Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/115

 9* S. II. AUG. 6, '

NOTES AND QUERIES.

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house No. 35, St. Martin's Street, adjoining Orange Street Chapel, where Newton lived from 1710 to 1727, and which was afterwards the home of Madame D'Arblay, where she wrote her novel ' Evelina.'

Mr. Wheatley, who is generally quick to mention every building of interest in a street, does not notice Bertolini's in his description Of St. Martin's Street ('London Past and Present,' ii. 489). JOHN HEBB.

WH 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.

ODIN. An article in the Pall Mall Gazette of 22 July, under the title of 'Blue Blood,' appears to imply that our royal family, pos- sessing a descent from Cedric the Saxon, descend from Odin. The great number of persons in this country and in the United States who are descendants of Cedric the Saxon will be interested to learn of what is, I believe, a divine origin. But will some one enlighten my ignorance by explaining how it came that Cedric himself was sprung from Odin? W.

LAWS CONCERNING NAMES. 1 am at present engaged upon certain literary work in con- nexion with which I am anxious to obtain the fullest possible details of the law in any way concerning names, Christian and sur- name, and changes of name. As it is of some importance to me to obtain particulars of everything bearing upon the point, I should esteem it a very great favour if any of your readers would call my attention to any specific Act of Parliament of any date, or leading or contested cases, having relation to the matter, of which they may be aware. A. C. FOX-DAVIES.

Hastings House, Norfolk Street, Strand.

HABAKKUK AND NATIVITY IN CHRISTMAS CAROLS. (See 2 nd S. x. 386.) The following lines are quoted as taken from Wright's 'Collection of Old Christmas Carols' (no reference is given) :

As said the prophet Abacuc,

Betwixt too bestes shulde lye our buk,

That mankind shuld redeme ; The oxe, &c The asse, &c.

I have looked through the two different collections of Christmas carols published by that antiquary, T. Wright, F.S.A., viz., those published for the Warton Club and Percy Society, but can find no reference to Habak-

kuk, I am aware that the non-canonical idea that the ox and the asa were present at the Nativity is derived from anante-Hieronymian Latin translation of the LXX. of Hab> iii. 2, as explained at p. 456 of the same Volume of ' N. & Q.' What I want is the reference to Habakkuk in Wright's ' Collection of Christmas Carols,' or in any early Christmas carol. Buk here must mean "body." What does the passage mean ? P.

SWEATINGS-PITS IN IRELAND, I have read that it was customary with the Irish peasants, even in our century (before the great famine and the ensuing emigration), to have sweat- ing-pits for medical purposes. Where is rename and circumstantial information on this subject to be found ? And was the same primitive way of healing used in Gaelic Scot- land, in Man, in Wales, or in any other part of the United Kingdom 1 H. GAIDOZ.

22, Rue Servandoni, Paris.

CHIEF JUSTICE KELLY OF JAMAICA. Can any one inform me as to the parentage of Chief Justice Kelly of Jamaica, whose daughter Elizabeth married in 1752 Peter, second Earl of Altamont ? To what branch of the Kelly family did the Chief Justice belong ? I want the name of his wife also, and her parentage, if possible. KATHLEEN WARD.

Castle Ward, Downpatrick.

WHO WROTE ' THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS ' ? That the work commonly ascribed to Bunyan is not an original performance in the strict sense of the word, out is in the nature of an adaptation of much earlier kindred works on the " Pilgrimage of the Soul," is, I think, a generally accepted theory ; but some years ago, when Bunyan's life and works were rather to the fore, I remember meeting with a communication in which the writer stated that he was preparing an essay proving that Bunyan never wrote 'The Pilgrim's Pro- gress,' and assigning it (I speak from memory) to some eminent Puritan divine. A strong point was made of Bunyan's illiteracy and also of the striking dissimilarity in style between the 'Progress' and its sequel 'Chris- tiana and her Children,' and reasons were given why the work should have appeared as Bunyan's. The writer, I recollect, went on to say that he had been for many years engaged in collecting material for this, and he hoped in the course of a few months to issue the result of his labours in book or pamphlet form. I kept this note for some time, but cannot now trace it.

I do not find any mention of doubt as to the authorship of the work in question