Aug. 19. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



155 



the classical author, whom nearly three years 

 before I had met in that eastern land where the 

 Palm Leaves were gathered. 



" Eastward roll the orbs of heaven, 

 Westward tend the thoughts of men : 

 Let the poet, nature driven, 

 Wander eastward, now and then." 



Richard Monckton Milnes. 



I take a brief extract from the preface of this 

 work, p. 17., for the purpose of answering the 

 Query of G. T. H. : 



" Polygamy is usually spoken of as the universal prac- 

 tice of the East, while a little inquiry will inform the tra- 

 veller that it is a licence almost confined to the very 

 wealthy, and b)- no means general even among them. A 

 plurality of wives implies a plurality of houses, or apart- 

 ments, with separate establishments, and this of course 

 can be seldom afforded." 



w.w. 



Malta. 



Curious Prints (Vol. X., p. 51.). — " Midas " is 

 Mr. Gillam, the magistrate under whose orders 

 the soldiers fired upon the mob in the " Wilkes 

 and Liberty " riot in St. George's Fields, on the 

 10th May, 1768. Five or six of the rioters were 

 killed, and he was prosecuted for the murder, but 

 acquitted (July 11) on the close of the case for 

 the prosecution, without being called upon for his 

 defence. Party spirit was then strong and viru- 

 lent. Malcolm gives an account of some out- 

 rageous caricatures on both sides ; and Horace 

 Walpole says : " Whitfield, who had a mind to be 

 tampering with these commotions, prayed for 

 Wilkes before his sermon." See Malcolm's His- 

 torical Sketch of the Art of Caricaturing, p. 99. ; 

 Horace Walpole's Memoirs of the Reign of 

 George III., vol. iii. p. 206. ; and Adolphus's 

 History of England, vol. i. p. 312., ed. 1810. 



H. B. C. 

 U. U. Club. 



Cha7-les Povey (Vol. x., p. 7.). — Your corre- 

 spondent, who seeks for information as to this 

 ingenious projector, may find some interesting 

 matter in the address prefixed to one of his specu- 

 lative pamphlets, viz. Britain s Scheme to make a 

 New Coin of Gold and Silver to give in exchange 

 for Paper Money and South Sea Stock, 8vo., 1720, 

 To Povey belongs the credit of having projected 

 and set on foot the Sun Fire Office, from which 

 I believe he enjoyed an annuity. Mr. Francis, in 

 h\s Annals, Sfc. of Life Assurance, p. 59., mentions 

 the former fact, together with a few other parti- 

 culars ; but styles the promoter, by error, John 

 instead of Charles Povey. William Bates. 



Birmingham. 



Nicholas Ferrar and George Herbert (Vol. x., 

 p. 58.), — Your correspondent Mr. Mayor, in his 

 P. S., p. 59., mentions Edmund Duncon as Her- 

 bert's executor. Was he so ? Iz. Walton, in his 



Life of Herbert, narrating the particulars of Dun- 

 con's visit to him about a month before his death, 

 makes Herbert say to Duncon, on that occasion : 

 " Sir, / see by your habit that you are a priest," 

 &c. An inference from this is, I think, that up to 

 that period they were personally strangers to 

 each other. A reference to the same biography 

 will show that, after Duncon left, Herbert's old 

 friend Woodnot arrived ; and that on his death- 

 bed, Herbert, having desired Mr, Bostock to hand 

 him his last will from a cabinet in the room, 

 " delivered it into the hand of Mr, Woodnot, and 

 said, ' My old friend, I here deliver you my last 

 will, in which you will find that I have made you 

 sole executor for the good of my wife and nieces,' " 

 &c. J. K. 



Sons of Richard III. (Vol, vii., p. 583.). — I 

 question Drake's correctness when he says that 

 Richard knighted his natural son Richard Plan- 

 tagenet at York. I rather think that he alludes 

 to the fact, that at York, in 1483, Richard ele- 

 vated his legitimate son Edward to the rank of 

 Prince of Wales, with the insignia of the wreath 

 and golden wand. (See Third Continuation of the 

 History of Croyland, Bohn's edition, p. 490.) 



Henry T. Riley, 



Divining Rod (Vol. x., p. 18.). — I do not know 

 what may have been advanced upon this subject 

 in former articles, but it is my firm conviction 

 that the whole effect is produced simply by " un- 

 conscious employment of muscular force," or, more 

 f>roperly speaking, by the employment of muscu- 

 ar force without recognising the effect produced 

 by it. When I first came into this neighbour- 

 hood to reside, I found my house badly supplied 

 with water, although there were two wells upon 

 the premises. I was told that there were men, 

 who lived a few miles off", whose employment was 

 to sink wells, and find the proper spots for so 

 doing by means of the divining rod. As many in- 

 stances were mentioned of their having done so, 

 as at Woolwich, I sent for them ; and, after try- 

 ing several spots, they came to one over which 

 the stick began to turn. I disbelieved the cause, 

 and offered to give them ten pounds if they found 

 water there, and nothing if they should fail. They 

 would not accept my offer, although if they had 

 they would certainly have won ; for the fact is, 

 water may be found anywhere if only you go to 

 the proper depth. I say proper depth : for if you 

 do not go deep enough, you do not meet with it ; 

 and if you go too deep, you get through the pro- 

 per rock into one through which it will filter 

 away. Such, at least, is the case in this neigh- 

 bourhood. I cut a rod for myself, grasped it in 

 the usual manner (in which the whole secret lies), 

 and turned it wherever I chose. Any of your 

 readers may do the same, and make the rod turn 

 over the very spots where others have decided, by 



