Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/278

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

s. N 14., APRIL 5. '56.

John Knox's Prophecy. John Knox, the Scotch Reformer, received the news of the mas- sacre of St. Bartholomew when on his death-bed, and prayed that no French king might ever have a son to sit on his throne. (See M'Crie's Life of Knox.) Has any French King since that time had a direct heir ? A. M.

Warrington.

Judge Creswell. Can any of your correspon- dents enlighten me as to "Mr. Serjeant Creswell," who was made a judge of the Common Pleas by the parliament in October, 1648 ? (Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 337.). He is also mentioned as re- commended for that office in the parliamentary propositions to King Charles, in February 1642-3 (Clarendon's Hist., vol. iii. p. 407.). And Wool- rych, in his List of Judges, calls him " John Cres- well, Esq." (Woolrych, p. 44.) I do not find any Serjeant of that name. Richard Cresheld of Lin- coln's Inn, however, was made a Serjeant in 1636 (Rymer, vol. xx. p. 22.) Dugdale also gives that name, and notices him under the same name as a reader and governor of that Society (Origines Jur., pp. 255. 266.). To increase the perplexity Sir William Jones, in recording the appointment of Serjeants, calls him " Creswell" (Reports, 390.). It may be nothing more than a variation in the pronunciation of the same name ; but how comes the Christian name to be changed to John ? I shall be glad, if, through your means, these odds may be made all even ; and that I may receive some account of his " birth, parentage, and edu- cation," he being one of the courageous judges who refused to act after the decapitation of the king. EDWARD Foss.

Publication of Banns. I am told that in trje instance of soldiers who are suddenly ordered upon service abroad, the marriage banns are oc- casionally published twice upon one Sunday, so as to shorten the interval a week. Is this true ?

J. K.

Robert Benson, first Lord Bingley, Who was the grandfother of Robert Benson, the first Lord Bingley ? and whence did that nobleman derive his great wealth ? A Yorkshire tradition says, that it w.as derived from his connexion with a foreign money-lender who rendered considerable service to the English government. His father was Robert Benson of Wrenthorp, near Wakefield, in Yorkshire, Clerk of the Assize for the Northern Circuit, in the latter part of the seventeenth cen- tury. It is presumed by the querist, that the family had resided long in the upper part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and particularly in the vicinity of Leeds. L. F. B.

A Note or a Letter. Is there any real dif- ference? Is the distinction arbitrary having

reference only to size of paper, or form of com- munication, or quantity of writing ? In the time of dear postage, large sheets of paper were used. It was not usual in those days to be told by your correspondent, that " your note is duly at hand." Now, it is the common form of acknowledgment ; but, as I suppose, only because it has become the fashion to write upon 8vo. paper, formerly called note paper. Some people say, that a note means a communication written in the third person ; thus distinguishing it from a letter in the first person. We hear, however, of diplomatic notes, and they are sometimes very ordinary sort of letters.

N. H. L. R.

Solomon's Judgment. Had Solomon any imi- tators in his judgment, and who were they ?

The question was propounded at the afternoon catechising of a church in Belgravia, but I did not hear that it was answered. JEAN HULOTTE.

"My head! my head!" When, by whom, and on what occasion, was the sermon preached upon 2 Kings, iv. 19., "My head, my head ?"

NORTHLAND.

Exchange of Chap Boohs. I am in the habit of collecting the old and new chap books, ballads, and the various literary ephemera of Glasgow. I am desirous to have specimens of those published elsewhere. I should therefore be very glad through your columns to hear of any collector who is willing to make exchanges of duplicates, &c.

JAMES B. MURDOCH.

195. Bath Street, Glasgow.

Myosotis palustris. When did this little plant first obtain the name of "Forget-me-not" in England ?

Withering (Botany) says it was so applied on the Continent as early as 1465 ; but I do not find that our old herbalists were cognisant of its uses. In Dodonaeus' Herbal, Englished by Henrie Lyte, 1578, and Gerarde's Herbal, the forget-me-not is said to be one of the popular names of the ground- ivy ; and the only English name given for the Myosotis is scorpion-grass.

Spenser seems to have been aware of its appli- cation, however ; for, although never noticed by writers on floral poetry, it is evidently the flower so accurately described in the following lines from " The Tears of the Muses : "

" One flower that is both red and blew ; It first grows red, and then to blew doth fade, Like Astrophel, which thereinto was made. And in the midst thereof a star appears, As fairly formed as any starre in skyes." " That pearl of some, Starlight is called by name ;

Of others, Penthia, though not so well ; But thou, wherever thou dost find the same, From this day forth doe call it Astrophel."

Allow me to Query whether the names Star-