Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/479

 2nd s. NO 24, JUKE 14. '56.1

NOTES AND QUERIES.

471

5. English Colony. When at Kiel an intel- ligent Pole, a fur merchant of Altona, who had resided several years in America, told me that having occasion, in the course of his business, to visit the islands off the west coast of Slesvig, he was surprised, on coming to Nordstrand, to find that all the inhabitants, some 2000 in number, talked English, and that they were all descended from one settler and his family. Is anything known of these colonists ? 1 regretted not being able to visit the island ; it would be interesting to learn their history.

6. The Hoe. This is a Note, not a Query. Some of your readers may have been puzzled, as I am not ashamed to confess I formerly was, as to the origin of the word Hoe, a well-known charm- ing promenade at Plymouth ; but when at Ham- burg, meeting with Elbe Hohe and Alster Hohe, I at once saw it was German, simply meaning height. JOHN J. A. BOASE.

Alverton Vean, Penzance.

Writers who have been bribed to Silence. Many curious particulars have been furnished in the pages of " N. & Q." of books which have been burnt, and also of books which have been sup- pressed. There is another chapter of literary history, or literary mystery, which remains to be written ; namely, that of the writers who have been bribed to silence. For instance, the noto- rious John Cleland (by some believed to be the son of Pope's William Cleland) is said to have re- ceived a pension of 100J. a-year from the Govern- ment on condition of his not writing any further books like his Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure : and at the beginning of the present century, a writer named Gilliland, after certain publications of a satirical and very personal character, is said to have had his future silence purchased by no less a sum than 400Z. per annum. Perhaps some readers of "N. & Q." may think this subject worth pursuing. Can any of them furnish particulars as to the life, and writings, and pension of this Gilli- land ? W. B. S.

Adrian Beverland. In the Life of this well- known classical commentator, in the English Bio- graphical Dictionaries, reference is made to a Life of him in German, but no particulars are given as to the author of it, or as to where and when it was published ; neither is there mention made of it in (Ettinger's Bibliographie Biographique. Can any of the readers of " N. & Q." give the precise title of the work in question, and say where a copy may be seen ? N. D.

Secret Service Money. When was the vote for secret service first introduced into the Sup-

plies ? Are there any documents extant which contain particulars of payments under this head say from the time of the accession of Wil- liam III. ? S. M.

Heybridge Whitsunday Custom. Heybridge Church, near Maldon, Essex, was on Whitsunday strewn with rushes, and round the pews, in holes made apparently for the purpose, were placed small twigs just budding. What is the origin or meaning of this ? and does the practice exist else- where ? F. N.

Special Report from Committee of House of Commons in 1719. Can any reader of " N. & Q." tell me where I can find a copy of this Re- port? Its full title is as follows :

" The Special Report from the Committee appointed to Inquire into, and Examine the several Subscriptions for Fisheries, Insurances, Annuities for Lives, and all other Projects carryed on by Subscription, in and about the Cities of London and Westminster ; and to Inquire into all Undertakings for purchasing Joint-Stocks, or Obsolete Charters: London, printed for Jacob Tonson, Timothy Goodwin, Bernard Lintot, and William Taylor, 1720."

The Committee appears to have been appointed by the House of Commons on Monday, Feb. 22, 1719. The only copy which I have seen is im- perfect, and unfortunately just at the very part which I am desirous of seeing. N. E.

"Swang:" Samecast et Samcast, of Land. Will any of your learned readers please to give me the etymology of the word swang, which, in Robinson's Glossary of Yorkshire Words, is de- scribed as " a low -lying grassy place liable to be flooded." And in Grose's and Pegge's Provincial Glossary, " a fresh piece of green svvarth, lying in a bottom, among arable and barren land a dool ;" which is thus described in their Glossary :

" A long narrow green in a ploughed field, with ploughed land on each side of it ; a broad balk, perhaps a dale or valley, because, when standing corn grows on both sides of it, it appears like a valley."

I do not find the above word in any other Glossary than Robinson's and Grose's and Pegge's. In old maps of moors or commons in the North Riding of Yorkshire, the word or name frequently occurs, but always with a prefix, as, White Cross Swang on one of the moors in the township of Moorsholme, near Guisbro.

Samcast or Samecast of land, I have met with in ancient surrenders of copyhold land ; but what quantity of land it contains, I have in vain en- deavoured to ascertain. FBAS. MEWBUBN.

Darlington.

Poniatoivski Gems. Where may be found some account of these gems, respecting the sale of which we find communications in 1 st S. v. 30. 65. 140. 190. ? P. J. F. GANTLLLON.