2'"' S. NO 58., Feb. 7. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Ill 



to be evidently new and inexpei'ienced in such 

 matters, because she carried the head of the coffin 

 foremost. Why is it correct to carry the feet 

 first ? T. W. Rs., M.A. 



Spinettes. — Are any Spinettcs known (o be 

 still in existence ? and if so, where ? I do not 

 include Harpsichords in my inquiry. What is 

 the difference between the Virginals and the Spi- 

 nette ? and when did the latter supersede the 

 former ? Was the Spinette in use later than the 

 reign of Queen Anne ? Henrt T. Rilet. 



" The Tea iJoom."— Who is the author of The 

 Tea Room, or Fiction and Beality ? A play in 

 two acts, published in 1811. X. 



Quotation wanted. — Where is the following line 

 to be found, which occurs in a description of the 

 building of Solomon's temple : 



" Like some tall palm the noiseless fabric grew." 



Uneda. 



Philadelphia. 



Genei'al Macartney and Lord Macartney. — Was 

 General Macartney, who took so prominent, and, 

 if report says true, so disgraceful a part in the 

 fatal duel between the Duke of Hamilton and 

 Lord Mohun, an ancestor of Lord Macartney, our 

 ambassador to China, towards the end of the last 

 century? If not, was he a member of the same 

 family ? What, too, was the ultimate fi^te of the 

 General ? Henry T. Riley. 



Derivation of the name '■'• Malifant^^ or "Male- 

 Infant.'' — In Leland's Itinerary, vol. iv. p. 30., 

 referring to Glamorganshire, the author says : 



"Now to cum agaj-n <o the West Ripe o{ Lai/ over 

 S. Fagaii's Bridge; S. George a Village lyeth 3 quarters 

 of a mile upwarde on the Ripe, and there is a Castefle 

 hard by the Ripe on the West North West side of the 

 Village. This Castelle stondith on plaine Ground. It 

 longgid to the Male-Infantes, whereof one was ah've 

 within this 40 yeres. The Castelle is now the Kinges : 

 and our Roger Herehert a Bastard dwellith in it." 



Again, at p. 31., he says : 



" There is a Castelle almost stonding on an even 

 Grounde half a Mile from Laniltute by Est North Est 

 cauilid Llanvais. It is almost al doun. It longgith now 

 to the King. It was in hominum memoria the Male-In- 

 fauntes, ther communely cauilid the Malifantes. There 

 cummith a little Bckke within a stone caste of the Castelle, 

 and runnith on the West side of it. It risith by gesse 

 halfe a mile by North West above the Castelle of Lanvays : 

 and passing by this Castelle it goith in Colhow Water by 

 likelihod." 



And, lastly, at p. 40., the author says : 

 "And of late tj'me Caspar Duke of Bedeford, being 

 Lord of Glamorganshire, the Landes of the Male-Infantes, 

 for Lak of due issue, cam by Escliete onto hym as Lorde 

 of the Countery. Now they be the Kinges." 



I have heard, but cannot recollect, the circum- 

 stances from which the name Male-Infant or Mali- 



fant was derived. Can any of your correspon- 

 dents supply such information ? Piiilo-Iltuti. 



" Rame " and " Ramscomh.'" — In the reign of 

 Elizabeth some 30Z. was laid out in London upon 

 the repair of the Rame. In a seaport an order 

 Avas made for the repair of the Rame and Rams- 

 comb. What were these ? G. R. L. 



" Lama Sahachthani : or Cry of the Son of God." 



— Who wrote this little book of devotions? 

 " Useful at all times, especially Passion Week" 

 &c. I have two editions : one dated 1700, dedi- 

 cated to William III., London ; the other pub- 

 lished at Wolverhampton, 1755, and dedicated in 

 the same words to King George. H. T. E. 



A Railway Quei'y. — Suppose a raihvay train to 

 start on a journey from the North Pole, when the 

 rate of the earth's rotator}"^ motion is at zero, and 

 to travel fifty miles in one hour due south. Each 

 minute of the sixty the train has been subjected to 

 a growing lateral pressure from the steadily in- 

 creasing rapidity of the points of the earth's sur- 

 face which it is passing over ; till, at the point of 

 its arrival, it finds itself rushing from west to east 

 at the rate of upwards of twelve miles an hour. 

 The eifect of this on the velocity during the 

 journey mnst have been much the same as if it 

 had been running all the way in a curve, to which 

 the raih'oad may be considered a tangent, and 

 which, at the point of arrival, has diverged 

 upwards of twelve miles from the apparent recti- 

 linear path, and the pressure of the wheels against 

 the rails during that rapid journey must have 

 proved a very appreciable retarding force. The 

 Query which I would append to the above is 

 this: — Have our practical engineers made any 

 allowance for this element in their calculation of 

 the working powers required ibr railways whose 

 direction is north and south ? or have our Rail- 

 way Companies detected the operation of this 

 element, and to what extent? G. J. C. D. 



Dartmouth Row, Blackheath. 



Manufacture of Wood and Peat Charcoal. — 

 The people in this county are not well up to the 

 making of wood charcoal, and such as are accus- 

 tomed to do so make nearly a secret of so doing, 

 and state it would take three weeks to burn a 

 mound. If you would give full directions and 

 size of a small heap in " N. & Q.," it would not 

 only oblige me, but be useful to others also, how 

 peat charcoal is made, so as a private gentleman 

 may be able to burn for his own use. 



Robert Chambers. 



The Castle, Kingstown, Dublin. 



" Philander and Rose" and " A Family Story." 



— Could any of your Manchester readers oblige me 

 by giving any information regarding the author* 



