504 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°'i S. V. 129., June 19. '58. 



to be hanged on their own confession four years after his 

 wiser brother had ventured his own life to save that of 

 an old woman at Hertford." 



And in the " Additions and Corrections to 

 Huntingdonshire " I find " for Judge Wilmot " 

 read "Judge Powel." There can be little doubt, 

 therefore, that Gough is the originator of the 

 statement, and as little doubt that he was so 

 upon very dubious, though apparently specific 

 authority : for, from the correction as to the 

 name of the judge who tried the case, it is clear 

 that he stated that at least upon hearsay or 

 conjecture, as it is also clear that he is wrong as 

 to both of them : for the first Wilmot that sat 

 on the bench was made a judge in 1755 ; and 

 the last of the three Powells who were judges 

 died July 17, 1713. I am myself inclined to 

 think that Gough was imposed upon by some 

 canard, no more veracious than " an evening edi- 

 tion " of modern days with " the last news from 

 Sebastopol ; " and that though such a report as 

 Gough copies the title of was in existence, no such 

 trial or execution ever took place. Mr. Cross- 

 let gives very substantial reasons for coming to 

 that conclusion, in which I concur ; and I may 

 add, that, like him, I have searched extensively to 

 find any original reference to the case, but •with- 

 out success. Had there been such a trial and 

 execution, it is scarcely credible that Hutchinson, 

 who published his work in 1718, and a second 

 edition in 1720, should not have alluded to it. 

 Having cited Dr. Parr's attack upon the judge 

 who tried Jane Wenham, it is but right at the 

 same time to point out its injustice. So far from 

 Judge Powell's conduct being such as he chooses 

 to assume, if he had but taken the trouble to read 

 a page or two earlier in Gough's Topography, he 

 would have found it stated (p. 434.) : — " This 

 poor woman, against the opinion of Judge Powel, 

 who tried her, was found guilty by a jury. She, 

 however, received a pardon from the queen," And 

 again : " Mr. Bragge, in his evidence on her 

 trial, declared on the faith of a clergyman he 

 believed her to be a witch ; whereupon the judge 

 told him that therefore on the truth of a judge he 

 took him to be no conjuror." 



]Moreover, Parr, but for this wanton attack on 

 one spoken of by Sir Walter Scott, with reference 

 to this very trial, as " a sensible and philosophic 

 judge," might have been supposed to know some- 

 thing of a trial rsspecting which there was so 

 much controversy, and at least to have read so 

 well-known a book as Hutchinson's. Had he 

 known it, he would have found (p. 166.), with re- 

 ference to Jane W^enham's trial, and the pam- 

 phlets it provoked (many of which are in the 

 library of the British Museum), a question in some 

 measure applicable to himself : — 



" And therefore, instead of closing your book with a 

 liberavimus animas nostras, and reflecting upon the Court, 



I ask you, 5, Whether you have not more reason to give 

 God thanks that you met with a wise judge, and a sensi- 

 ble gentleman, who kept you from shedding innocent 

 blood, and reviving the meanest and cruellest of all su- 

 perstitions amongst us ? " 



J. J. P. 



Diurnals of King Charles 1. (2""» S. v. 295.) — 

 OxoNiENSis asks after the Diurnals of Charles I. 

 about the date of August 1644 or 1645 ? I have 

 an old book in my possession, of which the follow- 

 ing is a copy of the title-page : — 



" The Diurnal Occurrences or Daj'ly Proceedings of 

 Both Houses in this Great and Happy Parliament, From 

 the third of November, 1640, to the third of November, 

 1641, with a Continuation of all the speeches from June 

 last to the third of November, 1641. London ; Printed for 

 William Cooke, and are to be sold at his shop at Furni- 

 vall's Inne Gate, Holbourne, 1641." 



The Diurnals or daily doings of Parliament ter- 

 minate November 3, 1641. After which are two 

 speeches of the Right Hon. Wm. Lord Viscount 

 Say and Seal upon Bill against Bishops. 



The Heads of a Conference delivered by Mr. 

 Pymm at a Committee of both Houses, June 24, 

 1641. 



A Convocation Speech by Mr. Thos. Warmstry 

 against Images, Altars, Crosses, &c. H. B. 



The Straloch MS. (2°^ S. v. 437.) — Your cor- 

 respondent Dr. Edward F. Rimbault remarks, 

 in his notice of this very interesting musical relic, 

 that " at Chalmers's sale an incognito collector 

 carried off the prize for three shillings!" and ex- 

 presses a desire to make the acquaintance of 

 the present possessor of the MS. Now as I am 

 anxious to assist him in his search, I beg to say 

 that I was present at the sale of Mr. Chalmers's 

 library in November, 1842, and upon referring to 

 my copy of the sale catalogue, which I have all 

 marked with the purchasers' names and the prices 

 paid for each article, I find that the MS. in ques- 

 tion was sold to a Mr. Brumby for the sum of 

 3Z. 155. Perhaps this additional information may 

 be the means of leading to the discovery of its 

 present possessor. T. G. S. 



Edinburgh. 



Can a Man he his own Grandfather f (2°^ S. v. 

 434.*) — W. J. F. who undertakes to answer this 

 Query in the affirmative, mentions the circumstance 

 as having actually occurred, and therefore common 

 politeness forbids one to doubt that it is a fact, 

 though, I believe, unprecedented, and I still think 

 it requires some explanation. 



The whole case as stated by your correspondent 

 appears unnecessarily complicated. That a man 



[* In the sixth line of the article grandfather is a mis- 

 print for grandmother.'] 



