2°'! S. X. Aug. 18. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



129 



Mrs. Ann Wheeler. — There was published in 

 1839, '■^Dialogues, Poems, Songs, and Ballads, bj 

 various -writers, in the Westmoreland and Cum- 

 berland dialects, now first collected," &c. This 

 volume contains, in the Westmoreland dialect, 

 Mrs. Ann Wheeler's " Four Familiar Dialogues," 

 with Poems, &c. Are these dialogues in the dra- 

 matic form ? Can you give me any biograplucal 

 particulars regarding the authoress, and her other 

 works dramatic or poetic ? Iota. 



[These Dialogues are not in the dramatic form. Pre- 

 fixed to them is the following notice of the authoress: — 

 "Mrs. Ann Wheeler was the daughter of Edward and 

 Eleanor Coward of Cartmel, where she was born and 

 educated. On the death of her husband, the captain of 

 a vessel in the Guinea trade, she returned to her native 

 country to live with her brother, Mr. W. M. Coward, at 

 Arnside Tower, where she wrote the Westmoreland Dia- 

 lect ; Strictures on the Inhabitants of a Market Town ; 

 Female Restoration ; Acco and Ego, a dialogue ; besides 

 several otiier pieces never published, but which were left 

 prepared for press. Mrs. M'heeler died at Arnside Tower 

 on the 2nd November, 1804, aged sixty-nine, and was 

 buried within the chancel of Beetham church."] 



De Sancto Vedasto=Fobster. — In Wright's 

 Court Hand Restored is a list of Latinised English 

 surnames, in which De Sancto Vedasto is trans- 

 lated Forster. Can any correspondent explain 

 how Forster (i. e. Foi'ester) can possibly be sig- 

 nified by these words ? H. S. G. 



[" Forster," so far as it is the English representative of 

 " Vedastus," does not appear to be in any way connected 

 with " Forester." Cowel, in the " Table of ancient Sur- 

 names" at the end of his Interpreter, has "De Sancto Ve- 

 dasto, Foster." The fact is that the Abbej' of S. Vedastus 

 at Arras, in the varying nomenclature of the Middle 

 Ages, was called not only S. Vedasto, but S. Vedaste, S. 

 Waast, S. Vast, and S. Vaast. Two of these at least, S. 

 Waast and S. Vaast, appear to be Teutonic forms of the 

 word rather than French, especially as the saint was 

 much honoured in Germanj' and Belgium. The German 

 pronunciation of Vaast would be Faast ; and this circum- 

 stance may help to explain the transmutation of Vedasto 

 (Vaast, Faast) into Foster or Forster. 



The parish church of St. Vedast, London, stands in 

 Foster Lane, and is sometimes called St. Foster. This 

 has already given occasion to some discussion in " N. & 

 Q." 2°'' S. ii. 509. But we see no way of tracing the con- 

 nection between the two terms, " Foster " and " Vedasto," 

 except b)' the aid of those intermediate steps which we 

 have indicated above. The Abbey at Arras was dedicated 

 to the saint as early as a.d. 6C6 or 6C7. S. Vedastus died 

 A.D. 540.] 



" The Royal Pastoral." — James Nares, Mus. 

 Doc, is the composer of The Royal Pastoral, a 

 dramatic ode, printed in score with overture and 

 choruses. Who is the author of the words of this 

 ode? Iota. 



[This ode is by the IJev. Daniel Bellam}', jun. minister 

 of Petersham and Kew. It is printed in his Ethic Amuse- 

 ments, p. 257., 4to. 17C8, where it is entitled " Damon and 

 Delia,"- a cantata. It was occasioned by the following in- 

 cident. Some time in October, 17G7, the three elder 

 princes, conducted by Mrs. Cotesworth, went privately 

 to Kew Chapel, where kneeling reverently before the 



Communion Table, they presented with their own hands 

 a very liberal offering for the relief of the poor.] 



Star. — Cowel {Interpreter, suh voce) says that 

 " all the deeds, obligations, and releases of the 

 Jewswere anciently called stars:" and that one 

 remains in the treasury of the Exchequer, " writ- 

 ten in Hebrew without pricks in King John's 

 reign." He also says that in the Plea Rolls of Pasch., 

 9 Edw, I., Rot. 4, 5, 6., "many stars, as well of 

 grant and release, as obligatory, and by way of 

 mortgage, are pleaded and recited at large." Have 

 any of these documents ever been printed ? and 

 if so, where ? If not, might not a specimen or 

 two, if not too lonjT, with a translation, be suitable 

 tothepnges of "N. & Q" 



Cowel says, Star is a contraction from the He- 

 brew Shetar, which signifies a deed or contract ; 

 but the only Hebrew word I can find at all re- 

 sembling it is '^^, rendered by the LXX. ypajj.- 



Hartvs. ' E. G. E. 



[The term shetar, used in the sense of a deed or con- 

 tract, is not classical (or biblical) Hebrew, but rabbinic. 

 " IDK' Scriptum obligationis vel contractus," Buxtorf, 

 Lex. Rah. This is doubtless the word to which Cowel 

 refers.] 



" One Soueraigne of Golde." — What is "one 

 soueraigne of golde," which forms the subject of 

 a bequest in the will of Thomas Tonge, Claren- 

 ceux King of Arms in the year 1635 [1534?], 

 proved the following year by his widow, who is 

 known as Mrs. Clarenceux, a favourite attendant 

 of Queen Mary ? E. E. Estcourt. 



[" The Soveraign," says Harris, Lexicon Technicum, 

 " was a piece of gold coin current at 22 shillings and G 

 pence in 1 Henry VIII., when by indentiu'e of the Mint, 

 a pound weight of gold of the old standard was to be 

 coined into 24 soveraigns. In 34 Hen. VIII. soveraigns 

 were coined at 20 shilliflgs, and half soveraigns at 10s. 

 In 4 Edward VI. soveraigns were coined at 24s. a piece, 

 and in 6 Edw. VI. at 30s., and also in 2 Elizabeth."] 



^oN. — I should be glad to know the exact 

 meaning of ^on : 



" And the great -lEon sinks in blood." 



In Memoriam, p. 196. 



F. L. 



[By yEon we here understand the gloomy period, or 



age, described by the poet not long before as " the deep 



night " (p. 195.) and " the night of feai- " (p. 196.) iEoD, 



properly eternity; any veri/ lortg period. '\ 



CENTENAEIANISM. 



(2°^ S. ix. 438. ; x. 15.) 



That such information as I communicated in 

 the article called "Military Centenarians" (2"'* S. 

 ix. 43.8.) is not " time wasted," may be inferred 

 from the fact, that similar Notes, no better au- 

 thenticated, have obtained a place in Choice Notes 



