Har. 20. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



289 



daughters only lived to be women, but forty-six sons 

 attained to man's estate. In 1630, Joseph Delavel, 

 Esq., of Northumberland, rode thirty miles beyond 

 Edinburgh, to be satisfied of the truth of tliis account, 

 when he found the man and woman both living ; but 

 at that time had no children abiding with them. Sir 

 John Bowes and three other gentlemen having, at 

 diflferent periods, taken each ten in order to bring them 

 up ; the rest also being disposed of. Three or four of 

 them were at that period (1630) at Newcastle.' — 

 European Magazine, Dec. 1786." 



But, of course, the question still arises, can this 

 wonderful instance be recognised as " a well- 

 attested fact ? " K. S. F. 



Perth. 



In Wanley's Wonders of the Little Moral World 

 (London, 1806), vol. i. p. 76., will be found 

 several instances of numerous families by one 

 mother ; in one case (No. 27.) fifty-seven chil- 

 dren ; and in another (No. 6.), no less than 

 seventy- three! Your correspondent can refer to 

 the authorities, which are also given. Tiie au- 

 thenticity of one of the cases mentioned (No. 23.) 

 will probably be easily ascertained, as it is said to 

 be the copy of an inscription in the churchyard of 

 Heydon in Yorkshire, to the following effect : — 



" Here lieth the body of William Strutton of Pad- 

 rington, buried the 18th of May, 1734, aged ninety- 

 seven, who had by his first wife twenty-eight children, 

 and by a second wife seventeen ; was father to forty- 

 five, grandfather to eighty-six, great-grandfather to 

 ninety-seven, and great-great-grandfather to twenty- 

 three — in all 251." — Gent. Mag. Aug. 1731. 



There appeal's to be some mistake in the re- 

 ference, and I may mention that I have not been 

 able to find the epitaph in Mr. Urban's pages 

 with the assistance of the general index.* E. N. 



Reeve and Muggleton (Vol. v., pp. 80. 236.). — 

 One of the handsomest quartos of our day, both in 

 typography and engravings, is. Two Systems of 

 Astronomy : first, the Newtonian System . . . se- 

 cond, the System in accordance with the Holy Scrip- 

 tures .... by Isaac Frost, London, 4to., 1846 

 (Simpkin and Marshall). This work is Muggle- 

 tonian, and contains some extracts from The 

 Divine Looking- Glass of the Third Testament of 

 our Lord Jesus Christ, by Reeve and Muggleton. 

 I request your readers to draw no inference from 

 the letter with which I sign my communications. 



M. 



Slack Book of Paisley (Vol. v., pp. 201.). — In 

 reply to Aberdoniensis, I beg to inform him that 

 the "Maitland Club" {Glasgow) circulated as the 

 contribution of the Earl of Glasgow in the year 

 1832 a very handsome volume, entitled Registrum 

 Monasterii de Passelet, m.c.lxtii — m.d.xxix. to 

 which there was prefixed an highly interesting 



r* It occurs in the October number of 1734, p. 571. 

 — £d.] 



prefatory notice and illustrative notes, in which it 

 is there stated — 



" That it may be proper to correct a popular mistake 

 regarding another record connected with the Monastery 

 of Paisley. The Black Book of Paisley, quoted by 

 Buchanan and our earlier historians, and which (having 

 disappeared) was raised by later antiquaries into undue 

 importance as a distinct and original chronicle, was 

 nothing more than a copy of Fordun { Scoticlironicon)^ 

 with Bowers' Continuation. It appears to have been 

 acquired by Thomas Lord Fairfax, but when Gale and 

 Hearne wrote, had already been deposited in the Royal 

 Library, where it is still preserved. (13. E. X.) 

 Hearne particularly notices the inscription on this 

 volume: ' Iste liber est Sancti Jacobi et Sancti Mirini 

 de Pasleto.' — Prcefatio ad Fordun, p. ixvi," 



T. G. S. 

 Edinburgh. 



Pasquinades (Vol. v., p. 200.). — I have had 

 these Italian lines in my MS. book for many years 

 as an " Epigram on Bonaparte's Legion of Honor." 

 If of earlier date, and another origin, they have 

 been made good use of by the would-be wits of 

 the day, as a quiz upon Napoleon's honorary 

 badge. Hermes; 



Elegy on Coleman (Vol. v., p. 137.). — The 

 Elegy on Coleman I have seen paraphrased or 

 travestied, and thus attributed to Dryden, who, 

 not being able to pay his wine-merchant's bill,, 

 was told, on dining with this creditor, in the ex- 

 hilaration of his cups, that if he (Dryden) would 

 improvise four lines expressive of pleasure to God, 

 to the Devil, to the World, and to the Merchant, 

 the debt would be forgiven. Instantly, therefore, 

 the poet extemporised the following verses, sufli- 

 ciently redolent of their inspiring source : 



" God is pleased when we abstain from sin ; 

 The devil is pleas'd when we remain therein ; 

 The world is pleas'd with good wine. 

 And you're pleased when I pay for mine." 



J. E. 



Cork. 



Liber Conformitatum, Sfc. (Vol. v., p. 202.). — On 

 the Liber Conformitatum, I confidently assert, from 

 accurate inquiry, that no edition preceded that of 

 1510, nor is there any authority for the alleged one 

 of Venice. A long account of this most dlsedify- 

 ing volume will be found in Demure sPibliograpkie 

 Instructive, No. 4540. I am in possession of the 

 second edition in 1511, perfectly identical in the 

 text. Its absurdity is equal to its obvious, though 

 not intended, blasphemy ; for it is written in 

 genuine simplicity of design. I have likewise the 

 Alcorand des Cordeliers, with the second book by 

 Conrad Badius, the son of Jodocus Badius Ascen- 

 cius, a native of Belgium, but one of the early 

 Parisian printers, and author himself of various 

 works. The title of my edition of the Alcoran^ 

 printed at Geneva, 1575, difiersfrom that of 1586, 



