Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/189

 9-8. IV. SEPT. 30/99.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 269 mines in Derbyshire, and I strongly suspect that the writer was one of the Houghtons of Lancashire, although he adds to the in- troduction "From my lodgings in Warwick Lane, near the College of Physitians, London, 12 November, 1680. There is no notice of him in the 'Dictionary of National Bio- graphy.' I shall be grateful for any infor- mation concerning this author. H. FISHWICK. ASKELL FAMILY.—Katherine and Sylvester Askell lived in Lambeth about 1720. Can any reader give information as to their pedigree? J. SCHWAKTZ. CRITICISM OF RAINE"S 'ST. CUTHBERT.'— Shortly after the publication of the Rev. James Raine's ' St. Cuthbert' (Durham, 1828). Dr. Lingard, then at Ushaw, published, I believe anonymously, a small book in which he attempted to prove that the remains ex- amined by some of the Durham Cathedral clergy in 1827 were not those of St. Cuthbert. I should be exceedingly grateful to any reader of ' N. & Q.' who would help me to a sight of Lingard'a book. J. R. BOYLE. Town Hall, Hull. JOHN ALEXANDER.—Can your readers give me any information as to John Alexander, who went to America from Scotland with his sons George, John, and Thomas some years prior to 1044? His son George married in that year Susanna Sage, and was then living in Windsor, Connecticut, U.S. The family claim descent from the " Alexanders of Powis," a branch from the same root as the Earls of Stirling. The lands of Powis were inherited from the heiress of Mayne of Lockwood, settled near Stirling as landed proprietors since early in the fifteenth century. From this family General Alexander, Lord Stirling, an officer in the American revolutionary war, claimed descent. I am tracing out some ancestral lines, and find connexion with John Alexander, but do not know his birthplace in Scotland or when he sailed. I shall be greatly obliged for information on this sub- ject. CATHARINE WEED WAKD. STORY CONCERNING THE ATHANASIAN CREED. —What is the story alluded to in the following passage in Mr. Saintsbury's' Sir Walter Scott,' in the " Famous Scots " series, 1897, p. 85 ?— "As for Di Vernon, she is the one of Scott's heroines with whom one has to fall in love, just as, according to a beautiful story, a thoughtless and reluctant world had to believe the Athanasian Creed." JONATHAN BOUCHIEH. Ropley, Hants. gtplits. ALDGATE AND WHITECHAPEL. (9th S. iv. 168.) IT is a little difficult to give categorical answers to MR. M. D. DAVIS'S questions, but I will endeavour to do so as well as I can in the absence of many of my books which relate to these localities. 1. I cannot say when Whitechapel was first alluded to ; but the name was known from an early date. We learn from Messrs. Hardy and Page's ' Calendar to the Feet of Fines for London and Middlesex' that in 32 Edw. Ill, 1359. premises were transferred in the parish of the Blessed Mary "de Whitchapelle" (i. 136); in 36 Edw. III., 1363, a conveyance of premises took place in Stebenhithe (Stepney), Brembeleye (Bromley), and "Whitechapel in Algatestrete " (i. 139); in 19 Hen. VI., 1432, a rent was conveyed in " Whitchapell " (i. 187); and in 30 Hen. VI., 1462, messuages were transferred in the parish of the Blessed Mary Matfelon, of White Chapell, next London (i. 198). 2. Some variants in spelling will be seen in the foregoing references. 3. It is generally supposed that the ancient church of St. Mary Matfelon, which was a chapelry of Stepney, was known as the White Chapel from the white appearance of the walls: and that 4. The locality was named after it; but on this point I cannot speak with certainty. 5. I can find nothing to confirm the sup- position that the neighbourhood was ever known as White Apple Town. 6. We know from Stow that there were many gardens and farms in the neighbour- hood, but I am not aware that they were noted for the production of apples. 7. I do not think there was a Blanch Apple- town outside the Bars, in addition to the manor of that name which was situated in the Ward of Aldgate. 8. I cannot find any very early allusion to Leman Street, nor 9. To the alias said to have been borne by Richard, Prior of Trinity. 10. In all the early records Aldgate appears as Alegate or Algate, generally the former. The excrescent d seems to have come into use in the time of Henry VIII., but was at first only rarely employed. In the time of Eliza- beth it was sufficiently common for Stow to hazard the guess that the gate was called Aldgate or Ealdgate because "of the anti- quitie or age thereof." He also thought that Aldersgate, which is known to be Ealdredes-