2'>d S. V. 124., May 15, '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



395 



ceses and Cloyne, and from what period they 

 commence ? 



Also any notices of documents Illustrating the 

 ecclesiastical history of this see, and containing 

 biographical information of its clergy, would be 

 acceptable. John Ribton Garstin. 



Anonymous Worlis. — I should be glad to be in- 

 formed by any of the correspondents of " N. & 

 Q." who were the authors of the following pro- 

 ductions : — 



1. " An History of the Archbishops and Bishops -who 

 liave been Impeached and Attainted of High Treason, 

 from William the Conqueror to this Time. With an Ac- 

 count of their Impeachments and Defences, &c. Extracted 

 from the best Historians Ancient and Modern. London, 

 printed for J. Koberts, at the Oxford Arms in Warwick 

 Lane. aiDccxxit. Price Is. 



2. " Homer's Battle of the Frogs and Mice, with the 

 Remarks of Zoilus. To which is prefixed the Life of the 

 said Zoilus. London, printed for Bernard Liutot, between 

 the Temple Gates, mdccxvii." 



[By Thomas Parnell. This work was corrected by 

 Pope, and annexed to his edition of The Odyssey. "^ 



3. " An Essay on Patriotism, in the Style and Manner 

 of Mr. Pope's Essay on Man, in Four Epistles, inscribed 



to the Kt. Hon. the E of C . London, printed for 



the Author, and sold by J. Wilkie in St. Paul's Church 

 Yard, mdcclxvi. Price One Shilling. 4to." 



4. "The First Chapter of Prophecies of the Prophet 

 Homer, with a Letter to the B. of G. London, printed 

 for J. Wilkie in St. Paul's Churchyard, mdcclxvi. 4to." 



E. H. A. 



The Masterson Family. — Can any correspon- 

 dent of " N. & Q." favour me with an account of 

 the Masterson family ? This family, I believe, 

 are Lancashire. One of the branch was sent to 

 Ireland by James or Charles I. as Governor or 

 Constable of Ferns Castle, co. Wexford, and I 

 believe his lineal descendant (a female) is at pre- 

 sent residing at Antigua. She is a countess in 

 her own right, — Countess Masterson. Information 

 will oblige the writer. S. R. 



A Jeroboam Hand. — Will any of your card- 

 playing correspondents be kind enough to tell me 

 the origin of that term, so frequently made use of 

 in my younger days, when the good old social 

 family whist table was in constant use ; I ask, 

 whence arose the term or application of a Jero- 

 boam hand, when Fortune had favoured the holder 

 with an overwhelming suit ? 



I have some latent recollection of having heard 

 the explanation given me some fifty or sixty years 

 ago ; but, alas 1 these good and quaint old sayings 

 and remarks have become obsolete, and are now 

 only to be met with or understood by persons of 

 an age long since gone by. W. R. 



Stonehenge a Burial-place. — Is it not still a 

 quaistio vexata among antiquaries as to whether 

 Stonehenge was ever used as a place of interment ? 

 About twenty-five years ago a friend of mine 



made the following literal transcript of an inscrip- 

 tion on the walls of (he believes) the Hotel de 

 Ville at Constance : — 



" Aurelius Ambrosus, buried at Stonehenge. Anno 

 (Domini) 500. 



" Utcr Pendragon, buried at Stonehenge, 517. 



" Constance, King of Brittanj'. Buiried at Stonehenge, 

 54C." 



It is singular that such an inscription should 

 have been made in English in such a locality. 

 Has it any foundation in fact, and are the dates 

 correct ? John Pavin Phiii.ips. 



Sir Robert Needham. — In No. 150. of Cham- 

 bers s Edinburgh Journal (New Series), I find the 

 following under the head of "Exploits of One of 

 the Stuarts," namely : — 



" That the Duke of Monmouth, the natural son of 

 Charles IL by Miss Lucy Walters of Haversford, was born 

 at Rotterdam 1649, under the name of CrofFts. He came 

 to England in 1662, and was created Duke of Orkney; 

 and on the 7th of Februar3', 1663, Baron of Tindale, Earl 

 of Doiicaster, and Duke of Monmouth. He retired to 

 Holland in the latter end of the reign of King Charles. 

 .... His wife, the Duchess of Buccleuch, was still alive at 

 his death in 1685 ; but the duke, alleging that his mar- 

 riage had been forced on him by his father at the age of 

 15, before he was able of making a proper choice, had in 

 his mature age contracted another alliance with Hen- 

 rietta Maria Wentworth, Baroness of Nettlestead, and 

 avowed that he considered her as his lawful wife, before 

 God and man. By her he had a son, who was deprived 

 of all inheritance as being illegitimate, but being con- 

 veyed to Paris by a Colonel Smyth, an adherent to the 

 Duke of Monmouth, this child was by him educated, and 

 left heir to his fortune. This son was Colonel Wentworth 

 Smyth, who afterwards engaged in the Stuart cause in 

 1715 and 1745. 



" This Colonel Smyth left a son Ferdinand, then only 

 in his 6th year, by Eleanor, daughter oi Sir Robert Need- 

 ham, a great-grand-daughter of the same Duke of Mon- 

 mouth. He is said to have borne a great likeness to the 

 portraits of Charles II." 



Query, Can you give me information respecting 

 this Robert Needham ? Is there any connexion 

 between this Needham and the Needhams who 

 lived in the Peak, Derbyshire, during the seven- 

 teenth and eighteenth centuries ? Any informa- 

 tion on this subject will oblige A. B. C. 



Earthquake at Lisbon. — Reading in the last 

 home papers of the terrible disaster at Naples 

 brought to my recollection two circumstances, 

 both curious in their way, connected with the 

 earthquake at Lisbon in the year 1755. 



A very elderly friend of mine years ago has 

 often told me, that at her aunt's house in London 

 both she and her relative saw the quicksilver in a 

 large thermometer "jump quickly up and down 

 several times." A note was made of the time, 

 which was afterwards found to correspond with 

 that of the opening shock. I have also heard that 

 the water in Loch Ness at that particular time 

 rose some seven or eight feet higher than it was 

 ever known to do before or since, I should very 



