Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/490

 518 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9*s.iv.DEc.23,m would be as valuable to genealogists, or to those, like myself, tracing their own ancestry. W. Elliott Harrison. Fort Madison, Iowa, U.S. Evans's Cheap Repository.—When did this establishment, which published a number of tracts without a date, flourish ? Chas. Welsh. " The Energetic Old Man ": " The Christian Knight." — In the Morning Chronicle of 16 September, 1799, is the following paragraph :— " The ' enorgetic Old Man' ought to be con- sidered as one of the most celebrated Virtuosi. His collection of heads will be a valuable present to the Constantinopolitan Museum !" On the following day was the further para- graph :— "There is something unfortunate in the Christian Kniglit's expression of 'The energetic Old Man.' The association of ideas arising from local situation and certain ancient praotices call up some recollec- tion of the very celebrated 'Old Man of the Mountain.'" Who was " The energetic Old Man "—appa- rently a forerunner of "The Grand Old Man of our own era ] And who was " the Christian Knight" to whom reference had been made, not only as just quoted, but in another paragraph of the issue of the 16th, as follows ?— "The Christian Knight's achievements in the Holy Land, against the French Ronegads, renew the prodigies which that land exhibited during the Crusades. His successes, indeed, resemble events still prior to these, and the overthrow of the Giant of the French Revolution seems as miraculous as that of Goliath by a shepherd's boy !" Alfred F. Robbins. "Doctor" a Christian Name.— The fol- lowing is an extract from an article on ' Popular Superstitions' in a recent monthly: " A most peculiar superstition connected with numbers is the belief that the seventh son of a seventh son, in direct lino, is an infallible doctor— some even believing that he can cure by the touch. When such a child is born he is christened Doctor, and thus you may find a collier or mechanic of the name of ' Doctor Jones,' or ' Doctor Smith,' with no pretensions, of course, to being learned." Can any reader give an authentic instance of a person being so named ? H. Andrews. Buckeridge. — In the ' Historical and Genealogical Dictionary' of Moreri, with regard to the Buckeridge family, is the following :— " Buckeridge, name of an ancient English family in the county of Berks, who had their residence at Basildon since the time of William the Conqueror. It is from this family descend all the Buckeridges of England. Thomas Buckeridge possessed all the iiroperty at the commencement of the century. JYom this family was descended John, Bishop of Rochester in 1611, who was transferred to the bishoprick of Ely in 1627." I can find no trace of the family before the early part of the sixteenth century. The earliest of the name is Thomas Buckeridge, who was Mayor of Reading in 1500, and whose will was proved in 1509. At Basildon the first I have any record of is John Buckeridge, whose will was proved in 1525. and a will of William Buckeridge, of Fangbourne (1529). I should be extremely obliged for any record of this old Berkshire family before the year 1525, and any suggestion as to where Moreri obtained his information. I have pedigrees of the family, wills, and many notes, of which I shall be pleased to give copies to any one related to or interested in the family. A. S. Dyer. 13, Mackeson Road, Hampstead, N.W. Grolier Bindings. — Some calf bindings from the Grolier Collection have the space between the double gold lines filled in with black or white or blue paint. Are these of an earlier date than the volumes which were either inlaid or had only gold lines I J. J. M'L. Scott Quotation Wanted. — Will some one tell me where in Scott I shall find the following lines 1— And still beneath the cavern dread, Among the glidders grey, A shapeless Btono with lichens spread Marks where the wanderer lay. E. W. Marriage and Baptism Superstitions.— The Rev. J. W. Horsley, in an article in the Church Times of 17 November on the laxity of the clergy in making inquiries before publishing banns of marriage, remarks of the people in his parish (in Walworth):— '' The common idea is that there is some special advantage or blessing in being married in the church where the mother of one of the parties was married, just as babies will be brought, even from long dis- tances, to be baptized where the parents were married. There is probably somo archaic basis for these usages discoverable by students of folk-lore and matrimonial customs, for around marriages and funerals old customs—even pre-Christian usages— notably adhere amongst the poor." I do not remember to have seen any men- tion of these customs before. Can any further account or explanation of them be given ? James Hooper. Norwich. Title of Novel Wanted.—What is the title of Miss Braddon's novel (one of the earlier