2"d S. No 31., Aug. 2. '56.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



87 



compiled by a member of the family between 

 1720 and 1735, I find mention of " Edmond Fitz- 

 David Barry, of Eabaniskey in the county of 

 Corke, foster-father of the late Queen Anne." 

 The person referred to represented a once power- 

 ful branch of the Barry family in the county of 

 Cork, possessed of several strong castles, viz. Ro- 

 bertstown, Rahaniskey, Ballymore in the Great 

 Island, Ballydolohery, &c., all of which, with the 

 fertile lands attached, were forfeited to the crown 

 in consequence of his adherence to King James II., 

 and were sold by auction to .various purchasers at 

 Chichester House in the year 1703 ; reserving a 

 jointure to " Susannah," wife of the forfeiting 

 person, in case she survived him, of 150Z. per an- 

 num. His eldest brother was also an adherent 

 of the Stuart family, being described in King 

 Charles II.'s letter as " Lieutenant Richard Barry 

 of Robertstown, who served in the regiment of our 

 Deare Brother the Duke of York in Flanders, 

 where he acquitted himself with much reputation 

 to himself and country, with constant loyalty and 

 faithfulness to us." Edmond, the person referred 

 to in the Blennerhassett manuscript, was the third 

 brother, but succeeded to his family estates on the 

 death of his elder brothers Richard and David 

 without issue; he had a younger brother John. 

 Although the public records contain much matter 

 relating to the history of this family for many 

 generations, I have not been able to ascertain who 

 Susannah, the supposed foster-mother of the 

 queen, was, whether English, Irish, or a foreigner. 

 The foregoing shows the connection with the 

 Stuarts, and although the allegations of the queen's 

 fosterage is only supported by Mr. Blennerhas- 

 sett's statement, which he makes apparently as 

 being within his own personal knowledge (which 

 it might well be, as he was an old man at the 

 time he compiled the pedigree), yet it deserves 

 some credence from the known respectability of 

 the writer. Perhaps the question with which I 

 have headed this paper may be an inducement to 

 some of your numerous readers to search for the 

 truth of a circumstance of historical interest never 

 alluded to, as far as I can ascertain, by any writer 

 of history. C. M. B. 



Dublin. 



Winter Assizes. — Can any of your correspon- 

 dents oblige me by giving the date of a third or 

 winter assize being first appointed in England, 

 and whether there is an instance of the same 

 having been held on the Western Circuit ? Mr. 

 James is a clever novelist, and his plots are ably 

 conceived ; but I consider him apt to commit mis- 

 takes in carrying out details. In his novel of 

 Delaware, for instance, he fixes a trial to take 



place at Christmas in " the small neat country 

 (query county ?) town of" — Dorchester ; for such 

 is evidently the place intended, being described 

 as near the western coast of England, and the 

 period is early in the present century, being prior 

 to the death of the Bow Street officer, Ruthven, 

 who is made an agent in the story, and who came, 

 as we all know, to an unfortunate end in the 

 Cato Street Conspiracy. N, L. T. 



Shahspeare at Paddington. — There is a tradi- 

 tion mentioned in Ollier's romance of Ferrers, 

 and by Mr. Robins in his Paddington, Past and 

 Present, p. 182., that our great poet visited or 

 played at the old Red Lion Inn, in the Edgeware 

 Road, near the Harrow Road, taken down a few 

 years since for the present one to be erected. 

 What is the real tradition, and its history, &c. ? 

 And is there any print of the old inn in existence ? 



H. G. D. 



" Alfred, or the Magic of Nature" — Can any 

 of your readers inform me who is the author of 

 Alfred, or the Magic of Nature, a tragedy, pub- 

 lished at Edinburgh in 1820 ? R. J. 



David Lindsay. — Can you give me any in- 

 formation regarding David Lindsay, who was 

 author of Dramas of the Ancient World, published 

 at Edinburgh about 1822 ? I think one or two of 

 the dramas had previously appeared in Black- 

 wood's Magazine. R. J. 



Lightning Conductors to Ships. — When were 

 conductors first attached to the masts of vessels 

 to prevent them from being struck by lightning ? 



L. C. 



Figure of the Horse in Hieroglyphics. — What 

 is the meaning of the figure of the horse in the 

 Egyptian hieroglyphics? Amongst the number 

 of such hieroglyphics which cover, both internally 

 and externally, the sarcophagus of the queen of 

 Amasis II. in the British Museum, it occurs only 

 once ; or perhaps I should say, on examination 

 I could only find it once, either thereon or else- 

 where engraven. At all events, its rarity causes 

 it to be the subject of this inquiry. 



R. W. Hackwood. 



Poem, about a Mummy. — Can any correspon- 

 dent direct me where to look for some droll lines 

 which I remember to have read, in which a 

 mummy just unrolled gives the conceited nine- 

 teenth century an account "how much better 

 they did things " in his day ? A. A. D. 



A Noble Cook. — 



« 'Tis said, that by (he death of a Scots nobleman, who 

 died lately a Roman Catholick priest, the title descends 

 to a man cook that lived with a general officer in Eng- 

 land, who, in regard to his cook's present dignity, could 

 not think of employing him any longer in that station, 

 but very generoiisly raised a subscription for his support; 



