Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/222

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NOTES AND QUERIES. 12 s. i. MA*, n, me.

characteristics of the family entirely con- tradict it, as do inquiries made many years ago. The name Joseph is not exclusively Jewish ; for instance, there was a William Joseph " King's Serjeant " in the time of Henry VI. Michael Joseph of Bodmin was one of the three leaders of Lord Audley's Cornish rebellion of 1498, and was executed with the others. Unless my memory plays me false, one of the name occurs in the will of Henry VIII., but I cannot turn up the reference.

As to the relationship to the Sylvesters, who were Jews, the surviving daughter of the sculptor remembers the family well ; they were rather intimate friends, but certainly not relatives.

Another of the family has the impression that the Sylvesters were originally named Joseph, and adopted the former name.

I see by the ' D.N.B.' that James Joseph Sylvester (of the family in question), 1814- 1897, was son of Abraham Joseph Sylvester. It seems probable that, like one of our most eminent literary men of to-day, they, on the son seekirg Academic honours, added the Sylvester to their original name.

The intimacy between the families may well have started from the original identity of surnames. RALPH NEVILL, F.S.A.

Castle Hill, Guildford.

THOMAS MAY, RECORDER OF CHICHESTER, 1683 (12 S. i. 28, 75). According to our old manuscript ' Book of Donations ' to the College Library, several members of the May family were donors of books, &Q., viz. :

1651. Thomas May, Commensalis ad meneam

piierorum.

1652. Johannes May, Thomse May de Rawmere

armigeri filius unieus, Commensalis extra Collegium.

1653. Christopherus May, olim alumnus huius

Coll.

1654. Joannes May, Armigeri [sic~\ filius natu max.,

acl commnnas Magistrorum Commensalis.

1655. Thomas May de Rawmere, armiger.

H. C. Winchester College.

ALBUM LINES BY JAMES SHERIDAN KNOWLES (12 S. i. 147). The lines quoted at this reference are from Knowles's play ' The Hunchback,' and are spoken by Sir Thomas Clifford in Act T. scene ii. The piece was first produced on April 5, 1832, at Covent Garden Theatre. WM. DOUGLAS.

GEORGE INN, BOROUGH (12 S. i. 90, 137, 175). There is an illustration of this in C. G. Harper's ' Old Inns,' i. 33, 1906, showing gallery, with a short description.

S. L. PETTY.

COL. JOHN PIGOTT, D. 1763 (12 S. i. 69 1, 156). I think it was in Exshaw's Dublin Magazine for 1763 the following notice of death appeared : " John Pigott, Esq., one of the representatives in Parliament for the Borough of Bariagher, King's County."

I am obliged to MR. PIERPOINT for his reply, but my query had reference to the parentage of this Col. John Pigott.

WM. JACKSON PIGOTT.

Manor House, Dundrum, co. Down.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HISTORY OF EUROPEAN TRAVEL: BUSING (12 S. i. 62 y 153). Busino would have found himself in Catholic territory all the way from Ragatz to Rapperschwyl (which latter place, however, is Protestant).

As to the three places mentioned by MR. GALBREATH, the following excerpts from ' The Swiss Tourist ' (London, 1816) may be of interest :

1. "From Lachen the traveller may embark for Rapperschwyl, or go over the bridge, which crosses the lake opposite the town. This bridge is 1,850 feet long and twelve broad ; it is constructed on piles, the planks are merely laid on, in order to prevent the piles being loosened by the resistance which the planks, if fixed, would make to the wind. This bridge was constructed in 1358, by the Counts of Habsbourg ; it is kept in repair by the town of Rapperschwyl, which has a turnpike on it. Rap- perschwyl is a tolerably large town, but not very populous ; it is subject to the cantons of Zurich, Berne, and Glaris, to which it pays homage every six years, but it is governed by its own magis- trate's."*

2. "Travellers should see the republic of Gersau. which is the smallest ever known. _ It is two- leagues in length, and half a league in width ; it- is only accessible by the lake ; the mountains against which the houses are built can only be ascended by a very dangerous path."f

3 "The abbe is sovereign of this [Engelberg) valley under the protection of the cantons of Uri* Unterwald, and Berne." +

JOHN B. WAINE WRIGHT.

Canton of St. Gallen in 1805. The wooden bridge was replaced in 1878 by a stone-and-iron viaduct to- Pfaffikon.
 * Rapperschwyl was incorporated with the-

t See as to this republic Murray's ' Switzerland/ 19th ed., at p. 292, and the authority there cited. It was under the protection of the Forest Cantons..

Murray's ' Switzerland,' at p. 245, says : " From 1462 the Forest Cantons were the ' protec- tors ' of the monastery, the landed possessions of which passed in 1798 to Nidwalden ; but in 1816, when Nidwalden refused to accept the new Federal Pact, they were given to Obwalden. As the upper part of the En gelberg valley belongs to Uri,itthus, by a curious anomaly, has nothing to do politically with the half canton in which it is, to all appear- ances, locally situated."