206 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 254. 



afibrded on the route from the coast ? Where 

 was the military order of St. lago de Compostella 

 founded? When did the last pilgrims visit St. 

 lago from England ? G. R. L. 



MedicBval Vessels. — Where are the best draw- 

 ings of mediaeval vessels and galleys to be found ? 



G. R. L. 



Abigail Hill — Mrs. Masham. — If any of your 

 correspondents will favour me with the genealo- 

 gical history of Abigail Hill, or inform me where 

 I can find her lineage, I shall be greatly obliged. 

 The recital of her intrigues form a prominent 

 feature amidst the revelations of the strange doings 

 prevailing in the latter part of the reign of Queen 

 Anne. Her subsequent career as Mrs. Masham 

 is full of interest; while the basin of water spilt 

 upon her dress has coupled her name with the 

 peace of Utrecht, and admitted her, through that 

 great event, into the annals of English History. 



Heney Davenet. 



Philip Massinger. — The following appears in 

 Mr. Bell's recently published Songs from the 

 Dramatists : 



" The struggle of Massinger's life is pathetically sum- 

 med up in the entry of his burial in the parish register of 

 St. Saviour's : ' March 20, 1639-40, buried, Philip Mas- 

 ainger, a stranger.' This entry tells his whole story, its 

 obscurity, humiliations, and sorrows. Dying in his house 

 at Bankside, in the neighbourhood of the theatre which 

 had been so often enriched by his genius, the isolation in 

 which he lived is painfully indicated by this touching 

 memorial," 



It is more than thirteen years since Mr. Peter 

 Cunningham, in his edition of Campbell's Speci- 

 mens of the British Poets, pointed out that the 

 real entry is : 



" 1639. March 18. Philip Massinger, stranger, that is, 

 a non-parishioner." 



Wh&t authority is there to support the state- 

 ment made by Mr. Campbell, that Massinger died 

 in his own house in the Bank-side, as opposed to 

 the statement of the parish register, that he was a 

 non-parishioner of St. Saviour's ? I must confess, 

 that viewing the entry in the same light as Mr. 

 Cunningham, I see nothing in it to indicate Mas- 

 singer's obscurity, humiliations, and sorrows. 

 "Stranger" was no doubt added merely to show 

 tbat higher fees were paid than if he had been a 

 parishioner. Thompson Coopee. 



Cambridge. 



JRogers^s " Poems" — There is a volume of 

 Kogers's Poems, with MS. notes and emendations 

 in the poet's own handwriting. This is and will 

 be a literary curiosity, and is not now in the poet's 

 possession. It is desirable that the pedigree of 

 such a volume should be well authenticated. I 

 wish that some one of your correspondents would 

 inform us in whose possession this volume now is, 



and the circumstances under which it passed from 

 the poet to the present possessor. The present 

 state of his health precludes any application to 

 Mr. Rogers himself. Hatche. 



Abgarus's Letter. — Abgarus, King of Edessa, 

 is said to have written a letter to our Lord re- 

 questing him to repair to his court, and to cure 

 him of a disease under which he laboured. Of 

 this letter, usually regarded as a forgery, the 

 Honourable Robert Curzon, in his Armenia, gives 

 a translation, and adds that — 



" Some years ago I was informed, while at Alexandria, 

 that a papyrus had been discovered in Upper Egypt, in 

 an ancient tomb ; it was inclosed in a coarse earthenware 

 vase, and it contained the letter from Abgarus to our 

 Saviour, written either in Coptic or Uncial Greek cha- 

 racters. The answer of St. Thomas was said not to be 

 with it. I was told that the manuscript afterwards came 

 into the possession of the King of Holland, but I have no 

 means at present of ascertaining the truth of the story, 

 or the antiquity of the papyrus of which it forms the 

 subject.?' 



Perhaps some reader of " N. & Q," may know- 

 something of the truth of this statement. All 

 facts concerning it, and a translation, if it differs 

 from other copies, would be interesting to myself 

 and many another student of ecclesiastical his- 

 tory. R. P. D. E. 



GreshanHs Exchange. — Burgon says that the 

 list of subscribers to the purchase of the site ia 

 the year 1565 and 1566 is still extant. Query 

 where? J. K. 



^^ Love." — In the London Daily Advertiser of 

 21st December, 1751, 1 find the following: 



" Lost, out of the house of Mrs. Kennedy, the fifth 

 house opposite the Archbishop's wall at Lambeth, a black 

 velvet cloak, with a love coarsely run round it, and worn 

 out at the collar with pinning. If pawned or sold, by 

 applying as above, the person who has it may have the 

 money again with thanks." 



What article of dress was a "love," which 

 could so easily be put on and off? F. S. A. 



Silver Rings. — Can you tell me in what reign 

 silver rings were worn, as one (apparently an 

 ancient one) has been found with a Roman coin 

 in the middle of a ploughed field, near to the town 

 in which I reside in Lincolnshire ? The ring is 

 not circular, but flattened, and has a cornelian 

 stone with a flower rudely cut in it, of an oval 

 le. Daist. 



St. George's Cross. — When did British soldiers 

 first fight under St. George's Cross as the colours 

 of England ? Centueion. 



Hand- Grenades. — In clearing out a chamber 

 of the castle of Leicester, a quantity of fragments 

 of hand-grenades, together with fuses, touch-paper, 

 bullets, &c., were discovered. The shell of the 



