Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/544

 446 NOTES AND QUERIES. [ 12 S.IX.DHO. 3,1021. PRIME MINISTER. I think that perhaps I have discovered the earliest use of this title. It is in Sir John Reresby's ' Memoir ' under 1667 : " The Duke of Buckingham now acted as Prime Minister" (p. 14, ed. 1734; p. 147, ed. 1904). It was almost certainly written at or about that date ; at any rate, Reresby died in 1689. Thus Anson is mistaken in saying ( ' Con- stitution,' vol. ii., Part. I., c. 2, s. iii., 3, p. 114, 1907): "It is in the writings of Swift that we first find the term Prime Mini- ster." The works of Swift he cites were not written before 1712 or 1714. I cannot find any quotation of the two words in ' N.E.D.' H. C N. [See 8 S. x. 357, 438 ; xi. 69, 151, 510 ; xii. 55, ~431;and9S.ii. 99; iii. 15,52, 109, 273, 476; iv. 34; v. 94, 213; vi. 416.] CAEN (OR KEN) WOOD. In connexion with the movement for acquiring this estate, the following extract from the 'Wentworth Papers' (1709-39) may.be of interest : Your Lordship will wonder to hear I have sold Cane Wood. A Lord. Blantire of Scotland offer'd me 4,000 pounds for it, which I thought worth hearkening to, considering the little time I stay out of town, and that a place of half that sum might serve me. (Lord Berkeley of Stratton to Lord Straff ord, Aug. 12, 1712). ERNEST WEEKLEY. University College, Nottingham. WINCHESTER SCHOLARS AND THE UNI- VERSITY OF LOUVAIN. The following list of Winchester scholars who matriculated at the University of Louvain is taken from the very interesting paper on Thomas Harding in The English Historical Review, vol. xxxv. (April, 1920), by the Rev. H. de Vocht. The first page number is that in the Review, the second is that in T. F. Kirby's * Winchester Scholars ' (1888) ; the date is that of matriculation. B. p. 235; K. p. 116. Thomas Harding, May 7, 1563. B. p. 238; K. p 121. Thomas Hyde, April 5, 1563. B. p. 241 ; K. p. 126. Nicholas Fox, June 25 1566. B.p. 241; K.p. 127. Owen Lewis, April 5, 1563. B. p. 241 ; K. p. 123. Nicolas Sander, Nov. 12 1564. B.p. 241 ; K.p. 127. John Fenn, March 29, 1564. B. p. 241 ; K. p. 122. William Knott, J.U.D., April 8, 1569. B. p: 242; K. p. 125. John Marshall, July 31, 1561. B. p. 242; [? K. p. 119]. William Smyth, <Harding's servant), April 30, 1565. B. p. 243; K. p. 123. Bobert Payne, Nov. 12 1563. JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT. uerteg. 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. " HANGMAN'S STONES." Can readers of ' N. & Q.' supply me with instances of " hangman's stones " ? I know of the following only : 1. Hangman's stone, Lambourn, on the hill between Upper Lambourn and Seven Barrows, Berks (O.S., Gin. map, Berks, Sheet 19, S.E.). 2. Hangman's stone, at the junction of the parishes of Hampnett, Yanworth, and Stowell, Gloucestershire (O.S., 6in. map, Gloucs, Sheet 36, S.W.) . There is also a ' k hangman's cross " near Oxwich in Gower, Glamorganshire. These stones are of great interest on account of the tradition attached to them. It is well known, but as I heard an original first-hand version recently, I repeat it here. The story was told me in connexion with and in (half -believed) explanation of the Gloucestershire example by an old hedge -cutter named Frederick Norman of Chedworth. The stone was, he said, that now used as a stile a fiat slab inserted in a gap in a dry wall in the usual Gloucester- shire fashion. A man had stolen a sheep and was getting over the stile when he fell and the sheep got entangled with him in some way and hung him. Presumably he was carrying the sheep over his shoulders with its legs tied in front. O. G. S. CRAWFORD. PRE-CONQUEST LAND PERAMBULATIONS. I am compiling an index under counties of pre-Conquest land perambulations. I have already indexed the ' Crawford Char- ters,' Birch's ' Cartularium Saxonicum ' and the * Liber Landavensis,' and am doing those charters of Kemble's ' Codex Diplo- maticus ' which are omitted by Birch. Can any reader tell me of any similar collections, especially in the North of England, where perambulations occur ? I am dealing only with published materials, and as- a rule am not including documents later than the Norman Conquest. 'O. G. S. CRAWFORD. MRS. AND Miss CAMPBELL'S PASSAGE or THE COL DU GEANT IN 1822. According to the first edition of Murray's ' Switzerland ' (1837) these two ladies left Chamonix at midday on August 18, 1822, with eight