2"'! S. No 112., Feb. 20. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



147 



nately arrived at. The Editor and the corre- 

 spondents of " N. & Q." have enlightened me on 

 many subjects, and no doubt they can with regard 



to this. OxONIENSIS. 



Robertson's Sermons. — What is the meaning of 

 the passage I have marked with Italics ? Is "eye" 

 a misprint for " edge ? " To soften the edge of 

 an instrument would be equivalent to blunting it; 

 but such a quaint mode of expression is very un- 

 like the plain and clear style of Mr. Robertson : — 



" The conscientious churchman complains that his 

 delicate scruples, or his bold truthfulness, stand in the 

 way of his preferment ; while another man, who conquers 

 his scruples, or softens the eye of truth, rises, and sits 

 down a mitred peer of parliament." — Serjnons, bj' the 

 late F. W. Robertson, 1st Series, 3rd Edit., 1856, p. 239. 



Jaydee. 



^^ Dinna ye hear it?" — I have some difficulty 

 in understanding one part of the story about the 

 corporal's wife, Jessie Brown, hearing the advance 

 . of Havelock's Highlanders to the relief of Luck- 

 now. The storj', as given by " the lady of an 

 officer," goes on to say : — 



" Suddenly I was aroused by a wild unearthly scream 

 close to my ear ; my companion stood upright beside me, 

 her arms raised, and her head bent forward in the atti- 

 tude of listening. A look of intense delight broke over 

 her countenance ; she grasped my hand, drew me to- 

 wards her, and exclaimed : 'Dinnaye hear it.' dinna ye 

 hear it.' Ay, I'm na dreamin', it's the slogan o' the High- 

 landers ! ' And again, ' Courage ! courage ! hark to the 

 slogan, — to the Macgregor, the grandest of them a'.'" 



Now, the difficulty which I feel is, whether 

 Jessie Brown's intensely acute ear caught the 

 sound of an " ancient word of courage" — the war- 

 cry of the Macgregors — " O' ard choille" — or 

 whether it is the pibrach, perhaps the " Macgre- 

 gor's Gathering," that the writer means ? I am 

 unaware that ancient slogans are in use among 

 any Highland troops of the present day ; and I 

 am quite certain that the war-cry of the Clan 

 Gregor is not the grandest of all the Highland 

 slogans. I am inclined to think that the writer of 

 the narrative has used slogan and pibrach synony- 

 mously, although no two things can be more 

 different. R. S. F. 



Psalm- singing by the early Nonconformists. — 

 What is the meaning of the following resolution, 

 which I met with in a church-book belonging to 

 a congregation of Independent Dissenters ? 



"Feb. 17th, [16]95.— Then concluded upon: That Bro. 

 P ... 11 should be appointed to sing the praises of God 

 in this Church of Christ." 



Joseph Rix. 



St. Neot's. 



Stipendiary Curates represented in Convocation. 

 — The following extract from a petition pre- 

 sented, or intended to be presented, to the Con- 

 vocation elected in 1818, throws some light upon 



this difficult and important question, which is likely 

 to engage the attention of the Upper House in the 

 ensuing sessions. The petition is contained in a 

 pamphlet by the rejected candidate, the Rev. J. 

 Dennis, B.C.L., who contested the diocese of 

 Exeter in 1818: — 



" It is intended at the ensuing meeting of Convocation 

 to present a petition for the appointment of a committee 

 to try the merits of the election of two proctors for the 

 Diocese of Exeter, on the following grounds : — 



V. That another candidate was also returned as duly 

 elected who had not a majority of lawful votes. 



VI. That the candidate who was rejected had the ma- 

 jority of unquestioned votes. 



IX. That the votes of Stipendiary Curates were re- 

 ceived as valid, though the law authorit}' declaring them 

 illegal was openly read in the court, that class of the 

 clergy, from not having contributed to subsidies, having 

 never acquired the right of suffrage at the election of 

 Proctors. 



XV. That immediately on the close of the poll, the re- 

 jected candidate notified his intention of petitioning Con- 

 vocation to vacate the election." — Convocatio Cleri, by 

 Rev. J. Dennis, B.C.L., Parker, Oxford, pp. 17, 18. 



What is the authority for the statement that 

 stipendiary curates vote in the diocese of Ely ? 



William Fbaser, B.C.L. 

 Alton, Staffordshire. 



John Peacock, — In the late Dr. Bliss's edition 

 of the life of Anthony Wood, edited for the Eccle- 

 siastical History Society, tlie following occurs 

 under the date of June, 1C85 : — 



" While the said convocation was celebrated, the uni- 

 versity troop of horse met in Canditch before the Theatre, 

 and thence went to Broken Ha3'es, where they were 

 trained by the earle of Abendon, col. Jo. Peacocke," &c. 



Who was this John Peacocke ? Where can I ■ 

 find any particulars about him as to his birth, 

 family, arms if he bore any, &c. ? 



Edward Peacock, 



The Manor, Bottesford, Brigg. 



Sir Thomas Overbury. — Where can I find au- 

 thority for the following description of Sir Thomas 

 Overbury, given in a Popular History of England 

 now publishing? 



"Those about him (Carr, favourite of James I.) were 

 almost wholly English, and his affairs were principally in 

 the hands of one Sir Thomas Overbury, a man of an evil 

 look, and said to have had a countenance shaped like that 

 of a horse." 



A. E. 



Skull and Butterfly as a Crest. — Whose crest is 

 a skull with a butterfly on it, with this motto. 

 Que sais-je ? ARCHiEOLOGiST. 



Heraldic Query. — Arms : Azure, three sinister 

 gauntlets, or. Crest : A bull's head couped issu- 

 ing from a marquis's coronet, with a mullet for 



