66 reference one of these examples is furnished by the proverb, which is there given in its entirety: As thrang as Throp's wife, when she hanged hersel' wi' the dishcloot. The saying is also quoted, as No. 14 of Sundry Northern Proverbs,' in The Denham Tracts,' vol. ii. p. 65 (Folk-Lore Society, xxxv., 1895). Dr. James Hardy, who edited these two folk-lore volumes, possessed a unique acquaintance with Northern traditions, and he passed this adage without annotation. We may thus conclude that its origin was unknown to him, and that the proverb continued current long after the incident giving rise to it had been forgotten. 66 R. OLIVER HESLOP. The English Dialect Dictionary' shows that the phrase as busy (or as throng) as Throp's wife" is, or was, in use from Northumberland to Derby and Lincolnshire. "Whoever she may have been, she is reported to have hung herself in her dishclout, care and anxiety having preyed too much on her mind," says the Cumberland Glossary,' by W. Dickinson and E. W. Prevost (1899). In Lincolnshire the expression is used to describe a woman who is for ever busying herself about domestic affairs, but whose house and surroundings are nevertheless always in a mess" (Edward Peacock, Glossary of Words used in the Wapentakes of Manley and Corringham, Lincolnshire,' 2nd ed., 1889). These and other quotations are given in the 'Dictionary. "Throp" is a variant of Thorp; and in one quotation from West Yorkshire a garter takes the place of the dishclout. L. R. M. STRACHAN. Heidelberg. 66 "As thrang as Throp's wife" is a saying regularly applied to a busy housewife. It is said of her: Shoo's hes thrang as Throp's wife when shoo clouted Dick wi' a dishclout." Who Dick was, other than Throp's wife's busband, does not appear to be known, but Dick had a terrible time of it at the hands of Throp's wife. THOS. RATCLIFFE. THE GUILD OF Knights (11 S. viii. 448).— Dr. Round writes:: "That ancient and remarkable institution, the English Cnihtengild of London, remains shrouded in mystery. It is known to us only through the gift of its soke to Holy Trinity Priory, and the consequent preservation. among that Priory's monuments [muniments, of charters confirming that soke, from Edward the Confessor downwards.' -Commune of London,' pp. 102-3. Dr. Round rejects Mr. Loftie's theory that the gild was the governing body of London, and thinks it not improbable that by 1125 it had become, "like a modern city company, a mere propertied survival." He also shows that the statement that the members of the gild themselves entered the priory is "absolutely erroneous" (ibid., pp. 103–4). G. H. WHITE. SIR GEORGE WRIGHT OF RICHMOND (11 S. viii. 348, 410, 452, 496.) The will of Sir George's father, who is described as Thomas Wright, Gent., of St. Michael's, Crooked Lane, London, Cobham, &c., was proved 1592 (Harrington, 57). He desires to be buried in Cobham Church "in or near the place where my father's body lieth," and mentions wife Esther; sons George, Thomas, Philip, Jacob, Edmund, John, Peter, Abraham, Simon; daughters Esther and Rebecca; brother George Wright; 'my mother"; sisters Wright, Waynson, Browne, Smith, and Bridget Jackson. 66 The will of his brother George, which was proved 1596 (Drake, 2), describes him as George Wright, Gent., of Cobham, Shorne, and Chalk, Kent. He mentions therein Margaret my wife"; nephew George Wright; brother Thomas, deceased, and all his children, sons and daughters; George the eldest, "Symon" the second, and Abraham the youngest. Their names correspond with those in the will of his brother Thomas above. The following references to wills show that the family were at Cobham for some generations : : Thomas Wright, 1471, Consistory Court of Rochester, iv. 88. Nicholas, 1479, proved 1508, vi. 203. George Wright the elder, 1555, xii. (1) 156. "To be buried in the church before the font." They are all described as of Cobham. I imagine the description in Foster, "Thomas of Debham, Kent," should be Thomas of Cobham. I fail to find any place named Debham in Kent or elsewhere. 66 The will of Sir George Wright's brother Peter is dated 24 June, 1636. He describes himself as being of the parish of St. Katharine Coleman, and mentions his wife Avis, sons Peter and John under 21, and daughter Avis, also a minor; and his nephew Nicholas, son of my brother Thomas, deceased," Elizabeth, his niece and Sir George's as being both fatherless and motherless. daughter, evidently lived to the time of her death (April, 1634) with this Peter Wright. Her sister Mary, of the parish of St.. Giles-in-the-Fields, spinster, mentions in her will, 16 June, 1654, Charles, the son of her brother Thomas, and the children of her brother Robert. She wishes to be buried in the middle aisle of St. Giles's Church, near to the place "as where my brother John lieth." She mentions 4,500l. being due to the children of Sir George Wright her father from King James, and as confirmed by King Charles. In none of these wills is there anything to show the relationship between Sir Robert and Sir George Wright. They were certainly not brothers, as stated by Mr. Chancellor. In all probability Sir Robert was the son of Peter Wright of St. Michael's, Crooked Lane, whose will (merely a memorandum), proved 1607, is as follows: "I give unto Robert Wright my son, for he is my heir, and he to use his brothers and sisters well." This Peter was most likely a brother of George, the uncle, and Thomas Wright of Cobham and St. Michael's, Crooked Lane, the father, of Sir George Wright of Richmond. I have not seen the earlier wills referred to. A. STEPHENS DYER. 207, Kingston Road, Teddington. FIRE AND NEW-BIRTH (11 S. viii. 325, 376, 418, 454).—One of the common causes of this apparent anomaly is the presence of seeds lying dormant for long periods in the soil. Gardeners in this locality are careful not to burn their weeds and rubbish on garden-beds because of the resulting crop of new weeds from the fire-bed. They have a folk-saying, "One year's seeds bring three years' weeds." The germ of life within some of these tiny seed-atoms remains alive for surprising periods, as witness the wheat recovered some time ago from an Egyptian tomb thousands of years old, which germinated upon exposure to light and moisture. Another cause is thought to be bacterial activity promoted by fire. Burning is believed by scientific gardeners to kill great quantities of harmful bacteria which prey on the nitrifying bacteria-i.e., those which work on the nitrogenous elements, converting those elements into nitrates. WILLIAM Jaggard. Appearing not to have been noticed in London before, it seems then to have become more abundant there than in all Europe elsewhere. A smaller fire in Oxford in 1834 is said to have been followed by this plant. Strangely, no mention has yet been made of Sisymbrium Irio, London rocket, so 66 'MARRIAGE" AS SURNAME (11 S. viii. called because it sprang up after the fire 287, 336, 378, 457).-As several correspond-of 1666 ( Ency. Brit.,' 11th ed., vii. 522A). ents have already suggested, the best-known English family of this name is the substantial Quaker one which has been settled for at least two and a half centuries in Essex. The ancestors of this family were Francis and Mary Marriage of Stebbing, who, as they registered the birth of a child born in 1657, must have been among the earliest followers of George Fox in the county. I believe the family claim an earlier Huguenot origin, from a refugee who spelt the name Mariage. PERCEVAL LUCAS. 28, Orchard Street, W. ENGLISH AS SPOKEN IN DUBLIN (11 S. viii. 467).—The proverb quoted by MR. A. L. MAYHEW is not uncommon amongst Irish people. It is meant to describe, epigrammatically, the sordid struggle undergone, day by day, by the poor. It is especially employed as a warning against early or improvident marriages. HERBERT B. CLAYTON. 39, Renfrew Road, Lower Kennington Lane. CROSS-LEGGED EFFIGIES (11 S. viii. 446). -I have long thought that the cross-legged position is due solely to the artistic sense of the sculptors. The effigies look infinitely better so than with the legs stretched straight J. T. F. out. Durham. 66 Being no botanist, I have made no note of the many other growths following burning over the soil, except in two Australian instances, remembered for extraneous reasons, viz.: (1) Acacias, known as 'wattles," have a hard seed-coat which is softened by some obscure effect of fire, allowing seed to germinate; the wattle-wood has a smell like raspberries, which, too, often grow on burnt lands, as suggested at p. 376. (2) Telopea speciosissima, "waratah," or native tulip, which frequently shows, rising out of the charcoal, great fire-like heads, 6 ft. or more above ground. This plant is ordinarily very hard to grow (Cyclo. Amer. Horticulture,' vi. 1780). Firing the bush, localized by the original note, seems to be an old African custom. The Periplus of Hanno,' of about 500 B.C., in sections 14-16, mentions this on the West Coast, and it is explained on p. 11 of notes in Schoff's recent edition. ROCKINGHAM. Boston, Mass. [For mummy wheat see 9 S. i. 248; iv. 274; viii. 82, 170.] The I did not try further to trace the Morgans, but I ascertained that Dr. Morgan, son of James Morgan, married, 10 Oct., 1771, Mary He was Prebendary of Anne Thoyts. Gloucester and Rector of Llantrissant, as well as Vicar of Mortimer. Probably these were family livings. E. E. COPE. Finchamstead Place, Berks. DUNSTABLE LARKS (11 S. viii. 469, 515). the Parry family were all buried. -The neighbourhood of Dunstable has Mortimer estate came to him with his wife. long been celebrated for its skylarks. He was of an old Carnarvonshire family, They breed on and near the hills in vast and inherited the Welsh property from his numbers, and professional "larkers" catch maternal uncle, Erasmus Lewis of Aberthem in nets of a large size, sometimes corthey. carried by two men. In the season the larkers start work at seven o'clock in the evening, and return at one or two o'clock in the morning. They can catch from 300 to 400 larks in one night. They send the larks to London some alive in small cages, others dead for the poultry shops. There is practically no call for them now in Dunstable, although the demand is said to have been great at the hotels and inns in coaching days. If the London demand could be made to cease, the Downs at Dunstable would not be defaced by lark-catching vagrants. It is locally reported that about 50,000 Dunstable larks are sent to London annually. See Dunstable: its History and Surroundings,' by Worthington G. Smith, F.L.S., 1904. A. H. W. FYNMORE. "Dunstable larks appears in the late Vincent Stuckey Lean's Collections,' 1902, i. 36. The reference is "F.W.," meaning Fuller, Worthies.' In this book, in the chapter on 'Bedfordshire,' is a paragraph on Larks':— "The most and best of these are caught and well dressed about Dunstable in this shire. A harmless bird whilst living, not trespassing on grain; and wholesome when dead, then filling the stomach with meat, as formerly the ear with music. In the winter they fly in flocks, probably the reason why Alauda signifieth in Latin both a lark and a legion of soldiers, &c."-Thomas Fuller's History of the Worthies of England,' a New Edition, Notes by P. Austin Nuttall, 1840, i. 165. Evidently Dunstable larks were famous before Swift's time. Perhaps when he made Gulliver compare the flies of Brobdingnag with Dunstable larks he was thinking, not only of their size, but also of how they "fly in flocks." ROBERT PIERPOINT. WORDS AND PHRASES IN LORNA DOONE (11 S. viii. 427, 524).—Our attention has been called to the query at the former reference, in which we were much interested by reason of our having asked MR. W. A. WARREN, a well-known educationist of Huddersfield, to compile for us an abridged, annotated edition of 'Lorna Doone We sent on to MR. higher standard Reader. WARREN a marked copy of your valuable paper, and he replies as follows: for schools, as a I can make out a few of the queries. No doubt with a little time one could get at the rest :4. "John the Baptist, and his cousins," &c.-No, not a charm. Herbs, no doubt-probably "St. John's worts." There are a number of St. John's worts, all esteemed good herbal remedies. 5. 6. 7. "Wool and hyssop." Wool fronts. "Mum " = = blankets or preen their downy to chew; hence chewing "Playing at...shepherd's chess." The old village and the farmhouse game of "fox and geese." The saplings grow from the stumps; the weaker saplings are cut off, and one left. The young saplings or shoots are "stools," and they are often "stooled" too close together on the stump. SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & Co., Ltd. (11 S. viii. 487).--In answer to K. H.—I expect the story of Herne the Hunter in Harrison Ainsworth's novel of Windsor Castle' is an English version of the German story of the Wild Huntsman. A. GWYTHER. JAMES MORGAN (11 S. viii. 389, 471). I can add a little to G. R. B.'s information. James Morgan had a son, Dr. Morgan, who had three sons and a daughter, none of whom married. The last survivor left POLYGLOT RUBÁIYAT' (11 S. viii. 469). money to my father, Major Thoyts of Sul--Dole's Variorum Edition, 2 vols. (Boston, hamstead, and other members of that family, Joseph Knight Co., 1896), or Dole's Multiand left his property at Mortimer to a dis- Variorum Edition, 2 vols. (Boston, L. C. Page tant relative of the name of Morgan, who & Co., 1898), are probably the volumes to sold it in the eighties. James Morgan which MR. E. F. MCPIKE refers. A. G. POTTER. married at Mortimer, 14 April, 1737, where KHOJA HUSSEIN (11 S. viii. 232, 278).— I have seen the article in the September number of The Cornhill Magazine and the chapter in Matthew Arnold's Essays in Criticism,' First Series, without being able to find out how Khoja Hussein defrauded his brother of a large part of his inheritance. May the story claim a few lines in N. & Q.'? I know nothing of Hussein which may not be set to his credit. PUNCTUATION SIGNS (11 S. viii. 409).Your correspondent might do worse than consult chap. i. of Mr. William Day's Punctuation reduced to a System' (London, Harrison, 59, Pall Mall), though I fear that it may be out of print. ST. SWITHIN. ADMIRAL SIR THOMAS HOPSON, 1643-1717 (11 S. viii. 443).-The Hopson, or Hobson, family was one of the leading families in the Isle of Wight for a century or more subsequent to the reign of Henry VIII. At the Dissolution Ningwood was granted, with other Church lands, to Thomas Hobson in exchange for the Manor of Marylebone, co. Middlesex. Prior to their residence at Marylebone the Hobsons were at Scredington, in Lincolnshire. A pedigree of Hobson of Scredington is given in 'Lincolnshire Pedigrees (Harl. Soc., p. 497); and the descent of the Hobsons of Ningwood appears in Berry's Hants Genealogies,' p. 269. In 1627 John Hobson of Ningwood was appointed to have the charge and leading of the company of Ningwood as their captain." This Capt. Hobson married in 1641, as his second wife, Lady Margaret Ley, daughter of the first Earl of Marlborough. They were friends of the poet Milton, who is said to have frequently visited them, and who addressed one of his sonnets to Lady Margaret. Sir Thomas Hopson was a nephew of Capt. John Hobson. On 1 June, 1680, "Captaine Thomas Hopsonn" was married at Brading, Isle of Wight, to " Mrs. Elizabeth Timbrell. She was a daughter of John Timbrell of Portsmouth (by his wife Ann, daughter of Benett of Fareham), and granddaughter of Alderman John Timbrell, Master Blacksmith and Anchor Smith of Portsmouth Dockyard, who served the office of Mayor of Portsmouth in the years 1650 and 1661. Lady Hopson was baptized at St. Thomas's Church, Portsmouth, on 27 June, 1660; and three of her children were baptized at the same church, viz., Anne, 24 Oct.. 1681; Mary, 30 Dec., 1682; and Charles, 22 April, 1688. Anne Timbrell (born 1657), elder sister of Lady Hopson, was married to Capt. Charles Skelton at Brading, on 5 May, 1679. Four of their children were baptized at Portsmouth Church : Anne, 16 May, 1681; Brigid (sic), 26 June, 1682; Bevill, 7 April, 1684; and Herbert, 30 Nov., 1685. Capt. Skelton was a naval officer. In September, 1690, being then in command of the Coronation, under Admiral Russell, he was returning to Plymouth, and was overtaken by a violent storm, in which his vessel was capsized and he was drowned with about 300 of his men. Sarah Timbrell (born 1669), a younger sister of Lady Hopson, was married at Portsmouth Church on 9 Jan., 1692, to Capt. William Watkins. He was afterwards Brigadier-General, and one of the executors named in the will of Sir Thomas Hopson; he died in 1731. Mary Timbrell (born 1667), another sister of Lady Hopson, was the second wife of Richard Bramble of Portsmouth. They were married at St. Michael's Church, Winchester, on 25 Oct., 1698; he died in 1701. ALFRED T. EVERITT. He In 1550 the estate of Cottesbrooke belonged to William Lane, Esq., a younger brother of Sir Ralph Lane of Horton. died in 1570, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Peter, who was a "Lunatick," and died without issue in 1584, when the estate passed to his two sisters. They were Maud, wife of John Bedle, Esq., afterwards Sir John Bedle of Hamerton, in Hunts; and Isabella, wife of John Read, Esq. These two ladies were each possessed of a moiety of the manor and lordship. John Read died in 1605, and was buried at Cottesbrooke, where he has a monument. His moiety then passed to his seven daughters, and was purchased from the survivors of them in 1607 by Sir William Saunders, who in 1614 sold it to Sir John Carey, afterwards Baron Hunsdon and Earl of Dover, "who in the 13 Charles I. conveyed it for the sum of 18,000l. to John Langham, Esq., Alderman of London." In the same year, 1638, Sir Capel Bedle, who possessed the other moiety, sold it to Martin Hervey, Esq., "of whom it was purchased by Mr. Alderman Langham in fee for 17,000l. in the 17th year of Charles I. [1642]." From this it is seen that Sir John Langham paid 35,000l. for the whole estate. MR. HUMPHREYS has made a mistake in thinking that Langham Place belonged to Sir James Langham, 2nd Bart., son of Sir John, as it was only purchased in 1812 by Sir James Langham, 10th Bart., who built his town house on the site now occupied by the Langham Hotel. Also, if he refers to Bishop Burnet, I think he will find that it was not Sir John Langham, but his son Sir James, "who was famed for his readiness in speaking florid Latin." This accomplishment is also mentioned by Luttrell in his Diary,' viz., Sir James Langham, eminently known for his being well versed in the Latin Tongue, died much lamented at his house in Lincoln's Inn Fields," 1699. 66 BISHOP RICHARD OF BURY'S LIBRARY (11 S. viii. 341, 397, 435).-One final word as to the wanderings of the MS. of the 'Registrum Palatinum Dunelmense.' We now know from DR. MACRAY that it was restored to Durham from the Bodleian by decree of Convocation on 15 Nov., 1810. Was this the date of its actual transference? MR. F. MADAN ascribed this (at the first reference) to the year 1820. There can hardly have been a delay of ten years in executing the decree. Then, as to the when and wherefore of the second journey of this With reference to Lady Elizabeth Lang-MS., MR. H. D. HUGHES wrote on 6 Dec. :ham's funeral sermon, which MR. HUMPHREYS says was preached and published by Simon Ford, I should like to say that I found it printed in a book called "You may be interested to know the further particulars as to the removal of the R.P.D. from Durham. It was removed to the Public Record Office from the Exchequer Buildings, Durham (where the Episcopal Registers, &c., are kept), as "The Lives of Sundry Eminent Persons of the being one of the Cursitor's Records of the Pal Later Age. In two parts: (1) Of Divines; (2) Oftinate of Durham, by warrant of the Master of the Nobility and Gentry of both Sexes. By Sam: Clarke, sometime Pastor of Bennet Fink, London. Printed and Revised by himself just before his death, &c. 1683." "This, however, may not be the same sermon as the one MR. HUMPHREYS alludes to. Mine is entitled The Life and Death of the Right Honble. the Lady Elizabeth Langham, who died Anno Christi 1664.' The funeral sermon of Mary, Lady Langham, first wife of Sir James, 2nd Bart., was written by Dr. Edward Reynolds, Rector of Braunston, Northamptonshire, and afterwards Bishop of Norwich. Her picture was engraved by Faithorne, and an account of her will be found in Granger's Catalogue of Engraved British Heads, vol. iv. p. 179. CHARLES LANGHAM, Bt. Tempo Manor, co. Fermanagh. I notice that it is stated that Sir James Bunce married Mary, daughter of Thomas Gypps, or Gibbs, of London; but Hasted's Kent,' vol. iii. p. 45, states that it was Sarah, daughter of Thomas Gipps, Esq. Sarah's brother, Roger Gipps, married Helen, daughter of Sir William Brockman and his wife Anne, daughter and heiress of Simon Bunce. Sir James Bunce's son James married Dorothy, daughter of Sir William Hugessen by Margery, another daughter of Sir W. Brockman. Rolls, at some time between the dates 17 Nov., 1868, and 26 Feb., 1869." With regard to DR. MACRAY's question :"Is it [the portion of Bury's Register for 1338-42 to be found in that volume [Bishop Kellawe's Register for 1311-16] still?" I can only quote MR. MADAN's latest words (22 Nov.): Durham, and are not responsible for its later "We parted with our Kellawe Register to history." "Habent sua fata libelli!" J. B. McGOVERN. St. Stephen's Rectory, C.-on-M., Manchester. WALTER DE MUNDY, KNT., A.D. 1300 (11 S. viii. 129).--A friend has examined this part of the roll (Close Roll, 28 Edward I., membrane 11d) with a magnifying glass. What was supposed to be "Mundy is really Muncy, and denotes the same person whose name appears on p. 384 of the Calendar. The error arose from the y being so written that part of it causes the c to look like a d. There were people named Mundi living at On 22 Feb., 1239, this time in Norfolk. Richard Mundi, son of Henry, son of Edwyn of Deepdale, came before Ranulph, Abbot of Ramsey, in his Court at Brancaster (Norfolk), and acknowledged that the land which he held in Deepdale was servile and |