Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/57

. xii. JULY is, 1903.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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dence they afford as to the nationality of their bearers ? In particular, I wish to know what is the probable inference to be drawn as to the English or foreign origin of two persons apparently related, but of whom nothing else is known occurring about 1200, and bearing the names Clement and Ivo.

L.

FLATS. Where are the earliest blocks of flats in London 1 S. P.

THE ALBANY. Is any plan published of these chambers 1 S. P.

U BUT SHOULD FORTUNE PILL YOUR SAIL."

Can any reader give the lines which precede the following 1^-

But, should fortune fill your sail With more than a propitious gale, Take half your canvas in.

A. T. B.-C.

ANATOMIE VIVANTE. Macaulay, in his first essay on Pitt, says :

"It would be no very flattering compliment to a man's figure to say that he was taller than the Polish Count and shorter than Giant O'Brien, fatter than the Anatomic Vivanle, and more slender than Daniel Lambert."

Who was the Anatomic Viva,nte ?

DAVID SALMON. Swansea.

ST. DIALS. This is a small, long since dis- used and dismantled church in the parish of Llantarnam, Mon. It is cruciform in plan, standing within its more or less circular enclosure of about an acre, but now entirely ruinous and partly incorporated with the ad- joining farm buildings. Who was St. Dials ? Is he singular or plural? Not Celtic, surely, for I cannot find him, or any one like him, amongst the names in * Lib. Laffs.' or * Lives of Saints'; nor Latin, as far as known to me. Will some kind reader of 'N. & Q.' please answer this query for me? I thought at one time the name might have been cor- rupted from Derval, to whom a small church called Capel Llanderfal is dedicated (now ruinous and disused), about a mile and a half away ; but there would scarcely have been two churches of the same dedication so near together.

Within the dioceses of Llandaff and St. David's there are many such disused, ruinous churches known to me, where only the name survives to indicate former usage. Most of them are in extremely remote positions, where by no possibility could there ever have been a resident population large enough to fill them. They are invariably dedicated to an early Celtic, sometimes Irish, saint

missionary churches, literally fulfilling the Baptist's definition of " a voice crying in the wilderness." Amongst the older people they still retain an odour of sanctity, if I may use the expression, rather than any actual tradi- tion of worship. Surely they are deserving of better treatment than the mean uses to which they are now put. G. E. R.

KENTISH GAME. Brome, in his 'Travels,' 1700, pp. 264-5, describes, somewhat vaguely, a Kentish game called " stroke-biass," which was played in summer between the twenty best runners of one or two parishes, who challenged an equal number of racers within the liberties of two other parishes.

"After several traverses and courses on both sides, that side whose Legs are the nimblest to gain the first seven strokes from their Antagonists, carry the Day and win the Prize : Nor is this Game only appropriated to the Men, but in some Places the Maids have their set Matches, too, and are as vigorous and active to obtain a Victory : And on a Plain near Chilham there is an annual Tie, as they call it, fixed in May for two young Men and two voung Maids of the adjoining Hundreds to make a Trial of Skill, which can course the nimblest for a certain Stadium of 40 Rods, and the Person of both Sexes, whose Heels are the nimblest, is rewarded with Ten Pound each, there being a Yearly Pension setled for that Diversion."

Were these games played on special days ; and are they obsolete, or do they yet survive \

M. P.

"INGEMINATE."! have recently once or twice come across the word " ingeminate," used apparently in the sense of "engender" or "promote," as in the phrase "ingeminate peace" (e.g., "He joined it [the Liberal League] in order to ingeminate peace and unity "). See Hevieio of Reviews for May, p. 462. As the word means, both etymolo- gically and according to usage, " to redouble or repeat," I shall be glad if you or any of your readers can inform me if there is any authority for its employment as above, or whether it is an erroneous usage. It may be that the meaning is intended to be that peace is made doubly sure ; but this seems rather far-fetched. DUBIOUS.

[Is not the meaning "reiterate," i.e., dwell fre- quently on, correct and suitable? See ' H.E.D.,' s.-V.]

LORD JOHN RUSSELL AND THE ALABAMA. The Alabama left the Mersey on 29 July, 1862. Can any reader refer me to letters, in newspapers or elsewhere, giving an account of the little intrigue practised by a lady of Fashion upon Lord John Russell in South Wales, which enabled this vessel to leave the Mersey in spite of all efforts to prevent her departure 1 (Mrs,) MARY FORD.