Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/550

 458 NOTES AND QUERIES. P* s. VL D«O. s, uoo. RECTORS OF SUTTON COLDFIELD, WARWICK- SHIRE (9th S. vi. 388).—John Burges, M.D. of the University of Cambridge, was presented to the living of Sutton Cornfield in 1617. He died August, 1635, aged seventy-two years. Ho was succeeded by Antony Burges, M.A. and Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, who was the son of a learned master of a school at Walford, where Dr. Cornelius Burges, son - in - law of John Burges, was minister; he was, however, no relation to either of his namesakes. Being unable to agree to the Act of Conformity, he resigned his living in 1662, and died two years later at Tamworth, where he was buried. The above particulars are extracted from Miss Bracken's ' History of the Forest and Chase of Sutton Coldfield' (1860) ; further particulars will be found in the Rev. W. K. Riland Bedford's ' Three Hundred Years of a Family Living' (1889). BENJ. WALKER. Gravelly Hill, Erdington. The Rev. Riland Bedford, the present rector and owner of the living of Sutton Coldfield (from which neighbourhood I my self come), is an old friend of mine, and he would, I feel no doubt, have much pleasure in giving to MRS. TROUP, as he probably can from his parochial books and records, the information she seeks. EDWARD P. WOLFERSTAN. A "SMITHFIELD" (9th S. vi. 389).—Fitz- Stephen, writing of London in the twelfth century, says: " There is without one of the gates, immediately in the suburb, a certain smooth field in name and reality." The subsequent description of the fairs, jousts, and festivals shows that he refers to Smith- field. Peter Cunningham, in his ' Handbook of London Past and Present,' adopts this view by heading one of his articles 'Smithfield. or Smootnfield, the "campus planus" ol FitzStephen.' Possibly the Welsh lady intended to offei a free library, and a piece of smooth ground (Smithfield) on which to erect it. EVERARD HOMJE COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road. I remember quite well when I was in Aberystwyth thirty years ago the cattle market was always referred to as "the Smithfield." Seeing Newtown is cpmpara tively near, can this word have acquired this meaning in Mid Wales 1 D. M. R. "A smithfield" is a common slaughter house or abattoir, sometimes having acftttli market or meat market' connected with{ The name probabTy^originated in the mea market at Sraithfield in London, where ormerly cattle wore also slaughtered. LL. LLOYD. I cannot guess what else this can mean han a market after the pattern of the ..ondon one so called. F. ADAMS. EARLY STEAM NAVIGATION (9th S. vi. 368).— The vexed question of the "first steamer across" the Atlantic assumes a very favour- able aspect for England if Dundonald's lising Sun can be fairly -included. The laini is advanced in the life of that great ailor in the " English Men of Action " series. Jut the ' Dictionary of National Biography ' IVS nothing of it, and authorities on the Atlantic ferry " are absolutely silent. It is x> be hoped that if there is a case it is stronger /han that of the American Savannah. That nuch-vaunted boat certainly crossed the Atlantic with a funnel and a pair of re- movable paddles on board. Of the twenty- nine days eleven hours occupied in the massage from Savannah to Liverpool the steam gear was in use eighty hours in all! When any little difficulty arose the paddles were taken on board and the ship went under sail The Savannah represents American claims. The Royal William (1833, Quebec to London) embodies Canadian claims nearly as doubtful. She ran the passage, calling at Pictou for coal and at Cowes, to Gravesend twenty-five days. There seem to exist some doubts whether she did, as was actually claimed, steam the whole way. But her case is much better than that of the Savannah. The Liverpool Royal William (1838, Liver- pool to New York) and the Bristol Great Western (1838, Bristol to New York) were probably the first real passenger steamers to cross the Atlantic without recoaling. If the Rising Sun was in truth a recog- nizable steamer, it is very strange that such books as ' The Atlantic Ferry ' should contain absolutely no mention of her or of her de- signer. GEOROK MARSHALL. sefton Park, Liverpool. NOTES ON BOOKS. *c. The Gingtie Ports. By Ford Madox Hueffer. (Blackwood & Sons.) SIN.M; the days when William Lambarde wrote his 'Perambulation of Kent'—the first and, in some respects, the best of our county histories — and those which witnessed the appearance of Sir W alter Raleigh's posthumous ' Discourse on Sea Porte, principally of the Port and Haven of Dover,' a good deal concerning the Cinque Port* has been given to the world. A place apart from most works ~ the subject is reserved for Mr. JJueffer's ww ^JU till