Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/182

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. n. AUG. 27,

ban for some trickery played by Ariel, says :

"Tis thou hast changed the wine then, and drunk it up, like a debauched fish as thou art. Let me see 't, I '11 taste it myself. Element ! mere ele- ment, as I live ! It was a cold gulp, such as this, which killed my famous predecessor, old Simon the King."

The tune, with its roystering burden Says old Sir Simon the King, Says old Sir Simon the King, With his ale-dropt hose, And his malmsey nose, Sing hey ding, ding-a-ding, ding,

was adapted to many songs of the Restora- tion, probably the most famous, certainly one of the best, being the 'Sale of Rebellious Household Stuff,' given in the Percy col- lection.

It only remains to add that no less a person than Squire Western preferred this tune to any other after dinner.

GEORGE MARSHALL.

Sefton Park, Liverpool.

In the year 1621 or thereabouts the "Devil" Tavern in Fleet Street was kept by one Simon Wadloe,

" a witty butt of a man, much such another as honest Jack Falstaff, a merry boon companion, not only witty himself, but the occasion of wit in others, quick at repartee, fond of proverbial sayings, curious in his wines. A good old song, set to a fine old tune, was written about him, and called 'Old Sir Simon the King.' This was the favourite old- fashioned ditty in which Fielding's rough and jovial Squire Western afterwards delighted. ' Old and New London,' vol. i. 40.

A newspaper cutting in my scrap-book states that the song is to be found in Durfey' ' Wit and Mirth ; or, Pills to purge Melan- choly ' (1719), and gives two verses as fol- lows :

Drink will make a man drunk, And drunk will make a man dry ; Dry will make a man sick, And sick will make a man die, Says old Simon the King.

Drinking will make a man quaff, Quaffing will make a man sing, Singing will make a man laugh, And laughing long life doth bring, Says old Simon the King.

H. ANDREWS.

GORDON FAMILY (9 th S. ii. 128). The roya descent of the above family from David anc Malcolm, Kings of Scotland, the Emperor Henry III. of Germany, and Egbert, King o' England, through the male (Seton) and th< female (St. Clair) lines, is as follows :

Seton family : Through Christina, daughte: of Robert, Earl of Carrick ; Isabel, daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon ; Margaret, sis

er of Edgar Atheling and wife of Malcolm II. of Scotland, to Henry III., Emperor of Germany, and Egbert, King of England.

The St. Clair family : Through Isabel,

Daughter of Malise, seventh Earl of Strathern ;

gida, daughter of Alexander Comyn, second

arl of Buchan ; Elizabeth, daughter of

iloger de Quincey, Earl of Winchester ; Helen,

daughter of Alan, Lord of Galloway ; and

VTargaret, daughter of David, Earl of Hunt-

ngdon, and then continues to Egbert, the

same as above. JOHN RADCLIFFE.

There is no royal descent from the marriage of Alexander Seton with the mother of the irst Earl of Huntly. What your correspond- ent is probably thinking of is the fact that Princess Annabella Stuart, the daughter of Tames I. (of Scotland), married the second Earl of Huntly, and carried on this line of the Gordons. Her brother, James II., of course, was the ancestor of the Queen.

J. M. BULLOCH.

OLD-TIME PUNISHMENTS (9 th S.ii. 47, 137). The "scold's bridle" mentioned by MR. JEAKES must be, I think, that kept in the vestry of the parish church of Walton-on- Thames. It is said to have been given to the parish in 1633 by a person who " lost a valu- able estate through a gossiping, lying woman " ; and there is this accompanying inscription :

Chester presents Walton with a bridle, To curb women's tongues that talk too idle.

E. G. CLAYTON.

In Dyer's 'Church Lore Gleanings' (1891) there are two illustrations of " finger stocks or pillories" preserved at Littlecote Hall, Wiltshire, and Ashby de la Zouch, Leicester- shire.

Clinch and Kershaw's 'Bygone Surrey' contains an illustration of the "gossip's bridle " still existing at Walton-on-Thames.

An old "ducking stool" belonging to the town of Scarborough is preserved in the museum there.

Mr. Albert Hartshorne, F.S.A., in his ' Hanging in Chains ' (1893), mentions various places where gibbets, or parts of gibbets, are preserved. H. ANDREWS.

NEWTON'S HOUSE IN KENSINGTON (8 th S. xii. 507 : 9 th S. i. 53). As no satisfactory answer has appeared to my query at the first reference, I went to Campden Hill a few days ago to see for myself what was the ' state of matters. Bullingham House was pulled down in 1895, and the site and its surroundings are covered by Bul- lingham Mansions, a large pile of buildings