382 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 129. 



1829. The narrative was written in the old 

 French, at Copenhagen. The original is still pre- 

 served in the Royal Library of the Castle of 

 Drottningholm in Sweden. Bothwell wrote it on 

 " la vielle des Roys," 1568, and appears to have 

 given it to the Chevalier de Dauzay, the French 

 ambassador, to be communicated to the King of 

 Denmark. Dauzay received it on the 13th of 

 January, 1568, and placed it before the ministers 

 of the King on the 16th of January. M. Mignet, 

 in his history, throws discredit on this confession, 

 styling it " a very adroit narrative" {I! Histoire de 

 Marie Stuart, vol. i. appendix n.) ; though such a 

 self-crimination, at such a time, would seem to 

 any impartial mind to weigh strongly in fiivour of 

 the ill-fated young queen, whose character it tends 

 to exculpate. F. S. A. 



Introduction of Glass into England (Vol. v., 

 p. 322.). — It is impossible to determine at what 

 period the use of glass utensils for domestic pur- 

 poses was first introduced into this country ; but 

 being manufactured by the Egyptians and Phoeni- 

 cians, we may very probably owe the introduction 

 of it to them. Window glass appears to have been 

 used in the churches of France as early as the sixth 

 century ; and, according to Bede, artificers skilled 

 in the art of glass-making were invited into 

 England by Abbot Benedict in the seventh cen- 

 tury ; and the churches or monasteries of Wear- 

 mouth and Garrow were glazed and adorned by 

 his care. Wilfrid, Bishop of Worcester, about the 

 same time took similar steps for substituting glass 

 in lieu of the heavy shutters which were then in 

 use ; and great astonishment was excited, and 

 supernatural agency suspected, when the moon and 

 stars were seen through a material which excluded 

 the inclemency of the weather. York Cathedral 

 was glazed about the same time ; and in the 

 eleventh and twelfth centuries, when a great sti- 

 mulus was given to the erection of religious edifices, 

 glass was generally employed in the windows. It 

 appears to have been used in domestic architecture 

 but very sparingly, till a much later period, when 

 it came to be gradually adopted in the residences 

 of the wealthy. As late as the middle of the six- 

 teenth century it was recommended, in a survey of 

 the Duke of Northumberland's estates, that the 

 glass in the windows should be taken down, and 

 laid by in safety during the absence of the Duke 

 and his family, and be replaced on his return ; as 

 this would be attended with smaller cost than the 

 repair rendered necessary by damage or decay. 

 In Ray's Itinerary it is mentioned that in Scotland, 

 even in 1661, the windows of ordinary houses were 

 not glazed, and those only of the principal cham- 

 bers of the King's palaces had glass; the lower 

 ones being supplied with shutters, to admit light 

 and air at pleasure. 



Plate glass for mirrors and coach windows was 

 introduced into England by the second Duke of 



Buckingham, who brought over workmen from 

 Venice, and established a manufactory at Lambeth, 

 where the works were carried on successfully 

 according to the process in use at Venice. 



The first manufactory for cast plate glass, 

 according to the process invented by Abraham 

 Thevart, was established in 1773, at Prescot in 

 Lancashire, by a society of gentlemen, to whom a 

 royal charter was granted, under the name of the 

 " British Plate Glass Company." D. M. 



Maps of Africa (Vol. v., p. 236.). — As your 

 correspondent has no faith in Spruner, but appears 

 to have confidence in Kiepert, it may serve him to 

 be informed that there is a General Map of Africa 

 by Kiepert published in 1850, and thatDrs. Barth 

 and Overweg, the travellers in Africa, have this 

 map with them : also, that Kiepert published a 

 map of Algiers, Fez, and Morocco, Tunis, Tripoli, 

 &c. There is also another map by Kiepert, of 

 the Roman Empire in the first centuries of the 

 Christian era, which includes the northern coast of 

 Africa. S. W. 



CromwelVs Skull (Vol. v., p. 275.). — In answer 

 to J. P., I beg to inform him that the skull of 

 Cromwell is in the possession of W. A. Wilkinson, 

 Esq., of Beckenham, Kent, at whose house a rela- 

 tion of mine saw it. I have no doubt that Mr. 

 Wilkinson would feel pleasure in stating the argu- 

 ments on which the genuineness of the interesting 

 relic is based. L- W. 



NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC. 



The publication of The Works of Sir Thomas Browne^ 

 vol. iii., containing " Urn Burial," " Christian Morals," 

 " Miscellanies," " Correspondence," &c., edited by 

 Simon Wilkins, completes this important contribu- 

 tion to Bohn's Antiquarian Library. We could have 

 wished that it had not been included in this series, 

 for we fear that circumstance may deter many from 

 purchasing it ; and the writings of Browne may still 

 be read by all with interest and advantage, for, 

 "of the esteem of posterity," said Johnson, "he will 

 not easily be deprived, while learning shall have any 

 reverence among men; for there is no science in 

 which he does not discover some skill ; and scarce any 

 kind of knowledge, profane or sacred, abstruse or ele- 

 gant, which he does not appear to have cultivated with 

 success ;" and these writings, with Mr. Wilkins's notes, 

 may now be placed upon our shelves for fifteen shil- 

 lings ! 



If, when speaking of the discovery of electro-mag- 

 netism by Professor Oersted, Sir John Herschel did 

 not hesitate to declare "that the Electric Telegraph, 

 and other wonders of modern science, were but mere 

 effervescences from the surface of this deep recondite 

 discovery which Oersted had liberated, and which was 

 yet to burst with all its mighty force upon the world," 

 he paid only a just compliment to the merits of the 

 great physicist — and he really did no more — it is ob- 



