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NOTES AND QUERIES. [i2s.ui.DEc ,1917.

(gumia.

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.

QUAKERS' YEARLY MEETING. There is a proposal on foot to celebrate next May the two hundred and fiftieth holding of what is known as the London Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.

" General Meetings " representing the whole country were several times held in the provinces towards the close of the decade 1650-60. After 1660 they were held in London, it " being," in the words of George Fox, the founder of the Society, " looked upon as a more convenient place." Meetings were held in 1661, 1666, 1668/9, and from the last date there has been an unbroken succession of these annual assem- blies down to the present.*

This Meeting is the governing body of Friends in Great Britain, Australasia, and South Africa. The official records are extant from 1672, preserved at Devonshire House, Bishopsgate, E.G.

The undersigned would be glad to be informed which, if any, other religious body is known to have held its annual sessions without a break for two centuries and a half.

NORMAN PENNEY, F.S.A., F.R.Hist.S.

Devonshire House, 136 Bishopsgate, E.C.2.

JUDGE HALIBURTON, CREATOR OF " SAM SLICK." May I ask through your columns for the use of any material your readers may have in the way of unpublished letters, journals, or reminiscences of Judge Thomas Chandler Haliburton of Nova Scotia, the creator of " Sam Slick " ? I am working on a critical biography of Haliburton, and should be grateful for any intimate personal detail concerning him. He was resident in England from 1856 until his death in 1865, and was M.P. for Launceston during the latter part of this period.

V. L. O. CHITTICK.

Columbia University, New York City.

LAYING A GHOST. Is any special ritual or order of service provided for the ceremony of laying a ghost ?

JOHN D. LE COUTEUR.

Winchester.

(Birmingham), 1912 (Manchester).
 * In London ; except 1905 (Leeds), 1908

FRASER FAMILY AT ETON. Can anjr reader who is well acquainted with the ramifications of the Fraser family help to identify seven boys of the name of Fraser who were at Eton between 1773 and 1780 T and who look as if they may all have been brothers ? One of them, William Fraser, was admitted at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, Oct. 19, 1779, and died' Oct. 29, 1781. Of the others, all that I know is the initials of five of them, namely, A. Fraser, C. Fraser^. H. Fraser, P. Fraser, and S. Fraser.

R. A. A.-L.

OIL PAINTING OF A MAN'S HEAD. I possess an oil painting of a man's head of the Sir Philip Sidney type of face, about 21 in. by 17 in., on old oak panel.

As far as I can ascertain, it came from Holland many years ago, and is reputed to be of the Zucchero school. It has the- f olio wing written on the top : " Ao Dnr 1601 " (at side) ; " Nee te Qvsesiris extra " (in middle) : " setatis 39 " (at side). I shall' be glad to identify the subject and artist.

EASTBOURNE.

' VENUS AND BACCHUS/ OIL PAINTING. There has been in my family for some fifty years an oil painting, about 8 ft. wide by 7 ft. high. The central figures are as above,.. with Ceres (?) holding a sheaf of wheat on the right ; several cherubs with wings float in the air, arid one stands just behind Venus, and looks over her shoulder. Several? art critics have seen it, and all expressed the opinion that it is not a copy. One or two thought it was by a Dutch artist who had studied in Italy. I should greatly appre- ciate any information about it, especially by whom painted. EASTBOURNE.

TUCKER AND PETER FAMILIES. I have for some time been interested in the old Exeter family of Peter or Petre, members of which were in the sixteenth and seventeenth centimes members of Parliament for Exeter and Mayors of the city. Some time prior to 1604, probably about 1585, Welthian Peter, daughter of Alice Peter, married a Valentine Tucker. I shall be very grateful if any one interested in the Tucker family can give me some particulars of this marriage. The late Capt. Anthony Tucker, son of Stephen Tucker, for many years Somerset Herald, had a considerable collection of material relating to his family, which was, I believe, connected with the Peter family. Can any one tell me what became of Capt- Tucker's collections ?

H. TAPLEY-SOPER.

City Library, Exeter.