Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/87

 12 8. HI- FEB. 3, 19170 NOTES AND QUERIES.

81

LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1917.

CONTENTS. No. 58.

NOTES : The Correspondence of Richard Edwards, 1669-79, 81 Some Early Guide - Books to Naples and the Vicinity, 85 'The Weekly History,' 87 From Liverpool to Worcester a Century and a Half Ago Curious Tavern Sign " Sister "=Hospital Nurse Coal- balls, 89.

QUERIES : Staffordshire M.P.s Spirals Ploughing Snow into the Land Indian Mounds. U.S.A.-^Gunners" Handbooks Authors Wanted Francis Baldwin, 1584 Frederick, Duke of York Richard Lambert Jones- Frances Elizabeth Anne, Countess Waldegrave, 90 " Bevis Marks " Uvedale, Cary, and Price Families Argostoli Peter Carstairs Alderman Thomas Hoyle " Old Bembow," 1702 Lady Mary Churchill Testance : Christian Name Ancient Irish Titles, 91.

REPLIES : Sir William Ogle : Sarah Stewkeley : Barbara Gore, 92 The Royal Arms : a Metrical Description, 94 Portraits in Stained Glass, 95 Colonels and Regimental Expenses City Gates Contested Lord Mayoral Elections Foreign Graves of British Authors Rime on St. Thomas's Day, 96 Pronunciation of "ea" Bibliography of the Victoria Cross \Vhite Hart Silver, Dorset, 97 "Vailing the hat " Picture : "The Woodman" Rev. Michael Ferrebee, 98 ' The Diaboliad ' To play " Crookern "Thomas Gray, 99.

NOTES ON BOOKS : ' The Evolution of Coinage ' ' The Old Grammar Schools ' ' The Printed Book ' ' Fresh Light on the Family of Robert de Eglesfeld'-'The Cornhill.'

Notices to Correspondents.

Jtofcs.

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF RICHARD EDWARDS, 1669-79.

(See ante, pp. 1, 44.^

A HEADER of ' N. & Q.' has called my atten- tion to the fact that neither in my Prefatory Note nor in my notice of Edwards is there any mention of the small section of his . correspondence published by the late Col. Sir Henry Yule in vols. ii. and iii. of his ' Diary of William Hedges.' The omission was an oversight on my part. I had noted the eight letters to Edwards reproduced in the above-mentioned volumes with the intention of referring to them in the Diary when the turn of these letters comes to be printed in ' N. & Q.' By some mistake, however, the remarks I intended to make on Yule's opinion of the relationship between Thomas Pitt and Richard Edwards were left out of my biography of the latter. That question will now be dealt with when the letters between Pitt and Edwards are printed.

LETTER V.

John Vickers to Richard Edwards (O.C. 3297.)

[John Vickers, son of John Vickers of Fulhani, Middlesex, and Margerie his wife, was elected a writer for the " Coast and Bay," i.e., Madras and Bengal, on Oct. 18, 1667, at a salary of 51. per annum for five years. He was, however, sent out as a factor, which office carried a salary of 201. per annum. He was probably acquainted with Edwards before their voyage to India, and he sailed with him in the Blacka- more, commanded by Capt. Price, in January, 1668. On his arrival at Fort St. George, Madras, Vickers was ordered to proceed to Bengal, where he was employed at Balasor. In 1672 he was sent to Dacca to collect evidence against John Smith, Chief of that factory, who was then under suspicion of cheating the Company. Vickers officiated there for a few months as " Second," then, " wanting his health," he obtained permission to return to England, and died on the homeward voyage. By his will, made on board ship and dated April 19, 1673, he bequeathed his property to his mother Margerie, his brother James (or Jacob), and his sister Mary. His " arrack, lyme water, and sugar " were left to the ship's company, and his wine and certain " sweet- meats " were to be given " to the Mess " at his " burial." Administration of his effects was granted to his brother Jacob on Sept. 19, 1673. His father had died in 1672.

In his letters to Bichard Edwards, Vickers uses the expression " brother," but this term seems to have been merely one of friendship, as no relationship between the two men has been discovered. Zule, ' Hedges' Diary,' ii. 287, sug- gests that the use of the term may have implied Freemasonry. See ' Court Minutes,' vol. xxvi. p. 41 ; O.C. 3996 ; * Diaries of Streynsham Master,' ed. Temple, i. 159, 160, 166, 442 ; P.C.C. Will (117 Pye) ; Admon., 1672.]

Ballasore June the 15th 1669. Dear Friend

My last to you was the 23d past month which I hope you received ; yours of the 27 ditto is come to my hand with A peece of silk and Coojah,* for which I returne you many thank[s]. It would make me desist from writing considering the many obligations that lie upon me, which I am noe way able at present to requite in the least, but that I fear my sil[en]ce might render me the more ungratefull. If itt lay but in my power to Comply with the desifre] of your last letter itt would not trouble me soe muc[h], but since it doth not, I must desire you to judg Charritably that i would have done itt before now, if I had been possest with moneys ; but when things doe happen better I shall Endeavor to requite

an earthenware water vessel.
 * Coojah, Hind, pronunciation of Pers. kuza,