Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/334

 276 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9- s. vi. OCT. e, 1900. irregularities of the wood. This may explain the word " shellys " or " shells " in the build- ing account. I hazard the guess that "boylyng the sensor" may mean relacquering the (brass ?) censer. ETHEL LEGA-WEEKES. 1. Shellys=lime shells for building. 6. Balling three bell clappers=fastening leather covers on bell clappers for tolling. J. Q. WALLACE-JAMES, M.B. Haddington. TOBACCO TONGS (9th S. vi. 210).—In the six- teenth and seventeenth centuries a pair of tongs, a supply of juniper wood, and a wooden block for shredding the tobacco upon, were part of a smoker's outfit. The tongs, of course, enabled the lover of the "Right Trinidado" to light his "Woodcock's Head"* at the " ordinary" fire or at the apothecary's brazier. During the reign of James I. the tobacco trade was carried on by the apothecaries. Decker, in his 'Gull's Horn-Book' (1609), says the gallants of his time lighted their pipes with live coals, and that the tongs in use were made of gold or silver. I cannot conclude this note without referring to Jonson's ' Alchemist.' In this play Face, speaking of Drugger, says :— He has his maple block, his silver tongs, Winchester pipes and tire of juniper. ALBEET GOUGH. Holywood, co. Down. Tongs for lifting a glowing coal to light a pipe. J. G. WALLACE-JAMES, M.B. the tobacco in a pipe. I. G. ^ Haddington. Tobacco tongs served to hold the coa! which was used for lighting a pipe. Fashion- able ones were of silver. PERCY SIMPSON. EDWARD IRVING'S KESIDENCES IN LONDON (9th S. vi. 125).—In reply to MR. HEBB'S request for information about the private life of Irving, I am able to supply a few particulars. He was an intimate friend of my father the late Isaac Taylor, of Stanford Rivers Essex, and of his sisters Ann and Jane, a Ongar, to the latter of whom he offered his hand in marriage. An oil painting of he has recently been placed in the Nationa Portrait Gallery. My father often spoke of Irving's magnifi cent physique, and I have here a life-size profile or him, taken by my father, on whicl are written the words "Ed ward Irving. Taken • The pipe was so called, n the summer of 1827 at Stanford Rivers with great care). Isaac Taylor." I shall be leased to show the sketch to any of your eaders who may live in this locality. This ketch was lent to Mrs. Oliphant, and ppeared on a reduced scale as a frontispiece o her life of Irving : but, with her usual naccuracy, she spelt the inscription wrongly, ml the engraving is not so good as the riginal. Irving's profile shows a head full of fine culpturesque lines; but unfortunately he lad a squint, and an amusing story was told ~y my aunts of a misapprehension which, wing to his defect of vision, arose in a walk lown the High Street of Ongar, about the 'Cock Inn" and a bird bearing that name which happened to be opposite. Irving was a great athlete, and as a boy I ^member a particularly high-barred gate in tfavestock Park being pointed out to me as one which he was in the habit of vaulting over during his walks with my father. Irving's eccentricities in the latter part of iis career, when he was spoilt by too much flattery, are well known. He had a magnifi- cent head of hair, which he was very proud if, and finally walked in the streets of London without his hat, for the purposes of lisplay. On one occasion my father was tiis companion, when they were followed by a great crowd of people. This in no way disconcerted the great preacher. He merely remarked to my father, "It is a strange thing to feel oneself the object of popular admiration." HENRY TAYLOR. Braeside, Ttmbridge Wells. REFERENCES WANTED (9th S. vi. 67).— "Apres nous le deluge." According to Madame Cam pan, Louis XV. often pre- dicted the Revolution, but always added : "Mais les choses cornine elles sont dureront autant quo moi." M. N. G. I.O.U. (9th S. v. 475; vi. 74).—What authority has MR. ADDY for saying that these letters stand for " I owe unto " 1 I was under the impression they stood for " I owe you." R. B—E. ORIENTATION IN INTERMENTS (9th S. vi. 167).—I am inclined to think an error must be involved if it has been stated that at the burial of H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh, also Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the coffin was so placed that the face of the deceased looked westward. There can be no question that the general custom and practice in England is for the dead to be buried looking towards the east,