—In 1763 Dr. Stukeley exhibited to the Antiquarian Society a singular pack of cards, dating before the year 1500. They were purchased in 1776, by Mr. Tutet, and on his decease they were bought by Mr. Gough. In 1816 they had passed into the possession of Mr. Triphook, the bookseller. Query, where are they now?
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
Canongate Marriages.
—According to the Newgate Calendar, vol. ii. p. 269., there seems to have existed, about the year 1745, a sort of Gretna Green in the Canongate of Edinburgh. It is long since I read that famous work, but I made an excerpt at the time, which is as follows:
"It was customary for some of the ministers of the Church of Scotland, who were out of employment, to marry people at the ale-houses, in the same manner that the Fleet marriages were conducted in London. Sometimes people of fortune thought it prudent to apply to these marriage brokers; but, as their chief business lay among the lower ranks of people, they were deridingly called by the name of 'Buckle the Beggars.' Most of these marriages were solemnized at public-houses in the Canongate."
This statement "comes in such a questionable shape," and from so "questionable" a quarter, that really one cannot be blamed for questioning it. Surely the ministers referred to must have been men deprived of their charges? Can any correspondent of "N. & Q." speak to this subject? I am certain that the Scottish clergy of that age would never have suffered any Buckle the Beggars to rank with them as regular preachers, though "out of employment."
R. S. F.
Perth.
Devil, Proper Name.
—Will any of your correspondents kindly inform me whether there are any persons now existing of the name of Devil; or who bear the devil on their coat of arms? In 1847 I saw upon the panel of a carriage in London the devil's head for a crest. To what family does this belong? "Robin the Devil" is mentioned in Rokeby, cant. vi. st. 32. The following is from the Monthly Mirror, August, 1799: