30 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°d s. No 54., Jan. 10. '67. 



Being anxious to ascertain all that is really 

 known of this British chieftain, I am in hopes that 

 some of the readers of " N. & Q." who have access 

 to the various metropolitan libraries, will be kind 

 enough to furnish this information, and by doing 

 so they will greatly oblige A Masked Crab. 



[The most ordinary books of reference, such as Cam- 

 den's Britannia, Horsley's Britannia Romana, and even 

 the Penny Ci/clopadia, art. Britannia, contain some no- 

 tices of Cassivelaunns, but we cannot well spare the space 

 to reprint them. The territorial possessions of Cassive- 

 launus, or, as the name is sometimes rendered, Cassibelinus, 

 originally comprised that portion of our island which is 

 now divided into the counties of Hereford, Bedford, and 

 Buckingham, together, as Horsley supposes, with parts 

 of Huntingdonshire and Northamptonshire. To these he 

 added, by conquest, part of the territory of the Trino- 

 bantes, who occupied that tract which now comprises the 

 counties of Essex, Middlesex, and part of Surrey. Veru- 

 1am was the capital and residence of Cassivelaunus.] 



Minav Queries. 



Cromwell in France. — Can any of your readers 

 inform me whether there is any historical evidence 

 to show that Oliver Cromwell was ever in France? 



In Millin's Antiquites Nationales (a work of 

 some authority), it is said that Cromwell was in 

 France in 1626, and that he then visited with a 

 friend the old castle of Vincennes ; and upon 

 being told that princes had been imprisoned in its 

 keep, observed, that " it was not safe to touch 

 princes, except at the head," — implying, that 

 their resentment rendered all measures taken 

 against them imprudent, except extreme ones. 

 See vol. ii. p. 24., edit, of 1791. 



I have never met with this story elsewhere, and 

 I find no reference in Carlyle's Cromwell, or in 

 the Biogrnphie Universelle, or the new Biogra- 

 phic Generale (now publishing in Paris), or in 

 Chalmers's Biog. Dictionary (voc. Cromwell), 

 to the fact of Oliver having ever been in France. 

 Is the story a myth ? and if so, what is its origin ? 



A. 



Old Buildings. — I was told a few years since, 

 while going over Berkeley Castle, Earl Fitz- 

 hardinge's seat in Gloucestershire, that it was the 

 oldest, save one, habitable castle in England. 

 The older building was stated to be Arundel 

 Castle, Sussex. Is there any truth in the cice- 

 rone's legend ? R. H. 



Kensington. 



" Half seas over." — What is the origin of this 

 expression? Threlkeld. 



Cambridge. 



Fir.st Brick Buildinj. — What is the date of the 

 first brick building in England ? 



A. Holt White. 



Hatchis. — Can any of your correspondents in- 

 form me, through the medium of " N. & Q.," what 

 is the nature of the hatchis used in the East? 

 Dumas the elder, in his romance of Monte Christo, 

 speaks of it as " the hatchis of Alexandria." It 

 appears to be a narcotic preparation. Perhaps 

 some of your travelled correspondents can en- 

 lighten me on this head ? Eremite. 



" Infernas tenebras" §c. — 



" Infernas tenebras, quae neminis hactenus mortalium 

 vlventi patuere, in sole lucidissimos deprehendisse, sibi 

 nuper visus est oculatissimus Anglus." — Stadilus, de 

 Vanitate Eruditorum, p. 56., Lipsise, 1788. 



Who is the " oculatissimus," and what is his 

 book ? H. 



" Acombleth." — "A horse that aoombleth." 

 What is the signification of this word ? J. B. 



Strong, Captain. — Information is required re- 

 specting Captain John Strong, who discovered 

 Falkland Sound in 1690. I shall be obliged for 

 particulars of his birth and parentage. 



Resupinus. 



Bishop Hurd: Rev. Richard Graves. — If any 

 reader of " N. & Q." can direct to any original 

 source of information respecting the late Bishop 

 Hurd of AVorcester, or Graves of Claverton, or 

 can supply any of the Bishop's or Mr. Graves's 

 unpublished letters, he will confer a great obli- 

 gation on Francis Kilvert, M.A. 

 Editor of the Literary Remains 

 of Bishop Warburton. 



Claverton Lodge, Bath. 



Pretender Ticket. — I have a ticket on paper 

 printed with blue ink, from an engraved plate, in 

 the form of a full blown rose ; it contains the 

 names of forty sufferers in the cause of the exiled 

 family of the Stuarts. The tradition is that this 

 was a ticket of admission to the private meetings 

 of the partizans of the Stuarts, aftei- the defeat at 

 CuUoden. The ticket may, or may not, be rare, 

 but I should be glad to know which it is, and 

 what may be its value. A. B. 



Post Office, Torquay. 



Sable or Coloured M.P.*s in Imperial Parlia- 

 ment. — 



" Mislike me not for my complexion, 

 The shaded livery of the burnished sun," 



Othello. 



Can any of your readers recall to mind how 

 many coloured members ever sat in the House of 

 Commons. I know of two instances only — (Dyce 

 Sombre, and the ea;-M.P. who represented Ly- 

 mington for many years, John Stewart, Esq.) 

 The bigoted anti-colour party in the West Indies 

 can never get over his election ; but the auri 

 sacra fames always carried him through. I be- 



