Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/243

 2nd s. N 12., MAR. 22. '56.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

235

Belie of John Bunyan (2 nd S. i. 170.)T The following was noted by me on the flyleaf of The Pilgrim's Progress, but from where extracted I cannot now recollect :

" At a public sale which took place lately in the city of London, the Bible which John Bunyan preached from was bought by Mr. Whitbread, Member of Parliament, for 20/." 16th July, 1814.

In an old Biography of Bunyan, it is said, that " returning to London he was entertained by one

Mr. S, a grocer on Snow Hill, with all the

kind endearments of a loving friend," in whose house he died, August 17, 1688, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. " His funeral was performed with much decency in the new burying-ground by Moorfields."

Is anything known farther of the history of his hospitable friend, and of Bunyan's grave ? G. N.

[Banyan's hospitable friend was Thomas Stradwick (or Strudwick), a grocer, at the sign of the " Star " on Snow Hill, and cousin of our amusing diarist Samuel Pepys, who thus notices him : "Nov. 25, 1668. Merry at dinner; and I carried Roger Pepys to Holborn Conduit, and there left him going to Stradwick's, whom we avoided to see, because of our long absence." Again, " Mar. 9, 1669. With my wife and Bab., and Betty Pepys, and W. Hewer to my cozen Stradwick's, where I have not been since my brother Tom died, there being some difference between my father and them ; and I am glad of this opportunity of seeing them, they being good and substantial people, and kind." John Bunyan was interred in Mr. Stradwick's vault in Bunhill Fields, which was opened as a burial- ground in 1666. The Straggler calls it " Finsbury burying- ground, where many London Dissenting ministers are laid.'' The inscription upon Bunyan's tomb was engraven many years after his funeral. It is not contained in the list of inscriptions published in*l717.]

Dole Fields. Whence their name, and what is its signification ? J. B.

[Dole field has probably the same meaning as Dole meadow, which Phillips (JVew World of Words) says is a meadow wherein divers persons have a share.]

ANDREA FERRAHA

(1 st S. x. 224. ; 2 nd S. i. 14t). 204.)

F. says " It seems to be agreed that no sword manufacturer of this name has been discovered," and asks whether " FERRARA " may not be merely an abbreviation of ferra rara f As for the etymological suggestion, " ANDREA" positively forbids its adoption ; and for the other I will quote a sentence from the curious History of the Rebellion of 1745, by John Ray of Whitehaven, who was one of the Duke of Cumberland's volun- teers. Mr. Ray had secreted his weapons at the " Angel," at Macclesfield, but they were dis-

covered by the chambermaid. His pistols and sword, he thus describes :

" She found my Highland pistols, which were a piece of curious workmanship, the stock, lock, and barrel, being of polished steel, engraved and inlaid with silver ; and on sweeping under the bed, she found my sword, which was also of the Highland make, by that curious workman An- drew Ferrara."

This author gives a good deal of curious in- formation respecting the manners and customs of the Highlanders at the time of his visit. B. H. C.

MR. BERNHARD SMITH and MR. G. S. TAYLOR will see that the Farrara blades in their possession much resemble mine, which is a two-grooved blade, with the following marks in both grooves :

1st gr. x S x S x AKDRIA x S x S x 2nd gr. x S x S x FAKARA x S x S x

the same on both sides. I believe that all genuine Farrara blades are of nearly the same date, having been forged by one of two brothers, natives of Farrara, in Italy ; Andrias blades being the best. The other marks mentioned by MR. SMITH, " Farara," with a sun or orb, is, I believe, the mark of the brother, and often of more modern imitators.

I think this statement is nearly correct, al- though I have unfortunately lost some notes of reference on this subject. The hilt of the sword is no criterion of its age ; the blades were con- sidered of such value that they were put into whatever style of hilt prevailed at the time. They were in high repute at the times of the '15 and '45, and were then frequently taken out of the original hilt, and put into that of the ordinary claymore. During the last war, if not now, they were often worn by the officers of our Highland regiments, being put into the regimental basket hilt. My own blade has the simple cross hilt of the time of James I. It has been damaged by rust and hard wear; but I believe that a genuine Andrea, in perfect condition, would not only beat the very questionable specimens of sword cutlery too often worn by our officers, but also stand the test of Mr. Wilkinson's proof; the fact of a solitary blade being tried and found wanting would be no criterion. The undoubted superiority of the cele- brated blades of Ferrara, Toledo, and Damascus, over anything that had been forged till within the last forty years, is unquestioned : since that time much has been accomplished, but the secret of the extraordinary qualities possessed by some of these blades has never been discovered ; the length of time taken in the manufacture, and the qualities of the water used, were supposed to have something to do with it. If I remember rightly, the identical workmen employed at Toledo, when removed to a place not very far off, but where the water was different in quality, were unable to produce out of