2°* S. No 63., Mar. 14. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



209 



Norroy, doe think to be the original MS. of the printed 

 book, called Milles's Catalogue of Honor, printed IGIO." 

 In most of the impressions extant, a portion of the letter- 

 press at p. 403. is cancelled : it contained an account of 

 the natural children of Charles Blount, Earl of Devon. 

 The large paper copies of this work are very rare; and if 

 in good condition have sold for more than 20/.] 



Members for London, their Precedence in the 

 House of Commons. — In a little 12mo. volume, 

 the title-page of which is as follows, 



" Reports of Speciall Cases touching severall Customs 

 and Liberties of the City of London. Collected by Sir 

 H. Calthrop, Knight, sometimes Recorder of London, after 

 Attorney-General of the Court of Wards, and Liveries. 

 Whereunto is annexed divers Ancient Customes and 

 Usages of the said City of London. Never before in 

 Print. London, Printed for Abel Roper, at the Sun 

 against St. Dunstan^s Church in Fleet-Street. 1655." 



Among many other MS. notes I find the follow- 

 ing: 



" The members for y« city of London have a right to 

 sit on the right-hand immediately next to the Speaker's 

 chair in the House of Commons ; and on the first day of 

 every new parliament they appear in the house in their 

 gowns of aldermen and exei'cise that privilege. They 

 are the only members of that house who have precedence." 



Did this practice ever exist ? Has it been dis- 

 continued ? and if so, when ? J. G. Morten. 



[In Mr. May's very admirable work On the Law and 

 Practice of Parliament, p. 165., we are told ; " In the 

 Commons no places are particularly allotted to members ; 

 but it is the custom for the front bench on the right hand 

 of the chair to be appropriated for the members of the 

 Administration, which is called the Treasury or Privy 

 Councillors' bench. The front bench on the opposite 

 side is also usually reserved for the leading members of 

 the Opposition who have served in high offices of state ; 

 but other members occasionally sit there, especially when 

 they have any motion to offer to the House. And on the 

 opening of a new Parliament, the members for the city 

 of London claim the privilege of sitting on the Treasury 

 or Privy Councillors' bench." And in a note Mr. May 

 adds : " In 1628 a question was raised, whether the mem- 

 bers for the city of London were ' Knights ; ' but there 

 appears to have been no decision. — Com. Journals, i. 

 894." 



Shake-hag. — 1 shall be glad if any of your cor- 

 respondents can give me particulars of this game. 

 I presume it to be one particular variety of cock- 

 fighting, but shall be glad of particulars, or refer- 

 ences as to where I can get the information. 



L.J. 



[In ^ New Dictionary, by Jon Bee, Esq. (alias J. 

 Badcock), it is stated that a " Shake-bag match, in cock- 

 fighting, is the fighting adventitiously, or guessing at 

 weights and pairing, while the fowls are still in their 

 respective bags."] 



mason's short-hand : thomas gurnet. 



(2"i S. ill. 150.) 



Mason's system of short- hand was very popular 

 in its time, and superseded Rich's. It forms the 



basis of Mr. Gurney's system, which is still used 

 in the Houses of Parliament. As Gurney's name 

 does not appear in any biographical dictionary, I 

 send what information I have been able to gather 

 respecting him. He was born in 1705, being son 

 of John Gurney and Hannah Young, his wife. He 

 practised the art of short-hand writing at London, 

 in which he became very expert, and for many 

 years wrote the Sessions Paper, containing reports 

 of the trials at the Old Bailey. In 1753 he pub- 

 lished his system of short-hand, which soon be- 

 came very popular, and ran through many editions. 

 It is still used by the parliamentary reporters, 

 and is generally considered the best that has yet 

 appeared (" N. & Q.," P' S. viii. 589.). There 

 are portraits of Mr. Gurney prefixed to various 

 editions of his Brachygraphy, and underneath, 

 the following arms : Per fesse or and az., 3 pal- 

 lets counterchanged. Crest. On a ducal coronet, 

 a lion's head. He died June 22, 1770, leaving by 

 his wife Martha Marson, a son Joseph, who fol- . 

 lowed the profession of his father, and gave the 

 public a new edition of the Brachygraphy. He 

 died at Walworth in 1815, leaving a son John, 

 who received the honour of knighthood, and be- 

 came one of the barons of the Exchequer. The 

 Messrs. Gurney still hold the appointment of 

 short-hand writers to both Houses of Parliament, 

 and also, I believe, to the Government. 



A new edition of Gurney was published in 1824, 

 by Charles Green. The system is fully noticed in 

 the London Encyclopaedia. 



Your correspondent will find in several works 

 on short-hand a brief history of the art. Harding's 

 edition of Taylor contains a list of writers on the 

 subject from 1588 to 1828, derived from the MSS. 

 of Mr. Benjamin Hanbury, a contributor to " N. 

 & Q.," who has made extraordinary collections 

 concerning short-hand. He may also consult the 

 notes to Oldys's " Life of Peter Bales," in the 

 Biographia Britannica. As to the short-hand of 

 the ancients consult Smith's Diet, of Gr. and 

 Rom.Antiq. art. " Not«, Notarii ;" Reliquice Bax- 

 teriance ; Justus Lipsius de Notis et Notariis Vete- 

 rum. Thompson Coopeb. 



Cambridge. 



CHRIST AND THE SULTAN S DAUGHTER. 



(2"'i S. iii. 163.) 



" Do you know the story 

 Of Christ and the Sultan's daughter? 

 That is the prettiest legend of them alL" 



"Where did Longfellow get this?" inquires 

 EiRiONNACH. I am acquainted with three dif- 

 ferent versions of it. One in Flemish, De Sou- 

 dans Dochter, quoted by Hoffmann in the Horce 

 Belgicce ; another in Swedish beginning, 

 " En hednisk Konungsdotter bSld 

 gick ut en morgenstunde," Sfc. ; 



