Minor Queries.
"To try and get."—The word and is often used instead of to after the verb to try: thus, in Moore's Journal (June 7, 1819), "Went to the theatre to try and get a dress." What is the origin of this erroneous mode of expression?
Uneda.
Philadelphia.
Fleet Prison.—Where can a list of the officers of the Fleet Prison, especially the under officers, and more especially the tipstaffs, A.D. 1696, and shortly previously and subsequently, be seen?
J. K.
Colonel St. Leger.—Where can I find an account of the celebrated Colonel St. Leger, the friend and associate of George IV. when Prince of Wales? In what year did he die? What age was he when his picture, now in Hampton Court, was painted by Gainsborough?
W. P. M.
Dublin.
Lords' Descents.—Is a MS. collection of Lords' Descents, by Thomas Maisterson, Esq., made about the year 1705, now extant?
T. P. L.
Reverend Robert Hall.—Who was Robert Hall, a preacher of some celebrity in the time of James II.?
P. P. P.
"Lydia, or Conversion."—Can any of your correspondents inform me who is the author of the following excellent drama, published nearly twenty years since:—Lydia, or Conversion; a Sacred Drama inscribed to the Jews by a Clergyman of the Church of England: London, 8vo., 1835, published by Rivingtons, and Hatchard & Son?
A. Z.
Personal Descriptions.—Is Sir Walter Scott's description of Saladin taken from any ancient writer, or is it a fancy sketch? If the latter, I think he has fallen into error by describing in Saladin the features of a civilised Arab, rather than the very peculiar and unmistakeable characteristics of the Koordish race.
In a novel now publishing in Ainsworth's Magazine, styled the "Days of Margaret of Parma," the celebrated Duke of Alva is described as a very tall man. I have never seen a portrait or read a description of his person, but had formed a very different idea of it from the circumstance that Count Tilly, who was certainly a short man, was said to be a striking counterpart of him in face, figure, and dress, a resemblance which added not a little to the terror and aversion with which Tilly was regarded by the Protestants of Germany. Can any of your correspondents refer me to a description of Alva?
J. S. Warden.
"One while I think," &c.—Whence are the following lines:
"One while I think, and then I am in pain,
To think, how to unthink that thought again."
W. M. M.
Lord Bacon.—Has the very discreditable attack made on the moral character of the great Lord Chancellor Bacon, by his cotemporary Sir Simon D'Ewes, and related by Hearne the historian at the end of his Life and Reign of King Richard II., been investigated, and either established or disproved by later historians?
Cestriensis.
Society for burning the Dead.—Wanted information as to the "Society for burning the Dead," which existed a few years ago in London. A reference to any reports or papers of them would oblige
D. L.
Cui Bono.—What is the true rendering of the Latin phrase Cui Bono? Most text-books say it means "For what good?" or, "What use was it?" But Francis Newman, in p. 316. of Hebrew Monarchy, says it means "who gained by (the crime)," and quotes Cicero pro Milone, xii. § 32., in favour of his meaning.
T. R.
Dublin.
The Stock Horn.—Can any of your readers or friends tell me where I can see a specimen of the musical instrument called the "Stock Horn?" Or any musical instrument of primitive form, similar to that which Wilkie has represented in a subject from the "Gentle Shepherd," entitled "Roger and Jenny." It seems to be a kind of hautboy, or oboe, and often appears in musical devices of the last century, especially by Scotch printers.
J. Gordon Smith.
Lady Harington.—Can any of your readers give the pedigree of the late Lady Harington, mother of the lamented Principal of Brasenose Coll. Oxford? The writer of this, who was distantly related to her, recollects, though very young, being struck with her beauty when he saw her in 1787. One of her brothers died in India; and another was curate of the lower church in Guildford in 1806; he was probably Thomas Philpot, of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, M.A. in 1798. Her mother was daughter or granddaughter of the celebrated mathematician Abraham de Moivre, and had a sister, or aunt, housekeeper of Windsor Castle. Her mother, the writer believes, was related to the Gomms, a branch of the family descended from Eustache de St. Pierre.
Anat.
Descendants of Sir M. Hale.—Are there any of the descendants of Sir Matthew Hale, the famous judge of the seventeenth century, living either in England or Ireland?
W. A.
A Query for the City Commission.—In the London Gazette of January 23, 1684-5, we read that King Charles II. sent to the Lord Mayor, in a silver box sealed up with his majesty's seal, the receipts of the several cements used by the patentees for making sea-water fresh; as also the receipt of their metallic composition and ingredients, certified under the hand of the Hon. Robert Boyle, to be kept so sealed up by the present and succeeding lord mayors, lest a secret of so great importance to the public might come to be lost, if lodged only in the knowledge of a few persons therein concerned.
It is to be hoped that the commissioners who are now engaged in investigating the affairs of the Corporation of London, will not fail in making inquiry of the present Lord Mayor after this silver box, committed so carefully to City preservation.
H. E.
Cross-legged Monumental Figures.—Are any instances of the cross-legged figures, so common in England, to be seen in the churches of France, Italy, or Spain? and if so, where may engravings of them be found?
J. Y.
Muffins and Crumpets.—Can any of your readers tell me the origin of the names "muffins and crumpets," and by whom and when introduced at the English breakfast-table?
Old Fogie.
Athenæum.