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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. vii. NOV. 27, 1020.

by King Henry I. of grants to Totnes Priory dated c. A.D. 1104. There are fifteen crosses formed obviously by different hands. Each cross bears the name of the signatory written over it, sic : Signum Regis.

HUGH R. WATKIN.

IN PRAISE OF INDEXING (12 S. vii. 130, 174, 215, 373). Certainly the Index Society existed from 1879 to 1889, for I was a member of it. At the last date it was merged into the "British Record Society." The original Society published eighteen volumes, all most useful. I have a complete set of them, and six Reports. I have a duplicate of Report 2, which I would gladly exchange for a copy of Report 5 (for 18834), which is lacking to my set.

W. A. B. COOLIDGE.

Grindelwald, Switzerland.

In reply to NOLA (Baluchistan), the British Record Society, Ltd., began its career in 1889, when it took over the entire stock of the defunct Index Society, comprising 15 volumes and two occasional indexes. The ' Index Library ' is the publication of the British Record Society, Ltd., and now consist of 51 completed volumes of Calendars of Wills in the P.C.C. and many other Pro- bate Courts, Iiiquisitiones post mortem, &c., and 4 other volumes are in a very forward state. E. A. FRY,

formerly Hon. Sec. B.R.Soc., Ltd.

Gerrard's Cross.

EARLIEST ENGLISH POETESS (12 S. vii. 351, 417). Probably the earliest known was Dame Juliana Berners, a somewhat hazy figure through the mists of time, who wrote the 'Boke of St. Albans,' 1486: the next edition, Wynkyn de Worcle's, 1496. See the 'D.N.B.,' under Berners, Bernes, or Barnes, Juliana (b. 1388 ?). Some of her book appears to be a translation, and there is still much uncertainty about her, but in Frederic Rowton's ' The Female Poets of Great Britain ' (1848), under her name, it is written ; " The first British Poetess of whom we have any record is the lady whose name is mentioned above." This work also draws attention, with extracts, to other early poetesses, among those earlier than the seventeenth century being Anne Boleyn (?) : Anne Askewe : Queen Elizabeth : Mary, Countess of Pembroke, and Elizabeth Melvill who wrote ' Ane Godlie Dreame, compiled in Scottish Metre ' (1603).

RUSSELL MARKLAND.

PRISONERS WHO HAVE SURVIVED. HANG- ING (12 S. vii. 08, 94 r 114, 134,173, 216). The Gentleman's Magazine records that on Apr. 21 1731, one William Peters was committed to- jail in Ireland, being found alive on a journey three days after he had been executed for horse-stealing. JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

THE TALBOT INN, ASHBOURNE (12 S. vii. 350). I quote the following from a note- on p. 227 of Sir Harris Nicholas's Edition of ' The Completo Angler ' (reprinted Chatto & Windus, 1903) :

"This inn stood in the market-place, and till about sixty years since was the first inn in Ash- bourne. About that period a wing was divided off for a private dwelling, and the far-famed Talbot was reduced to an inferior pothouse, and continued thus degraded until the year 1786, when it was totally demolished by Mr. Langdale, then a builder in that town, who erected a very handsome struc- ture on its site. "

J. B. WHITMORE.

"Hux" (12 S. vii. 330, 375). MR. ROBERT PIERPOINT will probably be in- terested to know that "Hun " was not the only term used by mid-nineteenth century French writers to denote German "bar- barian." There is in existence a letter of the great actress Rachel to her sister Sarah with reference to a tour in Germany :

"Out of 12 performances I was to give, only 3 are left. On the 27th I shall leave here to go through the same thing in Germany. We shall see what those Ostrogoths are like, and whether they are capable of understanding our master- pieces and most worthy interpreter."

The autograph letter (4 pp., 8vo, No. 194 Sotheran's catalogue, No. 12, 1899) bears no date, and only an English translation of an extract was published.

ANDREW DE TERNANT.

SIR WILLIAM JOHN STROTH (STRTJTH) (12 S. vii. 290, 373). Sir Wm. John Struth was Governor and Commander-in-Chief of St. Vincent, West Indies. He was knighted while Mayor of Bristol in 1815 : and died at Bognor, Feb. 1, 1850, aged 85. R, G. S.

' POOR UNCLE NED ' (12 S. vi. 287, 37 ; vii. 373). From my boyhood memory of ' Uncle Ned ' I would suggest that the two- first lines of the chorus ran thus ; Then down with the shovel and the he-hey hoe And up with the fiddle and the bow

intending, as I then understood, to empha- size the fact that there truly was "no more- work for poor old Ned," and that his present state was occasionally joyous. But I think.