Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 9.djvu/417

 S. IX. MAY 24, 1902.1 NOTES AND QUERIES.

409

tortoiseshell, and mother-o'-pearl, yet he does not remember a single example in which amber was used, not only in that, but in any other musica! instrument. It had been ingeniously suggested to him that the amber varnish used in the making oi the lute might here be meant, but I am afraid this would be taking Herrick too literally." It certainly does not seem likely thai Herrick would use an inappropriate word simply for the sake of a rime. Is it not possible that he may have come across an instance of rJAe/cr/ooi/ in some Greek poet as the material, wholly or in part, of a harp^ Liddell and Scott distinguish two meanings of the word, (1) amber, (2) "a metallic sub- stance compounded of four parts gold and one silver," referring for their authority to Pliny, 'N.H.,' xxxiii. 23, xxxvii. 2, 11. It seems highly probable that the rjXtK-rpov of Homer, which along with gold, silver, copper, and ivory we find adorning the walls of Menelaus's palace, was the second kind. Herrick may, perhaps, have met with some such use of the word, and, taking it in the old sense of " amber," have thus arrived at his phrase flutes of amber." Is there any instance of ^AcKrpoi/ as part of the material of a lute or harp? H. I. B.

AINSWORTH THE NOVELIST. I should be glad of any information respecting William Harrison Ainsworth. He wrote. I believe, forty-one novels (together with other works), commencing with * Sir John Chiverton,' 1826, and 'Rookwood,' 1834, and finishing with 'Stanley Brereton.' 1881. Has there been any complete collective edition of his novels, and by whom published ? After the period of Cruikshank, Franklin, Johannot, Phiz, and Sir John Gilbert, were his works illus- trated, and by what artists? Was his life ever published ? R. D.

[A new edition of Ainsworth's novels, the " Windsor," is being published by Messrs. Gibbins & Co., and will be finished by next September. In the 'D.N.B.' you will find details of him and of the scanty biographical memoirs available. He figures in many contemporary records, e.y., Mac- lise's ' Portrait Gallery,' FriswelPs ' Modern Men of Letters,' and Home's ' New Spirit of the Age.']

ARMORIAL BEARINGS OF RAILWAY COM- PANIES. Those of the Great Northern of Ire- land being Quarterly : 1, Dublin ; 2, London- derry; 4, Belfast, what town is 3 (a castle bearing a banner)? Those of the Great Southern and Western being Quarterly : 1 and 4, Dublin, what town is 2 and 3 (again a castle with banner) ? Those of the Midland Great Western being Quarterly:

1 and 4, Dublin ; 3, Longford, what town is

2 (Az., three horses' heads couped or, 2 and 1) ?

Those of the Donegal Railway being the shield of arms of Londonderry, beside a shield Ar., a pall between three mullets sa. (?), whose is the latter? In the armorial bear- ings of the Midland, what is the origin of the wy vern as crest and of the fish and sala- mander in flames of fire, displayed as it were as supporters on either side the shield ? Those of the London and South-Western, not as at present, but up to perhaps fifteen years ago, being Quarterly : 1, London ; 2, Winchester; 3, Portsmouth, what town is 4 (apparently identical with Hastings)? Those of the North London being quarterly, 3 is London ; but what are 1, an anchor charged with an escutcheon bearing a lion rampant ; 2, extremely like Birmingham ; 4, an arch- way, thereon a three-masted ship ? Are they arms of London boroughs ?

H. H. BRINDLEY.

PARISH REGISTERS : THEIR CARE AND

PROTECTION. (9 th S. ix. 168, 337.)

THE older portions of these " priceless " records are due entirely to the voluntary care of the clergy. A few cases of gross neglect do not prove general carelessness. They are rendered comparatively insig- nificant by the vast number of unnoticed cases of extreme care. Moreover, central authorities have been quite as guilty as indi- vidual clergy. The bishops' transcripts are in far worse condition than the original registers, and the early reports of the Deputy- Keeper of the Public Records tell a pitiful tale.

The agitators for the removal of parish registers to London forget that they are not national records ; they are the Church's own records of her own children and her own sacraments, and are strictly parochial. We may as well be asked to deposit our ancient chalices, and the like, in the British Museum. Such a removal would be a great hardship to the poor, who very often need certificates for which the clergy seldom make any charge, whereas the public registrar demands 3s. Id. The interests of mere genealogists, amateur _nd professional, which are almost wholly private, ought not to weigh against these things. W. C. B.

The whole question of the care and pro- tection of our priceless parish registers demands immediate and energetic action. Without doubt the great majority of the registers are most carefully kept and pre-