188 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2ndS. N<»62., Mar. 7. '67. 



the numerous branches of the Lancashire Town- 

 leys the " great poet " who wrote to Felton " in 

 such elevated strains " is to be referred ? 



F. R. R. 



Sir Richard BarcMey, Knt. — I shall feel greatly 

 obliged for any information, or reference to books 

 (besides those mentioned below), respecting this 

 person, who was the author of A Discourse of the 

 Felicitie of Man, or his Summum JBonum. The 

 work is dedicated to Queen Elizabeth, and in the 

 "Epistle Dedicatorle" Sir Richard alludes, no 

 less than three times, to the great favours and 

 graces he had received from her majesty. It also 

 appears that this work was the first fruits of his 

 studies, and had been written by him "some few 

 years past" for his exercise only, without any in- 

 tention of publishing it, until he heard that a copy 

 had got to the printei*'s hands unawares. In his 

 "Preface to the Reader," Sir Richard speaks of 

 his "experience of many years" in which he had 

 lived and run a great part of his race. 



My copy was published at London in 1598, and 

 was probably the first edition. Lowndes men- 

 tions two others : one in 1603, and another in 

 1631. Watt mentions only the edition of 1631 

 in his Bihliotheca Britannica. 



In the 1st vol. of the Retrospective Review is a 

 very favourable account of the work, with several 

 long extracts from it ; but they commence the 

 article by stating that they had not been able to 

 find any notice or account whatever, either of the 

 author or his book. I have searched several 

 biographical dictionaries and other works, with- 

 out being able to find more than the foregoing. 



W. H. W. T. 



Somerset House. 



Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle. — It has been 

 stated that the exact date of the death of this very 

 remarkable woman is not known. Ballard says, 

 "even her monumental inscription, where one 

 might reasonably expect it, is silent both in re- 

 . gpect to her age and the time of her death." Mr. 

 Fulmer says she died in London, Aug. 1673, and 

 was interred Jan. 1673-4, in Westminster Abbey, 

 Has any antiquary discovered any account more 

 certain? M. (4.) 



Booterstown. — The origin of the name of 

 Booterstown, a parish and village in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Dublin ? Abhba. 



Is Tobacco Injurious ? — Mr. Solley has lately 

 been lecturing before one of the medical schools 

 in London, on which occasion I believe he stated 

 that he partly accounted for the frequency of 

 paralysis in this country from the almost universal 

 use of tobacco. I think he did not state whether 

 the number of attacks of paralysis were predomi- 

 nant in the male over the female population, nor 

 whether this disease is more prevalent in Ger- 



many and Holland. The following doggrel, 

 which I heard many years ago, seems to me to 

 sum up the case as well as any other mode : 



" Tobacco Hie, Tobacco Hie, 



When you are well, 'twill make you sick ; 

 Tobacco Hie, Tobacco Hie, 

 T'will make you loell when you are eick." 



J. Lloyd Phklps. 



Lee Crescent, Edgbaston. 



Peasant Costume of the Early Part of the 15th 

 Century. — Would any reader of "N. & Q." oblige 

 me with a few hints upon this subject ? Karl. 



" Commatice." — In what part of Jerome's 

 writings may I find a passage, in which he cau- 

 tions the Christian against reading Scripture com' 

 malice ? adding, " Sed consideret priora, media, 

 et sequentia." Abhba. 



" CymhaV — Is the instrument so named from 

 its having been struck in the temple, and in 

 honour of the "Lord Sun?" The cymbal too 

 clanged lustily at the celebration of the rites of 

 Cybele ; but the ordinary derivation of the name 

 is from (cv^ugos, " hollow." J. Doran. 



" Cooh your Goose" — In Rabelais, in. ch. xxx., 

 Panurge says, inviting HIppothadee to a feast : 

 " And if we eat a goose, my wife shall not cook 

 it for me." Can this expression have anything to 

 do with the vulgar phrase above ? Vjehnaculab. 



Barnacles and Spectacles. — What is the real 

 difference between these two words ? I have 

 always thought them identical, but they evidently 

 were not considered so by Sir Thomas Urquhart : 

 for, in his curious translation of Rabelais (book v. 

 ch. xxvii.), he says : " They had barnacles on the 

 handles of their faces, or spectacles at most." In 

 the original French, the phrase is simply " bezicles 

 au nez." Opticus. 



St. Boniface's Cup. — This proverb is explained 

 in the curious book Ebrietatis Encomium (cap. 11.) 

 by a legend that Pope Boniface instituted indul- 

 gences for those who should drink a cup after 

 grace. It is further explained in a postscript, 

 that this cup was to his own memory, or that of 

 the Pope for the time being, under the phrase 

 " au ban pere^' from whence comes our English 

 word a bumper. Can any reader of "N. & Q." 

 throw any light on this ? A. A. 



Portrait of John Henderson. — In "N. & Q." (P' 

 S. X. 26.) you kindly printed a communication 

 from me on the subject of "John Henderson," 

 which I had great hopes would have produced 

 some interesting information concerning him, in 

 which I have been disappointed, although I was 

 glad to see by a Note, a month or two ago, that 

 others are interested in it besides myself. My 



