Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/43

 12 S. IX. JULY 9, 1921.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 29 WIFE'S DEATH 140 YEARS AFTER HER HUSBAND'S BIRTH. Lady Brewster, who died at Melrose on June 22, must have created something of a record, her death having I taken place 140 years after her husband's | birth. Sir David Brewster, F.R.S., was ; born in 1781, and married (as his second | wife) Jane Purnell in 1857. Sir David j died in 1868, his wife therefore survived i him 53 years. GERALD LODER. Abinger House, Brighton. LONDON TAVERNS* (see 12 S. viii. 61). In an observation on Hogarth's ' Night ' at the above reference, I questioned the existence, so early as 1738, of a Flying Coach to Salisbury. Having since alighted on unimpeachable evidence that such a coach was on the road, it is perhaps incumbent on me to place the fact on record. Arthur Collier, the metaphysician and rector of Laiigford Magna in Wilts, writing to " Mr. Whiston in Great Russell Street over against Montague House, London," on July 22, 1726, thus concludes a long letter on theo- j logical topics : And now I guess you are ready to say aloud i to yourself, What would the man have ? Why, i sir, I will tell you plainly and in short, I would fain have the happiness of about a month's con- versation with you as finding, by much experience, that there is more labour than profit in all paper controversies. . . . It is a time of vacation, the town empty, and the country pleasant. But one day's journey by the flying coach to Sarum, thence but seven or eight miles to a com- fortable retreat, the most hearty welcome, and whatever else is in the power of, sir, Your most obedient humble servant, A. COLLIER. P.S. The coach sets out from the Angel behind St. Clement's in the Strand. The recipient of the letter was the Rev. William Whiston (1667-1752), latitudinarian, mathematician, and friend of Queen Caro- line. The postscript bears out the informa- tion relative to the Angel given at the above reference. At 12 S. viii. 196, mention is made, from the Chevallier Correspondence of 1744, of the Lock and Key Alehouse in Smith - field. It is worth noting that this would appear to be the house in Bartholomew Close that was destroyed in a German air-raid, the sign of which a huge cast- iron lock with depending key is now pre- served in the London Museum at Lan- (fiuerie*. WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries in order that answers may be sent to them direct. caster House. J. PAUL DE CASTRO. " QUIET NEIGHBOUR." Rustic names for flowers, whether of field or garden, are always precious, though not invariabty quite elegant. I wonder if a common Gloucestershire name for valerian, namely, quiet neighbour, is common elsewhere. There is a sweet rural touch in the name which commends it. Such names should be jealously guarded, and, where possible, always used. Yet, I observe that many of my friends, especially my lady friends, keen on gardening, discard (as an example) the dear old name " snap- dragon" for the more learned name antir- rhinum. They are equally descriptive, these two names, of a peculiarity in the flower, and the former must yield, in point of antiquity, to the latter. But the English term is consecrated by centuries of daily use among ourselves ; it is English, racy of the soil, a sweet name, dear especially to our cottage children, who delight in pressing the monster's cheeks to compel him to open his monstrous jaws, and then snap ! C. SWYNNERTON. MERRY. John Merry was admitted to Westminster. School in Oct., 1722, aged 11, and Robert Merry in Oct., 1724, aged 10. Can any correspondent of ' N. & Q.' help me to identify them ? G. F. R. B. THE REV. CHARLES MEREST, vicar of Chertsey, Surrey, died Nov. 26, 1786. Particulars of his parentage and career are wanted. G. F. R. B. NAME or AUTHOR WANTED. ' A Review of Mr. James Foster's Account of the Behaviour of the late Earl of Kilmarnock, by a Westminster Scholar,' was published in London in 1746. I should be glad to learn, the name of this Westminster scholar. G. F. R. B. THE SUFFOLK FEAST. In a catalogue of books printed for Thomas Newborough, dated 1688, is an entry entitled ' Humaiiity and Charity. A sermon preached at the Suffolk Feast, Nov. 30, 1686, by W. Claget, D.D.' What was the " Suffolk Feast " ? INIGO.