306 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»'« S. VIII. Oct. 15. '59. 



which supplied the •western nations with the crude 

 material of romance. This we know as well by 

 the avowal of the earliest of the Breton bards, as 

 by the identity of personages and of incidents 

 celebrated and embellished by them. 



There is a very ancient tradition in the Princi- 

 pality to the eflFect that Merlin Emrys, the accre- 

 dited sorcerer, once went to sea in a glass vessel, 

 and at the same time conveyed awa^ "the thir- 

 teen curiosities of the Island," including the dish 

 or cup of Rhydderch (dysgyl a gren Rhydderch). 

 This cup so closely corresponds with that which 

 figures in medieeval romance (being capable of 

 furnishing any kind and amount of food desired 

 by its fortunate possessor), as to force the conclu- 

 sion that it alone was the true original of the San- 

 graal. 



The late Rev. Peter Roberts was inclined to 

 suppose that the cup of Rhydderch was originally 

 a divining cup of the Druids, and, in reference to 

 its presumed identity with the Sacro Catino, depo- 

 sited in the cathedral of St. Lorenzo in Genoa, 

 observes : — 



"I am not without some suspicion, that during the 

 establishment of the Druids at Glastonbury, the Catino 

 or Sangreal had been preserved there, and that it -was 

 from the celebrity of this vessel the place took the name 

 of Ynys Wydrin, or the Isle of Little Glass, and that 

 Merlin, when he went to Bardsey, sailed, not indeed in 

 it, but with it — i. e. took it with 'him thither — and that 

 it was recovered by Arthur, and consecrated to the use of 

 the Church by St. David." {Caml. Pop. Antiq. 8vo. Lond. 

 1815.) 



For the latest adventures of the Sacro Catino 

 or Sangreal, see a paper by M. Millin, the anti- 

 quary, in the Esprit des Journaux (Paris, Avril, 

 1807), pp. 139-153, j3. 



iHtn0u ^aXti. 



Nell Gwynn's Sister. — Your correspondent Mr. 

 PIoppER has directed attention to a fact hitherto 

 unrecorded, that Eleanor Gwynn had a sister. 

 Rose *, afterwards married to a Mr. Forster (vide 

 "N. & Q." 2"^ S. iv. 172.). I would mention 

 that recently I lighted on a foul draught warrant 

 entry-book of Charles II., wherein one entry was 

 made concerning Rose Gwyn, who seems to 

 have been convicted of an offence (left blank in 

 the original) at the Old Bailey; and although 

 convicted, was reprieved by the Bench before 

 judgment, doubtless owing to some powerful in- 

 terference. She was afterwards discharged upon 

 bail, with a view to her ultimate pardon. The 

 name Rose Gwyn, the period 1663, the extra- 

 ordinary clemency exercised, form a curious 



* Probably this might be the sister alluded to by Pen- 

 nant, who says, that in her house at Pall Mall a picture 

 of Nell hung up over the chimney, and one of her sister 

 Ja another room. 



coincidence, and would almost permit of a pre- 

 sumption that this was none other than the sister 

 Rose of the beauteous mistress of the " merry 

 monarch." 



I subjoin a copy of the document : — 



"Whereas we are given to understand that Rose 

 Gwynne, having been convicted of at the late ses- 

 sions held at the Old Bailey, was yet reprieved by y« 

 bench before judgment, and reserved as an object of our 

 princely compassion and mercy, upon humble suite made 

 to us in favour of y« said Eose, we have thought good 

 hereby to signify our Royal pleasure unto j-ou, that j^ou 

 forthw"' grant her her liberty and discharge upon good 

 bail first taken in order to y® sueing out her pardon, and 

 rendering our gracious mercy and compassion to be effec- 

 tual. For which, &c., dated 30 Dec, 1663. 



" By His Ma*y' Command, 

 « H. B." 



Are there any Old Bailey trials of that period 

 or other records of offences that I can refer to ? 



Ithubiel. 



Great Bells at Westminster Palace. — These 

 bells have followed the fate of the far greater 

 monster at Moscow in facility of fracture. Euro- 

 peans generally are largely indebted to the Chi- 

 nese for the inventions of the magnet, printing, 

 and paper-money. In the art of bell-ringing the 

 Chinese are far advanced also ; and if the object 

 be to get the greatest possible noise out of the 

 least possible quantity of material and with the 

 least possible outlay, we may adopt their prac- 

 tice with advantage, and improve upon it after- 

 wards. Their bells are not inverted cups, but 

 hollow cylinders ; and they are not struck by a 

 hammer capable of breaking them. The material 

 of which their bells are compounded is well known 

 as German silver, or Tutenag=:Packfong in Chi- 

 nese, consisting of 40'4 parts of copper, 31 6 of 

 nickel, 25'4 of zinc, and 26 of iron in 100 parts. 

 Specific gravity, 8'432. " In the principal Bud- 

 hist temples in China a great cylindrical bell of 

 this metal," says Davis (Chinese, ii. 235.) " is sus- 

 pended, which is struck outside with a large 

 wooden mallet. The great bell at Pekin measures 

 14| feet in height, and nearly 13 in diameter." 



T. J. BUCKTON. 



Lichfield. 



Old St. PauVs a Paving Quarry. — 



" In some parts of London, the incessant traffic occa- 

 sions frequent renewal of the pavement ; iu others more 

 sequestered and having no real thoroughfare, the same 

 pavement may be at times readjusted, but is otherwise 

 destined to remain in the same locality for centuries. As 

 an instance how long old pavements may remain, com- 

 paratively speaking, undisturbed, we may here call at- 

 tention to the fact that in the locality of Serjeants' Inn, 

 Fleet Street, have remained, till the present hour, a large 

 number of blocks of Purbeck stone, which tradition points 

 to as having formed part of the structure of Old St. Paul's. 

 These blocks are, however, now in the course of rapid 

 removal by the contractors to the Commissioners of 

 Sewers, who have now, for the first time, entered upon 

 the duty of paving Serjeants' Inn, Fleet Street. Mr.. 



