Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/155

 n s. ix. FEB. 2i, i9i4.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

149

" MOTHERING SUNDAY." (See 1 S. x. 284, 353, 372 ; xii. 214, 229 ; 4 S. v. 399.) 1 am endeavouring to promote the revival of the observance of " Mothering Sunday," and shall be much obliged if any reader of ' N. & Q.' will inform me whether the custom still survives in any parts of the country.

I shall also be glad to have references to it in any books. To save unnecessary trouble, I may add that I have consulted the ' New English Dictionary,' Chambers's ' Book of Days.' Hone's ' Everyday Book,' Brewer's ' Dictionary,' Brand's ' Antiquities,' Bar- low's ' Good Old Bury Simnel,' and ' The Copsley Annals.' CONSTANCE SMITH.

6, Regent Street, Nottingham.

MEDIJEVAL BELL. (See ante, p. 28.) Since sending my query touching the in- scription on the bell at St. Michael-on-Wyre, Lancashire, I have noted a village called Berneuilles in the Department of Pas de Calais, about fourteen miles south-east of Boulogne-sur-Mer, and six miles north-east of Etaples. Eight miles north-west of Berneuilles is Neufchatel. These names would apparently locate the district whence the bell came. Can any reader of * N. & Q.' now refer me to some source of information likely to elucidate the inscription ? In 1458 (the date of the bell) Berneuilles and Neuf- chatel would, I take it, be in the Boulonais, a part of Picardy. F. H. C.

"SYDNEY CARTON" AT OLD SHREWS- BURY SCHOOL. So far as my memory serves me, Dickens was not in the habit of mentioning any actual existing school or college as being the place at which any of his heroes or villains received their educa- tion. We hear of their being at " Dothe- boys Hall," or " Salem House," or " Dr. Strong's," and such imaginary places, and of Steerforth we hear that he eventually became " what they call an Oxford man. That is to say, I get bored to death down there periodically." Steerforth, however, does not matriculate at any particular college at Oxford.

In ' A Tale of Two Cities ' Dickens seems to go out of his way to tell us that two of the characters, Sydney Carton and Mr. Stryver, had been at Shrewsbury School, and he does not merely mention the name of the school casually, but gives it five times, and twice as " old Shrewsbury School." The school in question was famous for Greek and Latin verse composition, and Sydney Carton is represented as saying,

"Even then I did exercises for other boys, and seldom did my own."

Moreover, just before we have Sydney Carton's and Mr. Stryver' s conversation about their old days at the School, Dickens observes that Mr. Stryver resembled in certain respects the portrait of " Jeffries." This is the celebrated, or perhaps infamous, " Judge Jeffreys," who was himself at Shrewsbury between 1652 and 1659, and whose portrait hangs in the Library there. Was there any one about Dickens while he was writing ' A Tale of Two Cities ' who knew something about Shrewsbury School ? Why were Sydney Carton and Mr. Stryver at Shrewsbury, rather than at St. Paul's or Westminster, to both of which " Judge " Jeffreys went after leaving Shrewsbury ? Did Dickens ever go to Shrewsbury and see Jeffreys's picture in the School Library ? HERBERT WHITE. Ingersley, Shanklin, I.W.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION WANTED. I am anxious to obtain any particulars relat- ing to the following men, who were educated at Westminster School : ( 1 ) Harry William Branson, admitted in 1776 ; (2) William Brawne, admitted in 1718, aged 12 ; (3) Samuel Brent, admitted in 1773 ; (4) Charles Bressey, aged 10, and William Bressey, aged 8, both of whom were admitted in January, 1727/8 ; (5) William Brett, who left school in 1807 ; (6) John Brewer, ad- mitted in January, 1742/3, aged 9 ; (7) Peter Brewer, admitted in January, 1715/16, aged 12 ; and (8) John Brice and Robert Brice, both of whom were admitted in January, 1785. G. F. R. B.

THE COLONELS OF THE 24TH REGIMENT. (See ante, pp. 87, 111, 127.) Hon. Edward Corn\vallis. Lieut. -General ; Governor of Nova Scotia and Gibraltar ; Colonel 24th Regiment from 1756 until his death in 1772.

W. Taylor. Many years in 32nd Regiment, in which he became Major in 1754 ; Lieut. - Col. 9th Foot 1763 ; Colonel 24th Regiment 1776-93 ; died a Lieu tenant -General in 1793.

Richard Whyte. Many years an officer in 3rd Light Dragoons, in which he got his troop in 1769 ; raised and commanded the old 96th Regiment (British Musketeers) of 1780-83 ; Colonel 24th Regiment from 1793 to 1807 ; became a Lieutenant -General, and died 1807. B. LEACH, Lieut. -Col., Commanding l/24th Regt.

South Wales Borderers.

St. Lucia Barracks, Bordon, Hants. (To be continued.)