Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/139

 9* 8. IV. Sept. 16, '99.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 227 many persons must, one would think, have had the curiosity to go to look at it. That it was some living creature, an inhabitant of the sea which had made its way up the river, is highly improbable. Had it been so, the description could not have been, one would imagine, so wildly inaccurate. There were cunning artists in Italy in those days. It has occurred to us that this object which so terrified the Romans may have been manu- factured for purposes of magic. It is well known that it is quite possible to make up spurious animal forms such as would even now deceive the unwary. There were formerly in the Walton Hall collection some highly comic creations of this kind, and we have seen others on a larger scale in museums in the Netherlands which have been imported from Japan. If any reader of 'N. & Q.' has access to a copy of Rococioli's work he will be doing a service to folk-lore by reporting upon its contents. N. M. <fe A. Qiuties, 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. Fray Paolo de la Maodalena.—Can any one give me information respecting "Fray Paolo de la Magdalena"? The name is written on the back of a picture (on panel) of a dark-complexioned man, with long dark hair, a moustache and beard. He has a small circular cap at the back of his head, and is dressed in a sleeveless coat of dark material over an under garment of a slightly lighter shade, and round his neck is a broad turned- down linen collar. Who was he, and of what nationality? Evelyn Wellington. Strathfieldsaye. " Griff-geaff."—In many old dictionaries this expression is registered with the mean- ing "by hook or by crook." I have found it in Ash (1795), Bailey (1721), Phillips (1706), Coles (1677). I should be glad to know whether the word is used in any English dialect. A. L. Mayhew. Oxford. Authorized Version, 1611. — How were the revisers of James I.'s time remunerated for their work ? Robt. J. Whitwell. C.C.C., Oxford. Riddle.—At the end of 'A New Riddle Book by John the Giant-killer, Esquire,' pub- lished by T. Carnan & F. Newbery in 1778, is the following poser, the solution of which I should much like to have. It is headed with a cut of an old bridge with houses on the top; in the foreground are water and men in boats. The other riddles are of the simplest possible description; the solutions—such as a comb, a clock, a candlestick, and so on—are given pictorially. None of the " Bridge waters," " Bridges," and " Rivers " of the period seems to fit the description. This riddle book was published twenty years earlier by John Newbery:— Behold yon powder'd beau, how fine and fair: Great Britain's glory, but his father's care ; Observe his equipage, how grand, how neat, In ev'ry article alike compleat; See him look down with scorn upon his sire, While gaping passengers his pride admire. Would you his residence or haunts explore, Accept his key and open wide the door. When bus'ness in the senate calls you there, You'll soon behold this noble upstart near; Or if for pleasure you to Vauxhall stray, 'Tis ten to one you pass him on the way; But thro' the city should you chance to range, You '11 never find the booby upon change. Like those fine gentlemen whom courts inclose, He trade despises, though from trade he rose. Andrew W. Tuer. The Leadenhall Press, E.G. Carillons rung on Church Bells.—I am anxious to compile a list, as complete as possible, of churches in England and Scotland whereat carillons are now, or were formerly, rung on the bells by means of machinery connected with a clock. I wish to have the names of the tunes, and I should be deeply grateful for extracts from local histories, wardens' account-books, or other church re- cords, throwing light on the history of the chimes. I propose to print my list, when I have made it as complete as I can, in the columns of ' N. & Q,.' Will correspondents kindly address me direct ? And may I assure them that I shall be thankful for the mere name of a church where carillons are or have been heard ? J. R. Boyle. Town Hall, Hull. Garrick Medal.—In reading the memoir of Garrick in the ' Diet. Nat. Biog.' I do not find any mention of hi3 medal. I have a silver medal with head of Garrick on one side, and on the other three standing figures with motto, " He united all your powers," dated 1772, by Pingo. On what occasion was this medal struck ? My great-grandfather and his brothers were intimate friends of Garrick. The other portrait by Gainsborough, men- tioned at the end of the memoir, is doubt- less that belonging to us—a beautiful picture. When I was living in London many people used