258 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



i;2r.d s. Ifo 65., Mar. 58. '57* 



Yarmouth. The following extract from Palmer's 

 History of Yarmouth, ii. 1.39., will be acceptable 

 to A. S. : 



"In the church is still preserved a curious seat, or 

 chair, formed by the bone of a whale. It was formerly 

 placed at the church gate, under the old guild hall ; and, 

 according to Hone, acquired the title of the ' Devil's 

 Seat.' In 1606, we find a charge of 8s. for painting it : 

 probably on the demolition of the old Guild Hall, it was 

 brought into the church, where it now remains, near the 

 great west door." 



J. W. DiBOUL. 



Great Yarmouth. 



Margaret Duchess of Newcastle (2°'* S. iii. 188.) 



— In the AthencB Oxonienses, by Bliss, vol. iv., 

 col. 755., it is said of Walter Charlton : 



"And [he] hath translated into Latin Guliehni Ducis 

 Novicastrensis Vita, Lond. 1668, fol., originally written in 

 English by Margaret, the second wife of the said Duke 

 of Newcastle, daughter of Thomas Lucas of Colchester. 

 Esq., and sister to John Lord Lucas : which Margaret 

 dying on the loth of Dec. 1673, aged 50 years, was buried 

 on the 7th of January * following in a vault in the north- 

 cross isle of the Abbey Church of St. Peter in West- 

 minster. Her husband, sirnamed Cavendish, whose life 

 was written by her, while he was living, dyed in the 

 latter end of Dec. 1676, aged 83 f, and was buried in the 

 same vault by his dutchess : over which was soon after 

 put a noble and splendid monument." 



Should your correspondent M. (4) require It, 

 he will find more particulars of the duke in Banks' 

 Extinct Baronage, vol. iii. pp. 547, 548.; also 

 in Keepe's Monumenta Westmonasteriensia, Lond. 

 1682, 12mo., pp. 182—184. D. B. 



18. Regent Square. 



" Dear Sir,'' or « My dear Sir " (2"'^ S. iii. 149.) 



— I have never felt any doubt as to the latter 

 being the more friendly address, and not suited 

 to any but intimate acquaintance. But as the 

 opinion of an individual, and especially of an 

 anonymous one, can have but little weight, I will 

 add that in Horace Walpole's letters, if I am not 

 greatly mistaken, a letter from him may be found 

 in which he complains of the familiarity of a com- 

 parative stranger addressing him as " My dear 

 Sir." I have not the book at hand to refer to. 



Stylites. 



''As Deep as the North Star"(2'^ S. ii. 307.) — 

 In Norfolk the comparison for cunning is " As 

 deep as Chelsea," or " As deep as Chelsea Reach." 

 I asked an old lady, who said in my hearing that 

 her cat was as deep as Chelsea, what or where 

 Chelsea was ; but all she knew about it was, that 

 •' it was a saying like." E. G. R. 



The First Brick Building in England (2"'^ S. 

 iii. 30. 95.) — An interesting specimen of early 



* As in the Abbey Register. 



t The Abbey Register gives 22nd Jan. 1676-7, as the 

 date of the duke's burial. 



English brickwork exists at Repton, Derbyshire. 

 It is an ancient brick tower, part of the ancient 

 priory of Repingdon, and supposed to have been the 

 separate dwelling of the abbot. It was built, pro- 

 bably, as early as the reign of Henry V., and when 

 I saw it, some ten years since, was in excellent pre- 

 servation. An engraving of the tower, accom- 

 panying a short history of Repton and its Priory, 

 may be seen in the Topographer, vol. ii. 1790. 



Edward F. Rimbadjlt. 



Exchequer (2"'' S. iii. 231.) — I think a refer- 

 ence to " N. & Q.," 1'* S. x. 32., where an ex- 

 tract is given from Dr. Lardner's Arithmetic, 

 would almost settle the question respecting the 

 derivation of the word Exchequer. Tliat a 

 mode of calculation, by a board divided into 

 squares, and thence called a chequer table, was 

 formerly practised, is evident from the following 

 extract from the Journal of the Proceedings of 

 the Corporation of Boston : 



" 1556. Resolved, that neither any of the 12, or of the 

 18, shall touch the Check Table, under a fine of 12 pence 

 for each transgression." 



The 12 and the 18 alluded to were the 12 

 aldermen and the 18 common councillors, of which 

 the corporation consisted. Can any of the readers 

 of " N. & Q." state what was the mode of calcula- 

 tion used ? PisHEY Thompson. 



Stoke Newington. 



Bishop Lamplugh (2'^^ S. iii. 190.) — In addi- 

 tion to the works mentioned, Bishop Lamplugh 

 published a tract entitled : 



"A Letter from the Bishops to be sent along with his 

 Majesty's Letters Patents for a general collection toward 

 relief of the Protestants who have been forced to fly from 

 Ireland, driven from their houses and possessions by the 

 Enemies of our Religion and Country; and therefore 

 exciting the people to liberal charity." London, 1689. 



J. D. S. 



" Pull Devil, pull Baker (2"'» S. iii. 228.) — A 

 favourite slide for the magic lantern, years ago, 

 was illustrative of this phrase — perhaps the phrase 

 itself may have originated from some such an illus- 

 tration. The first scene is the baker's oven ; the 

 second, the baker detected in making short weight ; 

 in the third the devil comes and carries off the 

 baker's bread and bag of ill-gotten wealth ; then 

 comes the fourth, in which the baker, in pursuit 

 of his treasure, overtakes the devil, and grasping 

 him tightly by the tail, it is " pull Devil, pull 

 Baker," backwards and forwards, till the baker is 

 pulled off the scene, and, in the next, appears 

 packed in his own basket and strapped on the 

 devil's back, carried rapidly forwards to the fear- 

 ful end of his career. W. T. 



Twins (2°'» S. iii. 235.) — In reply to M. D. 

 respecting twins of different sexes both having 

 children, of which, he says, he does not know 



