Apbil 24. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



393 



the first edition of Holinsbed's Chronicles of Eng- 

 land, ^c, 1577, where at p. 119. the writer says : 



" Agayne touching the number of dayes in every 

 moneth : 



" ' Junius, Aprilis, Septemq ; Novemq ; tricenos 

 Unu plus reliqut, Februv tenet octo vicenos, 

 At si bissextus fuerit superadditur units,' 

 " ' Thirty dayes hath November, 

 Aprill, June and September, 

 Twentie and eyght hath February alone, 

 And all the rest thirty and one, 

 But in the leape you must adde one.'" 



A, Geatan. 



FOLK LORE. 



The Frog. — In the north of Lincolnshire the 

 sore mouth with which babies are often troubled is 

 called the frog. And it is a common practice with 

 mothers to hold a real live frog by one of its hind 

 legs, and allow it to sprawl about within the 

 mouth of a child so afflicted. Is the same re- 

 markable custom known elsewhere ? 



The disease is properly called the thrush, and 

 bears some resemblance to the disorder of the 

 same name which affects the frog of the horse's 

 foot. I wish some one would unravel this entan- 

 glement. W. S. 



North Lincolnshire. 



An Oath in Court (Vol. iv., pp. 151. 214).— 

 Some time since, a woman refused to be sworn 

 because she was in the family way. In The Times 

 of the 5th March, a woman at Chelmsford is re- 

 presented as having said : " I swear this positively 

 on tlie condition I am in, being about to become a 

 mother ? " 



Can anybody explain these facts ? A. C. 



St. Clemenfs and St. Thomas's Day. — I wish to 

 inquire what is supposed to be the origin of 

 begging apples, &c., on St. Clement's Day, and 

 money (formerly wheat) on St. Thomas's ? There 

 is hardly any trace left of the former saint's day 

 in this neighbourhood (Worcestershire, on the 

 border of Staffordshire), but I have had con- 

 vincing proof to-day that St. Thomas is not for- 

 gotten, for we have had plenty of visitors, to- 

 morrow being Sunday. T. Goldsber. 



Dec. 20. 1851. 



SPEAKER LENTHALL. 



In a biographical notice (MS.) of Speaker Len- 

 thall by the Rev. Mark Noble, I find the following 

 passage: 



" His C Lenthall's) ancestor is mentioned in the will 

 of Sir Richard Williams alias Cromwell. Sir Richard 

 was the great-grandfather of Oliver Lord Protector. 



There was always a friendship between the family of 

 Cromwell and that of Lentball." 



Can any one versed in Cromwellian lore kindly 

 inform me if any such will is in existence ; and if 

 so, what is its date ? I should be glad to know 

 too if there is any further authority for the state- 

 ment in the text, that there was always a friend- 

 ship between the Cromwells and Lenthalls, assum- 

 ing such friendship to have subsisted anterior to 

 the days of the Commonwealth. 



It is stated by Wood (^Athen. Oxon., article 

 Lenthall), and repeated in substance by Noble 

 in his Protectoral House of Cromwell, that " two or 

 more" of the Speaker's son. Sir John Lenthall's 

 speeches, " spoken in the time of usurpation," are 

 in print. Having hitherto failed in discovering 

 any trace of these speeches, I should greatly value 

 any clue that may direct me to them if still ex- 

 tant. On Noble's authority, when unsupported, 

 of course little reliance can be placed ; but in any 

 matter of detail, or pure and sim[)le fact, related 

 by Wood, I have considerable, though not alto- 

 gether implicit, faith. 



In a brief and singularly inaccurate memoir of 

 Lenthall, in the Lives of the Speakers, lately pub- 

 lished by Churton, the following passage occurs : 



" We omitted to state in reference to Mr. Lenthall's 

 strenuous exertions in favour of the gallant Earl of 

 Derby, that Mrs. Cromwell, in one of her letters to the 

 Protector, urges him to endeavour to effect a reconcili- 

 ation with the Speaker," &c. &c. 



As no authority is cited, I should be glad to 

 learn where the letters of Mrs. Cromwell thus 

 referred to are to be found. Are they in print or 

 MS. ? If any of your readers should be able to 

 enlighten me in respect of all or any of the above 

 Queries, and would kindly do so either through 

 the medium of the Notes, or to my address as 

 below, I should be greatly obliged. 



F. KyrriN Lenthall. 



36. Mount Street, Grosvenor Square. 



NOTTE OF IMBERCOURT, SURRET. 



I find that Robert Roper, Esq., of Heanor Hall, 

 CO. Derby, married .... daughter of WilliHm 

 Nott, Esq., of Imbercourt, co. Surrey, and had 

 issue, with other children, Rebecca ; married first 

 Sir William Villiers, Bart., of Brooksby, co. Lei- 

 cester, elder brother of George Villiers, Duke of 

 Buckingham ; and secondly Capt. Francis Cave of 

 Ingarsby Hall, co. Leicester. 



Can any one of your readers supply me with 

 the Christian name of Robert Roper's wife ; and 

 with the names of his other issue : also whether 

 the representation of this branch of the Roper 

 family has devolved upon the descendants of 

 Rebecca Cave ? I find in my mem. book a re- 

 ference to Dodsw. MSS. in Bibl. Bodl. 41. fol. 70., 

 which I have no means of consulting at present. 



