Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/235

 12 s. vii. SEPT. 4, i92o.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

191

Capt. John Burton, married secondly, Hay 18, 1723, Dorcas (d. Aug. 7, 1731), "daughter of the Bishop of Peterborough, and widow of Col. How." Can some reader supplement this statement The fourth son of Capt. John, by his first wife, was Arthur (b. Feb. 9, 1720), whose wife was, called Ann. Are other particulars known -about them ?

Sir John Burton, kt., of Wakefield, and Soho Square, married secondly, Mar. 23, 1797, Philippa Irnham, e. d. of Capt. Francis Foster, R.N., of Buxton Vale, near

Alnwick, co. Northumberland. I believe ^this may be correct, although, in one place, I find a reference to her as the daughter of "Capt. Robert Forster." Confirmation re- quired. F. GORDON ROE. 18 Stanford Road, Kensington Court, W.8.

DOMESTIC HISTORY OF THE NINETEENTH /CENTURY. Where may information be ob- tained as to retail prices of foods, average cost of living per head per week for middle and upper class families, cost of coal per ton, -servants' wages, duties, &c. especially for <the period 1820-1860 ?

When was afternoon tea introduced, also coffee and liqueurs after luncheon ?

When were artificial flowers first used to /decorate dinner-tables and when natural flowers ?

When were polished dining-tables used and when tablecloths ? I. C. PEEL.

7 Alexander Square, S.W.3.

FOLK-LORE OP FIELD MICE. What is the origin of the belief of country-folk that field mice cannot cross a garden path without dying in the attempt ? Vide I S. vi. 123 (1852). ALFRED S. E. ACKERMANN.

" A MIRROR FOR SHORTHAND WRITERS." I have recently added to my collection of books on shorthand two copies of a work unrecorded by bibliographers and appar- ently unknown to shorthand historians. The running title of the book is ' A Mirror for Short-hand Writers,' and internal evi- dence shows that it belongs to the latter half of the seventeenth century. A third copy is in the New York Public Library (Beale

collection), aad a fourth was in the collesbion of R^derb Todd, Hadley Green, Ba?aeb.

One of my copies consists of pp. 1-88, the <fther stops at p. 32. The Boale copy also contains 88 pp., and the Todd copy 32. From all four copies the whole of sigaatura A is missing, and there is no indication of the

author, who states on p. 49 that he was led to compose his system by the sight of Jeremiah Rich's method "many years since."

Can any reader of 'N. & Q.' suggest an explanation of the absence of title and preliminary leaves from all the extant copies, or furnish any information which might assist in identifying the author and fixing the date of this curiosity of steno- graphic literature ? W. F. CARLSON.

47 Ravenswood Road, Balham, S.W.12.

A ROD OF PICKLE. What does Thackeray mean by saying that Mrs. Steele "ruled poor Dick with a rod of pickle " ? A slip of the pen would have been corrected long ago. A real confusion in the writer's mind between "a rod of iron" and "a rod in pickle " is not possible. A friend tells me it is a humorous paraprosdokian ; but this figure is mere silliness unless the unexpected word has some sort of meaning in the connexion. The seventeenth-century con- nexion of pickle and tears would provide a meaning ; but it does not here apply, for Prue was rather a scold than a weeper. (See 'The History of Henry Esmond,' bk. ii. ch. xv.). G. G. L.

J. E. EVANS, PUBLISHER, LONG LANE, SMITHFIELD. Information concerning this publisher of wood-printed children's books 'The Coral Necklace,' &c. and as to the time when he flourished, will oblige.

ANEURIN WILLIAMS.

Henai View, North Road, Carnarvon.

POLICE BATON : ADMIRALTY. I shall be glad of any information as to the following article :

A brass truncheon, 11 inches long, formed of :

1. A hollow brass cylinder, inscribed :

(The Royal Arms.)

Police Office,

Union Street,

Borough,

No. 8.

2. A solid brass handle

The truncheon is surmounted by a gilt crown with orb and maltese cross.

The handle unscrews, and. discloses (attached to it) a spindle ending in a spatula with the words engraved on it, "Admiralty of England."

A query regarding a somewhat similar truncheon appeared in Thz Mariner's Mirror for November, 1911, p. 320, to which no reply seems to have been received. An.