Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 6.djvu/357

 12 S. VI. JUNE 12, 1920.] NOTES AND Q (JERIES.

293

All who bath here cause their Shoulders to be

cupped in the Baths. The Cupping-machines are large Horns of Rams or Bucks ; and it is a very droll Spectacle to see two or three hundred nakec Persons in Water, all with Horns on their Shoulders."

Can any one identify the site of these public baths ? Is it where the Kurhaus now stands ? JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

AIT OLD WESTMINSTER SCHOLAR. As so many inquiries are made for particulars of old Westminster scholars, perhaps the following notes will be of interest to G. F. R. B.

At Millbrook Church, Beds, three me- morial slabs are placed on the exterior oi the east wall of the chancel, two being oi stone and one of marble ; all relating to members of the Williamson family.

That of marble is to the memory of the Rev. Edmond Williamson, Rector of Mill- brook, who received his education at West- minster School. I give the full inscription below as many biographical details are recorded on it :

To the Memory

of

Edmond Williamson, A.M., Second and youngest Son of Edmond Williamson of Husborn Crawley in this County, Eqr, and great Grandson of Sir Francis Williamson of Isleworth

in the County of Middlesex Knight,

This stone is erected. His unwearied attention to the Distressed and the various Improvements on the Rectory point out to his Successors the Benefit of Residence, as well as the Serious Importance of it Ye sacred Guardians of the holy Shrine, To this Reflection let your Thoughts incline, Treasures eternal are unmixt with Leaven ; To Mammons Sons no glorious Prize is given ; Who Seeks the Bread of Life must purely worship Heaven.

He was born in 1713

Educated at Westminster School

from thence Elected to Trin Coll. Cant, in 1732.

Inducted to this Rectory in 1740 To the Rectory of Lolworth Cant, in 1764 and Committed to the Earth from whence he was

taken November 23rd, 1776. The centre stone is to the memory of his wife Mary. She was born Mar. 31, 1741, and died May 8, 1810, thus surviving him for upwards of thirty-five years. Her maiden name is not given.

He appears to have been married twice* for the other stone to the memory of his eldest daughter Christian, the widow of Thomas Skevington of Newton Blossomville, Bucks, gent., describes her as the eldest daughter of the Rev. Edmond Williamson

and Catherine his wife. Christian was born Aug. 22, 1752, and died Mar. 21, 1791.

An Edmund Williamson was appointed Rector of Lolworth, Cambs, in 1786, and was still Rector in 1829 ; possibly he may have been a son of the Rector of Millbrook.

L. H. CHAMBERS. Bedford.

" BLOODY." (See 12 S. vi. 87). It may possibly be of interest to note that, in addition to Swift and Richardson, as cited by PROF. WEEKLEY at the above reference, Pope also used the term. Vol. vi. of " The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq., containing Pieces of Poetry, and a collection of Letters now first published, with notes by the Rev. W. Lisle Bowles, Dr. Warton, and others (London, printed for J\ Johnson, 1807) " includes " A full and true Account of a horrid and barbarous Revenge by Poison, on the Body of Mr. Edmund Curll, Book- seller." After a fantastic account of the poisoning by Pope of a glass of sack which Curll is alleged to have drunk, the story goes on :

" About eleven o'clock he went home, where"" his wife, observing his colour changed, said : ' Ar you not sick, my dear ? ' He replied ' Bloody sick.' . . . . "

An editorial note states that Curll was obnoxious to Pope, and that this extravagant story was Pope's revenge. J. R. H.

ROYAL OAK DAY : OR SHICK SHACK DAY (See 11 S. x. 7, 177.) Much has appeared in ' N. & Q.' on the observance of May 29 : the decoration of houses with oak- boughs, and especially the wearing of an oak spray or oak-apple, with the penalties inflicted on those who fail to comply with the custom. There are also some references to the wearing of oak on other occasions (e.g., 8 S. x. 75, 385).

The custom of changing the sprig of oak at mid-day for another kind of leaf is men- tioned at 11 S. x. 7, with reference to an unanswered query at 6 S. vii. 449. " In this part of Somerset the village children substitute ash or maple for oak in the afternoon," says your correspondent, writing from Downside Abbey, Bath. " It has been said," he continues, "that King Charles exchanged his oak-tree for an ash during the day he was in hiding : but none of the narratives of the King's escape mentions his. In fact, they all say that he remained n the oak till night-fall." At 11 S. x. 177, another correspondent suggests that the