S08 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No.l2fi: 



'which commence on p. 111. and end at p. 160., 

 •thus concluding the volume. P. B. 



Plague Stones (Vol. v., p. 226.)-— One of these 

 stones is (I believe) still standing at Bury Saint 

 Edmunds. In a paper read to the Bury and West 

 SulFolk Arch. Inst, (vide vol. i. p. 42. of the 

 Society s Proceedings) Mr. S. Tymms says : 



" The small-pox has been a frequent visitor of Bury 

 in its most terrible forms. In 1677, says Gillingwater 

 XHist. Bury, 226.), it was so prevalent that the people 

 resorting to the market by the Rislygate R,oad, were 

 accustomed to dip their money in water (tradition 

 says vinegar) which had been placed in the cavity of the 

 ruined base of the boundary cross situate at the bottom 

 of Chalk Lane, with the view of preventing any infec- 

 tion being conveyed to the neighbouring towns and 

 villages." 



My attention has "keen frequently called to a 

 TStone of similar description standing in the parish 

 of Stuston in this county, by the side of the Ipswich 

 and Norwich turnpike; it is called in Kirby's 

 Svffolk Traveller, 1st ed. pp. 52-3., a "Stuston 

 Stone " and " The White Stone," and is nearly 

 equidistant from Diss and Eye, between two and 

 three miles. J. B. Colman. 



Melody of the Dying Swan (Vol. il., p.476., foot- 

 iiote ; Vol. v., p. 187.). — 



*' Sed neque Cygni canunt," says Leland, in his 

 Cygnea Cantio, " nisi flante zephyro vento geniali 

 quidem illo, si quicquam iEIiani judicio tribuendum." 



In the work itself, which is a poetical panegyric 

 on King Henry VIII., the following lines occur : 



" Strepitum dedit sonorum 

 Cygnorum niveus chorus canentum, 

 Concussis alacri vigore pennis. 

 Applausus placuit mihi canorus." 



The last line, however, seems only to apply to 

 the applauding sound of the wings, and not to in- 

 timate that any music was produced by them. 



C. I. R. 



Cimmerii (Vol. v., p. 188.).— The belief that 

 the Cymry are descended from Gomer can prove 

 very little as to the restlessness of those who hold 

 it ; and if it is making progress, the opinion must 

 be supported by probability : consequently a mere 

 denial will not dispel the illusion. Authors quite 

 as remarkable for their matter-of-fact opinions as 

 A. N. may be, have not rejected the connexion of 

 the Cymry with Gomer. For instance, Volney, in 

 his attacks on Scripture history, when examining 

 Gen. X. on Gomer, adopts an argument in sup- 

 port of this paternity, though not in its Biblical 

 sense, viewing Gomer as a chief. As it is not an 

 unusual circumstance for a nation to adopt the 

 name of its patriarch or founder (and on this 

 point I would refer to a note to Gibbon's Decline, 

 chap. Ixiv.), I trust I shall be excused for believ- 



ing myself descended from Gomer, until decided 

 evidence is adduced that I am not. 



Pompeius Festus I am unacquainted with ; but 

 on consulting Plutarch, in Mario, the following 

 contradictory statements may be seen : " The 

 Germans called banditti Cimbrif^ and, "Hence, 

 therefore, these barbarians who came into Italy 

 first issued ; being anciently called Cimmerii, and 

 afterwards Cimbri, and the appellation was not at 

 all from their manners.^ 



That the old Germans may have called robbers 

 Cimbri, does not prove that word implies robbers, 

 or anything of the kind ; but it indicates that the 

 intrusion of the old Germans on the lands of the 

 Cimbri caused the invaded to make reprisals on 

 the invaders ; and then the injured Germans con- 

 nected or identified the Cimbrian name with that 

 of enemy or robber. Gomee. 



Slohe (Vol. v., pp. 106. 161. 213.). — I think 

 that the towns and parishes of Tawstoch, Culm- 

 stock, Tavistock, Plymstock, Stockton on Tees, 

 Severn Stoke, Stoke in Teignhead, Stoke on Tern, 

 Stoke on Trent, must have received their names 

 from a stockade of some kind in the rivers near 

 which they are situated. There is at a ford across 

 the river Severn, about half a mile from Welsh 

 Pool, a weir made of stakes and brushwood erected 

 a few yards above the ford, for the sole purpose of 

 diminishing the force of the current, and spreading 

 the water into a stream of an uniform depth. I 

 conjecture that in ancient times the fords of our 

 larger rivers were kept in a passable state during 

 the winter season by weirs of this description, and 

 that there were fords in the rivers at the places 

 above mentioned. There is near Nuneaton the 

 chapelry of Stock in Ford, but I am not sufficiently 

 acquainted with that place to be able to conjecture 

 from what circumstance it may have d^ived its 

 name. I infer that one meaning of the word stoke 

 is wood of any kind, from the fact that the opening 

 through which coals are introduced under the larger 

 boilers in our houses is called a stoke-hole, from the 

 wood formerly used for fuel. S. S. S. (2). 



King's College Chapel Windows (Vol. v., p. 276.). 

 — See Blomefield's History of Norfolk, vol. i. 

 p. 406., and vol. ii. p. 388. At the latter reference, 

 under the head of Richard Nykke or Nix, Bishop 

 of Norwich, 1500, occurs this passage: "This 

 bishop incurred a premunire for extending his 

 jurisdiction over the Mayor of Thetford, and was 

 fined for it. With part of the fine, it is said, the 

 beautiful windows in King's College Chapel, Cam- 

 bridge, were purchased." The statement is given 

 at greater length at the first of the above-quoted 

 references. I never heard of the story before I 

 met with it in Blomefield. T. H. L. 



Mr. Blomefield, referring to Richard Nykke, 

 Bishop of Norwich (1500—1535), says he incurred 



