m^ 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



|;2nd S. No 37„ Sept. 13. '56. 



" It is said by the custome used in some parts of the 

 Dyocess of St. D. and Landaffe, whereof I am not well 

 assured, but I will diligentlye enquire, and after enforme 

 your mastershippe in maner as may be justified." 



Cl. Hopper. 



Proportionate Use of the Letters of the Alphabet. 

 — The following Note of the proportionate use of 

 the letters in four European languages may be 

 worth recording. I stumbled upon it in an old 

 number of the Mechanics'' Magazine, and have 

 since checked some of the numbers in the English 

 list, which I find comparatively correct; 



The nilmbers of the respective letters, it will be 

 seen, are referred to 1000 of the letter e taken as 

 a standard. R. W. HACKwooiJ. 



The Moon's Rotation. — The old story of the 

 moon's rotation, and the difficulty which unprac- 

 tised persons find in comprehending it, having 

 been lately before the public, the following tnay 

 be worth reVival :— Dr. Claytori, Bishop of Clcw- 

 her^ ir) his , vindication of me Histories of the Old 

 and New Testament (t*art ii., 1754), asserted that 

 the moon kept one face to the earth without 

 tdfning. Some remarks having been made on 

 this, he setit i letter in answer to theul to W. 

 Bowyer, his printer, for publication, if thought 

 proper. Bowyer applied to Bradley the astro- 

 nomer royal (the bishop's dfeath had intervened), 

 td know if the bishop's argument were " barely 

 plausible," or had " an appearance of probability." 



What Bradley replied is not known ; but the 

 letter was not published. It would be worth 

 while to collect a list of writers who have held 

 Dr. Clayton's opinion. (Nichols's Anecdotes, vol. ii. 

 p. 246.) A. Djb Mokgan. 



^utvitS, 



CROMWELL HOUSE, OLD BROMPTbN. 



Faulkner, in his History of Kensington, describ- 

 ing this house, says : 



" Over the mantelpiece there is a recess, formed by the 

 curve of the chimney, in which it is said that the Pl-o- 

 tector used to conceal himself when he visited this house ; 

 but why his Highness chose this place for concealment, 

 the tradition has not condescended to inform us. This 

 recess is concealed by the wainscot, and is still used as a 

 cupboard." 



And then he states that though the tradition is 

 " very strong and universal," all docuriients he 

 has consulted " seem to show that there is not the 

 least foundation foi: this conjecture," and pre- 

 sumes " that from the marriage of Henry Crom- 

 well having taken place in this parish, that he 

 resided here," and hence the whole of the story. 



Mrs. S. C. Halt, mentioning the tradition in her 

 Pilgrimages to English Shrines (art. " Burke "), 

 says : 



" Upon closer investigation how grieved We have been 

 to discover the truth; ... we found that Oliver 

 never resided there, but that his son Richard had, and 

 was a ratepayer to the parish of Kensington some time." 



Mr. Jerdan (who, like Mrs. Hall, lived for 

 many year^ in the hamlet), states that it is " said 

 to derive jts name from being one of the secret 

 sleeping places of the Protector in the vicinity of 

 London," and that " the whole of this little sub- 

 urban locality bore traces of having been of some 

 note in former times. I dug up," says Mr. Jerdan, 

 " statues, and other pieces of sculpture ; and I 

 had reason to believe if Oliver Cromwell did not. 

 Chief Justice Hale did occupy Cromwell House," 

 &c. ,. , 



I have lived in the neighbourhood from child- 

 hood, and the version of the story I have always 

 heai:d is, that on some occasion Cromwell's troop 

 was quartered at Knightsbridge, and he one day 

 venturing to stray ainong the lanes of Brompton, 

 was met by some cavaliers who knew him, and 

 pursued him to this house, where he was sheltered 

 till assistance came from Knightsbridge and libe- 

 rated him. And there is an inn here still called 

 Cromwell's posting-house ; for years his name was 

 the sign, and an inscription to the effect that his 

 body-guard wa§ brice quaftei-ed there was painted 

 in front of the house. Mr. Corbould took this inn 

 for the subject of his pictiire, " The Old Hostelrie 

 at Knightsbridge," Oxhibited in 1849, and in his 

 note in the catalogue he mentions that which I 

 have just stated^ 



