510 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



[No. 161. 



Executions in Henry VIII.^s Reign, S^c. — Har- 

 rison, in his description of Great Britain, printed 

 in 1577, has the following passage in bookii. ch. ii. 

 It is quoted in Hume's England, temp, of Eliza- 

 beth. In a note, (mm) p. 471., edit, of 1789, &c., 

 the author enlarges upon it : 



" In the reign of Henry VIII. there were hanged 

 seventy-two thousand thieves and rogues (besides other 

 malefactors) ; this makes about two thousand a year. 

 But in Q,. Elizabeth's time, the same author says, 

 there were only between three and four hundred a year 

 hanged for theft and robbery." 



Query : Does there exist, and if so where, any 

 particular account of the trials and last dying 

 speeches, confessions, and behaviour of the afore- 

 said " thieves and rogues ?" H. T. Ellacombe. 



Clyst St. George. 



William Brand. — What is known of personal 

 or family history of William Brand, who was " mer- 

 chant and citizen of London" in 1591 ? L. L. D. 

 Temple. 



Sermons against Inoculation. — In that useful 

 book, Haydn's Dictionary of Dates, under the 

 article Inoculation, it is stated that the practice 

 was preached against by many of the bishops and 

 other clergy from the year 1721 (when permission 

 was given to Lady Mary Wortley Montague by 

 act of parliament to haVe it tried on seven con- 

 demned criminals) until 1760. I shall be glad to 

 be informed of any sermons (together with the 

 names of the authors) on the subject. G. A. T. 



Withyham. 



The Gosling Family. — I am often amused, and 

 frequently instructed, by your excellent publica- 

 tion, more especially when surnames are traced to 

 antiquity, and also when their derivation is mi- 

 nutely examined. 



In Tytler's Elements of General History (Scott, 

 Webster, and Co.), 1839, under "France," p. 249., 

 it reads : " Paris was attacked a second time, but 

 gallantly defended by Count Odo or Eudes, and 

 the venerable Bishop Goslin." This occurrence 

 is dated about 850, and therefore, if the Gosling 

 surname of the present day be identical with that 

 of the bishop, it may lay claim to some degree of 

 antiquity. If yourself or contributors were so 

 kind as to throw some light on the antiquity, deri- 

 vation, and (if foreign) when introduced, and to 

 what part of England, you would oblige several 

 friends, and none more so than myself, who am 

 one of The Flock. 



Electricity applied to Growth of Trees. — Some 

 two or three years since there was discovered, I 

 rather think by a Frenchman, a mode of hastening 

 the growth of trees by electricity. 



Perhaps some of the readers of " N. & Q." may 

 be able to afford information as to the name and 



locale of the discoverer ; the exact means of apply- 

 ing the electricity; and also whether, or where, 

 the plan has ever been tried, with what success, 

 and how and where further information may be 

 obtained respecting it. William C. Domvilb. 



5. Grosvenor Square, London. 



Burial-place of Spinoza. — Will the "N. & Q." 

 and the "Navorscher" assist me in discovering 

 the burial-place of this eminent philosopher? He 

 died (where ?) in 1677. Arthur Paget. 



Elvaston or Aylewaston Castle. — J. B. E. would 

 be glad to be informed of the etymology of Elwas- 

 ton, Elvaston, or Aylewaston Castle in Derbyshire, 

 which was held by one of the Stanhopes for the 

 king, during a portion of the Parliamentary wars. 

 It has been stated that it is from Aylewas, the 

 Anglo-Saxon for aloe ; but that is clearly not the 

 case, the aloe not being indigenous to this country. 



J. B. E. 



Patents of Appointment wanted. — Can you, or 

 any of your readers, refer me to the patents by 

 which the following appointments were made ? 



Sir Edmund Denny ; Clerk of the Exchequer, 

 King's Remembrancer. 



John Lennard, Esq. ; Prothonotary of Wales, 

 Clerk of the Crown, Prothonotary of the Common 

 Pleas, Custos Brevium of ditto. 



Thomas Ive, Esq. ; Clerk of the Crown. 



Denny's appointments were of Henry VII.'s 

 reign, Lennard's of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, 

 Ive's most probably about the same time ; he lies 

 buried at St. Pancras, without date. 



G. Steinman Steinman. 



Inscriptions in Churches. — Having observed on 

 the walls of some ancient churches tablets of stone 

 or wood, inscribed with scraps of Scripture of an 

 admonitory or preceptive character, can any of 

 your palajographical correspondents kindly help 

 me to any date for the origin of this custom ? It 

 seems not to be in use in modern churches, but 

 has rather descended to school-rooms, especially 

 those in connexion with the National Society. 

 Could the idea possibly have been suggested by 

 that remarkable passage (Habahuk, ii. 11.) : 



" The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam 

 out of the timber shall answer it." 



jN^orwood. 



[A remarkable colloquy, between Queen Elizabeth 

 and Dean Nowell at St. Paul's Cathedral, on the 1st 

 of November, 1561, is said to have originated the usage 

 of inscribing texts of Scripture on the inner side of the 

 church walls, as may be still seen in many parishes. 

 Her Majesty, having attended divine service, went 



