96 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2«<i S. VIII. July 30. '69. 



Mr. George Holiwell (who came from Selkirk) 

 was admitted minister of the parish of Polwarth, 

 Berwickshire, in 1664, and died in 1704. I do 

 not know his wife's name, but she was not a 

 daughter of the family of Marchmont. His son 

 Walter was bound apprentice to a perriwig-maker 

 in Dunse ; this sc*n married Janet Duns, and their 

 descendants are still living in that town. At the 

 time his sou was bound, he borrowed five pounds 

 from Lord Marchmont to pay the apprentice fee. 

 (MS. letter in library of Sir Hugh Hume Camp- 

 bell of Marchmont.) 



Mr. Holiwell was the episcopal minister of Pol- 

 warth during the persecutions of Charles II., and 

 was aware that Sir Patrick Hume (afterwards 

 Earl of Marchmont) was concealed in the vault 

 under Polwarth Kirk ; he also knew of the visits 

 of Sir Patrick's daughter every night with food to 

 her fathei'. He was a great favourite with Sir 

 Patrick. His portrait is still at Marchmont 

 House. M. G. F. 



Anvalonnacu (2"* S. vii. 206. 266.)— Dr. Pughe, 

 under '■'■afalach" (from afall, an apple, pi. efyll 

 and afallori), says " an orchard, hence Ynys Wyd- 

 rin, or Glastonbury, was originally called Ynys 

 Afallach and Ynys Afallon, also a proper name of 

 men." Cf. Avalon, or Afalon and Aballo^ with 

 the Isle of Abalus (one of the Glessarias men- 

 tioned by Pliny as dispersed over the Baltic), on 

 whose coast amber was found. There is also 

 Avallon, or Aballon, a province in Newfoundland. 



R. S. Charnock. 



Inn Signs by Eminent Artists (2"* S. vii. 522.) 

 — As coming, perhaps, fairly under the foregoing 

 designation, may be mentioned the sign of " The 

 Mortal Man " over the little public-house in the 

 picturesque valley of Troutbeck, about four miles 

 from Ambleside, in Westmoreland. The local 

 tradition is that the late J. C, Ibbetson, author 

 of a work on painting in oil, while residing at the 

 pleasant town above named, used often to ramble 

 as far as Troutbeck to indulge in the double en- 

 joyment of the sweet scenery around and the 

 " liome-brewed " within the humble alehouse ; 

 and that, in acknowledgment and commendation 

 of the latter, he painted a sign with two faces, 

 each " looking the character " admirably, and with 

 labels from their mouths, thus inscribed : — 

 " Thou mortal man, who livest by bread, 



What is it makes thy nose so red? " 

 " Thou silly oaf, with nose so pale, 



It is with drinking Birket'a ale ! " 

 The painting has, I am sorry to say, been sup- 

 planted by its title in plain letters ; but old peo- 

 ple say they remember and admired it. The 

 landlady herself told me that the Blrkets carried 

 it away when they left the house, and she thought 

 it was now at Carlisle (?). I know not what the 

 ale may have been in Ibbetson's time, but I must 

 say that a dear niece and myself thought a glass 



of it very good, about a fortnight since, after walk- 

 ing from Ambleside to Troutbeck on one of the 

 hottest days of this summer, when Windermere 

 was more shrunk, and the waterfalls of the Lake 

 District generally more diminished than they were 

 almost ever before known to be. J. H. 



I noticed the other day, at the White Lion, 

 near the parish church, Doncastei', a sign, con- 

 sisting of a rather artistic representation of a white 

 lion facing the spectator, and in the corner the 

 words, " Painted by Herring." H. W. 



Add "The Royal Oak," painted by the late 

 David Cox, and now covered with glass, and 

 fastened to the wall of the little inn of that name, 

 at Bettws y Coed, Denbighshire. 



W. J. Bebnhaed Smith. 



Temple. 



County Voter's Qualification (2»^ S. viii. 70.) 

 — By the disfranchising statutes 8 Hen VI. c. 7. 

 (a.d. 1430), and 10 Hen. VI. c. 2., the minimum 

 of forty shillings by the year was first fixed ; which 

 was estimated by Bishop Fleetwood to have been 

 equal to 12^. per annum in the reign of Queen 

 Anne, and by Blackstone (i. 173.) as equivalent 

 to 20Z., which latter is shown to be correct in *' N. 

 & Q." (2'"i S. iv. 293.) ; that is, prices from 1350 

 to 1520 are to be multiplied by 2^ for deteriora- 

 tion in the coins, and by 4 for deterioration in the 

 price of silver since the discovery of the Ameri- 

 can mines (2 X 2^ X 4=20). T. J. Buckton. 



Lichfield. 



" The Dance of Death''' (P* S. viii. 76.)— The 

 following may perhaps prove worthy of " a local 

 habitation" in " N. & Q." 



Nicolai Karamsia, a Russian, made some travels 

 in the eighteenth century, through Prussia, Ger- 

 many, Switzerland, France, and England. In 

 1803, an anonymous translation appeared, im- 

 printed by J. Badcock of the " Row." 



At Erfurth our traveller visited Martin Lu- 

 ther's cell. In one of the cross-aisles of the 

 Orphan House, he observed some curious pic- 

 tures : — 



" One represents an Emperor, to whom Death ap- 

 proaches with a low bow, and most humbly informs him 

 that it is time to leave this earthly life to go to another. 

 In a second picture, friend Nick, in regal attire, stands 

 behind an actress, and takes from her the dagger and 

 mask. A third represents a printer, in a stuff morning 

 gown and large wig, together with his foreman. Death 

 cuts down the former with his scythe, and, underneath, 

 are the following words ' Even Printers must die.' " — 

 Vide vol. i. p. 195. 



T. C. Anderson, 

 H. M.'s 12th Regt. Bengal Army. 



Warwick Villas. 



Wink (2°^ S. viii. 70.) -- Perhaps from A.-S. 

 wincel, a corner ; cf. Winksley. R. S. Charnock. 



