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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[2"d s. No 26., JUNE 28. '56.

says, " The Pope knew that Henry VI. was not king da jure, but only de facto, and a poor creature." This is also the opinion of Mr. Habington in. his Life of Edward IV.']

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Eales Family. Nov. 26, 1670, the following arms were granted, or confirmed, to " Luke Eales, Doctor of Physic, and to his brother Thomas," viz.: "Per pale, or and sable, a fess engrailed, and in chief 3 fleurs-de-lis, also countercharged." The doctor is elsewhere described as physician to the king.

I am desirous of obtaining any particulars of either of the brothers or their descendants, or collateral relations.

There is a highly respectable family of the name in Devonshire or Somersetshire ; and Richard Eales, Esq., is mentioned in Lysons's Devonshire (1822) as lord of the manors of Dawlish, Huish, South Sydenham, and other estates in that county. A. K.

Council of Lima. Can any of your corre- spondents inform me in what work I shall find an account of the proceedings of this Council, and also the several decrees passed on that occasion ? I have in vain consulted the different histories of councils within my reach. It was held in 1583.

CLERICTJS (D.)

Translation of Camoens. In the European Magazine for 1824 (vol. Ixxxv. p. 251.), there is a translation of the " Island," from the Lusiad of Camoens, by H. AD. Can you inform me who is the author ? R. J.

Earl of Essex's " Letters" In the second volume of the Memoirs of the Court and Regency, published by the Duke of Buckingham, it is said at p. 236., that there then were five volumes of Letters of the Earl of Essex, from 1673 to 1677. Can you tell the world what has been the fate of these volumes ? * They ought to be curious.

ANON.

" The Ascension," an Oratorio, Sfc. Is any- thing known regarding the authors of the two following works, the music of which was composed by Mr. Hook, the father of Theodore Hook ? 1. The Ascension, an oratorio, 1776. 2. An Opera, containing thirty-six airs, said to be written by a Miss Williams of Norwich. R. J.

1500 Winebibbers starved to Death after a Drinking Bout ! ! ! Mr. Quinton, in his clever little work on the apparently successful process of

[* A selection of these Letters (for the year 1675) were published in a quarto volume in 1770 ; but the editor has not stated where the originals are preserved, or by whom communicated.]

the painless extraction of teeth by the anaesthetic application of cold to the portions of gum imme- diately proximate to them, when speaking of the effect of extreme cold on the human frame, has the following extraordinary statement :

" We are told, that at a fete given once at St. Peters- burgh by a farmer-general of distilled spirits, fifteen hundred persons who committed excess in spirituous drink, perished miserably from cold in the squares and streets of that capital."

I shall be glad if Mr. Quinton, or any one else, will kindly tell me the authority for this story, the date of which, it will be observed, is not given. HENRY KENSINGTON.

Dr. Franklin. When and where did William Temple Franklin die, and at what age ? He was Dr. Franklin's grandson, and published the Me- moirs of his Life and Writings, in 6 vols., in 1818. Did he leave any posterity ? Any particulars relative to the descendants of Benjamin Franklin would be interesting. J. R.

" Moral Plays" by a Lady. There was a vo- lume of Moral Plays published in 1832, by a Lady. Can you inform me who was the author ? I think the preface is signed " H. St. A. K."

R. J.

Melrose Abbey. Can any of your Scottish readers inform me if the design was ever enter- tained of restoring the Abbey of Melrose, and if an estimate was made and published of the pro- bable cost ?

A LATE VISITOR TO MELROSE ABBEY.

Our National Spiders. For the purposes of measurement the old astronomers were accus- tomed to use six or eight wires, which crossed the tube of the telescope. This was all very well when the science of astronomy was not so far ad- vanced as it is now ; but in the present day, when we are discovering new orbs at the rate of about a planet a week, a much finer material than wire is required for the exquisitely accurate observa- tions which are now so indispensable. In Gar- diner's Music and Friends, 1853, there is a brief account of the Observatory at Greenwich, in the course of which I find the following statement :

"A superior breed of spiders is now kept in the institu- tion, whose daily labours contribute much to siderial as- tronomy by spinning a finer web than has hitherto been produced."

As I have never before heard of these spiders, and as no " item " for their breeding and feeding appears in the parliamentary estimates, I should be glad to know whether or not the above state- ment is correct. If it is, I think an account of our national spiders, and of the habits and ma- nagement of the* " superior breed " we are so fortunate as to possess, would be generally inter- esting HENRY KENSINGTON.