Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/255

 9* B. II. SEPT. 24, '98.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

247

year and the day here are both wrong. In the Church of England the Feast of St. John the Baptist is generally understood to be 24 June, kept as the anniversary of hi nativity. The true date of the murder was 29 August (in the year 1533, not 1532), and Prescott tells us tnat the name Juan was given to the unfortunate Inca " in honour of John the Baptist, on whose day the event took place," by which is meant that taken as the anniversary of the execution of John by the command of Herod Antipas, which, how- ever, really took place in the spring, probably of A.D. 29. W. T. LYNN.

Blackheath.

(jgiwriess,

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 may be addressed to them direct.

" EARDLY." In East Lincolnshire this word is used in the sense of "very, exceedingly," being generally coupled with "big." In Kay's 'Collection' (1691) we find, " Yeardly, adv., ' valde ' : ' yeardly much,' ' yeardly great.' " Query etymology ?

A. L. MAYHEW.

Oxford.

MRS. WILSON, maiden name Adcock, played in 1773, under Tate Wilkinson, in York and Leeds, as Mrs. Weston, Lucy Locket in ' The Beggar's Opera ' and other parts. On 19 May, 1775, she appeared at the Hay market as Mrs. Wilson, playing Betsy Blossom in ' The Cozeners,' and Miss Lucy in 'The Virgin Unmasked.' Both Wilson and Weston were at that time members of the company. What was her Christian name ; is any portrait in existence ; and are any particulars obtain- able beyond the meagre sketch supplied by Tate Wilkinson in 'The Wandering Pa- tentee ' ? URBAN.

SILK BANNERS. Will anything revive the painting upon silk banners fifty years old, or preserve the banner from obliteration and decay ? Will oil or varnish harm them ? Any reader of ' N. & Q.' who has experience hereon will confer a favour by advising

COL. MOORE, C.B.

Frampton Hall, near Boston.

THE CLERKE FAMILY. Some time ago (7 th S. xii. 248) a question was asked concerning Sir Robert Clerke, of Watford, in this county. No reply appeared ; but I have always kept the matter before me, as I generally do every-

thing I come across of interest relating to- the county of Northampton. Since my resi- dence in this village I have carefully been through the parish registers, which date from the year 1653. The name Clerke under various spellings appears pretty often in all the books from the commencement down to the present day ; but as yet I have not attempted any pedigree. All the entries except one seem to refer to commoners, which strikes me as being rather strange. The entry in question is as follows :

1688. " S r Samuel Clerke Knt. the husband of the Lady Elizabeth Clerke was buried the xxiiij day of May."

I cannot find any sepulchral memorial which coincides with this entry. I shall be glad to know if this Sir Samuel Clerke was connected with the Clerke family of Watford, or, indeed, to glean any particulars concerning either Sir Samuel or his wife. JOHN T. PAGE. West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

DARWIN. In vol. ii. pp. 188, 189, of the- admirable 'Life of Charles Darwin' by his son Dr. Francis Darwin, we are told, in Mr. Darwin's own words, that he wrote an article (the severity of which he afterwards re- gretted) about the ' Vestiges of Creation,,' probably in 1844 or 1845. Even the immature- opinions of so great a man should be inter- esting, as giving us some clue to the steps- by which he arrived at the conclusions so ably stated some fifteen years later in ' The Origin of Species': but neither Dr. Francis Darwin nor his father has referred us to the magazine or newspaper in which the article above referred to appeared. Can any of your readers supply the omission ?

A STUDENT OF DARWIN.

THE POEMS OF DONNE. I should be glad of a note on the best and most recent editions of the poems of John Donne (1573-1631), as also of anything in recent literature regard- ing Donne as a poet. THOMAS AULD.

Belfast.

[The edition of Mr. E. K. Chambers, included in .he " Muses' Library " of Messrs. Lawrence & Bullen, supplies all you require.]

MRS. SHERIDAN AS ST. CECILIA. Lord Dufierin, in the speech that he recently made at Bath, alludea to the portrait of Mrs. Sheridan as St. Cecilia by Sir Joshua Rey- nolds. Can any of your readers inform me where that picture is now, and whether a sketch of it by the artist is known to exist 1

ENQUIRER.

[The portrait is in the possession of the Marquess of Lansdowne. A sketch by Reynolds is in the ilasgow Gallery.]