2^ S. No 86., Sept. 6. '66.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



197 



bushel is the coal bushel of 12 Anne, which is a 

 quart larger than the Winchester bushel, exclu- 

 sive of the heaping. There are many odd state- 

 ments about weiglits and measures in common 

 books : and it is quite possible that, by successive 

 transfusion, the coal bushel one quart larger than 

 the Winchester bushel may have been altered into 

 the Winchester bushel one quart larger than the 

 imperial bushel. A. De Morgan. 



McTurk and Williams (q. of Flint), Families 

 of (2"'^ S. ii. 149.)— From the pedigree of Kelsall 

 of Bradshaw (Ormerod's Cheshire, vol. iii. p. 323), 

 it would appear that there was not any connexion 

 between Mr. Smith Kelsall and the above families, 

 nor that of Walmsley of Coldcoates and Bashall. 

 Mr. Smith Kelsall, or his son Mr. Oldfield Kelsall, 

 if not both, were, I believe, solicitors ; and pro- 

 bably acted in that capacity to the families in- 

 dicated. Who succeeded to their business and 

 professional papers ? A satisfactory reply to this 

 Query might supply a solution of that of Inves- 

 tigator. Cestbiensis. 



"■Nolo episcopari" (1^ S. iv. 346.; 2"^ S. ii. 

 155.) — The common opinion that a bishop-elect 

 expresses an unwillingness to accept the dignity, 

 has been usually referred to a mere vulgar error, 

 but has probably some better origin. Chamber- 

 layne, in his Present State of En-^land, describing 

 " The Solemn Manner of making a Bishop," after 

 mentioning the issue of the Conge d'Eslire, pro- 

 ceeds thus : 



" Then the Dean summons a Chapter, or Assembly of 

 the Prebendaries, who either elect the person recom- 

 mended by the King's Letters, or shew cause to the con- 

 trary. Next the Election is certified to the party elected, 

 who doth modestly refuse it the first and second time ; 

 and if he doth refuse it a third time, then that being cer- 

 tified to his Majest\% another is recommended." 



I have not the earliest editions of Chamber- 

 layne's work, but I find the passage in two which 

 are now on my table : the " nineteenth," London, 

 1700 (p. 226.), and the " one-and-twentieth," ib., 

 1704 (p. 2:^0.). 



As the Irish sees are conferred by Royal Letters 

 Patent, without even the form of an election, we 

 cannot deduce any evidence from them as to this 

 matter : but it might be worth while to inquire 

 what is the practice in the Scottish Episcopal 

 Church, and in the see of Sodor and Man on 

 such occasions ? Arteeus. 



Dublin. 



"Carmina Q'tadragesimalia'" (2""* S. ii. 130.) — 

 I have in my possession the two volumes of these 

 poems referred to by Oxoniensis. They formerly 

 belonged to the Rev. Henry Sissmore, late Fellow 

 of Winchester College. In the second volume the 

 names of the authors of most of the poems have 

 been inserted in MS. by Mr. Sissmore, as I sup- 

 pose. If the iaformatioa thus afforded will be of 



any service to Oxoniensis, I shall be happy either 

 to communicate it to him privately, or, if it is of 

 sufficient interest, (as I think it i.s,) to send it for 

 publicati(m in " N. & Q." W. H. Gunner. 



[We shall be glad to receive these Notes. — Ed. " N. 

 & Q.»] 



Double Christian Names (V* S. passim ; 2°"* S. 

 i. 253. 384. 440.) — The earliest instance of a 

 double Christian name I have noted is in a deed 

 poll, dated 36 Edw. III. (a.d. 1363), from "Ste- 

 phen, son of John Fylip Curpel, of Fincham," in 

 CO. Norfolk. 



Another deed, dated 37 Edw. III., reads, 

 " Stephen, son of John Philip Curpel." 



The Curpels were lords of a manor of that 

 name in Fincham. G. H. D. 



Verstegafi in the "Epistle to our English 

 Nation," prefixed to his Restitutio?! of Decayed 

 Intelligence, Sj'c, says that his grandfather, " The- 

 odore Rowland Verstegan, was born in the Dutchy 

 of Geldres, and being a young man came to 

 England about the end of the raign of K. Henry 

 the Seventh." To this he appends the following 

 marginal note : 



" It is often seen in Germany that either godfather at 

 Christning, giveth his name to his godson. And there- 

 fore it coaieth that many have two proper names besides 

 their sirnames." 



It would appear from this thiit in 1605 (the date 

 of the epistle) double Christian names were so 

 rare in England that Verstegan thought it ne- 

 cessary to explain why Germans often had them. 

 Perhaps this very note of his once popular book 

 may have helped to introduce them into this 

 country. 



I have often thought that much confusion of 

 persons would be avoided, and the investigations 

 of the genealogist much facilitated, if a custom 

 prevailed that every child should bear its mother's 

 maiden surn^ne immediately before its father's. 

 Thus the ofll^ring of Thomas Smith and Mary 

 his wife — late Jones, spinster — would be named 

 Thomas Jones Smith, Sarah Jones Smith, &c. 

 Such a plan, if always followed, would not only 

 identify better persons bearing such common 

 names as those I have selected ; but would also 

 show what was the mother's maiden name, which 

 it is now so difficult to establish. E. G. R. 



Christian Names (2"'^ S. ii. 29.) — F. asks the 

 meaning of the practice, which prevails in the 

 United States, of inserting a capital letter between 

 a Christian name and surname ? It is done 

 merely for distinction. The names of Mr, Polk 

 are " James Polk," and I saw it stated in a book 

 of American travels that the author had been in- 

 formed that the ex-president adopted the signature 

 of " James K. Polk " merely to ensure the safe , 

 delivery of letters intended for him. 



