2°'» S. No 110., Feb. 6. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



109 



15 months ago, he took the celebrated Pill, which had at 

 first such violent effects as to throw him into convulsions 

 and deprive him of his sight; on Recovery, he fell into a 

 Consumption." 



Query, Can any of your medical readers inform 

 me if anything is known of this wondrous pill, or 

 of its ingredients? J. B. S. 



Lord NelsorCs Library. — Among the late E. H. 

 Barker's Notes and Memoranda, I find the follow- 

 ing : — 



" London, Oct. 7, 1838. Saw Major Revell, who says 

 that, when he was a young man, he conversed for two 

 hours with Lord Nelson at the shop of White the book- 

 seller. His Lordship was very fond of scarce and curious 

 books, and said that he would purchase all which were in 

 the shop, if he could afford it. The Major says that he 

 (Nelson) had a large library." 



Query, Had Nelson a curious library, and was 

 it dispersed by auction ? Edward F. Rimbault. 



Fairfax Family. — In Camden's Britannia I 

 find several members of the celebrated Fairfax 

 family of Yorkshire located at Barford, a village 

 near Warwick, 1647. Can any of your corre- 

 spondents inform me when they ^became located 

 in Warwickshire, and which of their ancestors 

 settled there ? 



I also find that Denton Castle, the family seat, 

 with the estates, have been sold to a Mr. Ibbet- 

 son. Query, When were they sold, and by whom? 



H. H. Campbell. 



Twickenham. 



Jewish Raibis. — I am anxious to know where 

 I can find a good list of Jewish rabbis and their 

 commentaries and works, with their fioruits. It 

 would, I believe, confer an obligation on many of 

 your readers if you would print one in your 

 columns, since in Wetstein and others {i.e. Gro- 

 tius) even the slightest particulars concerning the 

 rabbis they quote would interest, and no ordinary 

 Dictionaries give them. For instance, who is 

 Gorionides ? * Tyko. 



Contrition of the Ancients at the point of Death, 

 • — Can any of your learned correspondents show 

 that the ancients on their death-beds, whilst in- 

 voking the assistance and protection of the gods 

 hereafter, ever expressed repentance, or asked 

 pardon, for their earthly transgressions ? 



Sigma (Customs). 



The Fire-Worshippers. — What truth is there 

 in thjs cutting from a local paper ? It is worth 

 preserving : 



" The Fays quotes letters from Pondicherry of De- 

 cember 12, which state that the last fete of the Parsees 



[♦ Our correspondent has not consulted the learned 

 work of Julius Bartoloccius, Bibliotheca 3Iagna Rabbinica 

 de Scriptoribus et Scriptis Hebraicis. 4 vols. Romfe, 

 1675-94, fol. In vol, ill. p. 799. is a notice of Joseph 

 Gorionides.] 



of Madras, who are less numerous than at Bombay, was 

 celebrated with extraordinary solemnity. Two priests, 

 after lighting the sacred fire, which was to continue 

 burning for a 3'ear, threw themselves into the flames ut- 

 tering cries of joy. This event, for which the spectators 

 were wholly unprepared, produced an immense sensa- 

 tion." 



The catastrophe of Moore's Fire- Worshippers^ 

 in which the hero immolates himself by a death 

 in the sacred fire, has always been found fault 

 with as contrary to the religion of the Parsees, 

 who, it was said, would look upon such an act as 

 a pollution of the sacred elements. The foregoing 

 paragraph contradicts this ass^jfc^n. 



William Frasee, B.C.L. 



Alton, Staffordshire. 



Rhoelands. — According to a MS. note of James 

 West, the elder Tradescant bought his house at 

 South Lambeth of a person named Rhoelands. 

 Query, Who was he ? Edward F. Kimbault. 



Whitfield's Eloquence. — This singular character, 

 the Rev. George Whitfield, preached a farewell 

 sermon to his friends at the Tabernacle in Moor- 

 fields, Aug. 30, 1769, immediately before his de- 

 parture for Georgia. His text was from St. John, 

 X. 27, 28., " My sheep hear my voice, &c." 

 He is said to have commenced his discourse in 

 the following manner : — 



" In our Morning Service we say, ' We have erred and 

 strayed from our ways like lost sheep.' Turn a horse 

 out and he will go back again, and a dog will find his 

 way home ; but when a poor sheep wanders, he knows 

 not his way ; baaing here, bleating there, as much as to 

 say, dear stranger, show me my home again. Dr. Mar- 

 ryat, who was not ashamed to preach in the true market 

 language, once said at Pjpner's Hall (and God grant that 

 pulpit may never want such a preacher to fill it!), 'Don't 

 you know God has a great dog to fetch his sheep back 

 when they wander ? ' 



He concludes his sermon in these words : — 



. " May the Lord help you to pray for me, and help rae 

 to pray for you ! And iff am drowned, if I can, while I am 

 drowning, I will say, Lord ! take care of my dear London 



It is but fair to say, that I take these passages 

 from second-hand authority. Is the sermon pub- 

 lished? Edward F. Rimbault. 



Tame Crocodiles. — I remember having read 

 many years ago, that the ancient Egyptians do- 

 mesticated crpcodiles, and tamed them to fight in 

 arenas, backed by armed men, much in the same 

 manner as knights in subsequent ages contested 

 in open lists. What authority is there for this ? 

 and where may notices of such strange encounters 

 be found ? )3. 



Abraham Atkins's Marriage Certificate. — I am 

 very desirous of obtaining the marriage certificate 

 of Abraham Atkins with Elizabeth, or Anne, 

 Clayton, which is believed to have taken place 

 either in London or Lancashire, the lady having 



