Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/463

 s. xii. DEC, 5, 1903.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Briton. It has been stated, too, that the Union flags of general officers are now dis- tinguished by a shield bearing the royal arms. This, I think, is new. If, as has been already suggested by me, the system could be extended to the flags of all officials, the diffi- culty could be overcome, and the Jack, with- out the royal arms, made available to all non- official Britons. J. H. RIVETT-CARNAC. Schloss Rothberg, Switzerland.

ST. KITTS (9 th S. xii. 229). Capt. Thomas Warner, the younger son of a Suffolk squire, sailed from England in a ship fitted out by Ralph Merrifield, a London merchant, .and arrived in 1623-4 at the island of St. Christopher.

Southey ('History of West Indies,' vol. i. p. 252) gives the names of the party accompanying Warner as following : William Tasted, John Rhodes, Robert Bims, Mr. Benifield, Serjeant Jones, Mr. Ware, William Ryle, Rowland Grascocke, Mr. Bonde, Mr. Langley, Mr. Weaver, Edward Warner (the captain's son), Serjeant Aplon, one sailor, and a cook.

In January, 1624, James Astry and twenty- three other Englishmen settled on the island on their own authority. On 18 March, 1624, the Hopewell, also fitted out by Merrifield, and commanded by Christopher Jeaffreson, of Suffolk, arrived ; and in 1626 Capts. Warner and Smith were taking out two more ships, likewise fitted out by Merrifield. All the evidence points to the fact that this island was settled by Suffolk men financed by London merchants. It is true that Bristol was greatly interested in the Virginia trade, and later in the West Indian ; but Sir Thomas Warner and Capt. Christopher Jeaffreson in the first instance, and Lord Willoughby of Parham somewhat later, all neighbours in Suffolk, were chiefly instrumental in founding the colony in the Leeward Islands.

The Paynes, ancestors of the Paynes and Payne-Gallwey (baronets) and of the late Lord Lavington, undoubtedly became large landowners in St. Christopher, for Capts. Philip and Samuel Payne were there in or before 1669. It seems extraordinary that so few lists exist of early emigrants, considering the various oaths and affidavits they had to swear before being allowed to quit the kingdom. The port' or city records of Bristol, for instance, should yield much information. V. L. OLIVER.

Sunninghill.

T. W. SNAGGE : OAKEN COFFINS (9 th S. xii. 388). An eminent county -court judge of many years' standing. He has been em-

ployed on various Royal Commissions, and his services have been lately recognized by the bestowal of a knighthood. C. H. R.

"TRAVAILLER POUR LE Roi DE PRUSSE'' (9 th S. xi. 289, 392, 437, 496 ; xii. 34, 111, 270, 370). It is singular that none of your corre- spondents on this phrase should have noticed the explanation of its origin " preferred " by the writer to all others given in the 'Grand Dictionnaire ' of Larousse, where it is attributed as an expression of disgust and chagrin to the Russian diplomatist Bestoujef at the withholding of the reward which he expected from Frederick the Great for his services in securing the neutrality of Russia during that king's invasion of Silesia. De- barred from all other remedy, "Bestoujef," the writer proceeds to say,

"essayadese consoler de cette duperie en faisaut de 1'esprit. A dater de ce jour, il dit a tous ceux de ses amis qui faisaient une mauvaise affaire : 'Allez, vous travaillez pour le roi de Prusse.' Le mot ne tarda pas a se repandre dans le monde, Jl la grande satisfaction de Frederic. | Voila,' dit-il, ' une grande plaisanterie qui immortalisera plus la Pruese que toutes mes conquetes.' "

JOHN HUTCHINSON. Middle Temple Library.

FOLK-LORE OF CHILDBIRTH (9 th S. xii. 288, 413). In some parts of Switzerland the new- born children are said to be brought from the monoliths, or erratic boulders, on some of which archaic markings are still to be recognized. These monoliths are termed "baby stones," and no self-respecting child in the neighbourhood accepts the stork theory, which is common elsewhere. This superstition seems to connect these stones with " nature worship," or reproduction. In some parts of France (see the work of MM. Piette and Sacasse and others) traces of ancient phallic worship are to be recognized in connexion with such stones.

J. H. RIVETT-CARNAC.

Schloss Rothberg, Switzerland.

I knew two little boys who rushed from the garden to the house, exclaiming, "We know where the babies come from. We've found the eggs." They had found the vege- table marrows. J- T. F.

Durham.

THOMAS HOWARD, DUKE OF NORFOLK (9 th S. xii. 409). The portrait is surely that of Thomas, fourth duke. The third duke died in 1554. Bishop Creighton, in the 'D.N.B., says that the fourth duke's portrait by More is 'at Worksop, and that it is engraved in gives a print of the duke as a young man from
 * Lodge's Portraits.' This is a slip, for Lodge