I trow, All Kent can rightly boaste.

Can this hill be identified ?

G. C. MOORE E>MITH.

ST. GEORGE OR MUMMERS' PLAYS. I should be grateful to any one who could tell me how or where I could obtain photographs or drawings of modern performances of these plays. GORDON CROSSE.

Oxford and Cambridge Club, Pall Mall, S.W.

DUPLEX RIDE : CROOKED USAGE : LON- DON STREET-NAMES. Can any one give the origin of the name Duplex Ride, a cul-de-sac near Wilton Place, Knightsbridge, and of Crooked Usage, a thoroughfare in Chelsea ?

T. S.

GENERAL ELLIOT is stated in The Public Advertiser of 18 Feb., 1755, to have been present at the Westminster School Anni- versary Dinner of that year. Can any one help me to identify him ? G. F. R. B.

JOHN NORRIS: NORRIS OF SPATE. (11 S. vi. 251, 428.)

I HAVE spent some time since these queries appeared in noting down and putting into order what facts are discoverable about the Norris family, which flourished in Somerset chiefly in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and later as well. I have never seen any pedigree of this family. A mere fragment has been printed in ' The Visita- tions of Somerset'; and in the ' D.N.B.," under Isaac Norris, a volume is referred to as by J. Parker Norris, ' Genealogical Record of the Norris Family.' This I do not know anything of, and think it is pos- sibly an American publication dealing with another branch of the family.

The Norris family is found in a number of places in Somersetshire, including Don- yatt, the parish named by W. N. H. But Donyatt is not the place where they chiefly resided. Search should be made primarily at St. Decumans, Milverton, Brushford. Crewkerne, Curry Rivell, Long Sutton, and Taunton (St. James), and later at South Petherton.

I now append references to wills, bio- graphical data, &c., and I have placed these notes alphabetically under the names of the