Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/21

 9- s. vi. JULY 7, i9oo.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 15 'History of England'"—that called Cassell's —" but not beyond the Reformation." I remember being told, but cannot recall my authority, that Smith wrote only a few chapters, and that Cassell, not being pleased with the style, gave the commission to Wil- liam Howitt. In 1863, when the work was still in progress, I wrote to the latter con- cerning certain statements in the history about the Chartist movement, and in reply he _ wrote: " I have nothing to do with the writing of that history, nor have had since the end of 1801, that is to the end of the reign of George III." I do not know who completed the work. THOMAS FHOST. Littleover, near Derby. FAGGOTS FOR BURNING HERETICS (9th S. v. 269, 326, 401).—A Mrs. Abigail Vaughan left a legacy of 4s. per annum with which to buy faggots to burn heretics. She left it to St. Martin Outwich, now demolished. Mrs. Vaughan's remains were among those re- moved to Ilford from the church of St. Martin Outwich. The facts are given in a history of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate. by a late rector. M. B. W. Cambridge, U.S. SIR A. PITCHES (9th S. v. 314).—Sir Abra- ham was, I believe, a brandy merchant in the City, but he lived at Streatham, and was knighted when high sheriff of Surrey in 1782 (see Col. Gen. et Her., viii. 405). He was probably related to the Pitches of Ayles- bury and those at Hawstead ; certainly to Mr. Thomas Pitches, Accountant-General to the Post Office, who died 1767. On a monument at Hawstead are thes.o arms: A lion rampant crowned. There was a Mr. Joseph Pitches, herald painter, who helped Kent, the author of 'The Banner Display'd' (ii. 674). On another page (735), "Argent, a fess between two chevrons gules and three guttt'es de poix." are said to be borne by the Pitches of Cambridgeshire. Joseph Pitches is a very likely man to have worked out his pedi- gree. Both these coats show that the Pitches considered themselves descended from the Peches. According to Montagu's 'Guide to the Study of Heraldry,' p. 17, the lion of Peche was not ermine, but guttee (1 de poix) ; round this shield was a wreath of peaches with leaves, an "e"on every peach. A Mr. J. T. Pitches told me once he was the last of the name, he believed, and had never heard of any one else bearing it. A. S. E. lations from Charles Baudelaire, with a few Original Poems,' by Richard Herne Shepherd. This is described as " a new edition with cor- rections and additions," and was published in 1877 by B. Hobson, Cran bourn Street. Only 150 copies were printed. The title is mis- leading, for only three translations from Baudelaire (occupying ten pages) are given. The English titles of these are ' Abar- cass' [sic], 'Weeping and Wandering,' and 'Lesbos.' CHARLES HIATT. " NEITHER FISH, NOR FLESH, NOR GOOD RED HERRING" (9th S. v. 125, 290, 437).-My note- book is quite correct. I nave found this quotation in the 'Musarum Delicite,' under Dr. Smith's ' Ballet,' the ninth stanza of which runs:— Sometimes they in the water lurk Like fish with Silver finns ; And then I wish I were the Turke, And these my Concubines. But to tell you the truth without any erring, They are neither Fish, Flesh, nor good red Herring: And when so e'er you find them stirring, They will put you in minde of your sins. It has now been shown by your corre- spondents that the phrase, in some shape or other, was used long before the time of Sir John Mennis. STAPLETON MARTIN. The Firs, Norton, Worcester. ' TOM BOWLING ' (9th S. v. 474).—R. B. P.'s note on sheer-hulk is interesting; but seeing that Dibdin knew all about matters nautical and laid the stress on hulk, I venture to sug- gest that the usual reading is preferable to the somewhat strained interpretation put upon it by your correspondent. HOLCOMBE INGLEBY. PORTRAIT OF ADMIRAL BYNG (9th S. v. 187). —Among the seventy-four entries in the British Museum Catalogue under ' Byng Hon. John, Admiral,' is a broadside entitled ' The Shooting of Admiral Byng,' at the top of which is a woodcut, superior in execution to the generality of such things, depicting the execution. The portrait of the scapegoat officer is said to be an excellent one. < AYF.AHR. ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF BAUDELAIRE (9th S. v. 375, 483).—A few weeks ago I picked up a little book of 120 pages entitled 'Trans- VOLANT AS A CHRISTIAN NAME (9th S. v. 229, 293, 401).—Volante is the name of the female character in John Tobin's famous comedy ' The Honeymoon '—the first edition of which, date 1805, now lies before me—that bears some resemblance to Shakespeare's Beatrice. It was in the character of Volante that Miss Harriot Mellon, who married, first, Mr. Coutts, the banker, and, second, the Duke of St. Albans, completely fixed the favour of the town. PoorTobin! before public opinion had stamped his production the first of