The enclosed extract from a book entitled Notitia Anglicana, published in London A.D. 1724, appears to me to possess considerable interest; as, if the story which it relates be true, a claim of antiquity is made out in favour of the coat of Cecil far exceeding in date any ascertained instance of the assumption of armorial bearings, and indeed controverting the opinions expressed by Mr. Planche and other of our eminent writers on blazonry. Hoping for an explanation through the good offices of some correspondent of yours, I copy it verbatim from p. 47. of the work in ques

tion:

"The paternal coat of the Cecils appears to be very antient, by a Letter Testimonial under the Hand and Seal of the King of Arms, bearing date the fourth of April, in the fifth Year of King Edward the Third, exhibited to Edward de Beaulil and John de Mowbray, Commissioners appointed by the said King, to determine a Controversy between Sir John Sitsill, Knt., and William de Fakenham, concerning their pretended right to bear the said Coat, which happened at the Siege of Berwick in the said Year, in the Field of Mount Helikon, now called Hallydown Hill, near the said town. It seems they both claimed it by Descent, and were so earnest in that their Claim as to desire a Decision of their Title by the Sword; but the King (as well to avoid shedding noble Blood, and deal Justice between the Claimants) appointed the said Commissioners to determine the Affair, who finding the said Sir John Sitsill by the said Instru.ment to descend lineally from James Sitsill, Esq., Lord of Halterness and Beauport, and that the said James did Advance the said arms in Ensign at the Siege of Wallingford Castle in the seventh Year of King Stephen, wherein he was slain; it was thereupon decreed by publick Judgement, that the said William de Fakenham, or Feckenham, should not challenge the said Arms, under the Penalty of forfeiting his sharp Sword and gilt Spurs for ever."

This would fix the date of the Cecil arms at the year 1142; but they do not present the appearance of simplicity peculiar to the early coats; and yet Edward III.'s commissioners had surely a better opportunity of judging than heralds of the present day.

It is noteworthy that the book I have quoted, under the title "Exeter," says, the "Earl bears the same as the Earl of Salisbury, without the difference, being Chief of the Name, though youngest

peer;" and accordingly the arms of the Earl of Salisbury are charged with a crescent. In modern peerages this is reversed, and the Marquis of Exeter's coat is differenced. W. K. RILAND BEDFORD.

LIES AND TRUTH.

Can any of your readers point out to me in any collection of ancient or modern fables, the substance of the following, which I transcribe from Mr. Davies' recently published translation of Babrius? "Lies and Truth.

"A haughty troop unto a village hies,

A muster strong of over-ruling Lies.
Of broidered purple were the robes they wore:
Each of their steeds its golden cheek-piece bore.
Behind, a throng audacious followed quick,
Deceit and Guile, and every knavish Trick.
And lo! they met a maiden on their road,
Her dress and fashion of a simple mode;

Nay, somewhat poor: yet stately was her mien,
And long unfed, poor sufferer, had she been.
Her did these Lies accost, and sought to know
Whither, and on what errand she would go.
She answered: 'Pardon, sirs, if no reply
Comes from a throat with thirst and hunger dry.'
So then the Lies thus answered her again:
To yon near village follow in our train;
'Tis but a small one, yet 'tis well supplied;
Well-victualled hostels will good cheer provide:
Come as our guest, and you shall eat your fill.'
She followed them, deject and downcast still,
Into the inn: but ne'er a word she said.
Mine host on their arrival quickly spread
For them a table filled with various meats,
Whence each one, as he lists, his fancy treats.
This done, they bridled steeds, and cried to horse;"
When for his reckoning asks the host, of course.
On this the Lies were wroth at his demand,
Which they nor paid, nor yet would understand.
The brood of impudence in vain he sues:
They answered straight 'that he has had his dues:
That they have paid, like gentlemen, the cost.'
To press each for his share was labour lost:
And much less could he force the banded throng:
Against a troop was ever one man strong?
Upon the door-step stayed the fellow-guest,
Without a word, but still with look deprest.
The landlord now despaired to see his own,

And Truth, where art thou?' cried in heightened tone,
She answered: 'Here, good sir: but what to do
I knew not: till I met yon reckless crew,
My want of food was wholly unsupplied;
Aye, and without them, I had long since died.'"

J. C.

ANGEL HALFPENCE. · - Will some one kindly refer me to an explanation of the above source of churchwardens' revenue in early times? It occurs thus in some parish accounts for 1524:"Mem. Ther ys remayng of angell halpens and other ayll money vj' viijd.”

I have searched in vain through all my books of reference. J. EASTWOOD.

BOMB.-Can any of your readers furnish information upon the first use of the iron ball named a bomb?

The work entitled English Military Discipline, 8vo. Lond. 1680, p. 88., says the bomb was not used in France before the year 1635, at the siege of Dole. Wraxall points out an earlier use of the bomb: he says it is described by Cayet, as thrown into Nimeguen by Maurice, Prince of Orange, in FUSEE. CHEQUERS. The fruit of the service, or sorbapple tree, are so called, not only popularly, but by John Evelyn in the Sylva (sub voce). Whence is the word derived ? A. A. Poets' Corner.

1590.

THE LATE RT. HON. WILLIAM ELLIOT, OF WELLS, M.P. FOR PETERBOROUGH. - This gentleman, who was Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1807, was a leading politician, it is believed, during the greater part of his life. He was a frequent speaker in the House, and his opinions were much respected. The first Lord Minto, to whom he was related, and who became Governor-General of India, kept up a great intimacy with him. He died in 1818, having bequeathed his estate to Sir William Francis Eliott, the present possessor, was his distant relative. Can any of your or, who point out where any of the speeches or pamphlets, which he is believed to have published, can now be found?

CAN.

T.

FREEBAIRNE'S TRANSCRIPTS FROM THE VATIThomas Hearne states in his Diary (July 28, 1723), that Mr. Freebairne, a Scottish printer, who had resided long at Rome with the exiled royal family, "had the use of the Vatican Library as he pleased, and transcrib'd a great many excellent papers from thence relating to the English Reformation, not taken notice of by our public writers." Is it known what has become of these papers? It is possible that a notice in "N. & Q." may bring them to light. K. P. D. E. MR. S. GRAY.-Can any of your readers give me any information regarding Mr. S. Gray, author of a book called The Messiah, published about 1842? Mr. Gray was, I believe, a native of Scotland, and was at one time in the War Office. Is the author still living? X. Y.

HANDLEY AND PICKERING.-In a MS. heraldic painter's book, I found the following coat, &c., inscribed, Handley and Pickering at Barns. March, 1738. Crest, a hand holding a bunch of

quills, ppr. Motto, Equity. Arms: Gules, a

bend or between six mascles of the second impaling, ermine a lion rampant azure, crowned or."

Can any of your correspondents assist me in iden

tifying the possessor of this coat? The arms attributed to Handley are totally unlike any given in Burke's Armory. C. J. ROBINSON.

Can

NEVISON, THE HIGHWAYMAN. your correspondent EBORACENSIS inform me where I can meet with a copy of one of the provincial ballads of "Nevison's famous ride to York," mentioned in "N. & Q.," 2nd S. ix. 433. A ballad on his capture is given in the Ballads and Songs of Yorkshire, beginning

"Did you ever hear tell of that hero,
Bold Nevison, that was his name?
He rode about like a bold hero,
And with that he gained great fame."
C. J. D. INGLEDEW.

"John Norden's Abstract of the General Survey of the Soke of Lindsey in the County of Lincoln, with all the Mannors, Townships, Lands, and Tenements, within or belonging to the same: being a Parcel of the Dutchy of Cornwall, 1616, fol."

a

If it be in private hands, the owner will confer great favour if he will communicate with me. EDWARD PEACOCK. Bottesford Manor, Brigg.

JOHANNES PERCY.-Was Johannes Percy, who was a burgess in parliament for the town of Grimsby in the 36 Edward III. and other succeeding years, a member of the noble House of Northumberland? GRIME.

"PROTESTANT MAGAZINE.". Can any of the readers of "N. & Q." state how many volumes "The Protestant Magazine, or Christian Treasury, designed to encourage a perfect Knowledge of the Protestant Religion, by several eminent Divines of different Denominations, assisted by many private Gentlemen, 8vo., London, printed by R. Denham, Primrose Hill, Salisbury Square, 1781," &c. reached, and who was the editor?

works, for the same. Can any of your readers inform me in what part of Holborn this Richmond House stood? Y. S.

SEVERE WINTERS. The records of these are of value both to the natural philosopher and the historian, but the accounts we ordinarily have do not appear to be practically satisfactory. Some take the average range of the thermometer, but this is no index of what is commonly called a hard winter. We may get cold drizzly weather early in autumn, which will continue till April; and yet we may have no frost at all. Nevertheless, with a low average for five months, it may be registered as a cold year. On the other hand, the minimum of the thermometer is also no guide. We may have warm weather up to Christmas, then an unusually sharp frost for a week or ten days, which may break up at once, and leave us comparatively warm weather till spring. In other words, a low minimum with a high average. It strikes me that a very good practical index would be a record of how many days in a year there is ice enough to allow of skating. I should think there must be some persons, connected with the different skating clubs about London, who have noted the number of days in each year the ice was practicable: if so, I think it would be a very desirable thing if they would kindly send the results to "N. & Q." A. A.

Poets' Corner.

WELCH WHITSUNTIDE. In a little work of great rarity, the Autobiography of Arise Evans, 1653, p. 6., he records that in 1611, he being "about fourteene yeares of age, "hearing some say that whatsoever one did aske of God upon Whitsunday morning at the instant when the sun arose and plaid, God would grant it him. Having a charitable beliefe of the report, being willing to try all the wayes possible to obtaine my petition, I arose betimes on Whitsunday morning, and went up a hill at a place called Gole Ronnw to see the sun arise; and seeing the sun at its rising, Skip, Play, Dance, and turne about like a wheele, I fell downe upon my Knees, lifting up mine Eyes, Hands, and Heart unto God: I cried, saying, O Lord most high, that hast made all things for my glory, give me Grace, Wisdome, and Understanding, that I may glorifie thee, as this instrument doth now before all the World."

Evans does not say that this prayer was answered, but intimates as much when he states (p. 7.), "God hath a purpose to make me like his Sonne in opening the mysteries of Scriptures." He, like Naylor, considered himself to be Jesus Christ, and was hunted by an enraged mob from Spital Square till he found refuge in Bishopsgate

Church.

Have any of your readers met with such a custom, or saying, about Whitsunday? What can be the meaning of the sun skipping, playing, dancing, and wheeling ?

GEORGE OFFOR.

"Much fear'd and much flatter'd by people of note, With cash in his pockets for turning his coat, Surly J- -n, as Crispin the Second, comes pat in, Talking Latin in English and English in Latin. Successor of S- -e, but missing the wood, Where, pamper'd by B- -e, his prototype stood; Though with him neither M- nor C could cope, Dr. H- came up boldly with towel and soap; He started, he trembled, he made for the door; He had seen, but not taken, such physic before." "Why Crispin the Second ?" and who was Crispin the First? I shall be glad if any of your correspondents can tell me, and also if they can fill up the other blanks.

H.

[Not being able to get a sight of the pamphlet in question, we will not hazard a conjecture as to the immediate occasion of the satire on the "surly" Doctor. The principal allusion, however, in the above lines is to Johnson's well-known objection to teaching by lectures. "I know nothing," said he, "that can be best taught by lectures, except where experiments are to be shown. You may teach chymistry by lectures: you might teach making of shoes by lectures." We presume his friend Richard Savage, the poet, who narrowly escaped the gallows, is only here associated with him because he had been originally apprenticed to a shoemaker. Of the other included names we are able only to recognise B—e (Burke) and Dr. H- (Dr. John Hall). The masque. rade, of which amusement, by the way, Johnson entertained the lowest opinion,-appears to have been held at Carlisle House, Soho Square, the residence of Mrs. Teresa Cornelys, "the Heidegger of the age," who, from 1768 to 1772, gave a series of balls, concerts, and masquerades unparalleled in the annals of public fashion.]

BLEMUNDE'S DICHE.-This is said to have been the name of a large fosse somewhere between the parishes of St. Giles in the Fields and St. George, Bloomsbury. Can anyone throw light upon this point of metropolitan topography?

C.

"FLIM-FLAMS," ETC. - Flim-Flams! or, the Life and Errors of my Uncle, and the Amours of my Aunt. Murray, 1805, 3 vols. Was this performance (a kind of novel, satirising many literary characters) really the production of the elder D'Israeli, to whom it is attributed? The style and manner of it are so extremely different from those of the Curiosities of Literature, and other acknowledged works. of D'Israeli, that it seems hardly possible to believe that it proceeded from the same hand. The present Mr. D'Israeli, in his Memoir of his father, prefixed to Routledge's edition of his Works, makes no allusion to FlimFlams. May the novel have been a joint production of Isaac D'Israeli and some other person or persons? LESBY.

["The Rabelaisian romance of Flim-Flams and the novel of Vaurien, written in all the lurid blaze of French conventions and corresponding societies, have both, we believe, with authority, been attributed to Mr. D'Israeli."-The Times biographical sketch of Mr. Isaac D'Israeli, Jan. 21, 1818. Both editions of Flim-Flams are also attributed to Mr. Isaac D'Israeli in the Catalogue of the British Museum.]

tion, which MR. GARDINER appeared to have cast on me. That imputation, however, he has at once most handsomely disavowed; and, for the rest, as our respective statements and conclusions are before the world, I think I may very safely leave the readers of "N & Q." to compare our arguments, and form their own judgment between

us.

To one only point in the reply will I venture to direct their attention, and this more particularly because the passages connected with it may not otherwise be within their reach. Referring to a remark of mine ("N. & Q."x. 353, 354.), MR. GARDINER says:

"It is not the case that Parry was invested with power to treat with the Nuncio in any manner,' nor that the instructions about negotiating through a third person were only given privately' to Parry. 'Illo' (Dodd, App. lxviii.) plainly refers to homine, not to Nuncii."" (N. & Q.". 414.)

Now, in the first place, as we shall see presently, the words, by which Parry's power to treat is accompanied, are -"quotiescumque utrique vestrum, et quoquo modo videbitur." Surely, this can only mean that he was to treat, as I have expressed it, "at any time, and in any manner, he might choose."

Secondly, the words " quoquo modo are in the Latin letter, which was to be shown to the Nuncio : but, in the letter of private instructions sent at the same time to Parry, we find the following passage:

"Now, Sir, for the conduct of your correspondency with the Pope's Nuncio, as it doth not appear that you have yet in person met him, so the King doth hold it very convenient that you should no ways give any such scandal, as such a meeting would breed. You must therefore choose some third person, by whom you may, at all times, impart your minds one to another." (Cecil to Parry, France, Nov. 6, 1603.)

Finally, if MR. GARDINER will reperuse the passage, to which he alludes in my Dodd, he will, I am sure, perceive, in common with every one conversant with the Latin language, that the word "illo" refers, and can only refer, to the Nuncio. The Pope had suggested the appointment, on the part of James, of an agent to confer with the Nuncio, on any matters that might arise between the two Courts. James, in his letter, professes to adopt the proposal. He has, he says, the greatest confidence in the character of the Nuncio: and therefore, he adds, addressing Parry, I reply at once to the suggestion, and give to you yourself (tibi ipsi) full power to communicate with him on our common affairs. I subjoin the passage:

"Deniquè quod propositum est de homine quodam constituendo, qui cum ipso Nuncio (ut occasio postulabit) consilia conferat, facit quidem illa opinio, quam de fide et integritate ipsius Nuncii concepimus, ut facilè assentiamur, impromptuque responsio sit; ob eamque causam tibi ipsi mandamus atque authoritatem concedimus, ut,

omnibus temporibus (quotiescumque utrique vestrum, et quoquo modo videbitur), cum illo de rebus nostris communices." (Dodd, iv. Append. lxviii.) M. A. TIERNEY.

Arundel.

FISHER (NOT FICHER): A COMMONWEALTH POET.

(2nd S. x. 487.)

His name was Payne Fisher, not Ficher (Paganus Piscator, he sometimes used to style himself), nor can he be very well termed a Commonwealth poet, except as far as regards his living in that era: for he was Presbyterian, Royalist, Cromwellian, all by turns; and, finally, wheeled round again to the dominant power at the Restoration. Four of Fisher's unprinted poems, relating to Ireland, extracted from a MS. volume of his own writing in the British Museum, with a short account of his life, and a few notes written by myself, were published in the last July number (vol. viii. pp. 153-167.) of the Ulster Journal of Archæology. Among those will be found "Newes from Lough Bagge"; and as the querist acknowledges he knows little of the history and locality, I beg to refer him to the above-mentioned work.

Notices of Fisher will be found in the Athena Oxonienses, and other biographical compilations. He wrote an immense number of all descriptions of poems, on all varieties of subjects, yet I very much doubt whether "A Contemplation on the Sight of a Tombe" were written by him. I have a vague recollection, however, of seeing it, or something very similar, in Latin, and Fisher was no mean proficient in Latin versification.

I must confess that I have a considerable curiosity to learn a little more of 8.'s "small collection of inedited poems"; and, if he will gratify that curiosity, either by private communication or through "N. & Q." I may probably, in return, be able to afford him some useful information.

In our own days of sudden acquirement of riches, when not pedigrees alone, but ancestorial portraits are made to order, a "dodge" of this very Fisher is worthy of being fished up out of the limbo of forgotten frauds, to show that men are pretty much the same at all periods. The great civil war, though it ruined numbers of the nobility and gentry, enabled many of the trading classes to acquire immense fortunes. These last were sadly in want of pedigrees, and Fisher undertook to supply them in a rather ingenious manner. St. Paul's, and many of the city churches, having been destroyed by the great fire, Fisher, styling himself Student of Antiquities, announced that, previous to the fire, he had copied all the monumental inscriptions in those churches, and intended to publish them by subscription. The reader will at once see the trick, which for a time

was successful. Fisher, according to the amount of subscription received, gave in his books (three of which, I think, were published,) marble monuments and grandiloquent inscriptions to persons never so recorded in city church, or elsewhere; but pseudo-grandfathers, great-grandfathers, &c., of his pedigree-desiring subscribers. I may add, that those inscriptions are curious studies to persons interested in that description of literature. They are in Latin; their similarity of style show they were all written by one person, while they also prove that Fisher had a most extraordinary facility in that kind of composition. To such deceptions, reduced by poverty, fell the unfortunate Fisher- the gallant scholar volunteer, who left his college to "trail a pike," under the Prince of Orange, at the siege of Breda; the Parliamentary lieutenant under Sir John Clotworthy, in Ireland; the Royalist captain, under Prince Rupert, at Marston Moor; the poet laureat of the Protector Cromwell. Probably he might have succeeded better in life by wielding the sword than the pen; for he himself acknowledges that he was a better pikeman than a poet." W. PINKERTON. Hounslow.

Should not your correspondent read P. Fisher for P. Ficher? Payne Fisher, a poetical writer of the period, is styled Laureat to Cromwell, and also figures in a volume of his poems as Sergeant Major P. F., which latter would account for the poet being with the army in Ireland. He would also appear to have been of a sepulchral cast of mind, having late in life (besides other congenial pieces) published The Tombes, Monuments, and Inscriptions lately visible in St. Paul's, which apparently identifies him as the writer of the Contemplation upon a Tomb, supplied by your correspondent. A long list of Fisher's works will be found in the new edition of Lowndes, with a reference to Wood's Athene Oxon., for an account

of the author.

J. O.

Oliver Cromwell's poet laureat, Payne Fisher, must surely be the person alluded to. As to him, see Wood's Athen. Oxon, ed. Bliss, iii. 108. 749. 1045. 1080. 1189.; Bibl. Anglo-Poetica, 229.; Censura Literaria, 1st ed., iii. 273., vi. 229.; Cowie's Cat. of MSS. in Library of St. John's Coll., Camb., 84, 85.; Elrington's Life of Ussher, 279.; Gent. Mag., lxvi. (1.) 367.; N. S. xlii. 147.; Gough's Anecd. of Brit. Topogr., i. 606, 607.; Granger's Biog. Dict. of England, 5th ed., iv. 37 n.; Moule's Bibl. Herald., 217.; Pepys's Diary, 3rd ed., i. 118. 121, 122.; Restituta, i. 366.; and Willmot's Lives of Sacred Poets, i. 348.

Cambridge.

C. H. COOPER.