Minor Queries with Answers.
Ashes of "Lignites."—A paragraph has been making the circuit of the public papers, recommending the use of ashes of lignites, to preserve esculent roots. It may have originated with some dealer in lignites; but plain dealers would like to be informed what lignites are?
Rusticus.
[Lignite is a fossil wood carbonized to a certain degree, but retaining distinctly its woody texture. Dr. MacCulloch, On Rocks, p. 636., observes: "In its chemical properties, lignite holds a station intermediate between peat and coal; while among the varieties a gradation in this respect may be traced; the brown and more organised kinds approaching very near to peat, while the more compact kinds, such as jet, approximate to coal.">[
Bishop Bathurst.—I have heard it often asserted that the late Dr. Bathurst, Bishop of Norwich, was the youngest of forty-two children. Can this
be satisfactorily ascertained? I remember hearing it many years since during the bishop's lifetime. Such a circumstance is not beyond the bounds of possibility, if we are to believe the Parish Register of Bermondsey; for there appears an entry there of the marriage, on Jan. 4, 1624-5, of James Harriott, Esq., one of the forty children of his father. I myself knew intimately a lady, a clergyman's widow, who was the mother of twenty-six children (Vol. v., p. 106.; Vol. ix., p. 186.); and I have heard it said that one of her brothers-in-law was father of twenty-four, and another of fourteen children. The late Sir Robert Wigram, Bart., had twenty-four children: he died at the age of eighty-six.
Y. S. M.
[Mrs. Thistlethwaite, in her Memoirs of her father, p. 6, states, that "Benjamin Bathurst, Esq., the father of the Bishop of Norwich, having married, first, Miss Poole, an heiress, he had issue by her twenty-two children; by his second wife, Miss Brodrick, daughter of Dr. Brodrick, a Brother of Lord Midleton's, Mr. Bathurst had a second family of fourteen children, of whom my father was third child and second son. He was a seven months' child, and I have heard that he was so extremely small an infant, that he could not be dressed like other children for some time after his birth, but was obliged to be wrapped in cotton. My father used to say in a joke, that he was wrapped in cotton, and put into a quart mug." The bishop's father had four children, one daughter and three sons. These four had a hundred children between them, thirty-six of whom fell to the lot of the bishop's father.]
"Selah."—What is the meaning of the word Selah, which occurs so often in the Psalms? I have observed that most people, in reading, omit it. Should it be read or not?
F. M. Middleton.
[A diversity of opinion prevails as to the exact import of this term. The great musical critic Mattheson, in a work written on the word, having rejected eleven meanings, decides in favour of the twelfth, which makes the word equivalent to the modern Italian da capo. In this view, the word selah directs a repetition of the air or song from the commencement, to the parts where it is placed. Herder held that selah denoted a swell, or a change in the rapidity of the movement, or in the key. The Easterns, he says, are fond of a very uniform, and, as it appears to Europeans, mournful music; but at certain points, they of a sudden change the key, and pass into a different melody. These points, he thinks, were among the Hebrews indicated by the word selah. The balance of authority, however, is in favour of the former view.—The People's Dict. of the Bible. Consult also, Julius Bate's Critica Hebræa, and Gesenius' Hebrew and English Lexicon.]
The Long Parliament.—Where is a list of it, including its various changes, to be seen?
Y. S. M.
[Among the King's Pamphlets in the British Museum (Press-mark, E. 1836.) is the following "A List of the Names of the Long Parliament, anno 1640; likewise of the Parliament holden at Oxford; as also of the three ensuing Parliaments holden at Westminster in the years 1653, 1654, 1656, and of the late Parliament, dissolved April 22, 1659, with a Catalogue of the Lords of the other House. London: Printed in the year 1659." There is also another pamphlet entitled "The Names of the Members of Parliament which began on the 4th June, 1653. 4to. London, 1654.">[
"The Three Pigeons."—Was it the house at Brentford, mentioned by Dr. Rimbault (Vol. ix., p. 331.), that suggested Tony Lumpkin's convivial ballad in praise of "The Three Jolly Pigeons?"
G. Taylor.
Reading.
[It is highly probable that the scene "An Ale-house Room" in Goldsmith's comedy She Stoops to Conquer is the "Three Pigeons" at Brentford, as this remarkable hostel dates its origin from the days of Shakspeare and Ben Jonson. It is frequently mentioned by the early dramatists, and appears at one time to have been in some repute, having had for its landlord the celebrated tragedian, John Lowin, cotemporary of Shakspeare, and one of the original actors in his plays, who died in this house at a very advanced age:
"Thou art admirably suited for the Three Pigeons
At Brentford, I swear I know thee not."—The Roaring Girl.
"We will turn our courage to Braynford—westward,
My bird of the night—to the Pigeons."—Ben Jonson's Alchymist.
See Faulkner's History of Brentford, p. 144.]
Captain Cook.—Wanted, the pedigree of Capt. Jas. Cook (the circumnavigator), and full account of his lineal and collateral descendants.
Wardale G. McAllister.
Philadelphia.
[Dr. Kippis's Life of Captain Cook may be consulted with advantage. It is carefully compiled, and will be found in the fourth volume of his Biographia Britannica, as well as in a separate 4to. volume, 1788. For the death of the eldest and only surviving son of the celebrated navigator, see Gentleman's Magazine for February, 1794, p. 182., and p. 199. of the same volume.]
Varnish for old Books.—Can any of your readers oblige me with a good receipt for varnishing the bindings of old books? Bees-wax and turpentine, used very thin, is a tolerably good one; but I am desirous of learning another.
Investigator.
[A little common glue-size, made thin, would be better than bees-wax and turpentine. The best varnish that can be used is that made in France, and may be had at Barbe Lechertier's, Artists' Colourman, 60. Regent's Quadrant. It is called French varnish for leather, and is sold at 14s. per pound. There is also a common varnish for leather, which can be purchased
at Reilly's varnish manufactory, 19. Old Street, St. Luke's. It is sold at about 3s. 6d. per pint.]
Cabbages.—When were cabbages first cultivated in England? Who introduced them?
C. H.
[Evelyn says, "'Tis scarce a hundred years since we first had cabbages out of Holland, Sir Anthony Ashley, of Wiburg St. Giles, in Dorsetshire, being, as I am told, the first who planted them in England."—Acetaria, sect. 11. They were introduced into Scotland by the soldiers of Cromwell's army.]