NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2«^ S. VIL Jan. 8. '69, 



paraitra bientot, de nous raconter un de ces contes 

 agreables que vous savez," being the formula with 

 which Dinarzade was instructed to wake the sul- 

 tana Scheherazade. This is ho doubt the true 

 Btotj : or at least, if proverbs may be allowed 

 their comparatives, " Se non e piu vero, e meglio 

 trovato." And the same may be said of Galland's 

 preparation for European palates, as compared 

 with the literal dish %vhich was presented some 

 twenty or more years ago. M. 



Sayes Court (2"i S. vi. 528.)— If F. R. D. would 

 communicate with me by letter, it is probable 

 that I may be able to give him information re- 

 specting that estate, as I have for some years 

 past been collecting materials for the history of 

 Sayes Court as well as the sun-ounding town of 

 Deptford. In the mean time I will refer F. R. D. 

 to " N. & Q." 2"^ S. i. 365., where he will find a 

 communication of mine relative to Peter the 

 Great and his residence at Sayes Court. 



William Henry Haet. 



Folkestone House, Eoupell Park, 

 Streatham. S. - 



F. R. D. inquires where the best description of 

 Sayes Court can be found : that I cannot reply to, 

 except that I have been unable to find any good 

 one. 



There is no engraving of the house as it stood 

 in Evelyn's days, I believe, except a very small 

 sketch of the front of the house on a plan of the 

 estate made by John Evelyn himself, which is 

 engraved in the first edition of his Memoirs. 



In the King's Library at the British Museum 

 there are some plans of Deptford dockyard, with 

 the surrounding property, showing the house and 

 grounds of Sayes Court as laid out by Evelyn. 



For several years prior to 1759 the mansion 

 and part of the grounds had been converted into a 

 workhouse for the parish of Saint Nicholas, Dept- 

 ford, and in that year a lease thereof was granted 

 by Sir John Evelyn of Wotton to the parish for 

 sixty- one years. 



It has long ceased to be the workhouse ; was 

 last used as an emigration depot, but has lately 

 been pulled down. 



The property is still in the Evelyn family. Sir 

 Walter Scott, in Kenilwortk, describes Sayes Court 

 as then belonging to the Evelyns ; but that is a 

 mistake, as it only came to John Evelyn by his 

 marriage with the only daughter and heir of Sir 

 Richard Browne. Charles C. Corner. 



Lee, Kent. 



Picton Castle arui Muddlesconibe (2°^ S. v. 

 329.) — Having recently with pleasure read your 

 able correspondent Mr. Phillips's account of 

 Picton Castle with its ancient and eminent occu- 

 piers, with your permission may I ask for some 

 account of the other portion of the Donn's estate, 

 Muddlescombe ? 



In what parish or parishes is this situated? 

 what was its extent? was there a mansion on it? 

 did any of the descendants of the daughters of Sir 

 Harry Donn of Picton Castle assume the name 

 Donne ? or did a Donne marry one of them, and 

 then become claimant of part of the Muddles- 

 combe property ? is any portion of the estate at 

 present in possession of the Donne family ? 



A branch of the name once lived at Llangen- 

 deirn, and another at Kidwelly ; were they by 

 their ancestors connected with the ancient stock 

 of Picton" Castle ? and was Owen Donn of Mud- 

 dlescombe and Picton Castle a lineal descendant 

 of the patriarch or head of the Donnes family in 

 South Wales ? 



Were the Donnes of London, Norfolk, Os- 

 westry, and other parts of the kingdom, descended 

 from this ancient Pembrokeshire stock ? and are 

 there any of the descendants at present in Pem- 

 brokeshire bearing the name Donne ? 



The favour of Mr. Phillips's early reply will 

 be anxiously looked for, and very gratefully re- 

 ceived by, Louis AP Done. 



English Comedians in the Netherlands (1" S. 

 ii. 184. 459. ; iii. 21. ; vii. 114. 360. 503.) — In the 

 Navorscher for 1858, vol. viii. p. 7., Jonkheer W. 

 J. C. Rammelman Elgevier transcribes the follow- 

 ing entry from the Leyden Treasury Accounts 

 (Thesaurie Rekeningen van Leyden^ of the year 

 1590, p. 463. : — 



" Paid to Robert Brony, Englishman, and to his fel- 

 lows, in all fifteen guilders, over and above a sum of the 

 like amount, granted to him for having acted and played 

 divers comedies and histories, besides _/br having made divers 

 leaps, by him performed as well in the presence of the 

 Burgomasters as before the community of this city, as 

 appears by order of date Oct. vii., 1590. 



" XV. guilders," 



The directors of the Navorscher add, that in- 

 teresting particulars concerning this subject have 

 been gathered by Mr. L. Ph. C. van den Bergh, 

 J. U. D., in his 's Gravenhaagsche Bj/'zoilderheden^ 

 vol. i. pp. 20 — 23. J. H. van Lennep. 



Zeyst. 



Old China (2"<i S. vi. 480.) — Besides the " tall 

 white female figures of Oriental porcelain," hold- 

 ing " a rod or sceptre," and "which have a sort of 

 ecclesiastical air about them," as mentioned by 

 Vebna, I have often seen such figures holding an 

 infant in one arm. And these, or their prototypes, 

 were probably introduced, or caused to be manu- 

 factured, in China " by the Jesuit missionaries," to 

 represent the Virgin Mary to their proselytes. 

 And perhaps they were afterwards multiplied 

 there for sale, as mere symbolical figures of mater- 

 nal care, &c., and without much regard to Roman 

 Catholic intentions. P. H. F. 



The female figure in porcelain described by 

 Vebna h probably that of some Chinese deity, 



