Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/497

 i2s. vn. NOV. 20, i92o.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

409

DOROTHY WHITE, of St Andrews parish, Dublin, mar. John Rixon (Wrixon) of Mooretown, co. Meath, June 5, 1770. Dorothy had an aunt or cousin Susannah White of Lucan, co. Dublin, who mar. George Finlay, 1766-67, and died 1825, aged 75, buried St. Peter's Churchyard, Dublin. The particulars of birth, marriage and burial of Dorothy and Susannah, also their parentage will be appreciated. To which family did they belong ?

E. C. FINLAY. San Francisco.

ASKELL FAMILY. What part of England does this family belong to ? Where did it originate ? Is it still in existence ?

T. KNOTT.

CANALETTO. I have an old oil painting on iron, said by an expert to be by Canaletto, but as the subject is 'The Escurial, Spain,' I want to find out whether there is any record of Canaletto or his nephew having visited Spain. I cannot trace such a visit in any biographical sketch dealing with either of the artists referred to.

C. S. TAPLIN. 29 Montgomery Road, Edgware.

THE BELFRY AT CALAIS. On Empire Day, May 24, 1918, M. Paul Deschanel, then President of the Chamber of Deputies, presiding over a meeting in honour of the British Fleet, held in the presence, of the President of the French Republic, the British and Italian Ambassadors to France, and other important personages, at the Sorbonne, said :

" Avant la guerre, il y avait, dans le befHroi de Calais, un carillon flamand. Sur le cadran de 1'horloge, deux cavaliers arms de lances, Henri VIII., roi d'Angleterre et Francois l or, roi de France. Chaque fois que 1'heure sonnait, ils 6changeaient un coup de lance un coup & une heure, trois coups a trois heures, douze coups k midi. Un obus allemand a touch6 les jouteurs et mis fin au combat a jamais ! C'est le seul obus allemand qui ait eu de 1'esprit, a dit un Francais, qui en a."

Who is the witty Frenchman ? When was the clock put up ? and when was it destroyed? JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

PLACE-NAME : HYDE. Can you guide me to the derivation of the name of this town, "Hyde," Cheshire. Some say it is from a "hide" of land, but I do not see any connexion. JAS. A. BYWATER.

15 Cartwright Street, Newton, Hyde.

NEWS or NAPOLEON'S DEATH. Napoleon died a hundred years ago on May 5 next, and the news was first known in London on July 4, 1821. How exactly was the infor- mation brought to this country ? Was the normal communication with the island of St. Helena frequent in those days, and did the illness of the ex-Emperor increase the number of ships calling there ?

J. LANDFEAR LUCAS. 101 Piccadilly, W.

JOCELYN FLOOD, son of Warden Flood, of Dublin City, left Westminster School in 1764, and matriculated at Dublin Uni- versity, Mar. 27, 1764, aged 18. What relation was he to the celebrated Henry Flood ? G. F. R. B.

MACKRETH. James Mackreth, aged 14, and John Mackreth, aged 13, were admitted to Westminster School in 1733. Any in- formation about these two boys would be of service. G. F. R. B.

DOROTHY VERNON. Is the story of the elopement of Dorothy Vernon with Sir John Manners from Haddon Hall authentic, and if so where is the earliest account of it to be found ? If it is not true, where (and by whom) is it reputed ? Of course, when at Haddon Hall I was shown the door and steps by means of which she fled.

ALFRED S. E. ACKERMANN.

PLAGUE RELIC FROM ST. BOTOLPH'S, ALDGATE. In 1742 the skeleton of a boy was found in a vault under this church ; he is supposed to have been shut in at the time of the Plague as the vault had not been opened in the interval. The skeleton was afterwards in the possession of Mr. Rogers, 2 Maiden Lane, Wood Street. This gentle- man issued an engraving of the boy, by A. Rogers, price 2s, with a ticket admitting to the gruesome exhibit. Any further particulars will be useful. J. ARDAGH.

"SET THE ASSIZE WEEKLY." What is the meaning of this phrase ? The following paragraph is a quotation from The Brighton Herald of a hundred years ago :

" In consequence of the high price of bread, the Magistrates on Monday intimated their intention to 'set the assize weekly,' as was formerly the case. The effect of this it would seem has been an mmediate fall of one penny in the quartern loaf, which is now sold at lOd." (Could not the Magis- trates to-day "set the assize weekly," whatever that may mean ?)

JESSIE H. HAYLLAR.