P. C. S. S.
Heraldic Anomaly (Vol. ix., p. 298.).—As your correspondent John o' the Ford wishes to be furnished with examples of arms now extant, augmented with a cross in chief, I beg to inform him that on the north side of St. John's Gate, Clerkenwell, immediately above the arch, are three shields: the centre one bearing a plain cross (the arms of the order); on the right, as you face the gateway, the shield bears a chevron ingrailed between three roundles, impaling a cross flory, over all on a chief a cross; that on the left is merely a single shield, bearing a chevron ingrailed between three roundles apparently (being somewhat damaged), in chief a plain cross. If the colours were marked, they are indistinguishable,—shield and charges are alike sable now. On the south side are two shields: that on the right has been so much damaged that all I can make out of it is that two coats have been impaled thereon, but I cannot discover whether it had the cross in chief or not; that on the left bears a chevron between three roundles, in chief a plain cross. This shield also is damaged; but, nevertheless, enough remains to enable one to make out the charges with tolerable certainty.
Tee Bee.
George Wood of Chester (Vol. viii., p 34.).—I think it very probable that this gentleman, who was Justice of Chester in the last year of the reign of Mary and the first of Elizabeth, will turn out to be George Wood, Esq., of Balterley, in the county of Stafford, who married Margaret, relict of Ralph Birkenhead, of Croughton, in Cheshire, and sixth daughter of Sir Thomas Grosvenor, of Eaton, Knight, ancestor of the present noble house of Westminster. If Cestriensis can obtain access to Shaw's History of Staffordshire, the hint I have thrown out may speed him in his investigations.
T. Hughes.
Chester.
Moon Superstitions (Vol. viii., pp. 79. 145. 321.)—The result of my own observations, as far as they go, is, that remarkable changes of weather sometimes accompany or follow so closely the changes of the moon, that it is difficult for the least superstitious persons to refrain from imagining some connexion between them—and one or two well-marked instances would make many converts for life to the opinion;—but that in comparatively few cases are the changes of weather so marked and decided as to give them the air of cause and effect.
J. S. Warden.
"Myself" (Vol. ix., p. 270.).—The inscription from a gravestone, inserted by G. A. C., brought to my mind a poem by Bernard Barton, which I had met with in a magazine (The Youth's Instructor for December, 1826), into which it had been copied from the Amulet. The piece is entitled "A Colloquy with Myself." The first two stanzas, which I had always considered original, are subjoined for the sake of comparison:
"As I walk'd by myself, I talk'd to myself,