Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/203

 * S. N 10., MAR. 8. '56.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

195

Key and Treble : Etymology. What is the derivation and definition of the word hey as ap- plied to music ? Also of treble, used to designate the highest clef and voice ? NOTSA.

[ Treble, i.e. triple. The lowest sound in the scale was .gam-ut bass ; the next octave was gam-ut mean ; the third was gam-ut triple or treble. Thus Fairefax (Gqd- frey of Boulogne) writes : " The humane voices sung a triple hie." Some have suggested thurible as its deriva- tion, because the thuribilar, or child who carried the in- cense, bore also a small bell of a sharp or high tone. Cleff, or cleave, is clavis, key ; Sax. cceg. The object of the cleff is to divide off and enchain the sounds within a certain confined compass. That which locks, unlocks; that which closes, discloses ; hence the key makes clear the proposed confinement or compass of the sounds. The part to be sung " with a child's voice " was at first called .disctmtus, and afterwards cantus. See Ornithoparcus, his JUicrologus, by Dr. Dowland.]

Tillemans the Painter. Can any of your readers refer me to any book in which I can find .an account of this artist ? BURIENSIS.

[There were two painters of this name, Simon Peter Tillemans and Peter Tillemans. Some account of the flatter artist, which is probably the individual noticed by our correspondent, will be found in Vertue's Anecdotes of Painting, by Walpole and Dallaway, vol. iv. 51 53., and voL v. p. 248. ; Bryan's Dictionary of Painters, vol. ii. p. 476. ; Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. viii. p. 682. ; vol. ix. p. 364. ; and Gentleman's Magazine, vol. 1. p. 530.]

Sperling Street, London. What has become of Sperling Street, London, and where did it for- merly stand ? It was in existence, I believe, as late as 1760, and I imagine that it was in the parish of St. Sepulchre. It is this latter fact that I chiefly desire to know.

In default of more direct information I should be glad to be referred to any work throwing light especially upon the old names of streets. I find that one of the Sperling family was a director of the Bank of England about this time. J. P.

[There is a useful work of this kind entitled New Re- marks of London : or, a Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, of Southwark, and part of Middlesex and Surrej' ; Collected by the Company of Parish Clerks. 12mo. 1732. At the end is an alphabetical table of all the streets, lanes, courts, &c. A similar list is given in A New View of London, 2 vols., 8vo., 1708 ; but in neither of these works can we find Sperling Street. Con- sult also the maps in Strype's edition of Stow's Survey, edit. 1720, 2 vols., fol.]

QUEEN OF BOHEMIA'S JEWELS. (1" S. xii. 494.)

Since writing the Query on the above subject I have read with pleasure the full, though rather diffuse, life of the queen contained in Mrs. Everett Green's Lives of the Princesses of England, and found therein several allusions to her jewels, of

which she possessed a large and valuable collec- tion.

In a letter to the States General in 1654 (vol. vi. p. 41.), she assured them that she had parted with almost all her jewels, to satisfy in some small de- gree her more pressing debts. At her death an inventory was taken of those that remained (Ib. p. 86.), and, as is natural to expect, these consisted mostly of family relics, which she had contrived to retain notwithstanding her pecuniary difficulties. The jewels enumerated in the testament of Co- lonel Conynghanie, which I now subjoin, must have been parted with at least twenty years be- fore her death, which took place in 1661-2, as he died 'soon after 1640. How they came into his hands does not appear. He may have been con- fidentially intrusted with them for the purpose of raising money, which he may have borrowed from John Ramsay, agent for the Scottish Burghs, who had a factory at Campvere, as he was decerned his executor qua creditor. About that time an individual of the same surname (Thomas Cuning- hame) held the appointment of Conservator of the Privileges of the Koyal Burghs in Holland, and on the Restoration he is said " to have got the honour of knighthood, as a sufficient recompence for his good services in almost ruining his own family, and influencing his friends to ruin their's, to the irreparable loss of the factory." I have not discovered to what family Sir Thomas or the co- lonel belonged, but it is not improbable that they were relatives. R. R.

" Testament dative viij Oct., 1646, of Colonell Alex r Conynghame, who d. 164-, given up by Jo n Ramsay, agent to y e borrowes onlie executor dative, decernit as creditor to y s d umq 11 [deceased] Colonell Alex' Conyng- hame, &c.

" In the first place, the said umq 11 Colonell Alex r Conynghame had the goods, geir, and uy" [others] fol- lowing, of the availl [value] and pryces efter specified perteining to him the tyme ot his deceis foirsaid, viz. im- primis, in the hands, custodie, and keeping of M r James Aikenheid, avocat, ane silver baseine [bason] and ane [a flourish here] Germane wark with the queen of Bohe- mes armes in the middle y r of [thereof], weyand viij pund thrie unce sex drope wecht, estimat all to cccc pundes. Item, an littill silver coup weyand sextene unce, and ane dauskene irne kest*, estimat to clx lib. Item, ane chyne of diamonds sett in gold enambled with black and quhyt, q r in [wherein] is conteaned and sett fourscore tablet dia- mond and ninescore auchtene lesser tablet diamonds, in ane black lethir caice, estimat all to cccc lib. Item, ane pair braceletts of diamonds sett with gold w* black and quhyt enambling q r of the ane bracelett conteines twintie audit tablet diamonts sett be twa in aine piece togidder, and the uy r bracelet conteining twintie four in y* same form, in ane black lethir caice, estimat all to cc lib. Item, ane carcat or necklaiss, conteining sexscore peices orientall pearle q ch [which] wer at the buying twelf pund Scotts a pearle, inde ccccccc lib. Item, ane pictour box of gold q r in is conteaned in the on syd the king of Bo- heme his portrait, the cover q r of is sett with diamonts eftir this forme <!>o, conteining twa J deciphered withine


 * Danish iron chest.