Roman Roads.—Can you inform me in whose possession is the MS. essay on "Roman Roads," written by the late Dr. Charles Mason, to which I find allusion in a MS. letter of Mr. North's?
Buriensis.
John Dutton, of Dutton.—In the Vagrant Act, 17 George II., c. 5., the heir and assigns of John Dutton, of Dutton, co. Chester, deceased, Esq., are exempt from the pains and penalties of vagrancy. Query—Who was the said John Dutton, and why was such a boon conferred on his heirs for ever?
B.
Rome, Ancient and Modern.—I observed, in a shop in Rome, in 1847, a large plan of that city, in which, on the same surface, both ancient and modern Rome were represented; the shading of the streets and buildings being such as to distinguish the one from the other. Thus, in looking at the modern Forum, you saw, as it were underneath it, the ancient Forum; and so in the other parts of the city. Can any of your readers inform me as to the name of the designer, and where, if at all, in England, a copy of this plan may be obtained?
If I remember rightly, the border to the plan was composed of the Pianta Capitolina, or fragments of the ancient plan preserved in the Capitol. In the event of the map above referred to not being accessible, can I obtain a copy of this latter plan by itself, and how?
A.B.M.
Prolocutor of Convocation.—W.D.M. inquires who was Prolocutor of the Lower House of Convocation during its session in 1717-18?
Language of Queen Mary's Days.—In the first vol. of Evelyn's Diary (the last edition) I find the following notice:—
"18th, Went to Beverley, a large town with two churches, St. John's and St. Mary's, not much inferior to the best of our cathedrals. Here a very old woman showed us the monuments, and being above 100 years of age, spake the language of Queen Mary's days, in whose time she was born; she was widow of a sexton, who had belonged to the church a hundred years."