Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/650

 536 NOTES AND QUERIES. [i 2 s.ix.DEc. 3 i,i92i. DE LA PORTE FAMILY : DAVIS OF CLAP- HAM (12 S. ix. 449). The will of David Davis (P.C.C., 14 Calvert) gives no clue to the identity of Peter Delaport. The testator describes himself as a wollen (sic) manu- facturer, leaves his reputed son Charles Peter three shillings, and the residue to his dearly beloved brother Rich. Davis, of i St. George's, Southwark, worsted manu- facturer, who is a bachelor. The testator | had evidently had an unfortunate ex- perience of the married state. T. C. DALE. LONDON INSTITUTIONS circa 1830 (12 S. ix. 490). I have consulted Leigh's ' New Picture of London ' for 1830, but failed to trace the institution inquired for. Will MRS. ANDERSON identify its purpose. Pre- ; sumably it was an " after-care " fund or ! institution, perhaps an associated charity of | some important maternity home, therefore I not identifiable as a separate charity. ALECK ABRAHAMS. MONTFORT FAMILY (12 S. ix. 449). In my letter at the above reference there is a printer's error which it may be well to correct. j Mary, daughter of Symon Montfort andj Elizabeth Hodge tts his wife, married Symon | Chawner (not Chassner) of Cheadle. Eliza- > beth Hodgetts belonged to an old Stafford- 1 shire family claiming royal descent. In letters of administration granted to j Mary Chawner, widow, and Symon Chawner, mercer, at Cheadle, May 25, 1770, Elizabeth Montfort, spinster, daughter of the above- mentioned Symon Montfort and Elizabeth, i is described as having died intestate. R. M. DEELEY. "BEES' WINE" (12 S. ix. 489). This! organism is known by numerous titles. It is the " ginger -beer plant," which consists of a yeast, Saccharomyces pyriformis, and a bacterium, Bacterium vermiforme. Consult Ward (H. M.), 'The Ginger Beer Plant,' Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., Ser. B., clxxxiii., pp. 125-197 (1893) ; Ramsbottom (J.), ' Calif ornian Bees,' Trans. Brit. My col. Soc., ; vii., Parts I. and II., July 15, 1921, pp. 86- j 88. J. ARDAGH. " HEADS ' AS THE PIEMAN SAYS " (12 S. | ix. 449, 494). It was the custom of piemen j and other street hawkers in Pickwickian | days to " toss up " with a customer to ' decide whether half or full price should | be paid. In Seymour's illustration of j 1 The Pugnacious Cabman ' a pieman is with an apparatus known as a j " whirligig," consisting of a dial and pointer which was used instead of tossing a coin. The pieman worked the machine, and his customer generally lost, but if the latter by any chance won he got his pie for half price. This street gambling by piemen and hawkers is dealt with in The Dickensian, vol. x. (1914), pp. 209 and 250. T. W. TYRRELL. St. Elmo, Sidmouth. I well remember an old pieman in Chat- ham Intra many years ago who sold pies and most delicious " Chelsea " buns, and have many times seen the ppssers-by spin the coin and heard the pieman cry " Heads:." I presume there could be no ultimate ad- vantage as the result must be pure chance, but certainly no pieman would refuse the little gamble. Dickens may have seen similar piemen in Chatham when a boy, and certainly in London later on. JOSEPH C. BRIDGE. Chester. ST. CHRISTOPHER AND THE CHRIST CHILD (12 S. ix. 371, 415, 436, 452). Two more representations on brasses will be found at Tattershall, Lincolnshire. One is on the dexter shaft of the brass to Joan, Lady Cromwell (c. 1470), and the other in a similar position on the brass to Maud, Lady-Wil- loughby, of same date. Both relaid in 1909. In Mr. Macklin's smaller book on brasses he mentions three separate representations at Morley. Can a correspondent state whether they are now existing ? WALTER E. GAWTHORP. 16, Long Acre. HANGMAN'S STONES (12 S. ix. 446, 493). There is a hangman's stone about two miles from Beer in Devonshire on the high road to Sidmouth. It stands at the junction of by-roads and is probably a parish boundary -stone that is named on the Ordnance map. A native told me the " sheep " story. The sheep-stealer lay down by the stone to rest, tethered the sheep by the leg, and threw the other end of the rope round his shoulders. The sheep browsed round and round the stone, pulling and tightening the rope, which slipped up round the man's neck and strangled him. Your correspondent seems to have unearthed a curious piece of folk-lore. JOSEPH C. BRIDGE. In Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire, is the hangman's stone, a ballad of sixteen