Minor Queries.
Berkhampstead Records.—Where are the records of the now extinct corporation of Great Berkhampstead, co. Herts, incorporated 1618? And when did it cease to exercise corporate rights, and why?
J. K.
"The secunde personne of the Trinetee" (Vol. viii., p. 131.).—What does the "old English Homily" mean by "a womanne who was the secunde personne of the Trinetee?"
J. P. S.
St. John's, Oxford, and Emmanuel, Cambridge.—Can your readers give me any information respecting Thomas Collis, B.A., of St. John's College, Oxford, ordained priest by Richard (Reynolds), Bishop of Lincoln, at Buckden, 29th May, 1743? What church preferment did he hold, where did he die, and where was he buried?
Also of John Clendon, B.D., Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, who was presented to the vicarage of Brompton-Regis, Somerset, by his College, in or about the year 1752? His correspondence with the Fellows of Emmanuel is amusing, as giving an insight into the every-day life of Cambridge a century ago. You shall have a letter or two ere long as a specimen.
Thomas Collis.
Boston.
"Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre."—Some years ago, at a book-stall in Paris, I met with a work in one volume, being a dissertation in French on the origin and early history of the once popular song, "Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre." It seemed to contain much information of a curious and interesting character; and the author's name, if I remember rightly, is Blanchard. I have since made several attempts to discover the title of the book, with the view of procuring a copy of it, but without success. Can any of your readers assist me in this matter?
Henry H. Breen.
St. Lucia.
Prelate quoted in Procopius.—In the 25th note (a), chap. xl., of Gibbon's Decline and Fall, there is a quotation from Procopius. Can any of your readers conjecture who is meant by the "learned prelate now deceased," who was fond of quoting the said passage.
Σ.
The Alibenistic Order of Freemasons.—Can any of your readers, masonic or otherwise, inform me what is meant by this order of Freemasons? The work of Henry O'Brien of the Round Towers of Ireland is dedicated to them, and in his preface they are much eulogised.
H. W. D.
Saying respecting Ancient History.—In Niebuhr's Lectures on Ancient History, vol. i. p 355., I find—
"An ingenious man once said, 'It is thought that at length people will come to read ancient history as if it had really happened,' a remark which is really excellent."
Who was this "ingenious man"?
J. P.
An Apology for not speaking the Truth.—Can any of your correspondents kindly inform me where the German song can be found from which the following lines are taken?
"When first on earth the truth was born,
She crept into a hunting-horn;
The hunter came, the horn was blown,
But where truth went, was never known."
W. W.
Malta.
Sir John Morant.—In the fourth volume of Sir John Froissart's Chronicles, and in the tenth and other chapters, he mentions the name of a Sir John Morant, Knight, or Sir John of Chatel Morant, who lived in 1390-6. How can I find out his pedigree? or whether he is an ancestor of the Hampshire family of Morants, or of the Rev. Philip Morant?
H. H. M.
Malta.
Portrait of Plowden.—Is any portrait of Edmund Plowden the lawyer known to exist? and if so, where?
P. P. P.
Temperature of Cathedrals.—Can any of your readers favour me with a report from observation of the greatest and least heights of the thermometer in the course of a year, in one of our large cathedrals?
I am informed that Professor Phillips, in a geological work, has stated that the highest and lowest temperatures in York Minster occur about five weeks after the solstices; but it does not appear that the altitudes are named.
T.
Dr. Eleazar Duncon.—Dr. Eleazar Duncon was of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, D.D., anno 1633, Rector of Houghton Regis same year, Chaplain to King Charles I., Prebendary of Durham. He is supposed to have died during the interregnum. Can any of your correspondents say when or where?
D. D.
The Duke of Buckingham.—Do the books of the Honorable Society of the Middle Temple disclose any particulars relating to a "scandalous letter," believed to have been written by "a Templar" to George Villiers, the Great Duke of Buckingham, in 1626, the year before his grace was assassinated by Felton; which letter was found by a servant of the inn in a Temple drinking-pot, by
whom it was handed over to the then treasurer of the Society, Nicholas Hide, Esq.? and was the author of such scandalous letter ever discovered and prosecuted?
Cestriensis.
Charles Watson.—Can any of your readers give me any account of Charles Watson, of Hertford College, Oxford, author of poems, and Charles the First, a tragedy?
I believe a short memoir of this author was to have appeared in Blackwood's Magazine (the second volume, I think); it was never published, however.
A. Z.
Early (German) coloured Engravings.—I have six old coloured engravings, which I suppose to be part of a series, as they are numbered respectively 1, 2, 4, 11, 12, 14. They are mounted on panels; and on the back of each is a piece of vellum, on which some descriptive verses in old German have been written. The ink retains its blackness; but dirt, mildew, and ill usage have rendered nearly all the inscriptions illegible, and greatly damaged the pictures; yet, through the laborious colouring and the stains, good drawing and expression are visible. Perhaps a brief description may enable some of your readers to tell me whether they are known.
Nos. 1. and 11. are so nearly obliterated, that I will not attempt to describe them. No. 2. seems to be St. George attacking the dragon. The inscription is:
"Hier merke Sohn gar schnell und bald,
Von grausam schwartzen Thier im Wald."
No. 4. A stag and a unicorn:
"Man ist von Nöthin dass ihr wiszt,
Im Wald ein Hirsch und Eikhorn ist."
No. 12. An old man with wings, and a younger wearing a crown and sword. They are on the top of a mountain overlooking the sea. The sun is in the left corner, and the moon and stars on the right. The perspective is very good. Inscription obliterated.
No. 14. The same persons, and a king on his throne. The elder in the background; the younger looking into the king's mouth, which is opened to preternatural wideness:
"Sohn in dein Abwesen war ich tod,
Und mein Leben in grosser Noth;
Aber in dein Beysein thue ich leben,
Dein Widerkunfft mir Freudt thut geben."
The inscription is long, but of the rest only a word here and there is legible. Any information on this subject will oblige,
H.