Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/271

. viii. SEPT. 28, i9oi.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

263

by his widow, ante, p. 195, says, "A reference to the work now issued will save many superfluous applications to our columns."

H. J. B.

" BLACK MARIA." The above phrase has no doubt been threshed out in your columns before my ken. I mention it on reading a " yarn " in a newspaper that the expression arose from a stalwart negress, Maria Lee, of Boston, U.S., who was noted for her power of haling malefactors to the lock-up.

H. P. L.

[This suggestion was quoted 8 th S. iv. 272. Two other suggestions were made 6 th S. vii. 355.]

Quota,

WE must request correspondents desiring infor- mation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers maybe addressed to them direct.

FRUIT STONES STORED BY ANIMALS. Some damson stones, specimens of which I en- close, were found in a heap about twelve inches across on removing the wooden floor of an old summer-house. The damson trees were about forty feet away. The stones had been dropped by birds that had eaten the fruit, the ground having been often strewn with them. The stones were neatly piled sideways in rows, the hole on the top edge. With the stones was a good deal of fine dust, evidently caused by making the hole in the stones. There was no apparent entrance dis- covered to the heap. Could a field mouse have got a kernel from such a small hole, or could ants have carried these stones ? There are not many ants in this neighbourhood. ELEONORA TREVELYAN.

Cambo, Northumberland.

[The stones are eaten through with remarkable neatness and uniformity. We have no theory as to the origin of the phenomenon.]

HESKETH OF CHESHIRE. The parentage of Henry Hesketh, divine, chaplain to Charles II. and William III., is not given in the notice in the * Dictionary of National Bio- graphy.' Wood says he was "a Cheshire man born, descended from those (if I mistake not) of Rufford in Lancashire" ('Athense,' iv. 604). He was rector of Ashton-upon- Mersey in 1662-3, according to J. Foster ('Alumni Oxonienses'). Can any reader give his parentage, or suggest the probable manner of his descent from the Heskeths of Rufford, afterwards baronets ?

H. DRIT DRURY.

Blackheath, S.E.

EAST INDIA COMPANY'S FLAG. Can any one tell me why, in the eighteenth century, the number of stripes in the East India Company's flag had increased to just thirteen ? I asked a similar question 9 th S. vii. 468 ; but the letter ante, p. 209, does not give the required information. The question is interesting from the fact that the con- temporaneous predecessor of the present United States flag first hoisted at Cam- bridge, Mass., 1 January, 1776 (?), the origin of which, despite all plausible legends, is absolutely unknown was the same as the East India Company's, except that the canton bore the then British union instead of the cross of St. George. C. E. D A.

[Two long articles on the origin of the flag of the United States appeared 8 th S. xi. 441 and 9 th S. i. 469. See also 7 th S. vi. 185 (' An Interesting Manor'), 328, 494 ; 8 th S. vi. 124 ; 9 th S. vi. 247.]

"WAKE THE POWER," &c. The following lines were quoted by Lord Salisbury in a speech some years ago. Who is the author ?

Wake the power that 's in thee sleeping ; Thou wilt bless the task when reaping Sweet labour's prize.

M.

'THE QUEEN OF HEARTS.' Can you tell me what book or books will give me an account of the probable origin of the verses " The Queen of Hearts she made some tarts," &c. ? H. T.

SIR ISAAC PENNINGTON, LORD MAYOR OF LONDON, 1643. Was he the Alderman Pen- ningtpn who succeeded Sir Robert Harlowe as Lieutenant of the Tower of London, remaining in that office until after the execu- tion of King Charles I. ? A portrait of him by Vandyke is said to be in existence in the City. < Can any one say where it is, or tell anything about his descendants 1

F. DE H. LARPENT.

ROBIN HOOD LITERATURE. It would be a boon to me if ' N. & Q.' could supplement the annexed list of works on this hero of anti- quity. References required in any European

Hood ' (abridgment of Ritson, 1820) ; Ritson's ' Life ' ; Gutch's ' Lytell Geste' (1847, 2 vols.) ; Pierce Egan's romance (1896) ; Barry Pain's romance (1898); Hunter's pamphlet (1852); Stapleton's pamphlet (1898) ; Duraas's 'Prince des Voleurs' (1896, 2 vols.); 'Robin Hood' (1894, 2 vols.) ; and articles in ' N. & Q.,' from 7 th S. ii. 421 to iv. 329 passim. Replies will be welcomed direct. I am already indebted