Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/66

 50 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. vm. JAN. is, 1921. Catalogue of Alchemical MSS. published by the Union Academique Internationale under the General Editorship of Prof. Bidez of Ghent. It is much to be desired that the contribu- tion from this country should be as far as possible complete, and any assistance in tracing either the above mentioned manu- scripts or any other early alchemical manu- scripts in private hands will be warmly welcomed and of course duly acknowledged in the publication. DOROTHEA WALEY SINGER. Westbury Lodge, Norham Road, Oxford. EDUCATION OF THE FIRST DUKE OF MARYBOROUGH. Can any reader give me any information as to where the first Duke of Marlborough was educated when a small boy ? I have reason to believe that his first school was a French one, but cannot find any details of his education in the ' Lives ' which are at my disposal here. F. M. M. Rochester. ST. THOMAS'S DAY CUSTOM. In a letter irom his Vicarage of Fen Drayton, Cambs, my son mentions the occurrence there of what appears to be a very old custom. On Dec. 21, St. Thomas's Day, all the widows (or, as on the last occasion, all repre- sentatives) go round the village and collect money which is then divided equally among them. I should feel obliged if any of your correspondents could inform me if this custom is practised elsewhere, and what its origin was ? ALEX. THOMS. 7 Playfair Terrace, St. Andrews, Fife. YEW-TREES IN CHURCHYARDS. Could any reader kindly give precise date and reference to the Statute, or other authority, ordering yew-trees to be grown in churchyards for supplying bows ? The date was about 1474. And why to be grown in churchyards ? Was it on account of the poisonous nature of the yew ? G. B. M. AN OLD SILVER CHARM. Can any one explain the symbolism of a small antique silver ornament in the form of a leafy twig, with a heart, a key, and a queer little serpentine bird, arranged among the leaves ? The end of the twig has a hole drilled through it (as if the ornament were intended to be worn round the neck), and a coil of silver cord round it. The heart looks as if meant to be pierced. Woldingham. G. A. ANDERSON. "CONTY." In a letter of Nov. 28, 1843, my father (Edward Whitwell) described a visit to a "Thief School," where he was asked to help in teaching the first class. One of the boys opened a conversation with a mate with : " Your brother nailed three half conties," and insisted on explaining to his teacher that it meant that he had stolen three half-sovereigns. What is the origin of the word ? ROBT. J. WHITWELL. 10 Brompton Square, S.W.3. LEIGH HUNT AND CHARLES DICKENS. Is any appearance of Leigh Hunt's sonnet of welcome to Household Words (1850) known earlier than the posthumous edition of Hunt's poems in 1860 ? F. PAGE. THE LEGEND OF DUNFRAOICH. I shall be very grateful if you can tell me something about the "Legend of Dunfraoich." It is onnected with Loch Fraochy in the parisr of Kenmore, Perthshire, Scotland. I should also oe glad to know where I am obtain a copy of Gillies' 'Collection of Gaelic Songs ' (in English). M. D. ADAMSON. Lisle Court, Lymington, Hants. PASSAGE IN LOCKHART'S 'LiFE OF SCOTT.' In Lockhart's 'Life of Scott,' vol. viii.,will be found at pp. 70-1 the following passage : "I was much struck by his description of a scene he had once with Lady (the divorced Lady ). upon whom her eldest boy, who had been born before her marriage with Lord, asking her why he himself was not Lord (the second title). 'Do you hear that? ' she exclaimed wildly to Scott, and then rushing to the pianoforte played in a sort of frenzy, some hurried airs, as if to drive away the dark thoughts then in her mind. It struck me that he spoke of this lady as if there had been something more than mere friendship between them. He described her as beautiful and tull of character." Who is the lady referred to ? FREDK. CHARLES WHITE. 14 Esplanade, Lowestoft. NORTONS IN IRELAND. Can any reader interested in genealogy inform me whether a younger branch of the Norton family (formerly) of Rotherfield Park, Hampshire went over to Ireland and settled there about the seventeenth century ? A great-grand- father of mine, Samuel Norton, came from Ireland and settled in Hampshire at the end of the eighteenth century, and he is sup- posed to have been a descendant of a younger branch of these Hampshire Nortons, but I have not yet been able to trace which particular branch of this family settled in