Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/117

 128. VII. Jut* 81, 1920.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 93 Towers. In 1774 Benjamin, with his wife and seven children, went to live at Liss, co. Hants. After his father's death he appears to have been in pecuniary difficulties, but notwithstanding this he was appointed Sheriff of Hampshire in 1781. The follow- ing year he was imprisoned for debt, and his wife commenced her literary career as a means of livelihood she became celebrated as a poetess and novelist. The ' D.N.B.' contains a history of her life, and also of her son Lieut. -General Sir Lionel Smith, G.C.B., Governor of Jamaica, who was created a baronet in 1838, and died in 1842 ; the baronetcy expired on the death of his only son in, or about, 1871. One slight error in J. F.'s account may be noted with reference to the wife of John Robinson, Secretary to the Treasury, the 'D.N.B.' states "In 1759 Robinson married Mary Crowe, said to have been daughter of Nathaniel Crowe, a wealthy merchant and planter in Barbados, obtaining with her an ample fortune." Thus she was Richard Smith's step -daughter Mary, and not his daughter Elizabeth. She died in 1805, aged 71. ALFRED T. EVERITT. Admiralty Road, Portsmouth. " Nathaniel Crow " is a mistake for Nathan Crow and it was Mary, the widow of his brother James, whom Smith married. James was a merchant of St. Michael's, Barbados, and died there Aug. 2, 1736. Smith was also a merchant of Barbados at that date : his wife died before June 26, 1756, at which date he was a merchant of London. By his brother's will James obtained the estate of " Crowsgate " in Cumberland (Chanc. Proc : Crow v. Smith Sewell 208/19 and P.C.C. Will: James Crow, 1757. 162/Glazier). W. ROBERTS CROW. ELEPHANT AND CASTLE : ARMS AS A TAVERN SIGN (12 S. vi. 11, 49, 132 ; vii. 37). In reference to this query the latest answer says : " The custom of using the 4 Arms ' of the nobility as tavern-signs is perhaps peculiar to England." As a side issue it may interest G. J., F.S.A., to know that at " de Steeg," Duchy of Gelderland, Netherlands, there exists an hostelry named Arms. It used to be the principal tavern on the Middachten Estate of the Reede- Ginckels, Earls of Athlone. The descendants of the hero of the Boyne and his forbears before them lived there, until the last Dutch Earl of Athlone died in the eighteen hundred and forties. The hostelry, although rebuilt, still bears the old sign, and the old title has been lately revived amongst royalty. Middachten and Amerongen, another property of the Earls of Athlone,, were inherited by the Counts of Aldenburg- Bentinck. The last-named place came to^ them through the Lady Elizabeth Child- Villiers, the last Ginckel, who died in the eighteen hundred and seventies at an~ advanced age. It has since gained some notoriety. There used to be instances in the Nether- lands where arms of notables were adopted i as signs, but far fewer than is the case in- England. It seems to me more likely that the Athlones have copied the British' fashion. W. DEL COURT. 47 Blenheim Crescent, W.ll. SOURCE OF ANECDOTE WANTED (12 S. vii. 72). The passage in St. Augustine is the following: " Cui sententiae ('Homo- sum,' &c., which he has just quoted) ferunt etiam theatra tota, plena stultis indoctisque, applausisse." (Epist. CLV. 14, Benedic- tine ed., 1679). Nothing is said here of th - audience rising to their feet. Whether, when the ' Heauton Timorumenos ' was first acted, the majority of the auditors would have had any seats to rise from is another - question. EDWARD BENSLY. MANDERSTOUN (12 S. vii. 28). John- ston's ' Place-names of Scotland ' gives the- derivation as ' Mander's ' or ' Maunder s village. The name survives in Maddiston (Polmont), which is given by Johnston as an instance of how liquids like n and r may totally disappear. C. SANFORD TERRY. Westerton of Pitfodels, by Aberdeen. The late Charles W. Bardsley assured the-- consultants of his ' Dictionary of English- and Welsh Surnames ' that they need have no hesitation in accepting the decision that Manderson signifies the son of Magnuc, of which Mander is a corrupton. Manderston- in Berwickshire is, in all likelihood the ton or enclosure of some far-off Magnus. ST. SWITHIN. LOCAL LONDON^ MAGAZINES (12 S. vii. 4, 57). If within the geographical ambit of the note, there may be mentioned The Black- heathen, the organ of the Blackheath Pro- prietary School, apparently issued twice annually at the price of one shilling, and-
 * ' Het Wapen van Athlone "= the Athlone