Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/233

 9* s. vin. SEPT. u, 1901.) NOTES AND QUERIES.

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p. 315, vol. ii. of the 'Commoners of Greal Britain and Ireland,' 1834), Burke states thai John Tucker, Esq., of Sealyham, who married Mary, daughter of Jenkin Griffith, Esq., had in addition to a son and heir, " a younger son, ancestor of the Very Rev. Dean Tucker, of Gloucester, born at Laugharne, in Carmar- thenshire, and a daughter Margaret." Can any of your readers supply the names in the pedigree between this John Tucker and his descendant the dean, or inform me where a clear account of the latter's ancestry is to be found? C. D.

JOHN STURGEON, CHAMBERLAIN OF LONDON. Between what dates did he hold the Cham- berlainship ? I am inclined to think that he succeeded William Milbourne about 1532, and continued in office until about 1544. In Munday's 'Stow' Thomas Heyes is stated to have been Chamberlain in the latter part of the reign of Henry VIII. There are five wills enrolled in the Court of Husting of "John Sturgeon, haberdasher," the latest dated 22 January, 1568/9, and enrolled 2 March following, so that he must have died between those dates. He was buried in the church of St. Bennet, Gracechurch. Any information about him will be acceptable; also the succession of London Chamberlains in the sixteenth century. W. D. PINK.

THE PORTLAND VASE. Can any reader give the price of one of the plaster of Paris copies (of which sixty exist) of the celebrated Portland (or, as it used to be called, the " Barberini ") Vase 1 The copies were made by Mr. Tassie. SOCRATES.

['Chambers's Encyclopaedia' states that Wedg- wood made fifty copies in fine earthenware, which were sold at 25 guineas each. " One of these now fetches 200/."]

USES OF GRINDSTONES. Having begun the controversy concerning the word racing in connexion with grindstones (ante, p. 104), may I be permitted to ask for references to the peculiar uses to which grindstones are applied ? The Sheffield Independent of 23 May, 1878, gives a reference to a Sheffield church burial- ground that contains a grindstone for a gravestone, and also says, " Forty years ago a grindstone was commonly used for a stool, and some gardeners put it on the stump of a tree to form a table. Others race them to make a fountain with." Grindstones are frequently used for stepping-stones to cross a shallow millstream. H. J. B.

" GRIN THROUGH." On signing a letter to a contractor complaining of the quality of some painters' work, I noticed the expression,

" The priming coat grins through the paint of the sashes." I was assured by the writer that the expression was one which was perfectly understood by painters and was in common use. I do not remember to have seen the expression "to grin through" used in this sense before, arid shall be glad to hear whether it is in use elsewhere than in London. JOHN HEBB.

HORSE-RIBBON DAY. I remember seeing when I was a very young child Lincolnshire waggon - horses decorated with brightly coloured ribbon or braid while they were drawing their loads along the highway near my home. Were they thus ornamented at any particular season of the year? In Mrs. Gutch's 'Folk-lore of Yorkshire (North Riding, &c.),' p. 247, I find that stable-boys and draymen used to garnish their horses' heads with ribbons at May Day, hence the term "horse-ribbon day." Are horse-bells ever used in Lincolnshire and the neighbour- ing counties at the present time ? I recol- lect one winter's day some forty years ago meeting a team whose leader was wearing a miniature pole set perpendicularly on his head and hung with bells, which sounded merrily through the frosty air. G. W.

[Horses in London are decorated with ribbons annually on May Day.]

NEWCASTLE (STAFFS) FAMILIES. Can any of your readers oblige with information relative to the following ?

Bret, of Dimsdale, Keele, Newcastle, or any other portion of Staffordshire.

Lovatts, of Clayton, Penkhull, and New- castle.

Units and Unwins, of Audley, Clough Hall, and Newcastle.

Tunstalls, of Tunstall, Wolstanton, and Newcastle.

Sneyds, of Newcastle.

Smiths, Colliers, Colcloughs, Bagnals, Sab- sheds, Fen tons, Tofts, Astburys, Cottons, Har- risons, Telwrights, or Bournes, of Newcastle, &c. Anything may be useful. R. SIMMS.

Newcastle, Staffs.

[You will probably get some information by look- ng up our various indexes.]

BRISTOL AND GLASGOW. Some time ago I lappened to read a statement to the effect hat the city of Glasgow originally sprang
 * rom, or else very many years ago was in-

debted for its rise in commercial importance }O, certain merchants of Bristol, who settled n the locality of the former place, and thence engaged in trade with foreign parts. The paragraph further stated that the civic arms of the two cities were, from this circumstance