398 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'"i S. No 72., May 1G. '57. 



of the coats deep and open, the waists long, and 

 the plaits protruding. 



In 1779, the queen wore a hat and an Italian 

 night-gown of purple lustring, trimmed with sil- 

 ver gauze, on her visit to the Duke of Rutland. 

 (Doran's Queens, ii. 81.) 



Ladies, in Charles I.'s time, wore velvet masks, 

 besides mufflers, like modern respirators in shape, 

 and in use in Scotland two centuries before. 



Bubb Doddington went to the levee in a suit of 

 silk, with lilac waistcoat and breeches. 



Lord Kenyon wore a green coat, black velvet 

 breeches in winter, and black leather smalls in 

 summer ; and shoes, with silver buckles, on the 

 Bench. (Townsend's Judges, i. 126.) 



Mackenzie Walcott, M.A. 



Showers of Wheat (2"'^ S. ii. 289.) — I re- 

 member reading a critique on Thoresby's Diary 

 in 1830, in which the critic, before quoting the 

 extract given by F. B., said, — 



" He seems to have been made to believe in a shower 

 of corn more wonderful than the raining down of manna 

 in the wilderness." 



I remarked this especially at the time, because 

 I had previously met with a notice of a similar 

 shower, in the parish register of Ashley, Staflbrd- 

 shire, in the handwriting of Dr. John Lightfoot, 

 then rector of the parish, who was in the habit of 

 entering an account of any remarkable event in 

 his parish register, as it hajjpened, whether re- 

 lating to " lightning and tempest, plague, pesti- 

 lence, or famine." The following is the extract : 



"1G37. Circa Rowlston, viz. prope Tutburiam pliiit 

 tritico vel granis tritici. fere similibus nisi quod nigriori- 

 bus nonnihil, vidimus frequenter granula et digitis tri- 

 vimus in pulverem nigro-albicantem." 



W. T. 



Sir Thomas Cookes (2">i S. iii. 329.) — In reply 

 to the Query by R., I extract the following from 

 Noake's Rambler in Worcestershire (vol. i. p. 333.) : 



" At the left of the chancel (Tardebigg) is a handsome 

 carved marble monument to Sir Thomas Cookes, one of 

 an ancient family who had property in this parish ; he 

 was the founder of Worcester College, Oxford, and, at the 

 time of his death (1702), by his own direction was buried 

 with a gold chain and locket round his neck, and two 

 diamond rings upon his fingers. About half a century 

 afterwards, David Cookes, Esq., heir of the famih', came 

 with a hook and a pair of tongs, and, after some searching, 

 succeeded in removing these articles of jewellery. What 

 a veneration must this gentleman have had for his an- 

 cestor ! " 



Skelton (Pietas Oxoniensis, 95.) says that the 

 diamond rings were " of no great value." Skel- 

 ton says that Sir Thos. Cookes "died in 1792," a 

 misprint, of course, for 1 702, but passed over by 

 him without notice. He engraves the portrait of 

 the baronet from the picture preserved in the hall 

 of Worcester College. He also says, " We are 

 wholly without particulars worth recording re- 

 specting the personal history of this individual." 



It happens that, through marriage, Sir Thomas 

 Cookes was connected with my father's family ; 

 and I have, in this way, become possessed of some 

 particulars concerning him, which do not appear 

 to me sufficiently interesting for publication in 

 these pages, but which are at the service of any 

 correspondent who may desire them. 



I imagine that the only estate possessed by 

 Worcester College in the county of Worcester, is 

 that of Bransford, near Worcester, bequeathed in 

 1777 by Dr. Gower, the Provost of the College. 

 (See Ingram's Memorials.) Cuthceet Bede. 



King of the Romans (2"'» S. iii. 267. 312.) — 

 The Penny Cyclopcedia, art. " Germany," vol. xi. 

 p. 189., says : 



" The empei'ors of German3' assumed the title of Roman 

 emperors from the time of Otho I., who was crowned at 

 Rome in 9C2 : when a successor to the throne was elected 

 dui'ing the emperor's lifetime, he was called the King of 

 Rome." 



And Haydn {Dictionary of Dates, art. " King 

 of the Romans ") says : 



" The emperors of Germany, in order that their eldest 

 sons might be chosen their successors, in their own life- 

 time politically obtained them the title of ' King of the 

 Romans,' this people being comprehended in that sove- 

 reignty. The first emperor so elected was Henry IV. in 

 1055. Richard, brother of Henry HI. of England, was 

 induced to go to Germanj', where he disbursed vast sums 

 under the promise of being elected next emperor ; he ob' 

 tained the title of ' King of the Romans,' but failed in 

 succeeding to the imperial crown. The style ' King of 

 Rome ' was revived by Bonaparte, who conferred it on his 

 son, upon his birth, in April, 1811; but the title ceased 

 with the extinction of the dynasty of Napoleon, April 5, 

 1814." 



E. G. R. 



Appearance of a Whale (2°'^ S. iii. 246. 316.) — 

 Leaving others to discover what " mighty event " 

 may have been presaged by the cii'cumstance of 

 which I transcribe a record, I content myself with 

 bringing it before the notice of the reader in the 

 language of the chronicler : ■ 



" In her 17th year (Queen Elizabeth) a vast mighty 

 whale was cast upon Thanet Isle in Kent, 20 ells long, 

 and 13 foot broad from the Belly to the Backbone, and 11 

 foot between the eyes ; one of his Eyes being taken out of 

 his head, was more than a Cart with six Horses could draw ; 

 the Oyle being boyled out of his Head, was Parmacittee." 

 — A 'Memorial for the Learned, by J. D., 1686, p. 101. 



This was doubtless of the same species de- 

 scribed by Olaus Magnus, the eyes of which, says 

 he, — 



" Are so large that 15 men may sit in the room of each of 

 them, and sometimes 20, or more, as the beast is in quan- 

 tity. His horns are 6 or 7 foot long, and he hath 250 

 upon each eye, as hard as horn, that he can stir stiff or 

 gentle, either before or behind." — Hist, of the Goths, 

 Sivedes, and Vandals, 1658, p. 226. 



If we had not been furnished with the size of 

 such an animal, and had been left to judge '■ ex 

 oczilo Herculem," it would have been curious to 



