Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/245

 12 S. IX. SEPT. 3, 1921.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 199 ELIZABETH FRY ( 12 S. ix. 150). In writing about her visit to Worcester, Mrs. Fry does not allude to the case quoted. In her Diary of "Third month llth," she men- tions " the prospect of paying a religious visit to Friends of Worcester and Birming- ham with her sister Elizabeth," and adds that she " had obtained a certificate from our Monthly Meeting for that purpose." And in a letter to one of her daughters, dated " Third month 19th 1824," says : " When we arrived at Worcester I was faint but sti 1 ! went to the Meeting of Ministers and Elders." Two days later she " proceeded to the prison, and after going over it had all the prisoners collected in the chapel. Samuel [Mr. Gurney, ho-r brother] read the 15th of Luke and then I spoke to them. It finished in Prayer and was a solemn time. Much satisfaction was expressed." CONSTANCE RUSSELL. Swallowfield Park, Reading. SUSSEX AND SURREY DIALECT WORDS (12 S. viii. 481 ; ix. 69, 154). The entry in the ' O.E.D.' under ' Lady-smock ' is : Also lady's, ladies' smock. A common name for Cardamine pratensis. (Applied locally also to Convolvulus sepium.) Under ' Milkmaid ' : 2. Local or book-name of several plants (see quots.). [Among the quotations is] " 1886. BRITTEN AND HOLLAND, Plant-n. 335 Milk Maid or Milk Maids (1) Cardamine pratensis." Gerard's account of the flower's names should interest MR. ROWLAND. He says : They are commonly called in Latine Flos citculi. . . and also some call them Nasturtium aquaticum minus, or lesser water-Cresse : of some Cardamine : ... in English Cuckow-flours : in Norfolk, Canturbury bels : at the Namptwich in Cheshire my native country, Lady-smockes ; which hath caused me to name it after their i'ashion. I have never heard this flower called " water-cress," with or without qualifica- tion, but " meadow -cress " is a not uncom- mon name for it. " Canterbury bells " seems an absurdity here, and 1 suspect a blunder on Gerard's part. The plant he figures is undoubtedly Cardamine pratensis, and has no resemblance to a bell. It is equally without doubt that this is Shake- speare's flower And lady-smocks all silver white Do paint the meadows with delight. Though not absolutely white it looks so from a distance, and blowing about in the grass it might by a nimble fancy be likened to linen laid down to bleach. C. C. B. CHRIST'S HOSPITAL AND THE NAVY (12 S. ix. 87). In connexion with the remarks concerning Christ's Hospital boys and the Navy, it may be of interest to note that among the India Office Records there is a letter (dated Sept. 22, 1676) extant entitled " His Majesty's letter touching the children of his Royal foundation " (' Court Minutes,' vol. 30, fol. 56). This relates to the boys who were specially educated for the service of the East India Company, to which they were apprenticed. Many interesting facts can be gleaned from the Records regarding the boys sent to India in the seventeenth century. Among them was John Nicks, who became secretary at Fort St. George and served the Company in many capacities. His wife, a " holy terror " as regards her tongue, has been immortalized by Mrs. Frank Penny in her novel, ' Diamonds.' Other Christ's Hospital boys who made names for themselves in the East were John Davis, John Thomas (an expert in Oriental tongues, but who became a lunatic and tried to murder his wife), and John Harvey, Governor of Karwar (Malabar Coast), who left a legacy to his old school. L. M. ANSTEY. on Court Rolls of the Borough of Colchester. Vol. i. (1310-1352). Translated and epitomized by Isaac Herbert Jeayes, with Introduction, Corrigenda, &c., by W. Gurney Benham. (Published by the authority of the Town Council of the Borough of Colchester.) WE congratulate the Colchester Town Council upon an enterprise as spirited as it is useful on the transcription, that is, and the translation and publication, of the Court Rolls of the Borough of Colchester, of which the volume before us is a first instalment. Colchester possesses two other important series of Records, ' The Red Paper Book ' and ' The Oath Book or Red Parch- ment Book,' besides its Borough Charters. All these are already available to students no mean glory to Colchester and it is natural as well as laudable that the authorities should now push on to their Court Rolls. These make a con- siderably larger undertaking, for their line, though the gaps are many, reaches from 1310 to 1741, and many of the Rolls are more volu- minous than those here presented. It is certainly a good plan whether or no the later documents have to be curtailed or selected to give these earliest extant Rolls hi full. There are nine remaining for this period of 42 years, 33 being lost. Of the whole series 58 per cent, remain. Antiquaries and genealogists generally will find here many details though chiefly of the