246 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2«i S. No 66., Mar. 28. '57. 



One of the descendants of the Nonjurors re- 

 ferred to — that meek and venerated man, the 

 Rev. Thomas Bowdler — died on Nov. 12, 1856, 

 whose library contained many valuable papers il- 

 lustrative of the history of these remarkable men, 

 as did also that of the late Rev. H. H. Norris of 

 South Hackney. Has the library of " the gentle- 

 man of Bath, who bears the respected name of 

 Hickes," been dispersed ? 



In 1692-3, James II. sent over to the deprived 

 bishops for a list of those clergymen who had 

 suffered for not taking the new oaths ; and, ac- 

 cordingly, as correct a list as could be formed 

 was drawn up, and Dean Hickes deputed to carry 

 it over to His Majesty. Is this list extant in any 

 public or private library ? Or is that the identical 

 list printed in the Appendix to the Memoirs of 

 Mr. John Kettlewell, No. VI., which appears pro- 

 bable, as that work, as stated on the title-page, 

 was " compiled from the collections of Dr. George 

 Hickes and Robert Nelson, Esq." The same list, 

 differing only in some few names, is also printed 

 in Bowles's Life of Bishop Ken. J. Yeowbll 



WHAT IS PORTENDED BY THE APPEABANCE OF A 

 WHALE IN A BIVER? 



Evelyn was a man who made "Notes" in his 

 day ; and, among them, there is one entered in 

 his JDiary, under the date of June 3, 1658. He 

 says : — 



" A large whale was taken abutting on the Thames 

 and Greenwich, which drew an infinite concourse to see 

 it, by water, horse, coach, and on foot, from London and 

 all parts. It appeared first below Greenwich, at low 

 ' water, for at high water it would have destroj'ed all the 

 boats; but lying now in shallow water, encompassed by 

 boats, after a long conflict, it was killed with a harpoon." 



On September 3 of the same year, Evelyn 

 makes another note, to this effect : " Died that 

 arch-rebel Oliver Cromwell, called Protector." 

 He does not note any connexion between the 

 above two incidents. The Turkish Spy, however, 

 does. In a letter, dated "Paris, 5th of the 10th 

 Moon, 1658," and addressed to Achmet Padishani 

 Culligiz Bassa, he (Mr. Manley, Dr. Midgeley, or 

 John Paul Marana ?) says : — 



" But that which yet makes a greater noise is the death 

 of Oliver the Protector of the English Commonwealth, 

 who, whilst living, was the terror of all Europe. The 

 superstitious say this was presaged three months ago ; 

 when a great whale, nine times as long as a tall man," 

 [by the way, Evelyn states the length at fifty-eight feet] 

 " was taken in a river of England near the capital city, 

 forty (sic) miles from the sea. It seems the annals of 

 that nation take notice, that the unusual appearance of a 

 whale so far within land has always prognosticated some 

 mighty change. Perhaps," [adds The Spi/, with a bold 

 suggestiveness which shows that he had not read a book 

 which had appeared twelve years before, namely, the 

 Enquirrj into Vulgar and Common Errors, by Thomas 



Browne, who was then practising at Norwich,] "the fate 

 of illustrious personages affects nature with more than 

 ordinary passion, puts the elements into a disorder, and 

 inspires the brutes with sympathy." 



What portion of our national annals takes 

 notice of the appearance of a whale up a river 

 being the prognosticator of some mighty change ? 



J. DOBAN. 



Earl of Melfort. — In the Literary Journal, 

 1745, p. 219., the following work is announced as 

 published : 



"A Collection of Papers, or the Negociations of J. 

 Drummond, Earl of Melfort, Secretary of State to 

 James II. since his abdication. Fol., 2 vols." 



Was this work ever published ? and if ye?, 

 what is the exact title ? E. ]M. 



Aristophanes and St. Chrysostom. — What is the 

 authority for the assertion that St. John of Con- 

 stantinople used to sleep with Aristophanes' Plays 

 under his pillow. I am afraid it is a myth ; but I 

 wish to know where it originated. I must say, 

 however, that in addition to my reverence for the 

 eloquent saint, I have so much liking for the witty 

 sinner, that I should be glad to think that it was 

 true. William Fbaseb, B. C. L. 



Alton, Staffordshire. 



Portrait of Edward Cave, the original Sylvanus 

 Urban. — A large picture, inscribed " E. C. ^E*. 

 52. S. U.," was existing at Birmingham, Leaming- 

 ton, or elsewhere in that neighbourhood, about 

 thirty years ago, when the late Mr. Bissett, pro- 

 prietor of the library or museum at Leamington, 

 made a pencil sketch of it. Anyone who will state 

 where it is now preserved will much oblige 



John Gough Nichols. 



" Querimonia Ecclesice." — Can any of your 

 correspondents inform me who was the author of 

 the Querimonia Ecclesice, and what is known of his 

 other labours, and of his history ? 



Parker, in his Politeia Ecclesiastica, designates 

 him as " Lous." Quoting, for instance, p. 23., the 

 Querimonia Ecclesice, p. 164., he says, "Plus vero 

 fervet imo furit Lous." M. W. J. A. 



Burials betwixt Planks. — At a place called the 

 " Nunnery," near Horsham, formerly owned and 

 inhabited by a friend of mine, twelve skeletons in 

 good preservation were discovered and dug up 

 under the floor of the kitchen. They were sup- 

 posed to have been the bodies of nuns — for it was 

 formerly a religious house — and they were found 

 lying in orderly arrangement, each body stretched 

 out betwixt two planks of wood, without any side 

 boards, or other kind of coffin. W^as this a com- 

 mon mode of burial in olden time ? 



Alfred Gattv. 



