Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/89

 12 s. vii. JULY 24, i92o.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 69 handed over to the surgeons for dissection. She finally received a pardon. Many thought at that time that Providence had directly intervened to prevent a miscarriage of justice, on the ground that the prisoner had not been guilty of murder at all, as the child had been still-born a contention borne out, strange to say, by the medical evidence. It may be mentioned that ac- cording to the ' D.N.B.' Christopher Wren, who at this date was a gentleman com- moner at Wadham College, Oxford, pub- lished a set of Latin verses on the subject. Another similar case was that of William Duett who was executed at Tyburn, Nov. 24, 1740, for a very brutal murder (or murders), and who, like Anne Greene, recovered^whilst under the hands of the dissecting surgeons. It would be interesting to know whether there are any other instances known to have occurred of resuscitation from the hands of the hangman. FREDERICK C. WHITE. 14 Esplanade, Lowestoft. We must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct. MUSHROOM FREEMEN : MANDAMUS VOTERS What do these terms, perhaps synonymous, mean ? In ' Local Records ; or, Historical Register of Remarkable Events.... in Northumberland and Durham,' &c., by John Sykes, Newcastle, 1833 new edition, 1866, vol. i., p. 237, under date 1761, Dec. 12, is an account of a contest for the representation of the city of Durham between Major- General John Lambton and Ralph Gowland, Esq., in which "215 mushroom freemen, were admitted to vote ; these gave Mr. Gowland a majority, and he took his seat in the house. When the occasional or mushroom freemen, made expressly for the purpose of Mr. Gowland, were set aside, General Lambton had a majority of 192, in consequence of which, the General petitioned the House of Commons, and on the llth of May, 1762, it was resolved by a majority of 88 to 72, that the occasional freemen had no right to vote, and the return was ordered to be amended by rasing out the name of Ralph Gowland, and inserting that of John Lambton esq. " 1768, March 21. There was a contest at Morpeth for the representation of that borough in parliament. The candidates were Peter Beckford, esq., Sir Matthew White Eidley, bart., and Francis Eyre, esq. The votes were for Mr. Beckford, 51 ; for Sir M. W. Ridley, 29 ; and for Mr. Eyre, old voters, 24, new or mandamus voters, 12, being in all 36. At the close of the poll, the returning officers announced, quite unexpectedly the two former duly elected, as they rejected the new or mandamus voters. Mr. Eyre declared his intention of appealing to parliament. On an appeal to the House ot Commons in February 1769, Sir M. W. Ridley carried his election by a majority of 122 to 26. Ibid., p. 265. If it is true that Gowland took his seat as member for Durham it is strange that in the Blue Book of Members of Parliament there is not the usual foot-note " Return amended by Order of the House," &c. Ralph Gow- land was elected for Cockermouth, January, 1775. Though the event is not mentioned by Sykes, I gather from the Blue Book that in October, 1774, Francis Eyre was returned for Morpeth, but on Jan. 27, 1775, the return was amended by Order of the House, by erasing the name of Francis Eyre and substituting that of William Byron. Eyre appears to have been duly elected for Great Grimsby, Sept. 11, 1780. ROBERT PIERPOINT. ORIGIN OF " JOHN BULL." Some years ago I read a statement that the original " John Bull," as a type of national character, was Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke, but I cannot recall where it was. I should be glad if any light can be thrown on this suggestion. In 1712 John Arbuthnot wrote and published a satirical ' History of John Bull,' which was a lively attack upon the war policy of the Whigs in the reign of Queen Anne. This is believed to be the origin of the national "John Bull." It is known that Arbuthnot was a club friend of Boling- broke, and I believe that the " Bol " in the latter name is thought to have suggested the "Bull" of "John Bull." I should be glad to know if there is any ground for that theory. J. HAMSON. Bedford. [The origin of the name John Bull has several times been discussed in our columns. Lord Braybrooke at 1 S. i. 372 considered it might have been " adopted from Swift's ' History of John Bull,' first printed in 1712." At 3 S.^ i. 300 the Editor expresses the opinion that John Bull ' was first introduced to public notice by Dr. Arbuthnot, " in his excellent jeu d' esprit the History of John Bull, a MS. found in the Cabinet of the famous Sir A. Polesworth in the year 1712.' " A rather unconvincing note on the possibility of a French origin will be found at 9 S. iii. 242, the reference being to the fable of ' the Ox and the Frog ' taken as La Fontaine s.]