Mar. 6. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



227 



off the coast of Hispaniola in 1687? and where 

 can the full particulars of that adventure be met 

 with ? J. E. T. 



Authorship of the Song " Oh Nanny ^'' Sfc. — A 

 question as to the nationality, if not the authorship, 

 of this celebrated song was discussed (if I remember 

 aright) not long ago in letters printed in one of 

 the literary periodicals, probably the Gentleman's 

 Magazine, but I have not a reference at hand. It 

 may be, that the facts I am about to mention were 

 adverted to in that discussion, and that the words 

 are admitted to be of English origin, and to have 

 been written by Dr. Percy, yet I am induced to 

 send you this communication. In the drawing- 

 room at Ecton House, the mansion of Sam. Isted, 

 Esq., at Ecton, a village about five miles from 

 Iforthampton, there was, in 1814, a portrait of the 

 wife of Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore (father 

 of Mrs. Isted), holding in her hand a scroll, on 

 which is the celebrated song " Oh Nanny ! " she 

 being the original, and the lines having been ad- 

 dressed to her before marriage by the bishop. 

 (^Account of a Tour, ^c, published in the Scar- 

 borough Repository, by Cole, 1824.) 



Perhaps some correspondent of yours in that 

 vicinity would kindly say whether the picture 

 remains at Ecton; or, if not, what has become of it? 

 > W. S. G. 



Newcastle-on-Tyne. 



Hexameter Poem on English Counties. — Will 

 any of your correspondents be kind enough to 

 furnish me with a copy of a poem in hexameter 

 verse, and in an abbreviated form, enumerating 

 the shires or counties in England ? In my early 

 days it was very common in public schools, and I 

 am enabled to give a portion of one verse, viz. : — 



" Dev. Dors. Gi. Oxfo. Buck. Hart, Ess." 



M. 

 Dublin. 



Wild Oats, Origin of the Phrase. — Can any of 

 your correspondents favour me with the origin 

 and definition of the phrase " To sow your wild 

 oats?" It has never been very clear to me why 

 *' oats " should be the grain selected as emble- 

 matical of the dissipations and excesses of youth. 

 They constitute the food of the inhabitants of the 

 poorest regions only, and where the absence of all 

 aid from climate and sunshine, renders almost un- 

 ceasing toil necessary, in order to obtain a meagre 

 subsistence. 



The " oat " appears to me so little the com- 

 panion of luxury and pleasure, that I am wholly 

 at a loss to account for the origin of this phrase, 

 which is in the mouth of every one. 



Beau Nash. 



Bath. 



The Dr. Richard Mortons. — T shall feel greatly 

 indebted to any reader of " N. & Q." who can give 



me some account of Dr. Richard Morton, a cele- 

 brated physician of Greenwich, temp. William and 

 Mary, and of his son Dr. Richard Morton, who 

 died in 1730. Were they descended from the" 

 Mortons of Severn Stoke, co. Worcester ? and 

 what was the precise degree of their relationship 

 with the Mortons of Slaugham, co. Sussex ? 



Mark Antony Lower. 



General Lambert (Vol. iv., p. 339.).— A corre- 

 spondent shows the probability or certainty that 

 the hitherto received opinion as to the long con- 

 finement and death in Guernsey of this old par- 

 liamentary general is not correct. But Mr. 

 Hallara and others who report this, report also 

 that he was tried with Sir Harry Vane ; and that 

 his " submissive behaviour" was such a contrast 

 to that of his noble fellow-prisoner that it perhaps 

 influenced his sentence. Where is the proof of 

 his behaviour to be found ? Vane's trial has been 

 published separately. It is also in the State 

 Trials, with the trials of the regicides ; but neither 

 there nor elsewhere can I find the trial of Lam- 

 bert. G. L. 



Cross-legged Effigies and Collars of SS. — As 

 some of your correspondents are sending to 

 " N. & Q." accounts of sepulchral effigies bearing 

 SS. collars, I should be obliged to them if they 

 would mention when such effigies are cross-legged- 

 Does any effigy in this attitude exist bearing a 

 date as late as 1350 ? W. H. K. 



The Crooked Billet. — Can any of your readers 

 inform me whether there be any legend connected 

 with the "Crooked Billet," which is frequently 

 used in this neighbourhood as a sign to a village 

 inn ? The sign itself is formed of a crooked piece 

 of wood, or two or three pieces joined, and sus- 

 pended over the door of the public-house, T. D. 



Gainsbro'. 



Collins the Poet, and his Ode on the Music of 

 the Grecian Theatre. — In Seward's Anecdotes of 

 distinguished Persons there is a letter from Collins 

 to Dr. Hayes, professor of music, Oxford, in which, 

 after alluding to his " Ode on the Passions," he 

 mentions another Ode, which appears to have been 

 actually written. 



" The subject," he states, "is the Music of the Grecian 

 Theatre, in which," he goes on to say, " I have, I hope 

 naturally, introduced the various characters with which 

 the chorus was concerned, as CEdipus, Medea, Electra, 

 Orestes, &c. &c. The composition too is probably 

 more correct, as I have chosen the ancient tragedies for 

 my models, and only copied the most affecting passages 

 in them." 



The letter is dated " Chichester, November 8, 

 1750." Collins died in 1756. The Ode is lost; 

 but assuredly every effort should be made to bring 

 it to light. Smintheus. 



