Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/197

 9*s.viLMA*cH9,i9oi.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

189

"'Here lyeth buried the boddy of Dame Ann i.j Combe, the dutiful and respectful daughter of her father, late of Ashenden, in the county of Essex Ksquire, and the beloved wife of Richard Combe Hemel Hempstead, in the county of Hertford, Knight, April 17 th, 1658.'

" This find seems to establish the truth of a story which much excited the district some twelve years ago. The then vicar of Hemel Hempstead, the Rev. Dr. Robinson, was accused of having removed some of the coffins from the vault in the church."

What has become of the coffin and body of Dame Ann Combe 1 F. T. CANSICK.

Oulton, Salisbury Road, Barnet.

HISTORY OF SEALS. Mr. T. Hudson Turner, in a paper of 'Remarks on Personal Seals during the Middle Ages ' (Arc/i. Journ., v. 1), says :

"A catalogue of the subjects of all intaglios of which ancient impressions are known to exist in England would form a curious, and possibly valu- able, contribution to glyptographical knowledge."

This was written in March, 1848. Has any such catalogue since appeared 1 I am aware of the handsome volumes of ' Catalogues of Seals ' issued by the British Museum authori- ties. My present inquiry relates especially to the question of the use of intaglios as seals. T. CANN HUGHES, M.A., F.S.A. Lancaster.

EPITAPH OF JOHN NICHOLS. Will any reader of 'N. & Q.' oblige by giving the epitaph of John Nichols, printer and author of the * History of Leicestershire "? It is in the church of St. Bride, Fleet Street. He was the successor to William Bowyer, printer, and died Sunday, 26 November, 1827.

H. THOMPSON.

Moorgate Street, Leicester.

JEWISH ARCHITECTS. Can any reader of 'N. & Q.' inform me whether there were any well-known Jewish architects in the Middle Ages and Renaissance 1 Also, were there any Jewish architects in England from 1750 to 1850, and what were their names ?

CITIZEN.

" BEEN." I have had a discussion lately with a friend as to the proper pronunciation of this word. He asserts that bean " is the correct way of pronouncing the word, whilst I am of opinion, supported by Webster's dictionary, that "bin" is the proper and general mode of pronunciation. I nave not the advantage of being able to refer to the query will do me the favour of enlightening me on the matter. A. R. BELLINGHAM.
 * H.E.D.,' but perhaps some reader of this

[The ' H.E.D.' gives for the past participle two pronunciations: bin, bin. The long italic vowel equals ee.]

MANUSCRIPTS AT PARIS. Will any of your readers who have obtained facsimiles of documents in the Paris archives be so good as to furnish me with the name and address of a firm of photographers which executes such work 1 SEIRIOL.

MONUMENTS IN GILLING CHURCH. I have before me an engraving of a curious monu- ment existing in 1848 on the north side of Gilling Church, Yorkshire. It is said to be over the grave of the founder. His arms are on a shield on the right-hand side as you look at the picture. They consist of three birds (possibly martlets) on a bend across the shield. Can any Yorkshire antiquary say whom the monument is meant to com- memorate? T. CANN HUGHES, M.A., F.S.A.

Lancaster.

DOUBTFUL PASSAGES IN CHAUCER.

(9 th S. vii. 82.)

A TERRIBLE mistake has crept into MR. LELAND'S curious and most scholarly article in col. 1 of p. 83 a mistake which he himself elucidates in the last lines of p. 83 and the first lines of p. 84. The rubible was identical with the early fiddle known as the rubebe, ribecca, rebeck, &c., all of which took their origin from the earliest known bow instrument (pace the Chinese ur-hlri), the Moorish rebdb, which was introduced into Europe by the Moors vid North Africa and Spain, and by the Goths vid Germany. Note in this connexion the line of Baba Tahir :

I will string my rebdb with two strands of thy hair. It was not a Jews' harp, though the old prints give it the outline of that unmelodious instrument. I have sheaves of notes on this instrument. The curious should consult M. Laurent Grillet's monumental work 'Les Ancetres du Violon,' &c. (Paris, 1901, vol. i. . 127), and the erudite work of Sandys and 'orster, 'The History of the Violin ' (London, 1864). At p. 44 of the latter occurs this passage :

' A gay young clergyman of the time of Ed- ward II., when he goes out

He putteth in his pawtener

A kerchief & a comb,

A skewer & a coyf

To bynd with his loks,

And ratyl in the rowbyble

And in non other boks Ne mos."

But the learned Sandys does not give a locus classicus for his quotation, which 1