Minor Queries.
Owen, Bishop of St. Asaph.—To what family belonged John Owen, Bishop of St. Asaph, mentioned in Winkle's Cathedrals with so much honour? His father Owen Owen was Archdeacon of Anglesea, rector of Burton Latymer. I cannot find either name in the printed pedigrees of the various families of Owen, nor in such of the Harl. MSS. as I had time to examine. Wanted, the bishop's arms and crest, and any reference to his pedigree. It is said by Winkle that his monument is under the episcopal throne in St. Asaph's cathedral. He died 1651, and his father 1592.
Ursula.
St. Wilfrid's Needle in Yorkshire,—"where they used to try maids, whether they were honest." (Burton.) Does this stone exist? "Ancient writers do not mention," says Lingard, "Stonehenge, Abury, &c., as appendages to places of worship among the Celtæ," therefore may it not be that these remains of antiquity were devoted to vain superstitions of the ignorant people, if not to gloomy rites of the officiating priests of the British Druids? The gigantic obelisks of single stones, called the "Devil's Arrows," near Boroughbridge, and the assemblage of rocks called Bramham Crags, a few miles north-west of Ripon, are considered to have been Druidical. Is St. Wilfrid's either of these? and can farther information about this rock be afforded?
B. B.
Governor of St. Christopher in 1662.—Will any one be so kind as to inform me who was the governor of the island of St. Christopher in the year 1662? I have an original, but unsigned letter, from him to the contemporary Dutch governor of St. Martin's, demanding reparation for an outrage of most extraordinary nature. He complains that the Dutch had seized and reduced to slavery the crew and passengers of an English ship during a time of peace. Is anything known of this affair, or is there any means of discovering the names of the colonial governors of that age? The letter is dated Sept. 1, 1662, and is endorsed, "A Coppie of my letter to the Gov. of St. Martin's."
Ursula.
The Amber Witch.—I am anxious to learn whether this be a pure fiction or a genuine document dressed up. Its strongest appearance of authenticity arises from the tedious pedantry of the ancient Lutheran pastor, its supposed author, which not only renders the perusal heavy, but also lets in various things unsuited to the decorum of modern manners. If a pure forgery, my inquiry extends to the motives of a fabrication, tedious to both reader and writer.
A. N.