Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/616

 512 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9th s. vi. DEC. 29, 1900. should not be omitted. In a water-colour illustration of the old entrance to Lyon's Inn this carved wood sign is depicted as it was shortly before its removal (Archer Coll.. Print Dept., Brit. Mus., portfolios vii. ana xvi.). There was also a "Half Moon" in Bishopsgate Without, alluded to in Stow's 'Survey,' 1754, vol. i. p. 423. At the "Half Moon " between the Temple Gates T. Wood- ward was the publisher for Dr. Thomas Birch of Thurloe's eState Papers' in 1742. From the "Half Moon" in the Strand the lower end of Bedford Street was known as Half Moon Street (Wheatley's ' London'). Christopher Deane at this sign, opposite the New Exchange Buildings, advertised, in 1742. the sale by auction of all his "Household Goods, Plate, Linen, China, some pictures, and a great variety of gooa Kitchen Furni- ture" (Daily Advert., 20 May, 1742). On 25 June of the same year the house is adver- tised as " now rebuilding or to let either as a public house or a private one. Enquire of Mr. Chidley, Bricklayer in Pall Mall" ! There were " Half Moons in Bedlam, in the Hay- market, and in Petticoat Lane (see Burn's ' Beaufoy Tokens,' Nos. 144, 587, and 896), in St. Paul's Churchyard (Post-Boy, 27-29 April, 1714), and in Piccadilly, at the corner of Half Moon Street, built in 1730 (I or 1739). See Smith's ' Antiquarian Ramble,' i. 18, and views in Crace Collection, x. 75j also Cun- ningham's ' London.' For the " Half Moon," Southwark, see Mr. Philip Norman's 'Inns and Signs of London.' There was also a " Half Moon " in Finsbury Yard, Moorfields (Daily Advert., 3 April, 1742). Combinations of this sign were the "Half Moon and Seven Stars," the sign of J. & J. Fox in Westminster Hall (St. James's Even. Post, 20 Nov., 1737), and in Pye Corner a tallow - chandler's (' Beaufoy Tokens,' No. 911). The "Half Moon and Bunch of Grapes," in Little Britain, is said to have been much visited by the gallants of Eliza- beth's reign ; the landlord Wagstaff flaunted the dubious boast that he possessed a walk- ing-staff with which Henry VIII., in one of his nocturnal rambles, broke the head of one of his ancestors (Christopher Brown's 'Tavern Anecdotes,' 1824, p. 161). The " Half Moon and Star" was in New Bond Street, near Conduit Street (advert, in Daily Advertiser, 16 Feb, 13 April, and 15 June, 1742). And, lastly, the popularity of the sign is evinced in Hogarth's 'Satire on False Perspective,' in which he displays an impossible building with the sign of the Half Moon, a sign which probably originated, by the way, like the " Saracen's Head," with the conflicts of Turk and Chris- tian in the Crusades, when the victories of the latter were emphasized by the capture of a standard bearing the Turkish arms, a crescent moon. J. HOLDEN MACMICHAEL. Wimbledon Park Road.

BLACKHAM FAMILY (9th S. vi. 409).—Arms of Blackham of London, Bart., created 13 April, 1696, extinct 2 July, 1728, are: Azure, two bars between nine cross - crosslets or. No crest or motto given in Wotton's 'Baronetage,' 1727. JOHN RADCLIFFE

AGRICULTURAL DESCRIPTIVE RIMES (9th S. vi. 410).—In the volume of Thomas Basker- ville's ' Journeys in England, temp. Car. II.,' preserved among the Duke of Portland's MSS at Welbeck, is a note of the following agri- cultural descriptive rime :— Dorsetshire ewes for the early lambs, And Warwickshire breeds most excellent rams. See 'Royal Historical Manuscripts Com- mission, Thirteenth Report,' Appendix, pt. ii. p. 275. ALFRED F. ROBBINS.

ARNOLD OF RUGBY (9th S. vi. 446, 491).—MR. HOPE probably sent you the cutting from the Daily Chronicle of 15 Nov. (not 16) before seeing my letter which appeared in the issue of the 23rd. Once a thing of the sort has been started it is difficult to overtake. But in the interest of genealogical truth, I send you a copy of my letter and of another, and trust you will find room for them :— TO THE EDITOR OF THE 'DAILY CHRONICLE.' SIR,—If, as you say, Sir Edwin and Sir Arthur Arnold "claim kinship" with the family of which Dr. Arnold, Matthew Arnold, and my father, the late Mr. Thomas Arnold, were members, I, as one who has taken some interest in the family tree, should be glad to know where the kinship comes in. It is quite true that Sir Edwin Arnold, in a poem written on the death of Matthew Arnold, spoke of the latter as "Dead poet of my house, but I have always regarded the expression as an amusingly extreme instance of " poetic licence." Yours faithfully, F. S. ARNOLD. 332, Oxford Road, Manchester, Nov. 22.

SIR,—A friend, knowing my interest in the pedigree of the Arnold family of Rugby, has called my attention to the note quoted from a corre- spondent's letter on p. 5 of Thursday's issue (Nov. 15). The news that “the Arnold family is of Jewish extraction, and that its Hebrew name in Germany, whence it came to this country, was Aaron," is news indeed. Presumably your corre- spondent has some authorities for his statement!!, and 1 should like to know them. For some years I have been familiar with the Arnold pedigree, and have quite recently elucidated the maternal descent of Matthew and other children of Dr. Arnold of Rugby from Prince Thomas of Brother- ton, son of Edward I. by his second marriage with Marguerite, daughter of Philip HI., " le Hardi,"