110 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd S. No 87., Aug. 29. '57. 



Envelopes first Introduced. — Were envelopes 

 ever used previous to the present century ? In 

 examining; some papers recently at the State 

 Paper Office, I met with one cut nearly the same 

 as one of our modern envelopes, and attached to 

 a letter of 1696, May 16 ; addressed by Sir James 

 Ogilvie to the Right Hon. Sir Wm. Trumbull, 

 Secretary of State. The size was 4^ by .3 inches. 



Ci/. Hopper. 



Old Ballad of the Mearns. — The following 

 couplets form a portion of a song, or rather an- 

 cient ditty, which may yet be heard among the 

 peasantry of the Mearns, and which my informant, 

 a very sagacious person, tells me she has not only 

 oftentimes heard sung, but sung herself in her 

 younger days. The lines quoted are all which 

 now apparently exist, and I should be glad to have 

 the name of the author of the words, chiefly 

 notable, I admit, for their simplicity. One " Cap- 

 tain VVedderburn, servant to the king," proposes 

 to his mistress, who, it appears, is somewhat nice 

 as respects her palate as well as her lovers ; and 

 she in reply, to try his troth, or perhaps from some 

 wish to start difficulties in the way of loves which 

 before seemed to have " run smooth," is made to 

 require of him as under : 



" I must have to my supper a bird without a bone, 

 And I must have to my supper a cherry withouten 



stone ; 

 And I must have to my supper a bird withouten ga', 

 Before I lie in your bed either at'stock or wa'." 



To these demands he replies : 



" When the bird is in the shell I'm sure it has no bone, 

 And when the cherry is in the bloom I'm sure it has no 



stone; 

 The Dove she is a gentle bird, she flies withouten ga", 

 And so we'll lie in one bed, and you'll lie next the wa'." 



I should be glad to have the " hole in the bal- 

 lad " supplied, or if you were to direct me to a 

 quarter in which I can get it done, you will 

 oblige K. 



Arbroath. 



Mitred Abbots North of Trent. — Can any cor- 

 respondent of "N. & Q." inform me whether 

 there were any more than two mitred abbots north 

 of the Trent, namely, the abbots of Selby and S. 

 Mary's at York? During a recent ramble in 

 Wensleydale I paid a visit to the interesting ruin 

 of Jerveaux Abbey, near Middleham, so rich in 

 sepulchral slabs, and was told that its abbot was 

 mitred. Is this correct ? 



The privileges of the mitred abbot were (Fos- 

 broke's British Monach., c. viii.) : 



" The dalmatic or seamless coat of Christ signified holy, 

 and immaculate piety: the mitre was emblematical of 

 Christ the head of the church, whose figure bishops bore : 

 the crosier or pastoral stafi', their pastoral care: the 

 gloves, because occasionally worn or laid aside, tj'pified 

 the concealment of good works for shunning vanity, and 

 the demonstration of them for edification ; the ring that 



as Christ was the spouse of the Church, so scripture mj's- 

 teries were to be sealed from unbelievers, and revealed to 

 the Church: and the sandals, because as the foot was 

 neither covered nor naked, so the gospel should neither 

 be concealed nor rest upon earthly benefits." 



OXONIENSIS. 



Rev. Richard Graves. — If the present possessor 

 of Mickleton, Gloucestershire, or any other mem- 

 bers of the Graves family, are in possession of any 

 letters or other documents illustrative of the life 

 and character of the Rev. Richard Graves, some 

 time rector of Claverton, near Bath, the communi- 

 cation of such to the Rev. T. Kii.vbrt of Claver- 

 ton Lodge, near Bath, who is employed on a Me- 

 moir of Mr. Graves, will be duly esteemed. 



Witchcraft. — Few are the subjects which do 

 not directly or incidentally fall under discussion 

 in the "N. & Q.," and perhaps I may obtain in- 

 formation relative to branding a female with the 

 appellation of a witch. I beg to quote two entries 

 of burials from the register of the parish of Tet- 

 bury, as specified at p. 130. of "the History of 

 that town by the Rev. A. T. Lee," recently pub- 

 lished : — 



« 167§, March 12«^ a child of Witch Warrand." 

 « 1689, a child of Witch Comleys, May 1"." 



May I ask if such insertions, in a public re- 

 gister, defamatory as at least they were, were not 

 also actionable as libellous? And whether the 

 officiating clergyman making such entries would 

 incur the responsibility of them ? QuiEBixuH. 



Portraits of Henrietta Maria and Prince Charles. 

 — I lately purchased a copy of The Life and 

 Death of Henrietta Maria de Bourbon, Queen to 

 Charles the Fir,<it, which is a reprint of Smeaton, 

 dated 1820, of the edition by Dorman Newman, 

 1685. There is an engraved frontispiece to it, 

 representing Henrietta Maria and Prince Charles, 

 with their right hands joined. There is no en- 

 graver's name to the print, and I do not find it 

 mentioned in Granger. 



I shall therefore feel particularly obliged if 

 any one, conversant with prints, would inform me 

 by whom it was originally engraved, and if ex- 

 pressly for the above work in 1685. Also, if the 

 portrait of the Prince has been copied from any 

 previous print. P. 



" Siege of Vienne.'" — Who is the author of The 

 Siege of Vienne, a tragedy, published by Bell and 

 Bradfute, Edinburgh, 1839 ? X. 



Collections of Prints. — N. J. A. would thank 

 some correspondent of " N. & Q." for directions 

 or suggestions as to the best manner of preserving 

 (and also of arranging) a collection of from 4000 

 to 5000 old prints and etchings. Tliey have been 

 kept for ?L long time in portfolios, some with and 

 some without leaves, but neither will prevent their 



