2°'i S. No 39., Sept, 27. '56.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



247 



Berks County, Pennsylvania, originally almost a 

 pure German colony : 



" At Dr. Leisenring's Hermitage. — On the 800 feet high 

 Cushion Hill, (Berks County Cold Springs,) between 

 Reading and Womelsdorf, on the Lebanon Valley Rail- 

 road, have been lately several family parties and pic-nics 

 in the open air, on week days. 



" The heavenly environs on the platform, under large 

 shade trees, the amusement arrangements, and that a 

 person can easy drive on the top of the hill, makes the 

 abode here incomparably agi'eeable ; near or far it is not 

 so easy to find a place that offers such varieties. 



" To secure the localitj'-, in order to satisfy the wishes, 

 a person will do well to give previous notice of it, under 

 direction. 



" LEISENRING'S HERMITAGE, 



" Wernersville, P. 0., Berks Co., Pa. 



"August 9-2 mo." 



James Graves. 



Kilkenny, 



Large Oysters. — 



" Alexander, with his friends and physicians, wondered 

 to find oysters in the Indian seas a foot long; and in 

 Pliny's time {N'at. Hist., lib. xxxii. c. 6.), they marvelled 

 at an oyster which might be divided into three morsels, 

 naming it tridacnori. But I dare, and do truly affirm, 

 that at my eldest brother's marriage at Aldham Hall, 

 Essex, I did see a Peldon oyster divided ihto eight good 

 morsels, whose shell was nothing less than that of Alex- 

 ander's." — Monfet's Health's Improvement, London, 1C55, 

 p. ICl. 



In the University of Leyden an oyster shell is 

 or was shown, weighing 130 lbs. 



R. W. Hackwood. 



" Jb/iw de Lancaster." — An elderly lady of my 

 acquaintance lately related to me a singular fact 

 in connexion with tlie above-mentioned novel- 

 Mr, Cumberland, its author, called to her just as 

 he was finishing its composition, and read aloud 

 to her the contents of the last sheet. She said to 

 him: "Your novel will not sell." "Why?" he 

 asked, with surprise and some anxiety. "Because 

 you drag us through three volumes, following the 

 fortunes of your hero, and then you kill him." 

 More was said to the same effect, and the conse- 

 quence was, that the concluding chapters of the 

 novel in question were materially altered. 



Threlkeld. 



Whistle. Tankards. — The following has gone 

 the round of the papers : — 



" Mrs. Mary Dixon, widow of a Canon residentiary of 

 York, has presented two ancient silver tankards to the 



corporation of Hull. One of them is a ' whistle tankard,' 

 which belonged to Anthony Lambert, Mayor of Hull in 



1669. Mrs. Dixon 'has been freqviently told that there 

 is only one other whistle tankard in the kingdom.' The 



whistle comes into play when the tankard is empty; so 

 that when it reaches the hands of a toper, and there is 

 nothing to drink, he must, if he wants liquor, 'whistle 

 for it,' — which possibly may be the origin of the popular 

 phrase." 



At this rate may not the phrase of " wetting 



one's whistle" be also referred to the filling of 

 such tankard ? 



Where is the "other" tankard referred to? 



R. W. Hackwood. 



©ucifcg. 



MEANING OF LECKERSTONB. 



What is the origin of the name Leckerstone, as 

 applied to a farm-house near an abbey or monas- 

 tery ? The circumstances are these. There is a farm 

 with a neat mansion-house of that name, about a 

 mile from the town and abbey of Dunfermline, 

 county of Fife ; and still nearer the town, in the 

 same direction, there is another farm, named the 

 Grange, anciently, it is presumed, the granary of 

 the abbey. May Leckerstonp have received its 

 name from monastic times and usages ? I am in- 

 formed that there is a somewhat similar name 

 given to a spot in the parish of Abdie, also in 

 Fife, near the Grange village and the abbey of 

 Lindores, where there were two licher-stanes, as 

 they were pronounced, one on each side of a foot- 

 path leading to the Den, and thence lo the 

 Abbey, forming, as it were, posts or pillars at its 

 entrance. They were about three feet high, 

 square and flat on the top. They were not hewn, 

 but merely boulders of a bluish colour, gathered 

 from the land, and no doubt selected for the pur- 

 pose. The uniform tradition is, that they were 

 used at funerals, as a resting-place on which the 

 coffin or bier was put, while being conveyed to 

 the churchyard, and that there the priest or mi- 

 nister read lessons or lectures, or gave an address, 

 and hence the name. They were removed nearly 

 sixty years since, and are reported to have been 

 put to some useful purpose near the Manse. It 

 is believed, on the authority of a deceased* able 

 antiquary, W, D. D. TurnbuU, Esq., Advociite, 

 that the abbey of Lindores once stood on the 

 margin of the loch, and therefore near to the 

 Grange, to which a monumental stone statue 

 lately found on the bank of the loch gives some 

 countenance. Tiiere is a portion of ground, jut- 

 ting into the loch, called the Licker Inch, or as 

 interi)reted by some. Lecturers Inch. There is a 

 place, too, in the parish of Falkland (not far dis- 

 tant) called Leckerstanes, on the side of the road 

 leading from the village of Fruchie in the parish 

 to the churchyard. 



As I have the prospect of going to press about 

 a month hence with a second volume of my " His- 

 torical and Statistical Account of Dunfermline," 

 published in 1844, your early reply, either by 



[* We are happy to assure our correspondent that this 

 accomplished antiquary is still among us, but practising 

 in London instead of E^JflHirgh.r-ED. "N. & Q."] 



