W. Pinkerton.
Ham.
Pepys's "Morena" (Vol. vii., p. 118.).—Mr. Warden may like to be informed that his conjecture about the meaning of this word is fully confirmed by the following passage in the Diary, 6th October, 1661, which has hitherto unaccountably escaped observation:
"There was also my pretty black girl, Mrs. Dekins and Mrs. Margaret Pen this day come to church."
Braybrooke.
Pylades and Corinna (Vol. vii., p. 305.).—If your correspondent's question have reference to the two volumes in octavo published under this title in 1731, assuredly Defoe had nothing to do with them, as must be evident to any one on the most cursory glance. The volumes contain memoirs of Mrs. Elizabeth Thomas, on whom Dryden conferred the poetical title of Corinna, and the letters which passed between her and Richard Gwinnett, her intended husband. A biography of this lady, neither whose life nor poetry were of the best, may be found in Chalmers's Biog. Dict., vol. xxix. p. 281., and a farther one in Cibber's Lives, vol. iv. The Dunciad, and her part in the publication of Pope's early correspondence, have given her an unhappy notoriety. I must say, however, that, notwithstanding his provocation, I cannot but think that he treated this poor woman ungenerously.
James Crossley.
Judge Smith (Vol. vii., p. 463.).—I must confess my ignorance of any Judge Smith flourishing in the reign of Elizabeth. I know of only three judges of that name.
1. John Smith, a Baron of the Exchequer during the last seven years of the reign of Henry VIII. From him descended the Lords Carrington of Wotton Waven, in Warwickshire, a title which became extinct in 1705.
2. John Smith, who was also a Baron of the Exchequer in the reign of Anne. He became Chief Baron of the Exchequer in Scotland in 1708, and died in 1726. He endowed a hospital for poor widows at Frolesworth in Leicestershire.