110 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. N" 32., Aug. 9. '56. 



Merthyr Tydvil. — What is known of the his- 

 tory of Merthyr Tydvil prior to 1740 ? Was it 

 an insignificant village immediately before Bacon 

 commenced iron-making there ? A friend in- 

 forms me that a hundred years ago letters were 

 brought to Merthyr by an old woman from 

 Brecon, Can any correspondent of "N.&_Q." 

 give the old mail routes, naming the principal 

 post towns at that period, 1700 to 1740 ? 



Kael. 



Autlior of the " Voice of the Rod." — Can any 

 of the readers of " N. & Q." favour me with the 

 full reading of the initials " L. N." of the following 

 work : 



" The Voice of the Rod, or God's Controversie pleaded 

 with Man, being a plain and brief Discourse on Mich. vi. 

 9., by L. N., philomathes. London : printed for Walter 

 Dight, Bookseller in Exeter, 1668. 12mo., pp. 288." 



There are prefixed a " Dedication to the In- 

 finite, Eternal, and All wise God," &c., and an 

 " Address to the Readers," dated " Ab Eremis 

 meis, Aug. 28, 1666." 



The discourse is a very serious one, and appears 

 to have reference to the Plague in London, 1665, 

 and to the Fire, 1666. By these dreadful ca- 

 lamities the progress of the author's work in some 

 of its departments had been impeded, as at the 

 end of it, he adds a " Postscript to the Readers : " 



" Sirs, — If anything in these sheets s^^ to be bom 

 out of due time, know that they have had a hard Travail. 

 Tliey were at first prepared for 1665, but through the as- 

 tonishing difficulty of our late Junctures, the Author's 

 unbefriended Obscurity, and want of those Minerval 

 powers which are now become essentially requisite in such 

 cases, they have lingered hitherto," &c. 



G.N. 



Hogarth's Folly. — Hogarth, about the time of 

 his marriage, painted a very spirited representa- 

 tion of " Folly." 



The subject, says Hinckley, " was composed of 

 twelve figures : six of males, and. a like number 

 of females. The landscape gorgeous." 



Is anything known of this painting, or has it 

 been engraved ? Peto. 



The Elms. 



Arnold of Westminster. — In 1680, July 17, 

 one John Giles was convicted, the government 

 having offered a reward of lOOZ. for his apprehen- 

 sion, of assaulting and wounding dangerously on 

 the previous April 17, in Bell Yard, Temple Bar, 

 John Arnold, Esq. In 1688, one Arnold, the 

 king's brewer, was of the jury on the trial of the 

 bishops ; and in one of the Letters of the Herbert 

 Family, he is called Captain Arnold ; and is said 

 to have a considerable party to support him in 

 his wish to represent Westminster in parliament. 



In 1692, John Arnold, Esq., was member for 

 Southwark ; and Nicholas Arnold was a gentle- 

 man pensioner. 



In 1708, Nehemia Arnold was paymaster of 

 malt tickets. In, or previously, and perhaps sub- 

 sequently to 1722, Nehemia Arnold, Esq., was 

 living in Westminster. 



Can any reader of " N. & Q." inform me if any 

 and what family connexions exist amongst these 

 Arnolds, or give me any particulars of any of 

 them ? N. N. 



New York Murder — Congrelaticosualists. — 

 Permit me to ask, if you or any of your readers 

 can satisfy my curiosity on either of the two fol- 

 lowing points ? 



1. You are probably acquainted with the Tales 

 of Mystery and Imagination, by the late American 

 poet, Edgar Allan Poe. In one of these, entitled 

 " The Mystery of Marie Roget," the author, under 

 pretence of describing the murder of a Parisian 

 grisette, analyses the particulars of the murder 

 of a New York cigar girl. It is stated in a note 

 that the subsequent confessions of two people con- 

 nected with the New York murder completely 

 verified the conclusion to which Poe, by analysis, 

 had come. 



Can anybody tell me where I can find an ac- 

 count of the New York murder ; or tell me the 

 real names, dates, and fate of the murderers ? 

 The murder was committed before November 

 1842, as that is the date of Poe's tale in Marie 

 Roget. 



2. Secondly, you will find in one of Sydney 

 Smith's Essays on America (p. 240. of the 8vo. 

 edition, in one volume), in a list of the places of 

 worship in Philadelphia, one mentioned as belong- 

 ing to a sect called " the Congrelaticosualists." 

 I have never met with this word anywhere else. 

 It is not to be found in any dictionary. Nor can 

 I conceive what its derivation can be, or from the 

 words of what language it can be compounded, if 

 it be a compound. The best scholars with whom 

 I have had the opportunity of conversing can 

 give me no information. If the meaning or de- 

 rivation be not known, can any one give me in- 

 formation as to the peculiar tenets, &c., of the 

 sect ? T. H. D. 



The Kalends or Calends at Bromyard. — In a 

 short visit to Herefordshire I was struck with the 

 name which the inhabitants of Bromyard gave to 

 a long narrow footpath enclosed with high walls, 

 and leading to the churchyard ; they called it the 

 Kalends or Calends. I could not find out the 

 precise spelling of the word, and no one seemed to 

 know much about it. Can any of your readers 

 enlighten me on the subject, or as to the origin of 

 the word ? Perhaps it is a mere provincialism, 

 but it struck me there might be some connection 

 between this singular name and the Calendar (or 

 Kalandar) ; in what way I would not, however, 

 presume to say. R. Pattison. 



Torrington Square. 



