Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 6.djvu/53

 12 S. VI. FEB., 1920. J

NOTES AND QUERIES.

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SARAH'S COFFEE-HOUSE. In the ' Court Book' of the East India Company (vol. xxxvii.A, p. 167) is the following entry, under date Jan. 31, 1698-9 : " Ordred That a Bill of 21. 5s. Gd. from Sarah's Coffee-house for Tea and Coffee at Mercers hall .... be paid."

Who was Sarah, and where was her coffee- house ? L. M. ANSTEY.

" FRAY " : ARCHAIC MEANING OF THE WORD. In a letter to Coleridge, July 6, 1796, Lamb writes :

' These mighty spouters-out of panegyric waters have. 2 of T em, scattered their fray even upon me, and the waters are cooling and refreshing."

All editors of the ' Letters ' have sub- stituted the word " spray " for " fray," but that Lamb intended to write " fray " no one who has seen the original of the letter can doubt. We all know that he was fond of using words in their old, rather than in their modern, sense. Can any example be found in old writers of the word " fray " being used in the sense of " spray " ?

The nearest I have found is in Spenser's ' Faerie Queene,' II. xii. 45 : -

Ye might have seen the frothy billows fry Under the ship as thorough them she went.

I should much like to be able to prove that Lamb's writing " fray " was not a mere slip of the pen, as editors have hitherto taken for granted. (Mrs.) G. A. ANDERSON.

The Moorlands, Woldingham, Surrey.

CAVALIER OFFICERS. In Nicholl's ' Col- lectania Topographica and Genealogica ' is a copy of a list of " The Names of the In- digent Officers certifyed out of the County of Salop by his Majesty's Commissioners ap- pointed by Act of Parliament for that purpose." These lists were ordered by the Act (14 Cav. 2, c. 8) to be sent by the Commissioners to London for the purpose of having the grant made by the Act allotted to the various counties. So far inquiries at the Public Record Office have not enabled me to trace any more of these lists. Can any of your readers tell me where any of them are to be found ? J. B. W.

' Hocus Pocus ' : ' A RICH GIFT.' Could any one tell me the date of the first edition of ' Hocus Pocus,' by White, and also the date of first edition of ' A Rich Gift ' ? The last work *leals in conjuring and curious matter. I was told by one of the gentlemen at the British Museum that they did not possess a copy of ' A Rich Gift.' This I find hard to believe, for I fancy there were

several editions of it. I had one in my hand lately, date 1677. I have been told that the second edition of ' Hocus Pocus ' came out about 1634.

I should be very pleased with a speedy answer, as the information is needed immediately. Please reply direct.

R. EVANS.

37 Ponsouby Buildings, Charles Street, Blackfriars. S.E.

HENRY CODDINGTON. The improver of the microscope, after whom the Coddington lens was named, married a daughter of Dr. Batten of Haileybury College and died 1845. What is known of his ancestry ?

C. B. A.

FINCH FAMILY: WINCHELSEY. Can any of your readers tell me where I can find an account, historical or traditional, of the family of Finch of Winchelsey, &c., in Sussex, and of Sandhurst and Tenterden, &c., in Kent, prior to their being merged in the Herberds, " alias Finch," temp. Edward II., and where is there any detailed account of Old Winchelsey, destroyed 1286-7 ? vjd P. H. H.

LOUIS DE BOULLONGNE, THE YOUNGER'

1654-1733. Can any of your readers give me information as to four pictures painted by this artist : ' The Four Elements : Earth, Air, Fire, and Water ' ? These pictures were engraved, two by Dupuis and two by Desplaces, and the engravings are well known ; but what I want to find out is where the original pictures now are.

J. S. L. Edinburgh.

ENGLISH VERSION OF QUOTATION WANTED. Can any of your readers furnish me with the popular accredited version of the follow- ing Latin acrostic ?

Nitimur in vanum, dant auri pondera nomen We strive in vain, it is the heavy purse that counts. Is this near it ? - T OHN W. BROWN.

Ty Hedd, North Road Aberystwyth.

LOUD BOWEN : REFERENCE TO DANIEL IN THE LIONS DEN. I shall be greatly obliged if any reader could direct me to the record of the late Lord Bowen's life history where I could see the speech he made at some dinner in which he referred to Daniel in the lions' den, and, I think, said that the historian was to be congratulated in the fact that " he was spared the necessity -of an after dinner speech " or some such remark.

A. T.