Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/517

 9 th S. II. DEC. 24, '98.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

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man named Smith, by whom she was mother of Mrs. Astley, jun., of Astley's Amphitheatre ', then married Woodhamj from whom she was divorced ; was burnt to death in the fire at Astley's Theatre, September, 1803. These particulars are in Gent. Mag., vol. Ixxiii.; July-December, 1803. Further information sought. The Monthly Mirror gives the name as Woodman. UEBAN. ,

'THE BOOK OF TEPHI.' This favourably reviewed poem (pp. 259) by Mr. J. A. Good- child professes to give an account of the adventures of Tephi, daughter of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, in her journey from Taphanes to Ireland, and settlement there. The main statements profess to be based upon the chronicles of Irish bards and other Celtic sources. Have these original sources of this singular legend been printed? If they are still only in MS. in what public libraries are any copies to be found ? D. J.

PROP. FREEMAN. Can any of your readers tell me where I can obtain particulars of the life of the late Prof. Freeman during the period of his residence at Llanrumney Hall, Monmouthshire? M. A. W.

RICHARD GRAHAM, ROUGE CROIX PURSUI- VANT. Can any reader say who this was? He held this office in the reign of George I.

VERITAS.

JOHN MAXWELL. In the transcripts of marriage licences of Sir William Betham in the diocese of Dublin (?) occurs that of "John Maxwell and Rosanna Carson in 1728." Can any correspondent of ' N. & Q.' say of which branch this Maxwell was a member ? WM. JACKSON PIGOTT.

Dundrum, co. Down.

BALL GAME. Can any one give me a de- scription of an old Italian game which appears to have resembled the hurling of Cornwall and the camping of East Anglia ? I find it mentioned in the introduction to Sardou's 'La Haine,' Paris, 1893. The scene of this play is laid in Sienna in the fourteenth cen- tury, and the author, speaking of the passion for warfare displayed by the citizens, even in their amusements, deals with " that game of pugni, in which all the town contends for a ball, with blows of the fist in the morning, and with knife-strokes in the evening."

According to Mr. W. H. Hudson's account in a late number of the Badminton Magazine, the gauchos of the Argentine Republic for- merly played a very similar game. The name of the game, el pato, was derived from the fact that the object of contention was a duck

or other domestic fowl, which, after being killed, was sewn up in a piece of stout raw hide, twice as big as a football, and provided with four loops or handles of twisted hide, strong enough to bear the tugging of power- ful and skilful riders men who would drag each other out of the saddle sooner than lose their hold. G. W.

MINUTES AND SECONDS. Can any of your readers kindly inform me when minutes and seconds were first used as a measure of time, and when they were first marked on the faces of timepieces, &c. ?

(Rev.) F. B. DICKINSON.

The Manor House, Ottery St. Mary.

THE CURSE OP ST. WITHOLD. Who was St. Withold, and why should the swineherd ('Ivanhoe,' chap. i. near the middle) call down his curse upon "these infernal porkers"? A. G.

Leeds.

'FIFTY AMERICAN BIBLIOGRAPHIES.' Some four or five years ago it was announced that a book with the above title was being compiled by Mr. Dewitt Miller, of Phila- delphia, and two other book-lovers. Can any correspondent tell me whether the book has been issued? If so, I shall be glad of a reference. G. L. APPERSON.

"WEIGHING -IN A MAYOR." I see by the daily papei-s that "the old custom of weighing- in a Mayor and Corporation survives at High Wycombe, and was this year again observed." Some details of this ancient custom, which is said to have been fairly general at one time, would be interesting. D. M. R.

"INTERLUNAR CAVE."- The sun to me is dark And silent as the moon, When she deserts the night, Hid in her vacant interlunar cave.

' Samson Agonistes,' 86-9. Compare Shelley's

When you die, the silent moon, In her interlunar swoon, Is not sadder in her cell Than deserted Ariel.

' To a Lady, with a Guitar.

Have we in these passages merely a poetical figure, or is there an allusion to some myth or superstition regarding the moon ? C. C. B.

CARON HOUSE. Sir Noel Caron, who was Leger-Ambassador from the Low Countries to the Courts of Elizabeth and James I. for the space of twenty -eight years, and died 1624, built Caron House in South Lambeth in the reign of James I. (vide Ducarel, &c.). In