604 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 165. 



Writing Ink for unsized Paper. — Is there any 

 kind of ink which can be used with a pen for 

 ■writing upon unsized paper, such as is employed 

 in printing many German books ? T. C. 



Durham. 



Statue of St. Peter at Rome. — The well-known 

 statue of St. Peter at Rome is often stated to be 

 merely a Jupiter converted. What are the proofs 

 of this? A. A. D. 



Plum-pudding. — We are accustomed to laugh 

 at the benighted French family, who, as tradition 

 informs us, put their plum-pudding into the pot 

 without a cloth, and had it served up in a soup 

 tureen. But in doing so, were they not enjoying 

 that most English of dishes in its most ancient and 

 most genuine form ? In Hudibras, i. 227., we 

 have — 



" Rather than fail, they will defie 

 That which they love most tenderly ; 

 Quarrel %vith minc'd pies, and disparage 

 Their best and dearest friend plum-porridge." 



In Addison's time the more solid form was in use, 

 but not to the exclusion of the older one. The 

 Tatler, No. 255., says : 



" No man of the most rigid virtue gives offence by 

 any excess in plumb-pudding or plumb-porridge, and 

 that, because they are the first parts of the dinner." 



Again, the Spectator, No. 269., describing a con- 

 versation with Sir Eoger, says : 



" He then launched out into the praise of the late 

 act of parliament for securing the Church of England, 

 and told me, with great satisfaction, that he believed it 

 already began to take effect, for that a rigid Dissenter, 

 who chanced to dine at his house on Christmas Day, 

 had been observed to eat very plentifully of his plumb- 

 porridge." 



Is plum-porridge obsolete now, or does it still 

 exist in remote country places ? 



What is the earliest mention o? plum-pudding f 



Can the furmety, or more properly frumenty, 

 of the midland counties (orthodox on Mid-lent 

 Sunday) with justice claim descent from this once 

 popular dish ? Ekica. 



TopTiams of Craven. — What is the date of the 

 connexion between the Tophams, an old family in 

 Craven, Yorkshire, and the house of Northumber- 

 land ; and in what persons of the above two fomi- 

 lies did it take place ? There is some account of 

 the descendants of the younger branches of the 

 Percies in the Magazine of Topographical and 

 Genealogical Notes, but not the information re- 

 quired. B, M. A. 



Charade. — Some young ladies turning over one 

 of the former volumes of " N. & Q.," find that you 

 have condescended to admit queries as to the solu- 

 tion of charades, and imagining that they have 



discovered ray Initials in your pages, will not let 

 me rest until I have sought, through the same 

 medium, the answer to the following, which they 

 are " dying to know." 



" Ere Persia's realm was overthrown, 

 'M.y first was to the wise alone 

 By mystic sign or symbol known. 



" And when great Csesar held his sway 

 From Cheviot Hill to Teviot Tay, 

 My next shone forth with purest ray. 



" But when, in Babylonia chain'd. 

 My second of my first complain'd, 

 My whole the conqueror of both remain'd." 



G. A. C. 



Chemical Query : Silex and Oxygen. — In 

 Parkes' Chemical Catechism, edit. 1808, p. 144. 

 (1st edition, p. 151,), I find the following singular 

 announcement : 



" In my first edition I announced the very singular 

 opinion of Mr. Hume of Long Acre ; namely, that 

 silex is the basis of oxygen gas. In subsequent conver- 

 sations with him, I have, I confess, been much sur- 

 prised at the variety of natural and chemical facts 

 which he adduces in confirmation of his hypothesis ; 

 but rather than give a mutilated detail of his argu- 

 ments, I shall leave all notice of them to himself, espe- 

 cially as he intends to publish his ideas through some 

 more appropriate medium." 



What I want to ask is : Did Mr. H. publish his 

 opinions ? and, if so, where ? 



Arthur C. Wilsox. 



Suppressed Irish Peerage. — Some years ago I 

 was shown, as a great curiosity, an Irish Peerage, 

 professing to give the true pedigrees of recently 

 ennobled Irish families; which pedigrees often 

 differed materially from those put forward in 

 books of heraldry. Can any one inform me if a 

 copy of this work exists in any public library ; and 

 if so, in what? Who is the supposed author? 

 The name in the title-page is O'Moore. I was told 

 that this was the lately deceased poet ; but I ques- 

 tion my informant's knowledge on the subject. 

 Perhaps some of your readers can throw light 

 upon it. D. X. 



The Budget. — When was the term budget first 

 apj)Iied to the financial statement of a minister, 

 and why is the Chancellor of the Exchequer's 

 statement so termed ? Prestoniensis. 



Goldsmiths' Year-marhs. — At the meeting of 

 the ArchiEological Institute in Bristol in August, 

 1851, Mr. Octavius Morgan stated his intention 

 of publishing a table of Goldsmiths' year-marks on 

 plate, which he said were introduced in the be- 

 ginning of the fourteenth century ; and consisted 

 of a series of alphabets of various forms, each em- 

 bracing a cycle of twenty years, and by the aid 



