304 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 126. 



he bid eight pounds, he was not so fortunate as to 

 obtain it. Thus far all is simple and clear enough. 

 But then Mr. Haggard subsequently informs us 

 (Vol. iii., p. 307.) that the reason of his " being 

 so desirous to procure this copy" was, because it 

 was " not only bound in vellum, but was printed 

 on that article" — that is, as I understand it, be- 

 cause it was not the copy bound by Woodfall for 

 Junius. I am at a loss to reconcile these state- 

 ments. However, as I observe by the periodicals 

 that Mr. Haggard's first statement is getting into 

 circulation, and that it now assumes this form 

 — that the vellum-bound copy of Junius presented 

 by Woodfall to Junius was sold at the Stowe sale, 

 I think it right to state, that the Stowe copy, 

 printed on and bound in vellum, was, as I am in- 

 formed on good authority, not the edition of 1772 

 — not a Woodfall edition at all — but the common 

 illustrated edition, printed more than thirty years 

 after, by Bensley, for Vernor and Hood. V. B. J. 



_ Sept (Vol. v., p. 277.). — Dr. Ogilvie's deriva- 

 tion is absurdly far-fetched. Sept is notoriously 

 from the Latin septus or septum, inclosed, an in- 

 closure, and it is applied to one kindred or family 

 living in or round the inclosure in which they 

 herded their cattle. See Spenser's Ireland; see 



also Cole's Dictionary : | 



" Sept, an inclosure; the multitude of the same name 

 in Ireland." 



In ancient Rome certain classes of voters were 

 called Septs, from the septa or inclosures in which 

 they were arranged. C. 



Many Children (Vol. v., p. 204.). — ^I am indebted 

 to the Rev. J. Sanford, formerly preacher at the 

 Rolls chapel, for the subjoined curious statement, 

 which you may add, if you please, to the instances 

 of female fecundity already recorded in your 

 pages. 



The Marchese Frescobaldi, the representative 

 of one of the most ancient Florentine families, is 

 still possessed of a portrait of his ancestress, DIo- 

 nora Salvlati, wife of Bartolomeo Frescobaldi of 

 the same house. She gave birth to fifty-two 

 children, never less than three at a time; and there 

 is a tradition in the family that she once had six, 

 and that twelve were reared. The portrait was 

 painted by the celebrated Bionzino, who died in 

 1570, and has recorded the remarkable circum- 

 stance in the following inscription placed under 

 the picture, and in some degree has thus made 

 himself responsible for the authenticity of the 

 story : — ■ 



" Dionora Salviatl moglie di Bartolomeo dei Fras- 

 cobaldi, fece 52 figli, e mai meno di tre per parto, come 

 riferesce Gio. Schenzio nei libri delle osservazioni ami- 

 rabili, cioe nel Ubro quarto de Parto a carta 144." 



Braybrooke. 



Relative to extraordinary births, I may mention 

 that within half a dozen miles of this city, and not 



more than six weeks since, a poor woman gave 

 birth to four children, two of each sex, and all, 

 with the mother, doing well. Some millions are 

 born without such, as I may term it, a phe- 

 nomenon. 



In a very late Brussells paper I find it stated, 

 that in nine years the wife of a tradesman had 

 twenty-four children, three on each delivery, — 

 " chose desesperante (It is added) pour le marl, 

 qui deslralt transmettre son nom, car c'etaient 

 toutes des fiUes." Mercier, in his Tableau de 

 Paris (1786) quotes VHistoire de V Academic des 

 Sciences of the preceding century for a similar 

 fact, where it is asserted that a baker's wife had 

 twenty-one children in seven years, three at each 

 birth, and that he had again three children at a 

 birth by a servant maid. J. R. (Cork.) 



Hog's Norton (Vol. v., p. 245.). — Your corre- 

 spondent who writes from Ashby-de-la-Zouch 

 will, it is probable, be surprised to find that Hogs 

 Norton is almost in his own immediate neighbour- 

 hood. In Curtis' Topographical History of Lei- 

 cestershire (printed, by-the-bye, at Ashby), he 

 subjoins to the modern names of places the ancient 

 names as found In Domesday Book, Inquisltiones 

 post mortem, &c. It appears that Norton juxta 

 Twycross was in other days " Nortone, Hoggenor- 

 tone. Hog's Norton." There is, then, no doubt as 

 to which of the many Nortons in England is Hog's 

 Norton : but whether there is now, or ever was, 

 an organ in the church ; or whether a Mr. Pigge, 

 or any number of pigs, played on one there, I 

 know not. S. S. S. 



CromwelVs Skull (Vol. v., p. 275.).— Your cor- 

 respondent J. P., who inquires in your last re- 

 specting the identity of a certain skull with that 

 of Oliver Cromwell, will find valuable information 

 on the subject in an article in the fifth volume of 

 the Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science 

 (1848), entitled — 



" Historical Notes concerning certain Illnesses, the 

 Death, and Dis-interment of Oliver Cromwell, by 

 W. White Cooper, F.R.C.S." 



This article is very ably written, and throws 

 much light on a vexed question. Antiquarius. 

 Athenasum. 



Eliza Penning (Vol. v., pp. 105. 161.).— It is 

 long after the " N. & Q." are published that I get 

 sifht of a number, or I should have urged (what 

 may probably have been already done) the very 

 great importance of obtaining from the workhouse, 

 or wherever else in Suffolk or Essex it can be 

 obtained, an authentication of the report by Tur- 

 ner, that he was the poisoner of the family in 

 Chancery Lane, for which crime Eliza Penning was 

 executed. One would hope that a question of s..> 

 much and such serious moment would not be 



