434 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2''<> S. V. 12G., May 29. '58. 



connected with bodily gestures, whether in the exag- 

 gerated Oriental shapes, or in the more moderate 

 attitudes of European politeness, had the origin 

 described in the preceding passage. Some pecu- 

 liar customs might be cited in confirmation of that 

 view. Tims in Spain, where large cloaks are worn 

 by men in cold weather, it Is the rule when a 

 royal carriage passes to throw open the cloak, and 

 so to hold it while the carriage is near. The 

 object of this custom doubtless was, in its origin, 

 to show that the wearer had no dangerous weapon 

 concealed about his person under the folds of his 

 cloak. L. 



John Doe and Richard Roe. — In the trial (on 

 appeal) of Louis Houssart for the murder of his 

 wife, anno 1724, as usual the names of John Doe 

 and llichard Roe were entered in the common 

 form as pledges to prosecute. Among other pleas 

 in bar to and abatement of the proceedings he 

 pleaded, " that tliere were no such persons as 

 John Doe and Richard Roe who were mentioned 

 as pledges In the appeal." To this It was replied, 

 not that It was the usual form, but " that there 

 were two such persons in Middlesex as John Doe 

 and Richard Roe ; the one a weaver, and the other 

 a soldier, and this fact was sworn to." This form 

 seems, then, to have been considered something 

 more than a mere legal fiction, or there would not 

 have been such a replication. Can any reader of 

 " N. & Q." furnish us with a parallel instance, or 

 throw any light on this curious subject ? A A. 



John Perry, the First English Engineer. — I beg 

 to enclose for Insertion in "N. & Q." a copy of 

 the inscription upon the tomb of John Perry, the 

 first English engineer, thinking It may interest 

 some of your readers. Besides the facts mentioned 

 upon the stone, it is well known that he was en- 

 gaged by the Adventurers in the drainage of 

 Deeping Fen in Lincolnshire, and was also one 

 of the original members of the Spalding Gentle- 

 man's Society ; and in the parish church of that 

 town, in the south-west corner, he is burled, and 

 his tombstone stands against the tower wall. 



" To the Memory of John Perry, Esq'', in 1693, Com- 

 mander of his Majesty King Willi's Ship the Cignet ; se- 

 cond son of Sam' Perry of Rodborough, in Gloucestershire, 

 Gent., and of Sarah his Wife ; Daughter of Sir Tho» Nott, 

 Kt. He was several Years Comptroller of the Maritime 

 Works to Czar Peter in Russia, and, on his Return home, 

 was Employed by y« Parliament to stop Dagenham 

 Breach, which he Effected, and thereby Preserved the 

 Navigation of the River of Thames, and Rescued nianj' 

 Private Familys from Ruin. He after departed this Life 

 in this Town, and was here Interr'd, February 13, 1732; 

 Aged 63 years. 



" This stone was placed over him by the Order of 

 William Perry of Penthurst in Kent, Esq""., his Kindsman 

 and Heir Male." 



W. M. 



Burial in Linen : Profane Swearing : Ale sold 

 in Mugs. — In the churchwardens' books for the 



parish of St. Peter, Chester, I recently noticed the 

 following entry relative to " burials In linen," a 

 subject discussed in several early volumes of " N. 

 & Q.," 1" Series : — 



;' Feb. 2, 1686. Received fifty shillings from Mr. Richard 

 Minshull, being a forfeiture for burying his Mother in 

 linnen, and distributed among the poor." 



Mr. Minshull was Mayor of Chester in 1657, 

 and was nearly related to Elizabeth Minshull, tlie 

 last wife, and afterwards widow, of the poet 

 Milton. 



In the same parish books the following entries 

 also occur, under date 1705 : — 



" Received for profane swearing, 9s., and gave it to the 

 poor ; and likewise bs. for a person whoe was informed 

 against for selling ale in a mugg, and gave it to the 

 poor." 



T. Hughes. 



Chester. 



Can a Man he his own Grandfather ? — The 

 Query answered In the affirmative : — 



" There was a widow and her daughter-in-law, and a 

 man and his son. Tiie widow married the son, and tho 

 daughter the old man; the widow was therefore mother 

 to her husband's father, consequently grandfather to her 

 own husband. They had a son, to whom she was great- 

 grandmother: now as the son of a great-grandmother 

 must be either a grandfather or great uncle, this boy was 

 therefore his own grandfather. — N.B. This was actually 

 the case with a boy at a school at Norwich." 



W. J. F. 



Nell Givyn. — Many communications have been 

 made to "N. & Q." relative to this celebrated 

 woman. Her character is drawn with singular 

 panegyrics by Robert Whitcombe in his Histoi-y 

 of the Heathen Gods, which he dedicated to the 

 illustrious Madam Ellen Guin, London, 8vo., 1678. 

 It Is illustrated with twenty-five of the coarsest 

 cuts that were ever scratched upon copper. 



George Offor. 



Taming of Horses. — In an old book, called 

 "MarJiham's Master Peece ; containing all Know- 

 ledge belonging to Smith, Farrier, or Horse Leech, 

 touching the Curing of all Diseases in Horses," I 

 came upon the following passage, which, though 

 coarse, is curious : — 



" How to make a Horse to follow his Master, and find him 

 out, and challenge him amongst never so many people. 



'' If 3'ou will have j'our liorse to have such a violent 

 love towards you, that he shall not only follow you up and 

 down, but also labour to find you out, and own you as 

 soon as he hath found you : you shall then take a pound 

 of oatmeal and put thereto a quarter of a pound of honey, 

 and half a pound of lunane, and then make a cake thereof, 

 and put it in j'our bosome next unto your naked skin ; 

 then run or labour yourself up and down untill you sweat, 

 then rub all your sweat upon your cake: this done, keep 

 your horse fasting a day and a night, and then give him 

 the cake to eat, which as soon as he hath eaten 3'ou shall 

 turn him loose, and he will not onlj' most eagerly follow 

 you, but also hunt and seek you out when he hatli lost 

 or doth miss you ; and though you be environed with 



