Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/179

 2nd s. N 9., MAB. 1. '56.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

171

Miss Robinson possesses a fund of information relative to the family pedigree ; and her niece be- lieves she also possesses the genealogical tree, to which your correspondent refers as being drawn up by her late brother, Mr. C. Robinson.

Mr. C. Robinson (the eccentric) was a man of shy, retiring disposition, never mixing with society ; his time being wholly occupied in his library, which consisted of an unique collection of old books, to which he was constantly making addi- tions. Here he spent his days in the, to him, con- genial occupations of reading and writing, occa- sionally amusing himself by painting, in which art he was no mean adept. Of his writings, his niece knows nothing. If they are yet in existence, as no doubt they are, it would be worth while to ascertain whether the glorious inheritance of his ancestor's 'genius had in any measure passed down to his descendant. JOHN HAWKINS.

Grantham.

flal*3.

The Miss Nightingales 0/230 Years ago.

" If ever women merited the title of the devout sex, these gentlewomen [the nieces of Nicolas Ferrar] won it

by their carriage, and deserved to wear it They

were fine surgeons, and they kept by them all manner of salves, oils, and balsams ; a room they had on purpose to lock up these, and cordial waters of their own distilling. None of them were nice of dressing with their own hands poor people's wounds, were they never so offensive." Dr. Jebb's Life of N. Ferrar, edited by J. E. B. Mayor, M.A., p.231.

CCTHBERT BEDE.

Nursery Rhymes. The following nursery rhymes I learned when I was a boy, some forty years ago. I think them very curious, and that they ought to be preserved in the enduring pages of " N. & Q." The proper tune is that to " Unfortunate Miss Bailey," and I question if the letters of the alphabet can be sung to any other metre. To make the rythm apparent, I have placed bars as if the words were musically noted. Is there another verse ? I never saw the words in print, and never heard them sung save by my late dear mother.

" Great | A was a | larm'd at | B's bad be | haviour, Be | cause C, | D, E, F, de | nied G a | favour, | H had a | husband with | I, J, | K, and L, | M married | Mary and | taught her scholars I how to

spell; |

A, B, C, D, I E, F, G, H, | I, J, K, L, | M, N, II O, P, Q, R, I S, T, U, V, | Double U, X, | Y, Z. || "

R. W. DIXON.

Seaton-Carew, co. Durham.

Doctor Lyne. In Edwards's Cork Remem- brancer, p. 174., I find the following rather curious particulars :

" Doctor Lyne, an Irish physician, who died some years ago of the small-pox, aged eighty-five, lived at a place

called Arloom, in the half barony of Bear, in this county [Cork]. It was remarkable that for fifty years together nobody died out of his house, though he always had a numerous family. His house was built in an odd manner, every window had another opposite to it, none of which he ever suffered to be shut or glazed, but were continually kept open, without any defence against the weather. The room the doctor lay in had four windows, two open on each side his bed. Upon his death his son glazed all the windows, since which time there were several buried out of the house."

ABHBA. Legal Jen d 1 Esprit.

" Look thsre, see ! Leuoga da, seh ! "

No doubt these are the origin of the vulgarism, " Look ye, d'ye see ! "

It is said that Lord Mansfield, with all his elo- quence, had the habit of using this expression, and that, seeing one day in court a barrister who was reputed to be turning Coke on Littleton into verse, the judge asked him publicly how he got on with his task, and that he should like to hear some of it. To this the other replied, " My lord, I have only got as far as the first section, which I have arranged thus :

" Tenant in fee, Simple is he,

That hath lands of his own tight and clever ; For, please you, my lord, And look'e, d'ye see, They are to him and his heirs for ever."

R. L. P. Wartensee.

Door -head Inscriptions : " God's Providence, mine Inheritance." I cannot turn to the Number of "N. & Q.," where this particular inscription is inquired after*, but I have the following reference to it in

" The Virtuous Woman found, &c. A Sermon preached at Felsted, in Essex, April 30, 1678. At the Funeral of that most excellent Lady, the Right Honourable and Eminently Religious and Charitable Mary, Countess Dowager of Warwick, &c. By Anthony Walker, D.D., and Rector of Fyfield, in the same County." P. 42.

" She was truly excellent, and great in all respects : great in the honour of her Birth, being born a Lady, and a Virtuoso, both. Seventh Daughter of that eminently Honourable Richard, the First Earl of Cork, who, being born a private Gentleman, and Younger Brother, to no other Heritage than is expressed in the Device and Motto, which his humble Gratitude inscribed on all the Palaces he built

" ' GOD'S PROVIDENCE, MINE INHERITANCE.' "

This inscription is upon a house in Chester, built (I have the impression), I have heard or read, by the Hon. Robert Boyle, and referred to by your correspondent.

The book from which I quote is a curious gos- sipping account of everything and every person

[* See 1" S. xii. 478.]