Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/176

 168

NOTES AND QUERIES.

s. t FEB. 20,

member of the Spanish nobility known by that dignity at the present date 1

M, HENRY,

THE SIEGE OF SiEtfA, I have a curious old Italian silver posata, or table set of knife, fork, and spoon, once the property of the Portiguerri family, and in 1565 owned by the heroine of that name who is said to have fought on the walls of Siena in its defence. I should feel greatly obliged by any informa- tion as to this lady, and also as to the siege of Siena referred to. I should be grateful, also, for the names of any books in which I might find an account of the incident.

F. B.

BLIND GEORGE OF HOLLOWAY. Who was this worthy, vaguely commemorated in Jon- son's ' Tale of a Tub,' II. i.l

Puppy. All the horn-beasts are grazing i' this close Should not have pull'd me hence, till this ash-plant Had rung noon o your pate, Master Broombeard.

Hilts. That would I fain zee, quoth the blind

George Of Holloway : come, sir.

Audrey.

their naked weapons. PERCY SIMPSON.

AUTHOR OP BOOK WANTED. I have in my library a book entitled ' The Life and Exploits of His Grace the Duke of Wellington,' with sixty engravings; printed by W. J. Sears, 3 and 4, Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row, and pub- lished by George Berger, Holywell Street, Strand. There is no date that I can find, nor does it appear who collected " the Life," &c. I have had the book since 1847. I shall be glad if some one will kindly tell me the date of publication and the autnor. Among other illustrations, somewhat a propos of the letters in the Standard at present about Highland pipers under fire, there is one (p. 59) of the wounded piper of the 71st Highlanders (named Stewart) at the battle of Vimiero. He is depicted as sitting on a bank, a broken gun-carriage wheel and dead soldiers to his left, artillery firing to the right, his comrades marching to the attack, and himself, whilst

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playing the pipes, saying, " Weel, my bra' lads, I can gang na langer wi' ye a-fighting, but de'il burn my saul if ye want music." WM. GRAHAM F. PIGOTT.

OATH OF ALLEGIANCE. The ancient records of the Corporation of Wigan include a MS. oath-book. In this is inscribed the form of oath ^ taken by officials on appointment or election, and a memorandum of the taking of the oath, with the signature of the person appointed to office, is registered. In the year 1778, upon the passing of a new form of oath, whereby Catholics taking the same were

eligible for various hitherto denied privileges, there seems to have been in Wigan a general acceptance of this oath, and in the above- named book there appear the signatures of upwards of four hundred local Catholics, with that of the priest then in charge of the Wigan Mission at the head. Was the taking of this oath by Catholics in a body carried out in other parts of England ? N. M.

JOHN BOURKE. Of which branch of the family of De Burgh was John Bourke of Tullyrey, whose daughter Honora married Ulick De Burgh, the third Earl of Clan- ricarde, who died 20 May, 1601 1

WM. JACKSON PIGOTT.

Dundrum, co. Down.

FIELDING. It appears from Mrs. Hender- son's * Recollections ' of the late John Adolphus that Henry Fielding, the novelist, purchased a ninety years' lease of a house near Canterbury for one of his daughters, and that, at the age of ninety-six, she was compelled to leave the house, the lease having expired. Is anything further known of this 1 One of Fielding's sons appears to have been Vicar of St. Stephen's, Canterbury. G. W. WRIGLEY.

68, Southborough Road, South Hackney.

ORDERS OF FRIARS. In addition to the four principal orders of friars the Dominicans, the Carmelites, the Franciscans, and the Augustinians there were others of some importance, such as the Crutched Friars, the Observants, the Bonhommes. These last had only two houses in England, one at Ash- ridge, co. Bucks, the other at Edington, co. Wilts. I am inclined to believe that this name was given to friars in general in this country before the Reformation. The author of a collection of 'Forms of Bidding Prayer' (Oxford, 1840) gives in the glossary at the end " Bone hommes, good men ; a name they called the begging friars by." This seems to mean that the name was applied to the friars generally. Halliwell gives " Bonhomme, a priest." I should be glad to know whether in this country friars, of whatever order, were called in the Middle Ages bonhommes.

S. ARNOTT.

Baling.

TYRAWLEY = WEWITZER. Miss Wewitzer, sister of Ralph Wewitzer, an actor of old men at the close of the last century and beginning of the present, made her first appearance at Covent Garden 14 Nov., 1776, as Elmira in Dibdin's ' Seraglio,' and played during some years with moderate success. She is said to have retired from the stage on marrying the