Greenock.
Worm in Books.—Can you or any of your numerous correspondents suggest a remedy for the worm in old books and MSS.? I know of a valuable collection in the muniment room of a nobleman in the country, which is suffering severely at the present time from the above destructive agent; and although smoke has been tried, and shavings of Russia leather inserted within the pages of the books, the evil still exists. As this question has most likely been asked before, and answered in your valuable little work, I shall be obliged by your pointing out in what volume it occurs, as I have not a set by me to refer to and thus save you the trouble.
Alethes.
Minor Queries with Answers.
Siller Gun of Dumfries.—Can any of your readers tell me the history of the "Siller Gun of Dundee" [Dumfries], and give me an account of the annual shooting for it?
O. L. R. G.
[The Siller gun of Dumfries is a small silver tube, like the barrel of a pistol, but derives great importance from its being the gift of James VI., that monarch having ordained it as a prize to the best marksman among the corporations of Dumfries. The contest was, by royal authority, licensed to take place every year; but in consequence of the trouble and expense attending it, the custom has not been so frequently observed. Whenever the festival was appointed, the 4th of June, during the long reign of George III., was invariably chosen for that purpose, being his majesty's birthday. The institution itself may be regarded as a memorial of the Waponshaw, or showing of arms, the shooting at butts and bowmarks, and other military and gymnastic sports, introduced by our ancestors to keep alive, by competition and prizes, the martial ardour and heroic spirit of the people. In archery, the usual prize to the best shooter was a silver arrow: at Dumfries the contest was transferred to fire-arms. See the preface to the Siller Gun, a poem in five cantos, by John Mayne, 1836.]
Margery Trussell.—Margery, daughter and coheiress of Roger Trussell, of Macclesfield, married Edmund de Downes (of the old Cheshire family of Downes of Taxall, Shrigley, &c.) in the fourth year of Edward II. Query, What arms did she bear? and were the Trussells of Macclesfield of the same family as that which, in consequence of a marriage with an heiress of Mainwaring, settled at Warmineham, in the reign of Edward III., and whose heiress, in later times, married a De Vere, Earl of Oxford?
W. Sneyd.