Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/395

 g* 8. xii. NOV. M, iocs.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

387

sheriffs and aldermen utilized their spare money in advancing loans, although such action was strictly in contravention of the canons of the Church. William fil Isabel, the sheriff, lent the abbey of St. Edmund the enormous sum of 1,040. ; and two other sheriffs, Gervase and Henry, both of Corn- hill, are cited in certain records as " usurers."

M. D. DAVIS.

SILVER SPIKE. From p. 8 of * Memoir of Indian Surveys, 1875-90,' by Charles E. D. Black, I cull the following. On 4 December, 1878, the building of the new surveying steamer Investigator was commenced, and the formality of driving the silver nail into the stern took place. The ceremony was peculiar to Bombay, is said to be of Parsee origin, and is somewhat analogous to that of depositing coins, &c., under foundation stones. The nail was of silver, about seven inches in length and three-quarters of an inch in diameter near the head. The four sides bore the inscriptions, " I. G. Surveying Steamer Investigator." K. B. B.

"QUEM DEUS VULT PERDERE PRIUS DE-

MENTAT." (See 1 st S. i. 351, 388, 407, 421, 476 ; ii. 317 ; vii. 618 ; viii. 73 ; 2 nd S. i. 301 ; 3 rd S. xii. 44, 99, 138, 294, 383 ; 4 th S. xi. 243 ; 5 th S. ix. 13.) It may not be amiss to note that in a letter dated 10 March, 1596, of which Strype prints a translation (' Annals,' iv. 379), Fr. Ribadaneira, S.J., quotes as "the sentence of a great author," "Quorum Deus vult mutare fortunam, corrumpit consilia."

JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

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 maybe addressed to them direct.

" PAPERS." Illustrations of some uses of this word are wanted for the * New English Dictionary,' particularly of a ship's papers before 1850 ; of an ambassador's, envoy's, or traveller's papers of any date, such as " Next day the Spanish ambassador received his papers"; also of the military phrase "to send in one's papers." Quotations, with date and exact reference to edition, &c., will be gladly received by J. A. H. MURRAY.

Oxford.

4 JOURNAL OF A TOUR BY JUAN DE VEGA.' The author of a work in two volumes entitled " Journal of a Tour made by Seiior Juan de Vega, the Spanish Minstrel of 1828-9, through

Great Britain and Ireland, a characterassumed by an English Gentleman," published by Messrs. Simpkin & Marshall, Stationers' Hall Court, in 1830, is said to be Charles Cochrane. I am unable to find any account of this author in the ' Dictionary of National Biography,' or any reference to the author or the work in Allibone. In Burke's ' Peerage 1 Charles Cochrane is mentioned in the Dundonald pedigree as dying in 1835. Can any contributor to *N. <fc Q.' kindly inform me where I can find any account of this author, or date of his death, or any informa- tion as to his life, which seems to have been one of some romance ? HUBERT SMITH.

[Halkett and Laing also give Charles Cochrane as the author. ]

" HARK ! HARK ! THE DOGS DO BARK. Can any one kindly tell me the origin and story of this old nursery rime, and where it is to be found 1

Hark ! Hark ! The dogs do bark,

Beggars are coming to town,

Some in rags, and some in tags,

And some in velvet gown.

A. M. LANG.

DOROTHY NUTT. Knowing a portrait of this lady, whoever she was, I shall be much obliged if any reader of N. <fc Q.' can give me information about her and her husband.

J. L.

WATERLOO WON ON THE PLAYING FIELDS OF ETON. The saying is generally attributed to Wellington that the battle of Waterloo was in effect won on the cricket field at Eton. Can any one give me its exact location t

D. M R.

Philadelphia.

[MAJOR-GrENEEALTuLLOCH asked a similar question at 8 th S. xi. 48. A reply at p. 114 of the same volume quoted the following note from the second edition of Prof. W. Selwyn's * Waterloo, a Lay of Jubilee ' : "Old Etonians remember a saying of the Duke's when present at a cricket match in the upper shoot- ing fields, ' The battle of Waterloo was won here.' "]

NUMERALS. I should be grateful to any of your readers who could assist me with the name of a small treatise on numbers, quoted to me many years ago by Dr. Wilson, the well-known Bombay missionary and divine, which, so far as I remember, explained the Arabic figures something after the following fashion. The counting commenced on the fingers. One stood thus, I, one finger, as in the Roman ; two thus, II (upright or lying down) ; then III (upright or lying down). Four followed the Roman method, IIII, or IV (one off five) ; whilst five was the whole hand, thus, V. It was explained that, in