Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/117

 9 th S. X. Auo. 9, 1902.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

109

Catechism ! For him even the first answer, so easy for most of us, would have called for the exercise of a real feat of memory.

ST. SWITHIN.

KNIGHTS OF THE GARTER. Has any com- moner in Great Britain received the Garter? If so, please give names. I know, if bio- graphies are to be relied on, two com- moners who were offered, but refused this distinction viz., William Pitt and Sir Robert Peel. An exhaustive communication on this subject will be, no doubt, of great interest to many. E. A.

Stockholm.

FAMILY CRESTS. Is there any book on the above on the same plan as Pa"p worth's ' Ordi- nary of British Armorials/ by which, on referring to a crest, one is enabled at a glance to see what family bears it? I am acquainted with Fairbairn's and other similar works ; but I want the antithesis to these, if such a work exists.

CROSS-CROSSLET.

" BILLY "= TIN CAN. Mr. Samuel Butler, in 'Erewhon Revisited,' p. 18, informs his readers that this word is doubtless of French- Canadian origin, and is derived from faire bouillir. The ' H.E.D." ignores this ety- mology. Is there anything in it ? C. C. B.

' PURCHAS HIS PILGRIMES,' 1625. I shall be glad to hear of the whereabouts of copies of this book, of their condition, and of their history. RONALD DIXON.

46, Marlborough Avenue, Hull.

"LOOPHOLE." Is it possible to explain loop in loophole by any of the senses of loop as recorded in the old Dutch dictionaries ? In the 'Nuevo Tesoro de las dos Lenguas Espafiola, y Flamenca,' printed "En Amberes en casa de leronymo y Juan Baptista Ver- dussen. M.DC.LIX.," the expression "loopdes roers " i.e., " the tube or barrel of the cannon " is translated "cafion de vn arcabuz, o, escopeta." It may be therefore that " loop- hole " came into our English tongue from the Dutch, in the sense of a gun or cannon hole in the wall of a fortified building.

E. S. DODGSON.

[One of the suggestions as to the derivation of loophole offered by PALAMEDES at 9 th S. iv. 347 was that; it might be from loop the barrel of a gun.]

LlNES WRITTEN ON A WITHERED WlLD

FLOWER. May I make inquiry, through the columns of ' N. & Q.,' for the name of the author of the exquisitely beautiful poem reprinted in the Sfar (San Francisco) of 5 March, 1892 ? It originally appeared about

thirty years ago anonymously in Chambers^ Journal, and has been, repeatedly published since that time in the newspapers of the United States. It seems to me to be a strain of pure poetry, and begins as follows :

Relic of early days ! My casual hand Hath made discovery of thy long retreat, As carelessly I turned the time-worn page Unconscious of its import, for my thoughts Were idly roving not on learned lore, Or marked and measured task. I look on theo, Poor withered thing, and memory's current flows Back, back upon the past.

WM. A. PLUNKETT. Mills Building, San Francisco.

PoLYGRAPHic HALL. Am I correct in the supposition that a place of entertainment so named stood on the site of the Folly, after- wards Toole's Theatre ? I have a handbill of a performance given there by Mr. W. S. Woodin, without date, but presumably about 1845-50. . ALECK ABRAHAMS.

WHITEFIELD'S ' HYMNS ': FIRST EDITION. J have been informed that there are variations in the title-page of the first edition of White- field's ' Hymqs,' 1753. I shall be glad if any hymnologist who is possessed of a copy of the above edition will communicate a tran- script of the title-page. H. E. H. J.

Swansea Public Librltry.

DOROTHEA RUTTER. Can .one of your readers learned in genealogy tell me any- thing further concerning this lady ? I know an old print, which I may describe as follows. In an oval a female head and bust, three- quarter face, with the characteristic low neck and curls of the period. Without the oval are four shields : at the top the dexter shield frames the inscription " Dominse Dorothea Rutter"; the sinister is filled by a coat of arms, Quarterly, 1 and 4, Rutter of Kingsley (Gu., three garbs or ; on a chief az. a lion pass, ar.) ; 2 and 3, three arrows armed and feathered ; at the bottom the dexter shield contains the words " Martij 21 mo Vera Effigies 166"; the sinister, "Anno J^tatis suse ult. et 31 mo ." Beneath the whole appear .the lines :

Life more abundant in her lookes you see : Picture her Soule ; a Heav'nly Saint is Shee !

A. R. BAYLEY.

EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY INDEXES. Have the births, deaths, marriages, promotions, bank- ruptcies, &c., noticed in the 'Historical Register' (1714 to 1738) and the 'Political State of Great Britain ' (1711 to 1740) ever been indexed ; and, if so, by whom ?

JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.