Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/55

 9 th S. II. JULY 16, '98.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

which are almost illegible, as I noticed during the late reparations, and most of these seem to have been laid with the inscribed faces downwards. King's College Hospital is said to occupy the site of the old burial-ground. At what date was that burial-ground con- secrated ; and when was the churchyard abandoned for further interments? Was a record or plan kept of the graves in either churchyard or burial-ground before modern- izing ? Are the registers of the church likely to be published ? Would these not be ome of the most interesting of London registers'?

SIGMA.

RAVENS WORTH. Can any of your readers give me information as to origin and meaning of the above ? It is a place which has given its name to an earldom in the north of Eng- land. E. T.

ANDRE. How can records of death and burial-places be found of Marie Louise Andre, who died at Bath 22 Feb., 1813, and of her daughters Mary Hannah, Anne Marguerite, and Louisa Catharine ? They died about 1830, 1835, and 1845. M. S.

OLD-TIME PUNISHMENTS. Has anything like a complete list of the stocks, pillories, gibbets, ducking-stools, and other obsolete instruments of punishment ever been pub- lished ? Numerous references to these occur throughout the pages of ' N. & Q.,' in various topographical works, and elsewhere. No attempt, however, seems to have been made to compile an accurate list of places where these still survive. W. B. GERISH.

Hoddesdon, Herts.

MUGGERHANGER. Can any one give the derivation of the name of the Bedfordshire village now generally spelt Muggerhanger ? It does not appear to be mentioned in Domes- day. In early times it was spelt Moger- hanger, Mogranger, and Moggenhanger.

W.

SCARMENTADO. Who is this, referred to in one of Lord Byron's letters ? Apparently a character in fiction or satire.

HERBERT MAXWELL.

ORATION BY DR. RICHARD CROKE. Dr. Richard Croke, of King's College, Cam- bridge, the first Public Orator in the Uni- versity and (as it is thought) the first or secona Professor of Greek, preceptor in Greek to King Henry VIII., made, in or about July, 1518, a famous oration in favour of Greek learning, in which he highly praised Erasmus. Will any one of the correspondents of 'N. & Q.' furnish me with a quotation from this ora-

tion, showing the words in which Erasmus is praised ? I have consulted the ' Athense Cantabrigienses ' and Mr. Thompson Cooper's excellent ' Biograph. Diet.' (ed. one volume).

S. ARNOTT. Baling.

BRIMPSFIELD : SYDE. Can any one give me any information about the monastery once at Brimpsfield, or Brympesfield, near Gloucester? Also, respecting the church at Syde, near Cirencester? Is there any tradition connected with its beautiful heart- shaped door handle ? Miss CLEVELAND.

Bedford.

THE ALTAMAHA. There can, I suppose, be no doubt that in the lines in ' The Deserted Village,'

To distant climes, a dreary scene,

Where half the convex world intrudes between, Through torrid tracts with fainting steps they go Where wild Altama murmurs to their woe

Goldsmith is alluding to the river Altamaha, in Georgia, the colonization of which had taken place not long before. But his ex- pressions are not very accurate. So far from being torrid in the strict sense of the word, the latitude of the mouth of the Altamaha is more than 31 ; no part, indeed, of the present United States is located within the tropics. But, besides this, although there are certainly rattlesnakes and, I believe, scorpions of a certain species in Georgia, there are no tigers there to " wait their hapless prey," which the poet reckons amongst the horrors of the region where some of the inhabitants of Auburn have gone. What are the origin and meaning of the word Altamaha ?

W. T. LYNN.

Blackheath.

MRS. GIBBS. Wanted the burial-place of Mrs. Gibbs (otherwise Colman). maiden name Logan, who is supposed to have died at Brighton between 1844 and 1847. She made her defait, 18 June, 1783, at the Hay- market. Will any reader kindly inform 1

DRAMATICUS.

'THE LEGEND OF THE SPIDER.' Can any one give any account of a tradition of ' The Legend of the Spider,' as there is said to be one ? I have been reading Mr. Bertram Mit- ford's book ' The Sign of the Spider.'

S. F. G.

ANTIQUE COIN. Will some reader kindly inform me of the value and mintage of a silver coin that I possess, about the size of an old crown piece ? Upon the right side is a head in medallion looking to the left ; around the edge of the border in Roman capitals,