130 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s, No 111., Feb. 13. '58. 



on his own coffin, apparently singing his Mournful 

 Elegies, at the bottom. The explanation on the 

 back says : — 



" Beneath, poor Ovid rests his weary head 

 Upon his Coffin, when all hope was fled ; 

 And thereupon his wreath of bays doth lye. 

 To show he did in Pontus banish'd die." 



Who was this T. P. ? The only copy I ever 

 saw is the one presently before me. It was a 

 presentation copy from William Paterson to his 

 intimate and " most beloved" friend Andrew 

 Ramsey, and bears an inscription to that effect 

 dated April 1, 1723. May the donor 'not have 

 been a relation of T. P., the translator ? 



When did booksellers give up the use of signs ? 

 Bettesworth's sign on London Bridge was " The 

 Red Lion ; " Baldwin's in Paternoster Row was 

 " The Rose ; " and Wither's in Fleet Street " The 

 Seven Stars ; " Fabian, "The Bible" in St. Paul's 

 Churchyard; Swalle, the "Unicorn;" Brown, 

 the " Black Swan " without Temple Bar ; Hind- 

 marsh, the " Golden Ball ; " Welby, the " Gray- 

 hound," Paul's Churchyard ; Flasket, the " Black 

 Beare " in Paules Churchyard. A complete list, 

 chronologically arranged, of London Booksel- 

 lers and their signs would be interesting. The 

 Scotch booksellers do not appear generally to 

 Lave used signs. J. M. 



Depth of Mud. — The writer of the pleasant 

 papers, " Down among the Dutchmen," in House- 

 hold Words (Nov. 7, 1857, p. 450.), says : — 



" Often does the long Norwegian stat-tree, full forty 

 feet in length, slip down utterly in the gruelly compost 

 at the first stroke of the pile-driver, and is lost alto- 

 gether." 



Somethmg like this may be seen nearer home. 

 After the drainage of Whittlesea Mere, Hunting- 

 donshire, in 1852-3, farm-buildings were erected 

 in various parts of the Mere. Of course, its 

 soundest portions were selected for that purpose ; 

 but everything had to be constructed upon piles : 

 and I frequently saw a thirty-foot pile driven 

 down into the quivering mud-bed, and then slip 

 out of all reach. What is the greatest known 

 depth of mud ? Cuthbert Bede. 



Bird's-eye Vieio of Toicns. — Several ancient 

 bird's-eye views of towns are given in topograph- 

 ical works, and others are spoken of as existing 

 in the British Museum, the Bodleian, and other 

 libraries, and quaint old paintings of our cities 

 and towns as they existed in the sixteenth cen- 

 tury are sometimes referred to in such works as 

 hanging on the wa^^s of the town-houses. Many 

 of each sort which I have seen were so exceed- 

 ingly interesting, that it has often struck me as 

 being singular, in these illustrated book-making 

 days, that a work on the subject has not been 

 published, giving a series of su6h striking bird's- 

 eye views of our various towns in olden times, 



either as woodcuts or in lithograph, with de- 

 scriptive letter-press. The suggestion is, I think, 

 an important one, and I hope to see it carried 

 out, as the result, I am satisfied, would be most 

 satisfactory. 



Edinhurgh Pamphlets. — At the sale of the late 

 Lord Cockburn's library, about 200 volumes of 

 pamphlets relating to Edinburgh were sold. As 

 they would probably be purchased for some public 

 institution in that city, it would be interesting, 

 for the sake of reference, to know where they now 

 are, and I doubt not your correspondent T. G. S. 

 will be able to furnish this information. 



Aliquis. 



Original Plan of Alexandria. — When Alex- 

 ander the Great founded the city in Egypt which 

 he named after himself, it is said that he planned 

 it after the fashion of a Macedonian cloak. What 

 was the shape of the latter ? fi. 



Giving and taking Umbrage. — When did this 

 phrase first come into use? Dr. Binkes in 1701 

 speaks of it as a novelty : 



" This gave great umbrage (as the modern phrase is) ; 

 suspicions and jealousies ran high, when the clergy found 

 the very right of their synodical assemblies to be called 

 in question by men of character in the world." — Expedient 

 Proposed, pa^e 6, 



William Fkaseh, B.C.L. 



Alton, Staffordshire. 



Philosopher s Stone : Mary Rante. — In 1678 

 Gabriel Clauderus published in 4to. at Altenburgh 

 a treatise De Tinctura Universale et vulgo Lapis 

 Philosophorum dicta. This work is understood to 

 be of rare occurrence, at least in England. There 

 is in it the following singular paragraph : — 



" Coeterum, quse Petrus Borellius in Bibliotheca sua 

 chymica anno 1654 Parisiis et anno 1656 Hcidelbergfe 

 edita, meminit Mariam Rante Anglam, statuisse ac praj- 

 dixisse Lapidem Philosophorum, anno millesimo sex- 

 centissimo sexagesimo primo, in vnlgus lore notissimum." 



Can any light be thrown on this notable pre- 

 diction, or information given as to the family to 

 which this mysterious Mary Rante belonged ? 

 Perhaps she may have been an Englishwoman 

 who married a foreigner. J. M. 



The Wemandeses. — In the Familiar Letters of 

 Love and Gallantry, published by Briscoe, 12mo., 

 n. d. p. 111., is the following passage : 



" I would not have my rivals in your friendship, the 

 Congreves, the Drydens, the Wemandeses, &c." 



Query, Who are the last named ? 



Edward F. Rimbault. 



Heraldry : Nautical Arms. — On a shield, an 

 anchor entwined with a cable; supporters, two 

 mermaids. Crest : on a helmet, surmounted. by a 

 wreath, a ship with a single mast, without sailti. 

 Motto : Deus dabit vela. 



