Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/93

 9th S. IV. Sept. 2, '99.] 189 NOTES AND QUERIES. —probably in or near the city of New York— before the Revolutionary War ; but how long before that event I have no means of know- ing. Mr. W. Graham Boss, of Edinburgh, is of the opinion that the family is of Scottish origin, even though the first of the name here may have come from Holland. He traces the family in Scotland back to about 1360, and then reverts to France for still earlier members. He tells of various forms of the name—de Bois, de Boscho, de Boyes, Boiss, Boyes, Boice, Boas, Bos, <fec. I earnestly ask the co-operation of all who have any knowledge of the facts that I am seeking. My father was Henry Ball Boss, born near Ballston Spa, N.Y., 6 May, 1807; died at Forestville, N.Y., 18 May, 1842. My grandfather was William Garner Boss, born 19 May, 1776 ; married Leah Storms, 14 Oct., 1795 ; died 19 Sept., 1836. My great-grand- father was William Boss, who died in 1801. His wife, Silvia, died 1 Sept., 1819, "aged seventy-four years." Henry R. Boss. 232, Irving Avenue, Chicago, 111. Key to the ' Carthusian.'—In 1839 was announced " shortly to be published a. key to the Carthusian, containing an accurate and complete account of the several articles which have appeared in the Carthu- sian. Also a list of authors of the rejected articles. London, S. Walker, 58, Barbican." Did the foregoing ever appear ? Dewitt Miller. San Francisco. ' Worms.'—I beg for information respecting ' Worms : a Book of Literary Oddities,' pub- lished in England about 1800. Nothing is known of it at the British Museum. Dewitt Miller. San Francisco. Lance-Corporal.—A lance-corporal or a lance-sergeant is an acting corporal or ser- geant, but without the substantive rank. What is the derivation of this word lance ? Has it any connexion with lansquenet ? T. Van Dyck.—Apropos of the tercentenary of the birth of Sir Anthony Van Dyck, it is well known that this great painter lived long in London, and that it is to him that we owe so many fine historical memorials of an eventful period ; but it is not so well known that the tomb and mortal remains of the great limner perished in the great fire that devastated old St. Paul's Cathedral, a Gothic vane under whose shadow Antoine Van Dijck so long resided. The tomb stood next or near that of John of Gaunt,and I would ask if any representation of the monument of Van Dyck exists, and where the best account of his obsequies is to be found in contemporary print. John Leighton, F.S.A. Anvers. "A greased eel."—Mr. James Coleman's 239th Catalogue describes a charter, "given at Modycomb," 10 Feb., 32 Hen. VIII., of a tenement in Modycourt subject to a rent of 13s. id., and (on a tenant's death) "a fatte greced ele, or three shelynge yn the name of a heryott." What was the nature of this delicacy ? It must have been a dish of some cost, if it could only be compounded for by a payment of 3s. Robt. J. Whitwell. Marie de France.— Have the works of Marie de France, a twelfth-century poetess, the author of ' Le Chevrefeuille,' mentioned on p. 20 of Prof. Dowden's ' French Litera- ture,' been reprinted ; and, if so, where can they be seen? C. Trollope. 35, Lansdowne Crescent, Cheltenham. [The works, edited by B. de Roquefort, were published, Paris, Chasserian, 1820 and 1832. 'Le Couronnemens Renart,' attributed to her, is pub- lished in the fourth volume of the edition of the ' Roman du Renart' by Meon, 1826. The ' Lai du Chevre-feuille' is drawn from the romance of 'Tristan.' See also * N. & Q.,' 5th S. vi. 428, 545; vii. 77 ; 8th S. ii. 527 ; iii. 113.] gtglies. OLIVER CROMWELL AND MUSIC. (9th S. iii. 341, 417, 491; iv. 161.) Mr. Davey's first communication on this subject to ' N. ife Q.' was, I think, incapable of proof. He says the ordinary use of the organ in the seventeenth century was to add brilliancy to the vocal music sung by the choir, and all possible embellishments by florid runs seem to have been employed ; on this account he excuses the destruction of organs by Puritans, and uncharitably asserts that those historians who have expressed an opposite opinion have written absolute and unqualified falsehood. Existing evidence is against Mr. Davey, and shows that organ accompaniments in our cathedral churches were of a grave and digni- fied nature, even down to 1668, when Thomas Tomkins published his 'Musica Deo Sacra,' consisting of vocal parts and an independent organ accompaniment; as a matter of fact this latter was merely a reproduction of the vocal parts. Milton's ' II Penseroso,' written probably in 1633, gives valuable testimony to the cha- racter of music heard in the cathedral at the beginning of the seventeenth century :—