Snail-eating.—Can any of your correspondents inform me in what part of Surrey a breed of large white snails is still to be found, the first of which were brought to this country from Italy, by a member, I think, of the Arundel family, to gratify the palate of his wife, an Italian lady? I have searched Britton and Brayley's History in vain.
H. T. Riley.
Mysterious Personage.—Who is the mysterious personage, what is his real or assumed lineage, who has, not unfrequently, been alluded to in recent newspaper articles as a legitimate Roman Catholic claimant of the English throne? Of course I do not allude to those pseudo-Stuarts, the brothers Hay Allan.
W. Pinkerton.
George Wood of Chester.—Of what family was George Wood, Esq., Justice of Chester in the first year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 1558?
Cestriensis.
A Scale of Vowel Sounds.—Can any correspondent tell me if such scale has anywhere been agreed on for scientific purposes? Researches into the philosophy of philology are rendered excessively complex by the want of such a scale, every different inquirer adopting a peculiar notation, which is a study in itself, and which, after all, is unsatisfactory. I should feel obliged by any reference to what has been done in this matter.
E. C.
Seven Oaks and Nine Elms.—Can any reader of "N. & Q." inform me whether there is any old custom or superstition connected with Seven Oaks and Nine Elms, even to be traced as far back as the time of the Druids?
In some old grounds in Warwickshire there is a circle of nine old elm-trees; and, besides the well-known Nine Elms at Vauxhall, and Seven Oaks in Kent, there are several other places of the same names in England.