Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/426

 348 NOTES AND QUERIES. [i2s.vm.Ar R iL3o,i92i. PICTURES OF COVENT GABDEN. I should i be glad to know whether tl^ere are any ! early eighteenth-century pictures of Covent I Garden Market in public museums or art galleries in England, apart from those now hanging in the London Museum. HILDA F. FINBERG. 47, Holland Road, W.I 4. PARSONS FAMILY. Sir John Parsons (Lord Mayor of London), who died in 1717, had three sons : ( 1 ) John, who predeceased his father, leaving a son, John ; (2) Henry, who died in 1740 ; and (3) Humphry (twice Lord Mayor of London), who died in 1740, leaving a son, John. I shall be glad to have any information concerning the two grand- 1 sons mentioned, and also of Henry, whoj married but died, apparently, s.p., as no children are mentioned in his will. ARTHUR T. WINN. Aldeburgh, Suffolk. PAUL LUCAS: His 'JOURNEY THROUGH ASIA MINOR.' Can anyone tell me the date! of the first appearance of this work, and i whether it was written in French or English ? It is quoted (in English) in Mr. Waite's ' Lives of the Alchemystical Philosophers ' for a queer story of the survival of the French alchemist Nicholas Flamel and his wife years after their supposed death but as no date is given it is impossible to say how many years. Flamel died about 1419. C. C. B. A SLICE OF BREAD AND BUTTER. It would seem that the slice of bread and butter is among the oldest forms of food still in j everyday use. Mr. J. H. Gurney, in a recent book, ' Early Annals of Ornithology,' i quotes the Venetian, Capello, Ambassador j to England in 1496-7, who, writing of the j profusion of birds in this country and the tameness of kites around London, says : They often take out of the hands of little children, the bread smeared with butter, in the I Flemish fashion, given to them by their mothers. Is this the earliest reference to bread and butter eating in England ? J. LANDFEAR LUCAS. ' 101, Piccadilly. FRANCIS AND JOHN ANDERSON, WRITERS TO THE SIGNET, EDINBURGH. I seek the name of the parents of Messrs. Francis and John Anderson, who were in partner- ship as Writers to the Signet, and had offices in Edinburgh in 1789. JAMES SETON-ANDERSON. 39, Carlisle Road, Hove, Sussex. ROBINSON CRUSOE'S ISLAND. I have seen in a recent evening paper that Chile is going to turn the island of Juan Fernandez into a " park." This information is conveyed under the headline "Robinson Crusoe's Island." I have hitherto understood that Robinson Crusoe's Island was in the estuary of the Orinoco. Am I or is the newspaper right ? CONSTANT READER. RECORD IN LONGEVITY. Can any reader produce a family record to beat that de- tailed below ? On Sept. 20, 1809, Hugh Macpherson, Professor of Greek in King's College, Aber- deen (b. Aug. 12, 1767 ; d. Mar. 12, 1854), married Christina (b. Sept. 13, 1785 ; d. Aug. 17, 1860), daughter of Roderick Mac- leod, principal of the same college. The issue of the marriage was six sons and seven daughters, viz. : 1. Isabella, b. Mar. 7, 1811; d. Oct. 8, 1899, aged eighty-eight, unmarried. 2. William, b. July 19, 1812 ; Master in Equity, High Court, Calcutta, d. April 20, 1893, aged eighty. 3. Anne Maria, b. Apr. 11, 1814; d. Mar. 14, 1900, aged eighty- five, unmarried. 4. Elizabeth, b. Jan. 25, 1816; d. Apr. 27, 1885, aged sixty-nine, unmarried. 5. John, b. May 20, 1817; M.D., practised in Calcutta and London; d. Mar. 17, 1890, aged seventy-two. 6. Christina, b. Jan. 31, 1819; d. Apr., 1882, aged sixty-three, married. 7. Jessie (twin sister of Christina) b. Jan. 31, 1819 ; d. Aug. 28, 1906, aged eighty-seven, married. 8. Hugh Martin, b. Aug. 30, 1820; Inspector- General of Hospitals, Bengal; d. Apr. 4, 1902, aged eighty- one. 9. Margaret, b. Aug. 25, 1822; d. November, 1915, aged ninety-three, unmarried. 10. Roderick Donald, b. Feb. 27, 1824; Major- General Bengal Staff Corps; d. Dec. 2, 1900, aged seventy-six. 11. Norman, b. June 13, 1825; Professor of Scots Law, Edinburgh; d. Aug. 2, 1914, aged eighty-nine. 12. Arthur George, b. Sept. 26, 1828; Judge of High Court, Calcutta; d. Jan. 22, 1921, aged ninety- two. 13. Lucy Jane, b. Oct. 21, 1830; d. Oct. 7, 1915, aged eighty-six, married. Thus the thirteen children between them lived 1061 years, or an average of eighty- one years each ! And this, though of the six sons, five, and of the seven daughters, three, spent much of their lives in India. Principal Roderick Macleod held college office for sixty-seven years. This was cited by me as a record in ' N. & Q,' 9 S. iii. 486, and no better claim has been brought forward. P. J. ANDERSON. University Library, Aberdeen.