296 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2^8. No 41., Oct. 11. '56. 



Unpublished Letter of Pope to Wanley (2"'* S. ii. 

 242.) — This letter had previously been printed. 

 It may be found at p. 28. of the second volume of 

 Additions to the Works of Alexander Pope, Esq.; 

 together with many Original Poems and Letters of 

 Cotemporary Writers, never before published: 

 London, printed for H. Baldwin, &c., small 8vo., 

 1776. The editor says in his Preface : 



" Many of the Letters and Poems, of which this pub- 

 lication consists, were transcribed with accuracy from the 

 originals, in the collections of the late Lords Oxford and 

 Bolingbroke, who are well known to have lived in the 

 strictest intimacy with Mr. Pope, as well as his literary 

 friends and associates." 



The letter in question is evidently taken from 

 the original in the Harleian Collection. To Signor 

 Alberto, the editor appends the following note : 



" Humphrey Wanley was Lord Oxford's librarian ; 

 Alberto Croce, his wine-merchant." 



It is by no means clear to me " that Humphrey 

 Wanley combined an agency for wine and spirits 

 with literary pursuits." The allusion in Dr. 

 Hickes's letter is probably to this same Alberto 

 Croce, Wanley's friend. Edwakd F. Eimbault. 



The last Gibbet erected v. The Gibbet last erected 

 (2"'> S. ii. 216.) — The gibbet which lately stood in 

 Jarrow Slake, near South Shields, and on which the 

 body of William Jobling, the murderer of Nicholas 

 Fairies, was hung on August 6, 1832, was, I have 

 always understood, the last thing of the kind ever 

 set up on English soil. It being now removed, 

 and sawn into pieces (as witness a thick slice of it 

 now lying before me), I think it is quite correct 

 to say that " the last gibbet erected in England 

 has been demolished." Jacob's post, set up in 

 1734, was certainly not the last erected ; and, 

 therefore, the fact that a piece of it still remains 

 does not invalidate the statement made in the 

 local papers with regard to Jobling's ; although 

 the wording of the paragraph was equivocal, as it 

 might be taken to mean that every gibbet in the 

 country was now demolished, which is not the 

 case. For, besides that on Ditchling Common, 

 referred to by your correspondent, it is my im- 

 pression that there is yet another, at least, viz. 

 one at Sting Cross, in the parish of Elsdon, Nor- 

 thumberland, on which Winter the murderer was 

 hung in chains, in 1792. There may be more. 



WiLLM. Bbockie. 

 2. Russell Street, South Shields. 



Duke of Fitz- James (2"'» S. ii. 256.) — About a 

 century ago, in 1752, Francis, Duke of Fitz- 

 James, and peer of France, was Bishop of Soissons. 

 He bore the royal arms of England with a border 

 of alternate lions and fleurs-de-lys, with the motto, 

 " Ortu et Honore." Was he a son of the Duke 

 of Berwick, who was killed at the siege of Philips- 

 burg, on June 12, 1734 ? F. C. H. 



Climate of Hastings (2°^ S. ii. 149.) — A few- 

 weeks ago, a correspondent inquired for any pub- 

 lished meteorological observations relating to 

 Hastings, besides those contained in the works 

 he mentioned. He will find a " Register of the 

 Temperature and Winds at Hastings from 22nd 

 November 1827 to 31st March 1828, by J. Fielden, 

 Esq.," in Dr. J. R. Farre's Journal of Morbid 

 Anatomy, 1828, p. 120. L, G. 



Origin of Burning the Dead (P* S. i. 216. 308.) 

 — The Rev. Dr. Bigelow has written that the 

 " ancient custom of burning the dead thus origin- 

 ated : " 



" When a hero died, or was killed in a foreign expedi- 

 tion, as his body was corruptible, and therefore unfit to be 

 transported entire, the expedient was hit upon to reduce 

 it to ashes, that by bringing those home, the manes of 

 the deceased might be obliged to follow, and the benefit 

 of his tutelage be secured to his country. By degrees 

 the custom became common, and superseded the ancient 

 mode of burial." 



w. w. 



Malta. 



Rose of Jericho (2"" S. ii. 236.) — Your corre- 

 spondents F. C. H. and R. H. D. will find an ac- 

 count of the real Rose of Jericho, as distinguished 

 from the Kaff-Maryam, the Rose of Jericho of the 

 Pilgrims (Anastatica hierochuntica), at pp. 533, 

 534, 535. of vol. i. of De Saulay's Narrative of a 

 Journey round the Dead Sea and in the Bible Lands. 



E.J. 



Lampeter, Cardiganshire. 



Can Fish be tamed f (2"'» S. ii. 173. 235.) —In 

 Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine for the present 

 month (October), in an article entitled " Our 

 Tour in the Interior of the Crimea," speaking of 

 the celebrated Prince Woronzoff's palace, occurs 

 the following passage, which may prove interesting 

 to your correspondents Sigma Theta and B. H. C. : 



" The house itself -was designed and constructed by 

 English architects, and has a very imposing appearance 

 from the sea. The grounds, too, are beautifully laid out, 

 with several small crystalline pools that contain tame 

 trout. The south coast of the Crimea is remarkable for 

 the abundance and excellent quality of the water ; small 

 clear brooks are continually crossing the road, and they 

 proved a great luxury to our horses during the trip." 



Can any of your correspondents inform me if 

 this is the same species of trout which inhabit our 

 freshwater rivers ? J. B. Whitbobne. 



A gentleman in Norfolk, a few years ago, had even 

 so far tamed a pike, that he would come up for a 

 dead mouse or bird which the gentleman held up 

 over the water, and seize it voraciously. F. C. H. 



I had in my aquarium for some months a diminu- 

 tive perch, not much more than an inch In length, 

 who soon learned to rise to a worm, and take it 

 from my fingers without the least hesitation. 



