Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/307

 12 S. III. MAY, 1917.1

NOTES AND QUERIES.

301

" John White, Oxon." appears on an engraved coin in connexion with the crest of a horse's head bridled. I shall be obliged for any notes on this piece. It is of eigh- teenth-century date.

A copper flan in my cabinet bears the engraved inscription " Maria Isabella Jacoba Moretus, obiit 23 febrii, 1768." Any in- formation will be welcome. F. P. B.

METAL-TIPPED STAFF. I have a small staff, 10 or 12 inches long, consisting of a handle of dark wood (? ebony), finished with a silver-plated knob at one end, a crown on the other. Metal letters are inlaid in a spiral in the handle : " City and Liberty of Westminster." Above are inlaid the arms of Westminster, the water-gate and feathers.

Any information abcut this staff would greatly aid me in a piece of genealogical research. ALBERT L. LANE.

31 Walterton Road, Paddington, W. 9.

RUSHBROOKE HALT.. What is the sub- stance of the legend connected with Rush- brooke Hall, or where can I find particulars about it ? It is referred to in Mr. Fea's ' Nooks and Corners of Old England,' but details are not given. It is not mentioned in Ingram's work on the haunted houses of England. J. J. H.

Dublin.

COBBETT. Can any one give rno any information about a painter of last century named Cobbett ? Bis works were popular at the time. He painted ' The Peep-Show,' and other homely and domestic subjects.

R. KIDD.

110 Adelaide Road, N.W. 3.

AUTHORS WANTED. 1. Tshould be glad of the reference to the quotation :

Gigantic daughter of the West, We drink to thee across the flood.

For art not thou of English blood ?

J. CATHCART WASOIT. House of Commons.

Who is the author of the following ?

2. The star that shines so pure and bright, Like a far-off place of bliss,

And tells the weary-hearted There are happier worlds 'than this. Quoted from memory.

3. On a lone moor all wild and bleak, Where dwells the non-frequenting grouse, There stands a tenement antique,

Lord Hoppergallop's country house.

This was among the contents of a Scotch reading book of half a century ago used in the schools of Inverary, Argyllshire. ELIZABETH REID.

MONT BO VON TO THUN IN 1816. (6 S. viii. 247.)

MR. EDGCUMBE'S query as to Byron's route between these two places in 1816, though propounded in 1883, does not seem ever to have found an answer. Hence I undertake this task, as I know all the country in question, having first traversed it in 1865, and since then several times. First let me correct some spellings of MR. EDGCUMBE'S- for " Charmez " (twice) read Charmey, for " Weissenberg " read Weissen- burg, and for " Simmen " read Simme' while Byron says that the " Klitzgerberg ' ; (? the Wildstrubel or Gletscherberg) was on his right, but does not repeat this state- ment as to the Stockhorn, which to any one descending the Simmenthal towards Thun is, of course, on the left hand.

NOW it is certain that Byron on Sept. 19 crossed on horse or mule back the well- known Col de Jaman (4,974 ft.) to Mont- bovon (2,625 ft.) in the middle Sarine or Saane valley. Hence next day by some route he reached the Simmenthal, gaining Thun on Sept. 21, after having passed the previous night at some unnamed place in that valley. The whole journey from Mont- bovon to Thun was made in a " char-a- banc," or light carriage, which presupposes, of course, a carriage road all the way. Few details are given, save that on Sept. 20 the party was always at an average height of from 2,700 to 3,000 ft. above the sea, when going through* the very long and narrow Sarine valley, while they " saw the bridge of La Roche."

Now from Montbovon to Thun three possible routes were open to Byron.

One of these is excluded at once (that past Charmey and Jaun-Bellegarde), as the carriage road over the Jaun Pass (4,948 ft.) was not built till 1872-7 (see S. Bavier, 'Die Strassen der Schweiz,' Zurich, 1878, p. 81), while Byron would certainly have noticed the fine waterfall (89 ft. in height) just opposite the village of Jaun. This route, too, shares the fatal defect of No. 2, that it leads down the Sarine valley at an ever decreasing height, whereas Byron clearly crossed a pass of a kind.

No. 2 past La Roche would lead straight to the town of Fribourg, passing by that of Bulle, at the entrance to the Jaun valley,