Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/428

 350 NOTES AND QUERIES. n2s.vin.ApBiL3o,i92i. AMTMANN. In Islip churchyard, Ox- fordshire, this inscription occurs : Charlotte, the devoted and dearly loved wife of John Cook Wilson, daughter of Wilhelm Schneider, sometime Amtmann of Gifhorn, Hanover. Born 2nd December 1846. Died 21st January 1914. What exactly is the office of Amtmann, and how can I best render it into English ? GEORGE J. DEW. Lower Heyford, Banbury. Music IN THE EARLY XVIIlTH CENTURY. Where can I find information as to life in musical circles and particulars of anti- quarian interest connected with music belonging to the early eighteenth century ? What Society would best be able to furnish such ? PRISCILLA. [We would suggest an application to the Musical Association, 12, Longley Road, Tooting Gravenev, S.W.] " THE JOSEPH HUME OF DORSETSHIRE. "- In 1836, " Robert Gordon, Esq.," published in London ' A Letter. . . on the. atrocious system of imprisonment for debt.' Is he the Robert Gordon of Auchendolly (1787-1864), M.P. for Cricklade, Wareham and Windsor from 1812 to 1841, who con- tributed to The Edinburgh Review, and was known as " The Joseph Hume of Dorset- shire " ? J. M. BULLOCH. 37, Bedford Square. MARY RUSSELL MITFORD'S LOTTERY PRIZE : 1799. All the authorities who refer to MissMitford's literary career, the ' D.N.B.,' ' Encyclopaedia Britannica,' ' Chambers' s Encyclopaedia,' ' Chambers' s Biographical Dictionary,' 1897,. the 'Century Cyclopaedia of Names,' etc.. all state that the amount of the successful lottery prize received by this girl of ten years of age was 20,000. James Payn, the voluminous novelist, however, who was a close personal friend of Miss Mitford towards the ejpid of the lady's life, asserts in his ' Some Literary Recollections,' 1884, that the value of the prize received was 10,000. Can any reader supply proof of the right amount ? FREDERICK C. W T HITE. 14, Esplanade, Lowestoft. " GEEN " WHISKY. I lately saw this curious name on a bottle label. I find geen to be a variant of a dialectal name for the wild cherry. One can surmise what this liquor might be, but if any reader of be as well to have it on record. J. C. SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY DANCE. -With many others I am puzzled and wish to know whether this famous and popular dance was known before Addison's time as Sir Roger de Coverley, and his delightful hero named after it, or whether the dance was subsequently invented and Sir Roger's name bestowed upon it by the admirers of its happy inventor. Did Addison's Sir Roger precede the dance, or was the dance in existence before Sir Roger's ap- pearance in The Spectator, and named after a real or fictitious person ? SURREY. BOOK BORROWERS. (12 S. viii. 208, 253, 278, 296, 314, 334.) IN the Castle Howard MS. of the Metrical Life of St. Cuthbert, c. 1450, edited for the Surtees Society and published in 1891 as their vol. Ixxxvii. (where see pp. 245, 246)' are some scribbled verses more or less warning borrowers. The original MS. is described in the list of the MSS. of Lord William Howard, Scott's " Belted Will," the " Bauld Willie " of his contemporaries. He restored Naworth Castle, where he formed a large library ; he edited ' Florence of Worcester ' in 1592, helped Camden in ' Britannia,' and was intimate with Cotton and other antiquaries. He died in 1640, having probably acquired the MS. long before. The scribblings have been made by earlier owners. The fol- lowing relate to ownership : John Richardson is my name, And with my hand I wrote the same. Amen. The owner of this booke, John Richardson by name, Doth pray the reader for to looke, Thes wordes be set in frame. Good reader, who thou art, I speak to the vnknowen, Think euer in thy hart, That ech man haue his owne. Then canst thou not but gyue This booke to me agayne, And if God gyue me space to liue I shall requite thy payne. John Richardson. Martyn Denham is my name, And with my hande I wrote the same. I, John Denham, owe (owns) this book God giue hime grace. John Denhame is my nam and with my hand I wrote this same. Finis, Finis, per me John. J. T. F. Winter-ton, Lines.
 * N. & Q.' has exact information it. would