2»'» S, X. Dec. 29. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



511 



Severe Frost of 1789. — The recently pub- 

 lished correspondence of the first Lord Auckland 

 (Lond. 2 vols. 8vo.), contains a letter from M. 

 Huber to Lord Auckland (then Mr. Eden), dated 

 16 January, 1789, and written at Paris, in which 

 there is the following passajre. It should be added 

 that Mr. Eden was at this time resident at Madrid, 

 as British minister : — 



"I must not forget to tell you that the sea on the 

 French and English coasts is frozen, they say, two leagues 

 out; the harbour at Calais is one piece of ice, and the 

 vessels fast. We have now a serious thaw, but the ther- 

 mometer has been 17^" below ice. The winter has been 

 uncommon, and so have also the acts of benevolence in 

 this town ; the French are a good people, we must own 

 it." (Vol. ii. p. 27G.) 



M. Huber, the writer of this letter, is stated to 

 have been a Genevese, resident at Paris, who was 

 intimate with M. Necker (ib. p. 247.). 



The severity of the weather, both in England 

 and on the Continent, in January, 1789, is men- 

 tioned in the Annual Register for that year, Chron. 

 pp. 193-6. It is stated that the Seine was entirely 

 frozen over ; that the Rhine was frozen over at 

 Cologne, and that in many places loaded waggons 

 and carriages passed over it ; and that the Thames 

 and the Shannon were similarly frozen. But no- 

 thing is said of the sea being frozen on the Eng- 

 lish and French coasts. Is this fact recorded in 

 any meteorological register of the winter of 1788-9, 

 and can it be relied upon as authentic ? Is the 

 freezing of the sea upon the coast of France or 

 England mentioned in any other year ? L. 



Cloisters ojp the Abbey op Jumieges. — I 



have recently received a letter from the celebrated 

 Abbe Cochet, of Dieppe, in which he requests me 

 to assist him in finding out : " In what part of 

 England the cloister of the Abbey of Jumieges is 

 to be found?" 



The tradition on the spot is, that this cloister 

 was taken to pieces, stone by stone, and conveyed 

 across the seas to this island, and re-erected some- 

 where. 



As I have entirely failed in my attempts to find 

 its whereabouts, perhaps some of your correspon- 

 dents may be able to enlighten, J. J. 



Sib James Brown. — As your correspondents 

 Ina (ante, p. 347.) and Spal. (pp. 405 and 419.) 

 seem to be interested in families connected with 

 Barbadoes, perhaps either of them, or one of your 

 readers, may be able to give me some information 

 concerning Colonel James Brown of that island, 

 who was created in 1664 a Baronet of Scotland.* 

 In the English Baronetages it is mentioned that 

 Sir William Yeamans, Bart., was married in Bar- 

 badoes to Willoughby, daughter of Sir James 

 Brown, Knt., most likely the above individual. 



* In the patent he is called "generosura in insula de 

 Barbadoes, coionelluni," 



The Lord Willoughby of Pasham was appointed, 

 soon after the Restoration, Governor of Barba- 

 does, where he was drowned in 1666; and it is not 

 improbable, judijing from his daughter's Christian 

 name, that Sir James was related to his lordship, 

 whom, perhaps, he accompanied to the West 

 Indies. Sir William Yeamans' descendants con- 

 tinued to reside in the island for several genera- 

 tions. R. R. 



Smith's Tavistock MSS. — In the Gentleman s 

 Magazine for June, 1830 (p. 495.), mention is 

 made of a Mr. Edward Smith, who left a large 

 collection of MSS. relating to Tavistock. I shall 

 be glad if any of your readers can inform me in 

 whose possession they now are ; also, if any por- 

 tion of them have been published, and, if so, 

 where ? A Devonian. 



Divorced Women. — A question often arises 

 amongst clergymen of the present day, as to how 

 the condition of a woman, who has been divorced 

 and is married again, should be described in the 

 parish register ; or, if she is married by banns, in 

 what form they should be published. "A spin- 

 ster," it is said, she could not be called, since a 

 spinster expressly means a woman who has never 

 been married. Nor could she possibly deserve to 

 be designated by the respectable term of "widow," 

 since her former husband might be still living. 

 " Single woman " is the only appropriate descrip- 

 tion I can suggest ; and yet this is so invidious 

 that I fear it would not be very generally accept- 

 able. Recent legislation on the subject of mar- 

 riage has made a more radical change in our 

 laws than the unreflecting public trouble to con- 

 sider. I believe, although it is only conjecture, 

 that by the canon law the designation would 

 be that of " spinster," since the Church contem- 

 plates no divorce a vinculo matrimonii, excepting 

 for causes in force, although unknown, before the 

 marriage was solemnized. Can any of the corre- 

 spondents of " N. & Q." inform me if there is a 

 proper legal term as to the condition of a woman 

 who is divorced, and, if there is, what it is ? 



T. D. 



Conscience Money. — Is the following the 

 first record of the payment of " conscience 

 money ? " — 



" Effect of Conscience. — On the 30th of March, 1789, 

 360Z. was carried to the account of the public, in conse- 

 quence of the following note received by the Chancellor 

 of the Exchequer : 



" * Sir, — You will herewith receive bank-notes to the 

 amount of 360Z., which is the property of the nation, and 

 which, as an honest man, you will be so just as to apply 

 to the use of the state in such manner that the nation 

 may not suffer by its having been detained from the 

 public treasurj'. You are implored to do this for the ease 

 of conscience to an honest man.' " •— Hone's Table Book, 

 p. 403. 



Ebica. 



