Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/396

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NOTES AND QUERIES. p* s. XL MAY IB, NOB.

"Next, as the most essential point, examine his wool ; if it is as fine as you can expect in a sheep of his grade ; if it is thick, close, and greasy, full of yoke, and the breast and loins also well covered with wool, you may rely upon his goodness." In Jamieson's 'Scottish Dictionary' one finds "Yoke, s. The natural greasiness of wool, Galloway ; Eik, Clydes." It is inter- esting to know that the word was " in ure " in the United States ninety years ago, as it is still, if I am rightly informed. This reference is offered to the editors of the 'H.E.D.,'if in any wise it should be useful as enriching their Hock of quotations.

Cruded in 1674. The 'H.E.D.' describes cruded as an obsolete word, and gives only one quotation to prove its use, i.e., from the year 1613. It was, however, not unknown sixty years later. On p. 17 of "Thesaurus Astrologies : or, an Astrological Treasury. By John Gadbury, London, Printed for Thomas Passenger, at the three Bibles upon London Bridge. MDCLXXIV.," one reads "Gross, raw, cruded flegm." Perhaps this instance will help to determine its meaning, which the editors of the ' H.E.D.' have marked with a note of query. Some other expressions in the book are of interest, e.g., p. 17, "any Decumbiture, Crisis, or Urine, &c." ; p. 21, "Bronchocels," a variant in spelling not noted in the 'H.E D.' ; p. 38, "Troubledness"; p. 22, "Pushes in the Face" (a disease) ; p. 84, "Itches and Pushes in the Face"; p. 40, "great evacuation of the body by Lask or Purga- tion"; p. 124, "Crevises," which in the 'H.E.D.' is mentioned as an obsolete form, without any quotation to establish the date of its occurrence. E. S. DODGSON.

units,

WE must request correspondents desiring infor- mation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.

LEPEL FAMILY. Belonging by marriage to the Pomeranian Lepel family (also spelt in the old chronicles Lepell), I desire to write (in Russian or in French) a biography of my celebrated namesake the beautiful Mary Lepel (Lady Hervey of George II. 's reign), and should like to have more information about her than can be gathered from Whar- ton's 'Queens of Society,' or the 'Letters' of Lady Hervey herself. Living in a lonely country place in Russia, I am deprived of the means of personal application to the descendants of Lady Hervey, or even of ascertaining the names of these actual

descendants. I should be glad to learn if there are any new sources of information, contained, perhaps, in family papers or traditions, autographs, and portraits of the beautiful and clever woman whose relation- ship, however distant, to the Von Lepels of Germany seems well-nigh proved by the fact that her father, General Lepel, came to England as page of honour to Prince George of Denmark, husband of Queen Anne, and that the Von Lepels have possessed since the twelfth century an estate in Pomerania, whence different branches of the family spread to other countries, including Denmark. I should like also to know who is S. H. A. H., from Bridg water, who in 1872 gave in ' N. & Q.' a few details about Lady Hervey in answer to some questions by another member of the Von Lepel family.

(Baroness) LEPEL.

Melihoro, Tshontshkovo, Russia.

[Articles on Mary Lepel appeared also 7 th S. vii. 327; viii. 488; ix. 54,376; 8 th S. x. 516; xi. 57. There is a life of her in the 'Diet. Nat. Biog.,' vol. xxvi. pp. 289-90, many references being supplied at the end of the notice.]

DANTE PORTRAIT. Can any of your readers inform us where we can see an authentic portrait of Dante 1 All the portraits we know represent him as a beardless man. Giovanni Boccaccio describes him as having thick hair and beard, black and crisp.

WHITEHOUSE & JAMES.

Hyde Park Gallery, 30, St. George's Place, S. W.

[In a portrait prefixed to the 1578 edition of his works (Venice, Marchio Sessa e Fratelli) he is shown clean shaven, though Boccaccio, as you say, describes him as owner of a black and crisped beard. The fresco attributed to Giotto is in the Palazzo del Podesta, the present Bargello in Florence. ]

ROBERT ORME. Can any reader of ' N. &, Q.' throw light on the parentage and exact date and place of marriage of .Robert Orme, who was aide-de-camp to Major-General Braddock in the disastrous attack on Fort du Quesne, Pennsylvania, 9 July, 1755? He was born about 1725 ; married, between 1754 and 1760, Audrey, only daughter of Charles, third Viscount Townshend ; and died 17 June, 1790 ; but of his origin and of the exact date and place of his marriage even his descendants know nothing. R. MARSHAM-TOWNSHEND.

BLUE ASSOCIATED WITH THE BLESSED VIRGIN.

Dr. Rock says, "The old Italian painters give her [the B.V.] a star upon the right shoulder over her blue mantle " (' Church of our Fathers,' 1852, iii. 265). He seems to assume that the blue mantle belonged specially to her. Is it known when, where,