Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 9.djvu/156

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. ix. FEB. 22, 1902.

financial responsibilities in connexion with the estate of his father-in-law, then deceased. "Being subject," he complains, "to my father-in-law's debts, the widow's dowries, Winston's copyhold, the present heriots, and the continued clog of service issuing out of the lands, and harbouring and relieving of many of my father-in-law's children and kindred, I shall have as good a bargain as an egg for a penny" (op. cit., 272). Ho\v many eggs could then be purchased for a penny in the ordinary course 1 ? O. O. H.

WIDOW OF PROTECTOR DlJKE OF SOMERSET,

HANWORTH, MIDDLESEX. I find mention in a seventeenth-century MS. of the Protector's widow as having lived at Han worth, Middle- sex. Can any reader of ' N. & Q.' identify this place or house ? LOBUC.

[Hanworth is two miles south-west of Twicken- ham. The ' D.N.B.' states that the Duchess sub- sequently married Francis Newdigate, the Duke's steward, and died 16 April, 1587, being buried in Westminster Abbey.]

"THE MOSS-COVERED BUCKET." Some years ago I read a poem in which the writer stated his conviction that the world could not offer a more acceptable draught than that which he used to obtain at home "from the moss- covered bucket that hangs in the well." Can any reader furnish me with a copy of the words of this poem ? I believe it comes from an American source. JOHN T. PAGE.

West Hacldon, Northamptonshire.

IRISH NAMES IN MANUSCRIPT BOOK. This appears to be copied from another list, and made about a century ago. It contains over 2,000 entries, giving the name, abode, and date of admission ; there is also a column headed "Number," but not filled in. The dates of admission appear at irregular inter- vals and range from 1736 to 1791, whilst some one has marked as "dead " nearly 400 entries. Most of the names are those of people of standing, but various trades are represented, as well as several clergy and military men. In one case nine Shearmans, the sons of Robert Shearman, Esq., were admitted on the same day, and the same applies to other- families in a lesser degree. Several different counties are included ; but the list was pro- bably kept ^ in Dublin, " Dawson " and " George's " Streets being the only placos of abode in two cases. The names include \Vm. Beresford, Bishop of Ossory ; Lords Sudley, Mountgarret, and Mountmorris; several baronets or knights ; Peter Metge, a Baron of the Exchequer; and John, Duke of Rutland, admitted at the age of ten. I have been told the names are those of Protestants, probably

willing to render assistance in case of any rising among the Irish against the Govern- ment. Can any readers kindly enlighten me on this point 1 T. D. BUTTON.

17, Keyes Road, Cricklewood, N.W.

FRENCH NOVEL. Can any one tell me the title (possibly 'Les Inconsolables'), the author, and the publisher of a French novel (read by me not later than 1891) in which, at a woman's grave, her two husbands meet, and express a warm appreciation of her, and ? striking up a close friendship, resolve to live together, mourning her constantly ? They vie with each other as to the outward signs of bereavement, one of them using a pocket- handkerchief with a black border so deep that the white centre is "no larger than a postage stamp." Gradually a reaction sets in, and each one tries to hide from the other that he is growing cheerful and im- patient of the restrictions of "le deuil."

UNE ANGLAISE.

GORDON AS A RUSSIAN SURNAME Many Russian Jews bear the surname of Gordon. Is thore anything in the theory that it is a transposition of " Grodno," which is said to be an impossible combination of letters in Hebrew ] J. M. BULLOCH.

118, Tall Mall.

MOLYNEUX. I should be glad of informa- tion about a preacher named Molyneux, who was living in the middle of the last century. Can any one tell me if his memoirs have been published ? M. G. SELLON.

"BRISTOL LOOK." In the 'Life of Lord Houghton ' (Reid, vol. i. p. 57) the following passage from a letter is given : " It is really very hard that Boulogne should have so bad a name, I hardly dare mention it. Harvey gave me such a Bristol look when I said where I had been." Can some reader kindly describe a Bristol look 1

RICHARD LAWSON.

Urmston.

WIND FOLK - LORE. Can any reader of 'N. & Q.' furnish further examples of the following superstition? -'To-morrow is Equinox Day, when if the wind should return to north-east, north-east will it blow till June 21, as we all believe down here" ('Letters of Edward FitzGerald to Fanny Kemble,' 1871-83, No. xc.). I also find in Bye- Gones, vol. iii. p. 479, that if the wind is in the east on the eve of All Saints', i.e., 31 October, it will be the prevailing wind for the next three months, and the weather will be fair and open but the locality in which this superstition is held is not men-