Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/450

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

. NO 22., MAY 31. '56.

furnish me with a more detailed blazon of Bishop Horsley's arras, than his mention of " a horse's head bridled" would enable me to note.

In reply to his Query, I beg to say, that I do not think any attempt was ever made to trace the late Bishop of St. Asaph to the Saxon leader ; and that the bearing of horses' heads bridled is, as he will see, by reference to any heraldic dic- tionary, common to several families of the name of Horsley and Horsey. W. K. R. BEDFORD.

Sutton Coldfield.

" A sunbeam passes through pollution unpolluted'" (2 nd S. i. 114. 304.) The same idea is expressed in Lilie's Euphues. I quote from the edition of J617, in which, at sign B. 2., occurs the passage :

" The sunne shineth upon the dunghill and is not cor- rupted."

I know not whether it occurs in the earlier editions, of which four appeared previous to Bacon's Advancement of Learning. J. F. M.

Crafty Innkeeper at Grantham (2 nd S. i. 232.) Did this practical joke originate at Grantham ? I have heard two or three versions of the tale, neither of which* correspond with that given by H. KENSINGTON ; unfortunately I omitted making any note of them : but I recollect that one, the most ludicrous, set forth how an elderly gentle- man, who had long been kept to his room by an attack of the gout, was instantaneously cured at least so far, as to enable him to take to his heels through witnessing the sudden descent of an imp of darkness similar to that mentioned by your correspondent, into his bedroom ; such imp having, after a lengthened tour of observation on the roof of the house, mistaken, on his return to the lower regions, the pot from which he emerged on his ascent.

Whether the fact narrated by H. KENSINGTON gave rise to this version, or whether some such story as this enabled "mine host" to decide on what may be called the most so^able method of expelling his unwelcome customers, deponent knoweth not. R. W. HACKWOOD.

Signal Whistle (2 nd S. i. 374.) This instru- ment, on its introduction to the public, was called the " Proteus whistle ; " and PFEIFER is quite right in saying that it was a powerful one. I be- lieve it is still to be procured at most shops where articles for the use of sportsmen are sold, gun- smiths, &c. ; and if my memory serves me rightly as to place, I have seen it very lately at a gun- makers on the south side of Cornhill.

I do not know about the " three miles," that is a long whistle ; but I can say thus much, that when they first came out, I had the pleasure of hearing the effect produced by one at a distance of about three yards ; and I sincerely hope, that

the next time I am treated to any exhibition of their power, I may be not far short of three miles distant from the performer.

Although they are really so effective, from what I recollect, I do not think that any purchaser has to pay dearly for his whistle, the price of course varying as the power, make, &c.

R. W. HACKWOOD.

Sardinian Motto (1" S. xii. 509.) The letters F. E. R. T. were stamped instead of a motto on each of the fifteen links of the collar worn by the Knights of the Annunciada, which order was insti- tuted by Amadeus VIII., first Duke of Savoy, "at what time he defended Rhodes from the Turks, 1409."

Heylin says, and he takes them to stand for " Fortitude," &c., adding afterwards :

" So from this victory (for every repulse of the be- sieger is a victory to the besieged) there arose a double effect. First, the institution of this order; second, the assumption of the present arms of this duchy, where are gu. a cross arg; this being the Cross of St. John of Jerusalem, whose knights at that time were owners of the Rhodes."

R. W. HACKWOOD.

Captain M^Cluer (2 nd S. i. 353.) In 1803, a thin quarto volume of seventy-two pages, intitled A Supplement to the Account of the Pelew Islands, by the Reverend John Pearce Hockin, of Exeter College, Oxford, M.A., was printed by Messrs. W. Bulmer & Co., for Captain Henry Wilson (sold by Messrs Nicol, and J. Asperne) ; in which your correspondent UNEDA will find the sequel of Captain M c Cluer's history. It appears that the East India Company, in the month of August, 1790, sent two vessels under his command to the Pelew Islands ; and after some intercourse with the natives and other occurrences, one of these having sailed for China, Captain M c Cluer, from whatever cause, in February, 1793, gave up the command of the other for the express purpose of remaining as a settler on the islands. After con- tinuing in them, however, about fifteen months, he contrived to get over to the English factory at Macao, hoping to be again employed, and in 1797, having regained his health which had suffered, and procured a vessel, removed his family and pro- perty from the islands, a part of which, having been transferred to another ship, arrived in safety at Bombay ; with the remainder he proceeded in his own vessel to Bengal, " from whence he again sailed, and was never more heard of, nor any of his crew." P. 55. OVTIS.

Hydrophobic Patients Smothered (2 nd S. 5. 362.) From the nature of the calamity and the secrecy sometimes observed in regard to it among the relations of the deceased, it is difficult to ad- duce specific instances ; but in Scotland I believe that it was once held more than a " popular de-