46 



NOISES AND QUEKIES. 



[2nd S. VII. JAjf. 15. 'OQ. 



present century. I recollect hearing "We are 

 poor frozen out gardeners " sung to the same air 

 about forty years ago; and if the one is not to be 

 obtained, perhaps one of your correspondents 

 would kindly favour me with the other. 



W. Chappell. 

 201. Regent Street. 



Sviinton Family. — I shall feel thankful if any of 

 your correspondents can furnish me with any in- 

 formation of the Swinton family, or of any work 

 in which its genealogy is noticed. I have heard 

 that the Swintons originally came from Byzan- 

 tium, and that records of them may be seen in the 

 Archives of Paris. From France they appear to 

 have migrated to Scotland ; and thence Sir John 

 de Swinton, I believe, is said to have made an ex- 

 cursion to England, and to have taken possession 

 of Chester. We hear of the family being en- 

 nobled in Scotland, and afterwards leaving that 

 country and settling at Nutsford in Cheshire. 



J. L. Seymour. 



The Stone Family of Westminster. — After the 

 lleformation, the celebrated Sir Thomas Gresham 

 l)urchased, or obtained a grant of, an estate at 

 Wedmore, in Somersetshire, which had thereto- 

 fore belonged to the chantry of St. Anne, founded 

 in Wedmore church. This property was sold by 

 Sir Thomas to a person named Thomas Stone, of 

 Westminster, Gent. ; and by him it was given 

 (a.d. 1594) to his brother Edward Stone, also of 

 Westminster, Gent. Is anything known of this 

 family of the Stones ? 



Did Sir Thomas Gresham purchase the estate 

 referred to, or was it given to him? Ina. 



Charlton Entertainment. — In the London Ma- 

 gazine for July, 1737, I read that — 



" On June 30 a handsome entertainment was given at 

 Charlton in Wiltshire, to the threshers of that villag^e, by 

 the Lord Viscount Palraerston, who has given money to 

 purchase a piece of land, the produce of which is to be 

 laid out in an annual entertainment, on the 30th of June 

 for ever, in commemoration of (Stephen Duck, who was a 

 thresher of that place." 



Is that entertainment still given ? J. L. 



2%e Cyclone. — In the valuable Handbook of the 

 Law of Storms, by W. R. Birt, it is stated, page 2., 

 "The history of the investigation of storms coin- 

 cides with the present century:" after giving some 

 extracts from the late Colonel Capper's work the 

 author goes to state that — 



" These extracts sufficientl3' introduce us to the funda- 

 mental idea of a cyclone, viz. that of a revolving bodj' of 

 air ; but they furnish us with no information as to the 

 direction of this rotation, or its order in either hemisphere. 

 The latest inquiries bearing on this head acquaint us with 

 the very important fact, that in both hemispheres the air 

 in the cyclone revolves against the sun. ' In the northern 

 hemisphere . . . the rotation of the air in the hurricane is 

 N. VV. S. E. In the southern hemisphere .... the rota- 

 tion of the air is N.E. S.W." 



Now in the Geography of E. Macfait, M.D., 

 published at Edinburgh in 1780, the following 

 statement is found, in page 245. : — 



" It is said to be the general course of all hurricanes, 

 that those in the northern hemisphere go about by the 

 south, those in the southern hemisphere by the north." 



" There is an observation with regard to the summer 

 weather in our own country, that seems analogous to 

 this, namely, that when the wind happens to be N.E., if 

 it shifts from thence N., then N.W., and from thence S.W., 

 that the weather is neither so constant nor so good as 

 when it shifts from N.E. to E., and then S.E., and thence 

 S.W." 



Is Dr. Macfait's statement of the reversion of 

 the order of rotation in the diflferent hemispheres 

 the earliest known by the readers of " N. & Q." 



John Husband. 



Puter Hank. — Near the town in which I reside 

 is a level tract of black, peaty land, which was 

 formerly a morass, or swampy carr, and in a very 

 old deed (sajis date) I find it called Poter Hank, 

 or Poter Hankey. Can any one suggest a mean- 

 ing for this name, either in allusion to the situa- 

 tion and quality of the soil, or otherwise ? C. J. 



What is Scum ? — What we caWfoam, ov froth, 

 is, I suppose, merely air-bubbles, which burst and 

 disappear more or less rapidly according to cir- 

 cumstances ; but there is a certain product of 

 troubled waters, which we often see on the shore 

 after a storm, and which even the rivulet at the 

 bottom of my garden not unfrequently offers to 

 my notice, somewhat more substantial, and yet 

 the very type of unsubstantiality, a white yeasty- 

 looking matter, like the whippings of an egg, — 

 the most distinctive name for which, perhaps, is 

 .scum. What is this ? Does the lashing water beat 

 it up from vegetable or from animal deposits ? I 

 suppose some of your chemical or microscopical 

 readers can tell us. C. W. Bingham. 



BurtorHs Monasticon : Unpublished Documents. 

 — In the Introduction to the Monasticon Ebora- 

 cense the author announces his intention of pub- 

 lishing a second volume containing copies of all 

 the charters, documents, and valuable MSS. that 

 he had consulted for his work. The reception of 

 the first volume did not justify him in carrying 

 out his Intention, but the materials were all col- 

 lected. Does any one know, or will any one say, 

 what became of those materials ? and if they are 

 still available to one who has been for some years 

 back engaged in collecting matter for a mono- 

 graph on one of the abbeys he mentions ? 



De Rupe. 



Monyash in Domesday. — A Derbyshire Ga- 

 zetteer, containing more antiquarian Information 

 than such works usually get hold of, says, " It Is 

 noted in Domesday book that Monyash was con- 

 sidered as a penal settlement to which refractory 

 monks were sent." I have searched in vain for 



