Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/484

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. m. NOV., 1917.

three-quarters towards the spectators, and one (wearing Hessian boots) stroking his chin, and sitting sideways at the table.

I seek identification for all from Thomas Moore up to and including the last-men- tioned gentleman. L. A. W.

Dublin.

ARMS ON OLD SEAL. A seal has been in the possession of my family since about 1780. It bears the following arms : Argent, a cress engrailed per pale gules and sable. Motto: "Ut amnis vita labitur." The sprouting tree stump which projects above the shield is not a crest. It is part of the ornamental exterior design peculiar to the period of the engraving. The Horatian sentence may not be the family motto.

I shall be glad to know to what family the arms belong. M.D. (2).

BALHAM HALL, SURREY. I shall be grateful for any information respecting Balham Hall, Surrey. Was it an old build- ing, and is it still standing ? At the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth it was in the possession of George Evans, Esq., whose wife died there in 1812. In 1824, according to ' The Annual Register,' it was occupied by Henry Hp-rford, Esq., whose son and heir was born there. LEONARD C. PRICE.

Essex Lodge, Ewell.

SORCERY IN ESSEX IN 1863. The other day I came across the statement that in 1863 an old Frenchman was drowned in Essex on suspicion of sorcery. Is there any confirmation anywhere of this ?

HENRY SAMUEL BRANDRETH.

Haddon House, Weybridge, Surrey.

PARISH REGISTERS : THEIR DECIPHER- MENT. Can any of your readers suggest a book to assist a beginner in deciphering old registers, &c.? NOVICE.

[' The Parish Register,' by William Bradbrook (one of " The Genealogist's Pocket Library," Simpkin & Marshall, 2s. Qd. net), or ' How to Write the History of a Parish,' by Dr. J. C. Cox (George Allen & Co., 3s. Qd. net), may be helpful to you. Dr. Cox has also written a larger work, ' The Parish Registers of England ' (in " The Antiquary's Books," Methuen & Co., 7s. Qd. net) ; and Mr. A. M. Burke has issued through the Sackville Press a ' Key to the Ancient Parish Registers of England and Wales ' (10s. Qd. net).]

" SELF " : A DICTUM. A long - defunct relative of mine was in the habit of fre- quently delivering himself of the dictum, " Self is a subject on which all can be eloquent, but few entertaining." I have

often wondered whether he was quoting the remark of some writer or speaker of repute, or whether he himself evolved the aphorism which has merit enough to be worthy of either Sydney Smith or Dr. Johnson in his happiest vein. I have failed to trace it in any dictionary of quota- tions. Is any reader of ' N. & Q.' familiar

with it ? WlLLOUGHBY MAYCOCK.

GEORGE CONQUEST : VERSION OF THE BIBLE. Can any reader oblige with in- formation regarding George Conquest, M.D., and his version of the Bible ? He is said to have resided in Finsbury Square. 3n ' D.N.B .' he is stated to have been the author of some medical works, but no mention is made of a new version of the Bible which, about the middle of the last century, went by his name. Information about this Bible will be greatly esteemed.

W. S.

" AND THE CHILD'S NAME'S ANTHONY." Is this a quotation from some novel such as ' Marriage ' or ' Tom Jones ' ? Some fifty years ago, when a marriage was arranged and gossiped about, an old lady, to whom a doubting comment was made as to the truth of the announcement, replied, " O yes, it's quite all settled, and the child's name's Anthony." As a youngster I heard the expression as a sort of quoted proverbial saying, and no double meaning was attached to it. I shall be grateful if any one can tell whence the phrase originated.

TONY LUMPKIN.

STATUE AS WATER-FOUNTAIN. There was in, the seventies (perhaps still is), in a German or Italian town, a statue (single figure or group) used as a public water-fountain, which was one of the show curiosities of the place. This information will be ample to any one who has seen it. Will some reader kindly furnish particulars of the town, the street or place, and the personality of the statue (I have a faint impression of four Cupids) ? H. K. ST. J. S.

ADMIRAL VAN TROMP'S ENGLISH DE- SCENDANTS. Is anything known concern- ing the English branch of the admiral's family ? When did it settle in England, and where ? The newspapers of the week end- ing Aug. 25, 1917, mention the death of a Mr. Harry Jocelyn van Tromp, at the age of 53, due to his falling from a ladder in the laundry in which he was employed, and state that his funeral took place at Gilling- ham. There is a Gillingham in Dorset and another in Kent. I do not think the county