Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/262

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NOTES AND QUERIES. p* s. n. SEPT. 24,

last edition of the ' Landed Gentry ' (Irish) it is stated in the pedigree of the Hovendens of Gurteen that

" Walter Hovenden, who was slain by the Omores, December, 1597, left a daughter Mary, who married Nicholas Walker, and had a son William, father of Admiral Sir Hovenden Walker and Sir Chamber- lain Walker, Knts."

There is an error here. The Christian name of Mary Walker's husband is established by Lieut.-Col. William Walker's will, in which he mentions his "honoured father, John Walker." Capt. John Walker was a dis- tinguished soldier in the Irish wars in Elizabeth's reign. He commanded at Athenry and at Adare, where, after a fierce encounter, he defeated the Earl of Desmond. Capt. Walker is alluded to in the following extract from a letter of Lord Justice Pelham to the English Council, 10 Feb., 1580 :

" Touching the comparison between the soldiers of Berwick and the soldiery in Ireland, if I have any judgment, all the soldiers in Christendom must

five place to the soldiers of Ireland, and so much ifference of ease, if Captains Case, Pickeman, and Walker may be judges, as between an alderman of London and a Berwick soldier the Irish soldiers live under unhappy stars."

F. F. C.

"HERON" (9 th S. ii. 4, 96). Noting, with thanks, PROF. SKEAT'S reply, 1 cannot say that the answer is as enlightening as one could wish. " All the dictionaries " do tell one the kindred words in other languages ; but they do not give us the reason why the words " mean " that bird which we know as heron, and the French as heron. My question (9 th S. i. 477) was "Why does the word heron mean" that grey fishing-bird? The old Icelandic hegre is much akin to the O.H.G. heigir, heigro, and the Danish heire ; but neither these words nor reiher (Ger.) give one any hint why the grey bird alluded to had the above names given to it in the various tongues mentioned. PROF. SKEAT cites Web- ster. I note that Webster gives "Heron-shaw [also heronsew, hernsue, from heron and sue, for purme, from the propensity of the bird to pursue fish]." As to heron, I think we cer- tainly are still among "uncertain origins."

W. H N B Y.

Herons are common enough in South Devon. I see one or two, sometimes as many as a dozen, every morning in the estuary of the Exe during my daily ride from Dawlish to Exeter. HARRY HEMS.

Fair Park, Exeter.

MARBLE SLAB IN ST. MARGARET'S CHURCH- YARD (9 th S. ii. 44). This curious relic should be classed with the sarcophagus discovered

in the late Dean Stanley's time, which I was able to inspect in situ. The inscription, " T ii" may point to the assumption that the site, once insular, was drained and occupied' in Roman times ; for certainly the adjoining Stangate, and the horse-ferry, on a section of Watling Street, indicate that this point was once an important junction, as Charing Cross, is now. " T ii " might mean " Tetricus secun- dus"; but viewed as a terminal mark, we may remember that the festival of Tertninalia (Feb. 23?) at Home, and the deification of the abstract Terminus, were connected with the " milestones," which always bore an imperial inscription. Terminus has died out :. but I remember that a pupil, being questioned in class, defined Terminus as the god of rail- ways a natural transition. A. HALL. 13, Paternoster Row, E.G.

COOKE FAMILY (9 th S. ii. 88). Sir Thomas- Cooke, of London and Hackney, goldsmith,, was knighted 15 Sept., 1690; married Elizabeth Home, of Salisbury Court in Fleet Street.

daughter of Home, of Exeter ; diea

6 Sept., 1709, and was probably buried at Hackney. JOHN RADCLIFFE.

DR. STUKELEY'S HOUSE (9 th S. ii. 88). In reply to MR. LUNN'S inquiry, I may say that I have in my St. Pancras collection a quantity of manuscript notes copied from the Stukeley MS., and a few rough sketches of his house and chapel.

" 1759, 20 April. I agreed with Mr. Denman, by means of Mr. Benzik, the engraver, for Mr. Hogin's house, garden, and pasture at Kentish Town."

"I found a most agreable rural retreat at Ken- tish Town, 2^ miles distant, extremely convenient for keeping my horses and for my own amusement, the hither end of the village, between the Castle inn and the (old) chapel. The house is new built for the most part, pretty, little and elegant. In the year 1760 I bought the whole estate a lease from St. Bartholomew's Hospital for 600/., and rendered the whole perfectly agreable, to my mind both useful and delightful.

"2 May, 1764. I put up my family pictures in my Mausoleum at Kentish Town." [Then folloM'S a list of the pictures.]

"4 June, 1764. Put up St. John's altar and S r Nicolas de Stukeley's monumental brass effigies in the chapel of my Mausoleum at Kentish Town."

There are also many notes of trees and plants in his garden. AMBROSE HEAL.

HAMLAKE = HELMSLEY, co. YORK (9 th S. ii. 67, 118, 209). I do not think this name has anything to do with ham; but, if we may trust the Domesday spelling always a risky thing to do when it differs from other early authorities Helmsley would mean a forest glade distinguished by a large elm tree. This accounts for the first I in the modern name.