Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/21

 12 s. vm. JAN. i,i92i.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 13 JOHN THORNTON OF COVENTRY (12 S. vii. 481). I may safely leave Mr. Le Couteur and others to deal with MR. KNOWLES'S theories about John Thornton. But with regard to his suggestion that the east window of Great Malvern Priory Church may be his work, I should like to make the following remarks. 1. We possess only one date for the rebuilding of the quire of Great Malvern, and that is the consecration of the altars in 1460, marking the completion of the work. The rebuilding must have taken several years, but I do not think the "glazing of the east window can be put back beyond 1450, at "the very earliest. Thornton must have been dead long before that. 2. For years past I have been on the look out for analogies with the Malvern window, and with this object I have seen a good deal of mediaeval glass all over England. But I have never yet found anything in im- mediate relation with it. Some ten years ago, I made a study of the York glass from this point of view, and with the same result. Beyond what is common to all fifteenth- century glass painting, I cannot see any resemblance between Thornton's work and the Malvern east window, either in style or details. G. McM. RUSHFORTH, F.S.A. Riddlesden, Malvern Wells. DANIEL VINECOMBE (7 S. vi. 487). This query is of ancient date, but I have just perused D. Vinecombe's will, which disposes of a part of it. After leaving legacies of money or pieces of plate to a long list of 'cousins," he makes similar bequests to friends, and among others a piece of plate to Eustace Budgell, son of Gilbert Budgell, D.D. There can be no doubt that the latter was the G. B., D.D., mentioned at the above reference. Eustace Budgell was "X." of The Spectator, whose name is in- cluded in the 'D.N.B.' The tankard re- ferred to in the query passed to Daniel Michell as the residuary legatee and prin- cipal heir. A. T. M. SNIPE IN BELGRAVE SQUARE (12 S. vii. 390, 437, 476, 498). The Flask in Ebury Square was "the resort of those who came out duck-hunting, a sport much followed in the ponds about" ('Notes and Topographical Memoranda relating to the Out -Wards of St. George's, Hanover Square.' Appendix to a printed lecture by C. J. B. Aldis on the Sanitary Condition of large towns and of Belgravia, 1837). It is known that the whole area was formerly " The Five Fields," and has a subsoil of clean bright gravel and sand, much of the over-lying clay having: been dug up and made into bricks by Mr. Thomas Cubitt the builder who replaced it with an immense quantity of brick rubbish brought from all parts of London and which raised the surface 8 or 9 feet. Mr. Ward, then in the employ of Mr. Cubitt, informed Mr. Aldis that prior to this alteration of levels and building the area was marshy and repeatedly inundated, so that ducks, snipe, and other water-fowl frequented it. ALECK ABRAHAMS. VAN DER PLAES (12 S. vii. 29). The brief notice of this artist in Bryan's Dic- tionary should be corrected and supple- mented by the account given in A. J. van der Aa's ' Biographisch Woordenboek- der Nederlanden,' where references are given to various sources of information. Accord- ing to one authority (Kramm) David van der Plaes was born some years earlier than 1647. Mention is made among his works of portraits of Prince Hendrik Casimir, Cor- nelis Tromp, son of the more famous admiral (why do so many English writers persist in writing " van Tromp"? Pepys was not guiltless), Jonkheer Hendrik van der Dols and his wife. For some years he worked for the publisher Pieter Mortier. who apppears in Bryan's Dictionary as Martin. A portrait of van der Plaes, engraved by Houbraken, is to be found on p. 58 of ' De Levens- beschryvingen der nederlandsche Konst- schilders en Konst-Schilderessen,' 1729, and a life on pp. 63-65. EDWARD BENSLY. EARLY RAILWAY TRAVELLING (12 S. vii. 461, 511). The writer of the letter printed at the first reference mentions early railway signalling by means of men posted at intervals along the line. That was known as "police signalling," by reason of the fact that no telegraphic or other system yet existed, and it was deemed necessary, in view of the absence of present-day discipline, to place the traffic in charge of police constables, who passed on the trains, by hand signals, in the manner noted by your correspondent. It is interesting to note that the old "hand signal " code survives at the present time in railway practice. The railway policeman figures in Punch,, and the uniform was the same as that described, including the bearing of the constable's staff. For the above reasons