Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/342

 396 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9*s.iv.novJ library, which was distributed all over the house; but Mr. Davey improves upon this. and makes Lord Beaconsfield confide to Lora Barrington that he was born "in Adelphi Terrace, in a room full of books," which is absurd. Mr. Blanchard further appears to have stated to Mr. Davey that he had it on the highest authority—that is to say, from Lord Beaconsfield—that Isaac D'Israeli left King's Road, Bedford Row, for a time and hired the upper part of a house in Adelphi Terrace from Mrs. Garrick. It seems highly improbable that Lord Beaconsfield, who was very reticent about his family, should have made such a statement, nor is there any reason why he should have selected Mr. Blanchard as the recipient of his confidence. I remember inquiring of Mr. Blanchard, when the statement first appeared in print, his authority for it, but never received a reply to my inquiry. John Hebb. [See 7th S. iii. 441.] May Road Well, Accrington. — About two miles east of the town of Accrington, Lancashire, and high up on the hillside, in a rather lonely place, is a spring, described on the old six-inch Ordnance map of Lancashire (sheet 63) as " May Road Well." My recol- lection, however, is that the country people of the district used to call it " Mare Hole Well." When I was a boy an annual festival was held near this well, early in the morning of the first Sunday in May,and called "Mare Hole Well Fair." What the festival was like I do not know, for, unfortunately, I never attended it; but I should like to read an account of it, written by some one who has witnessed it. And I should be glad to hear a competent opinion whether "Mare Hole Well " may not be a corruption of " St. Mary's Holy Well." See Brand's 'Popular Anti- quities,' Bohn's ed., ii. 375. J. It. Boyle. Hull. "Outlanders."—"The History of the Moderne Protestant Divines faithfully translated out of the Latine by D[onala] Lfupton]," is a little book published in Lon- don in 1637. To the text is prefixed 'A Catalogue of all the Names of the Modern Divines mentioned in this Booke,' which is in two divisions, the first being headed " Out- landish Writers," and the second " The Eng- lish Writers follow." Charles Higham. Early Notice of Fossils. (See 5th S. vii. 327, 456; xii. 356.)—Former citations show that fossil bones of large size( usually sup- posed to be the remains of giants, received attention from very ancient writers. The following, though far inferior in point of date, is the earliest example I know of an intelligent notice of the smaller fossils—in- telligent, because the writer recognizes the possibility of their being remains of extinct life :— "At Alderney, in Glocestershire, standing two miles from the Severne upon the hils, to this day are found cockles, periwinkles, and oysters of solid stone: which whither they have bin shellfish and living creatures, or else the sports of nature in her works, philosophers may perchance dispute, but can hardly determine."—Hakewill's 'Apologie,' ed. 1635, p. 230. In the next paragraph he describes a geode, and a stone "which in so lively a manner expressed a perch in his full portraiture as not the least tray was wanting to the per- fection thereof." Here, by the way, is an earlier use of the word trait than most dictionaries afford. Richard H. Thornton. Portland, Oregon. Gladstone and Lord Rosebery : a Co- incidence.—The following paragraph from the Glasgow Evening Citizen of 27 Oct. is possibly worth a corner in ' N. & Q.':— "A curious coincidence has been pointed out in connexion with the present Rectorial election [in Glasgow]. In 1865 Mr. Gladstone got a majority of the votes of the students, but lost the election through the casting vote of the Duke of Montrose. In 1877, twelve years later, and at a time when he had been for three years in temporary retirement from the leadership of the Liberal party, Mr. Gladstone again stood and won. Lord Rosebery lost the election of 1887 in the same way as Mr. Gladstone lost that of 1865. In this present year, twelve years afterwards, and at a time when he has been for three years in retirement from the leadership of the Liberal party, he is again a candi- date. If he wins the election, as he probably will, he will only have to become once more Liberal leader to make a marvellous coincidence complete." He has won the election—will he again lead the Liberal party ? That, too, seems probable. Robert F. Gardiner. 64, Abbotsford Place, Glasgow. Rent Services.—The following paragraph is taken from the Daily Telegraph of 20 Oct., and seems worthy of preservation in the pages of'N. & Q.':— " Certain ancient and quaint rent services, which are due to the Crown by the Corporation of London, were, in accordance with custom, per- formed at the offices of the Queen's Remembrancer, in the Royal Courts of Justice, in the presence of a number of curious and interested spectators. Mr. George Pollock, the Remembrancer, made the usual explanatory statement as to the origin of the custom, and proclamation was then made: 'Tenants and occupiers of a piece of waste ground called " The Moors," in the county of Salop, come forth and do your service.' The City Solicitor advanced