452 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Dec. 8. 1855. 



highness's manor of Beaumanor and its appurtenances. 

 About 1571, when Mr. Stokes was returned M. P. for 

 Leicestershire, he took for liis second wife Dame Anne, 

 widow of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, Knt. Mr, Stokes 

 died Nov. 30, 158G, leaving his brother William, then 

 aged sixty, his heir. Consult Nichols's Leicestershire, 

 vol. iii. p. 145.] 



Bees in New Zealand. — That enthusiastic api- 

 arian, Mr. William Cotton, of Christ Church, Ox- 

 ford, stated It to be his intention, some twelve 

 years ago (see his Bee Book, London, 1842), to 

 take bees with him from England to New Zealand, 

 where they were not to be found. Can any of 

 your readers inform me, and all who feel interested 

 in the question, whether Mr, Cotton effected his 

 purpose ; and, if so, what has been its result ? 



Will. Honeycomb. 



[The Rev. Richard Taylor, F.G.S., of New Zealand, at 

 present in England, has kindly furnished the following 

 Reply to Will Honeycomb's Query : — " Bees were in- 

 troduced into New Zealand before Mr. Cotton's arrival ; 

 but the chief supply is derived from his stock. They are 

 now verv abundant and widely spread ; in fact, the 

 swarms which have escaped have completely stocked the 

 woods. Bees in New Zealand work all the year, and 

 make two kinds of honey : the spring or summer honej^ 

 is liquid; the autumnal, or winter honey, is solid and 

 completely crystallised. The honey is very fine, but 

 varies in character according to the prevailing plants of 

 the district : that of the south is in general better than 

 that of the north, from the greater abundance of plants 

 and flowers. New Zealand will be a great honej" coun- 

 try ; it now sells at ninepence per pound, and soon will be 

 less. Australia also pro luces some. We have a native 

 liee which is solitary, and makes but one cell, which is 

 generally in a hollow stick; half the cell is filled with 

 wax, the other half with honey." We learn from our 

 advertising columns that Mr. Taylor's beautifully-illus- 

 trated work. New Zealand and its Inhabitants, has just 

 issued from the press.] 



Manuscript Account of Parish Churches in Scot- 

 land. — I have in my possession a somewhat curious 

 manuscript, about which some of your readers can 

 perhaps give me information. The following is 

 the title: — Ane Alphabetical Account of all the 

 Churches qr Paroch Kirks in Scotland, by Mr, 

 And. Sympson (a portion of the title is illegible). 

 The work appears to have been intended for an 

 index to all the different parishes in Scotland. 

 The names of the several churches are written, as 

 the title indicates, in their alphabetical order, and 

 the following particulars are in general given : — 

 The county, diocese, and presbytery within whose 

 bounds each parish is situated. The names of the 

 several patrons are also generally given. Can any 

 of the readers of " N. & Q." afford me information 

 regarding this production ? Whether or not there 

 exists, either in print or in manuscript, anything 

 of a similar character ? Also, who the author, 

 Mr. And. Sympson, was, and at what time he 

 lived ? From the condition it is in, the manu- 

 script appears to be of some age, for it is in some 

 parts a good deal stained, and tattered. It is 



No. 319.] 



written in a neat small hand, with a good many 

 contractions ; but to those accustomed to read 

 this old style of writing, I should say it was toler- 

 ably legible. Agathas. 

 Edinburgh. 



[This seems to be an unpublished MS. of Andrew Sym- 

 son's, formerly Episcopal minister of Kirkiner, in Wigton- 

 shire, deprived in 1679, when he was " necessitated to 

 retire to a quiet lurking place." He subsequently settled 

 at Edinburgh, where he became an author and printer. 

 His most elaborate work is a poem, entitled Tripatri- 

 archicon : or, the Lives of the Three Patriarchs, Abraham, 

 Isaac, and Jacob, Edinb., 1705. In 1823 was published 

 from his MS., discovered in the Library of the Faculty of 

 Advocates (Jac. V. 6. 26.), A Large Description of Gal- 

 loway, 1684; from the prefatory notice to which we learn 

 that it was compiled for the use of Sir Robert Sibbald, 

 who was then collecting materials for a Scottish Atlas. 

 As Sj'mson's Galloway minutely describes the boundaries 

 of the different parishes, we would recommend our corre- 

 spondent to compare this work with the MS. in his pos- 

 session. A Catalogue of Symson's library was printed, 

 under the title of Bibliotheca Symsoniana, Edinb., 1712, 

 4to.] 



" Le Nouveau Gulliver," Sfc. — Le Nouveau 

 Gulliver, ou Voyage de Jean Gulliver, fits de Capi- 

 taine Gulliver, traduit d'un Manuscrit Anglais^ 

 Paris, 1730. Who is the "Monsieur L. D.[es] 

 F.[ontaines]," the author of this book? The 

 initials merely of his name are given on the title, 

 the rest being, in my copy, filled up in manu- 

 script by some one who has inserted this criticism 

 on a fly-leaf: 



"[Erasure] trfes mediocre; philosophe excori^, dans 

 ses fictions et sa morale ; enfant stupide d'un pfere plein 

 d'esprit et de finesse." Signed, "Poiret, prof"^ d'his* 

 nat"«." 



A criticism well merited, though there are some 

 good ideas in the book, which Swift might have 

 worked out with effect, 



Pelicanos Ameeicanus. 



[Barbier also attributes this work to Pierre Fran9oi3 

 Guzot Desfontaines, a French critic, born at Rouen in 

 1685. He studied under the Jesuits, took orders, and 

 taught rhetoric at Bourges. In 1724 he went to Paris, 

 where he wrote for the Journal des Savants ; gave great 

 offence to Voltaire by the freedom of his censures, and a 

 bitter literary warfare was the result. He died in 1745. 

 A long notice of him and his literary works is given in 

 the Biographic Universelle, tom. xi. p. 169.] 



Halberjectes. — What is the meaning of this 

 word ? It occurs in the edition of the Great 

 Charter published in 1542, Article XXV.: 



" One bredth of dyed clothe, russettes and halber- 

 jectes." 



I cannot find it in Halliwell. J. H, A. Bone. 



Cleveland, U. S. 



[The peculiar kind of cloth mentioned in this division 

 of Magna Cliarta, called halberjects, or haubergets, was a 

 very coarse and thick mixed ' English cloth of various 

 colours, sometimes used for the habits of monks ; and its 

 name was probably derived from the German al, all, or 



