Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 5.djvu/76

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NOTES AND QUERIES. U28.V. MARCH, 1919.

or 10 crests of it was I8d. If one could assume that in each of these cases the price was really the same, then one would infer that 4 ells (i.z. 5 yards) made a crest. But how can one justify the assumption ? In 1440-1 the price per crest for 6 crests was lid. ; and in 1444-5 the price per crest for 7 crests was 19d., with Id. off the total cost to reduce it to 11s. H. C.

SOUTH SHIELDS : VICARS OF ST. HILDA'S. Can any reader supply me with the names missing from the list of vicars of St. Hilda's, South Shields, between 1418, when William Younger was appointed vicar, and 1553, when Thomas Ellison was ap- pointed ? I shall also be glad of any names previous to 1321, when Robert de Dalton was appointed vicar.

HAYDN T. GILES.

11 Ravensbourne Terrace, South Shields.

THE ST. HELENA 'LIFE OF MARL- BOROUGH.' In Frederic Masson's 'Napoleon & Sainte Helene,' vol. ii. p. 199, there is the following statement:

'* C'est un exemplaire, reli6 avec luxe, de cette Histoire de Jean Churchill, due de Marl borough, etc., etc., imprim6e par ordre de Sa Majest6 Imperiale (k Paris, de I'lmprimerie imperiale, 1'annee 1806)."

1 am unacquainted with this work, and I should be glad to have particulars of it, and also to be informed where I can refer to a copy of it.

Coxe's Memoirs of John, Duke of Marl- borough,' presented by Napoleon to the 20th Regiment, and still in the archives of that regiment, was printed in London in 1819. The book to which M. Masson refers cannot have been a translation of Coxe's work, so that the statement of this famous French writer is puzzling.

LEES KNOWLES.

To AD- JUICE. Has the liquid which exudes from the skin of a toad any value which is recognized in orthodox medicine ? I ask this on account of the following passage in Mr. W. H. Hudson's ' Far Away and Long Ago.' The scene was in La Plata, and the actor one Don Evaristo Penalva :

" I remember that his cure for shingles, a common and dangerous ailment in that region, was regarded as infallible. The malady took the form of an eruption, like erysipelas, on the middle of the body, and extending round the waist till it formed a perfect zone. ' If the zone is not complete I can cure the disease,' Don Evaristo would say. He would send some one down to the river to procure a good-sized toad ; then, causing the patient to strip, he would take pen and ink and write on the skin in the space between the

two ends of the inflamed region, in stout letters, the words ' In the name of the Father,' &c. This done, he would take the toad in his hand and gently rub it on the inflamed part, and the toad, enraged at such treatment, would swell himself up almost to bursting and exude a poisonous milky secretion from his warty skin. That was all, and the man got well." Pp. 183-4.

I think this batrachian may have been not a common toad, but Ceratophrys ornata, of which Mr. Hudson speaks in an earlier chapter than that from which I quote.

ST. SWITHIN.

WHISTLER : POPE. Is there any mention of Alexander Pope in the Whistler pedigree, or of the Rev. Ambrose Staveley and Samuel Cooper the artist ? The graves of the Rev. W. Pyne (1585-1658) and his daughter Dorothy Pope (1669) are in Micheldever Church. The present Vicar would be glad to receive items about the parish to insert in a book on the subject.

Any proof that Thomas Pope, at Twicken- ham, 1697, was related to Alexander Pope of the same place, 1715, would be received with thanks. A. C. H.

SCHOOL PRIZE COMPOSITIONS. At Bed- ford School, and, I believe, elsewhere, it is the custom for Classical and English prize compositions to be sent in tied up with bright ribbons. The practice is traditional, but no one here seems to know its origin. Can any of your readers enlighten me as to its origin and prevalence ? T. K. E. B.

Bedford School.

OLD STAINED GLASS. Can any reader tell me of any articles or pamphlets, illus- trated or otherwise, published on this subject during the last two years ?

Norwich. WM ' M ' DODSON -

SUBMERGED TRACKS OR FOOTPATHS. Was there an established system in the North of England of marking a track or footpath that was liable to be overflowed by the tide ? PINFOLDER.

Hartlepool.

AUTHOR OP QUOTATION WANTED. A recently published work quotes these lines "by an American bard " :

Many a man on the road of life Succeeds where another fails ; Johnny is writing stories,

An' Billy is splitting rails. Johnny is makin' a name and fame (He says) while the years roll on ; But Billy is makin' the money, An' Billy's supporting John ! Can the name of the author be given ? Are the above lines the whole, or a portion only ?

W. B. H.