Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/75

 9* S. III. JAN. 28, '99.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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gather Fraser is the most common surname in Inverness, then follow Macdonald and Mackenzie, after that Mackintosh. W. B.

" T'ESQUINTE PAS." In Gil Bias of 9 Sept., 1898, the following sentence occurs : " Tiens! Maman m'a dit en me quittant, 'Au revoir, fifille, surtout t'esquinte pas.'" Will some kind reader oblige with an English rendering of the above? I think " t'esquinte pas " must be slang, or an expression of modern coinage.

DEVA.

CLARE STREET. Can any of your readers inform me in what part of the London of about 1640 Clare Street was, and what was the social status of its inhabitants 1 This seems a rather vague inquiry; but any information about Clare Street would be valued.

J. W.

MRS. YOUNGER = JOHN FINCH HATTON. Doran, 'Annals of the Stage,' i. 404, ed. Lowe, says : " Mrs. Younger, in middle age, married John, brother of the seventh Earl of Win- chester." Mrs. Younger, born 1699, a sister of Mrs. Bicknell, was in her day a well-known actress, who retired near 1736. Where can particulars of this marriage be found 1

URBAN.

AUTHOR WANTED. "The Island on the Mere. A Cheshire Tale. By the Author of 'The Legacy of an Etonian.' Cambridge, 1847." 8vo. C. W. S.

OLIVER GOLDSMITH'S 'EARTH AND ANI- MATED NATURE.' In Lowndes's ' Biblio- grapher's Manual ' mention is made of a cancelled page of Goldsmith's 'Earth and Animated Nature' (first edition), in which the celebrated mathematician Maclaurin was represented as being subject to fits of yawn- ing. Can any "of your readers give a refer- ence? F. G.

THE STUART WATCH. This interesting Stuart relic was sold at the Hamilton Palace sale on 20 July, 1882 (lot 2206), and. was bought by the Earl of Moray for 514. 10s. It is described as containing portraits of the Stuart family. I should be glad of informa- tion respecting it, stating whose portraits they were, and in what manner. they were grouped. Has the watch been engraved in any work that can be referred to?

A. S. F.

ALARIC AND THE CHIEFS OP THE URUA. Has the following striking parallel ever been pointed out? Alaric was buried in the bed of the river Busento. Gibbon, quoting Jor- nandes, informs us that the grave was adorned

with the "splendid spoils and trophies of Eome," and that the prisoners who did the work were put to death, and as we may surmise though we are not told this buried in companionship with him ('Decline and Fall,' chap. xxxi.).

Commander V. L. Cameron, in ' Across Africa,' says that when a chief of the Urua is buried

"the first proceeding is to divert the course of a stream, and in its bed to dig an enormous pit, the bottom of which is then covered with living women. At one end a woman is placed on her hands and knees, and upon her back the dead chief, covered with his beads and other treasures, is seated, being supported on either side by one of his wives, while his second wife sits at his feet. The earth is then shovelled in on them, and all the women are buried alive, with the exception of the second wife. To her custom is more merciful than to her companions, and grants her the privilege of being killed before the huge grave is filled in. This being completed, a number of male slaves sometimes forty or fifty- are slaughtered, and their blood poured over the grave; after which the river is allowed to resume its course." Vol. ii. p. 110.

Of Rustem, a hero of Persian romance, we read, "In the bed of the Hilmend his grave is shown" (Duncker, 'Hist, of Antiq.,' vol. v. p. 262). ASTARTE.

BENEDICT ARNOLD. Is his burial-place known? He died in London in Gloucester Square, I think 14 June, 1 801. Could I find his grave I would have it photographed, as a companion to my illustration of Andre's monument in Westminster Abbey.

W. ABBATT.

New York.

LADY MAYNARD. In the will of a Capt. Philip Garbett, R.N., who died at Boulogne at the end of the last century, is mentioned a daughter (daughter-in-law?), Lady Maynard. I shall be very grateful for any information as to this lady and her family.

H. L. A. GARBETT.

1, Prince's Mansions, Victoria Street, S.W.

"SWEEN" OR "SWEAN." I am told by a chemist in business near Nottingham that he is often asked by women for diachylon to " sween " their milk away, and he supposes the word to be connected with " sweal " or " swale." Is it so; and what is the derivation of " sweal'"? A candle "sweals" when it gutters, and a girl is said to be "swealing away " when in a decline. C. C. B.

DALLAS FAMILY. I should be glad to receive information with regard to the descent of any existing members of this family, with a view to the elucidation of the later portion of the pedigree. PEDIGREE.