^22 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 149. 



the throat in quest of food, causing intense agony. On 

 these occasions warm jnllk and water is poured down 

 her throat ; and, when the reptile has imbibed the 

 nourishment, it descends to its place of lodgment, just 

 above the diaphragm. That a poor child should be 

 left to endure such excruciating torture is a reflection 

 on the science and benevolence of the age in which we 

 live. — Doncaster Chronicle." 



This paragraph is now going the round of the 

 newspapers in the form of an extract from the 

 Doncaster Chronicle. As I have not chanced to 

 see a copy of that valuable print, I may pei'haps 

 be permitted to inquire whether or not this para- 

 graph is faithfully extracted therefrom, and I 

 would also ask the highly intelligent editor thereof 

 to favour me with replies to the following ques- 

 tions : 



1. Has the editor of the Doncaster Chronicle 

 seen the reptile ? 



2. Is the editor quite sure that the creature is a 

 reptile, and not a small fish which in its outward 

 form bears a very close resemblance to a whale ? 



3. If the editor has not seen this nondescript 

 creature of periodically-voracious-but-easily-satis- 

 fied-with-milk-and-water appetite, how does he 

 happen to know that the said reptile exists other- 

 wise than in his own benevolent imagination ? 



4. Does the editor's severe "reflection" refer 

 only to that portion of " the science and benevo- 

 lence of the age," which is supposed to reside in 

 the bone-setters, reducers-of-fabulous-dislocations, 

 and wretched vendors-of-poisonous-herbs who in- 

 fest the northern parts of this island, to the serious 

 prejudice of benefit-clubs and life assurance socie- 

 ties, or has the "case" really been submitted to 

 any qualified-medical-practitioner ? 



_ 5, Has the parish surgeon seen the poor girl, 

 and what is his report on the case ? A Londoner. 



iKltn0v ^ufit'cS. 



" Lord Stafford mines,''' §'c. — The following lines 

 appear in A Sermon of Merchants, by Theodore 

 Parker : 



•' Lord Stafford mines for coal and salt. 

 The Duke of Norfolk deals in malt, 



The Douglas in red herrings ; 



And noble name, and cultured land, 



Palace and park, and vassal band, 



Are powerless to the notes of hand 



Of Rothschild or the Barings." 



Can you inform me whence they are derived ? 



BoAty. 



Haspherry Plants from Seed found in the Stomach 

 of an ancient Briton. — 



" There are now growing, in the Botanical Gardens 

 of one of our Universities, raspberry plants which have 

 been raised from seeds discovered some years ago matted 

 together in the form of a ball in the stomach of an 



ancient Briton. They may, probably, have been the 

 cause of his death, by resisting the course of digestion ! 

 Be this as it may, the plants raised from them are to 

 be seen flourishing and vigorous, notwithstanding the 

 number of ages which have passed since our rude pro- 

 genitor swallowed them," — Botanist's Manual and 

 Woodland Companion. 



Can any of your readers inform me where these 

 plants " are to be seen ; " and when and where the 

 ancient Briton was discovered ; and in what state 

 of preservation the body was found ? Ceridwen. 



Ghost Stories : Archbishop Cranmer. — 



" In all the best attested stories of ghosts and visions, 

 as in that of Brutus, of Archbishop Cranmer, that of 

 Benvenuto Cellini recorded by himself, and the vision 

 of Galileo communicated by him to his favourite pupil 

 Torricelli, the ghosttseers were in a state of cold or 

 chilling damp from without, and of anxiety inwardly." 

 — Coleridge, Lectures upon Shahspeare, &c., vol. i. 

 p. 211. 



What is the story of Archbishop Cranmer ? K. 



John Cohbe. — In Cat. Rot. Patentium, p. 286., 

 temp. Hen. VI., occurs the following : 



" Quod Johannes Cobbe per artem philosophia: 

 possit metalla imperfecta de suo proprio genere trans- 

 ferre et ea in aurum vel argentum transubstantiare." 



And in Eymer (Feed., vol. xi. p. 68.) is the King's 

 permission for the necessary experiments, and he 

 orders " that none shall hinder the said Cobbe 

 therein." 



Query 1. What was the result of these experi- 

 ments (if made) ; and where can information re- 

 specting them, or the said John Cobbe, be found ? 



It appears that the Collected ChymiccB (Ays- 

 cough's Cat. MSS., p. 498.) in the British Mu- 

 seum was composed by one John Cobbe. 



Query 2. Is this author indentic with the philo- 

 sopher above mentioned ? If not, what is the true 

 date of the Collects Chymicce, and what farther is 

 known of these Cobbes ? T. C. 



" At the Clearing of the Glass." — In the new 

 edition of Walton's Life of Donne, I find the fol- 

 lowing paragraph, part of a note describing the 

 Earl of Essex's expedition to Cadiz : 



" To inculcate discipline and subordination, and to 

 impress on his followers the sacredness of their cause, 

 Dr. Marbeck records that the Lord Admiral had ser- 

 vice performed three times a day, — in the morning, in 

 the evening, and at bed time, at the clearinge of the 

 glasse. " H 



If one of your readers will explain the above, 

 he will greatly oblige Crug. 



Poem on Fiction. — I have lately come into the 

 possession of a manuscript poem, which I conclude 

 unpublished, with the following titlQi— On Ficr 



