2'>'i S. V. 122., May 1. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



359 



and have noticed the replies to correspondents 

 which have from time to time appeared, but can- 

 not find any answer has been given to the ques- 

 tion. A contrivance to eiFect deafness at will 

 would be invaluable to thousands who are now 

 suffering, without a remedy, from street organs, 

 from noisy neighbours (owing to thin and half- 

 built walls, from pianofortes, screaming parrots, 

 lads playing at games and bawling in the public 

 streets, and from other nuisances of a similar kind, 

 whose name is legion. You would very much 

 oblige me, a sufferer (with tens of thousands), by 

 saying if an answer to the question has ever ap- 

 peared in " N. & Q.," and if so, in what number 

 it is to be found. B. C. 



" Dock ;" Derivation and Authority for the Use 

 of the Word. — "The prisoner was then placed in 

 the dock." Is this word peculiar to the Old 

 Bailey ? And when did it first come into use ? 

 Singular to say, no English dictionary (with the 

 exception of Webster) affords any definition of 

 the term. Is it from Sexo/xci, receptaculum ? or has 

 it any analogy with the verb " to dock," as a place 

 cut or barred off? Cl. HoprEB. 



Sir William Weston, Knt. — I should be glad to 

 learn whether this person, who was Chief Justice of 

 Ireland in the reign of Elizabeth, was related to 

 Sir Robert Weston, LL.D., who was Lord Chan- 

 cellor of Ireland, and died in 1573. The former 

 was of a family long seated in Dorset, but now 

 extinct. C. J. R. 



Sir Thomas M. Hardy, Bart. — Information is 

 requested respecting the ancestors of this eminent 

 naval officer, the friend of Nelson. The Baronet- 

 cies give but a very meagre account of his family, 

 though the name is that of a highly respectable 

 stock for many generations settled in Dorset. 



C. J. R. 



Wade. — It is stated in Wright's edition of the 

 Canterbury Tales (vol. ii. p. 93. note), that " M. 

 Fr. Michel has collected together all the passages 

 of old writers that can now be found, in which he 

 [Wade, one of the heroes of Northern Mytho- 

 logy] is mentioned, in an essay in French, sur 

 Vade." I have also seen it stated elsewhere that 

 M. Fr. Michel was about to publish such a work. 

 Will that gentleman or any of your readers oblige 

 me by stating whether the said work is now in 

 existence, and, if so, where a copy may be ob- 

 tained? I have made many inquiries without 

 success. T..B. 



Book of Mormon. — In the 1st book of Nephi 

 (c. i. v. 15.) occur the words, "For behold they 

 did murmur in many things against their father 

 [Lehi], because he was a visionary man." What 

 are the words in the original " language of the 

 Egyptians" (Nephi i. 1.) on the gold-like plates, 

 translated by Joseph Sn^ith, jun., as "visionary 



man ?" What are they in the nominative and voca- 

 tive cases, and in the singular, dual, and plural 

 numbers ? T. J. Buckton. 



Lichfield. 



Confirmation Names. — Are instances of the 

 additional god-parent required by the Prayer- 

 Book witnessing the confirmation or signing the 

 register at all common in any parts of the coun- 

 try, or of an additional name being taken at 

 confirmation ? I have a recollection of a legal 

 decision in favour of the validity of signatures 

 with these additional confirmation names, or of the 

 invalidity of signatures without them, somewhere 

 in the latter part of the seventeenth century. 



Mag. 



Bishop Douglas: Priory of Pittenweem. — On 

 the «hore street of the small burgh of Pittenweem 

 there has been pointed out to me a house where 

 Dr. Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury, was born about 

 100 years ago. His father was said to be a wine- 

 merchant. If you could give nie any information 

 about him, or direct me where I am likely to get 

 it, I shall feel much obliged. 



It would greatly add to the obligation if you 

 could give me any facts or traditions about the 

 monastery of Pittenweem. Part of the buildings 

 still remain, and were occupied by the late Dr. 

 Low, LL.D., Bishop of Ross, Argyle, and Moray. 

 The greater part of the buildings, however, were, 

 I believe, destroyed by John Knox's party, at the 

 time they demolished St. Andrew's cathedral. 



Mat. F. Conolly, Town Clerk. 



Anstruther. 



[Dr. John Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury', was bom 

 July 14, 1721. He was the second son of Archibald 

 Douglas, Esq., who being descended from a younger 

 brother of the family of Douglas of Tilwhilly (which is 

 one of the oldest remaining branches of the house of 

 Douglas), was established as a merchant at the port of 

 Pittenweem, in Fifeshire, where he became engaged in the 

 pursuits of an extensive commerce. His mother's name 

 was Melvill, a daughter of Mr. Melvill of Carsender, in 

 the same county. The biographical account of the Bishop 

 in The Scots Magazine, 1807, p. 609., states that "his 

 parents removed to London, and kept the British Coffee- 

 house in Cockspur Street, which on their death was left 

 to a daughter." This venerable prelate was one of the 

 first literary characters of the age, and the last surviving 

 member, except Mr. Cumberland, of the Beef-Steak Club, 

 celebrated by Dr. Goldsmith in his poem of Retaliation : — • 



" And Douglas is pudding, substantial and plain." 



The Bishop died on May 18, 1807, and was buried in a 

 vault in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. A biographical 

 Memoir, by his lordship's nephew, the Rev. Wm. Mac- 

 donald, is prefixed to his Select Works, 4to., 1820. 



The priory of Pittenweem was founded for Canons- 

 regular, who were first introduced into Scotland about 

 1114. It belonged to the priory of St. Andrews, and had 

 considerable landed property, the Isle of May belonging to 

 it, besides the churches of An struthe^r Wester, phjnd, 



