336 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'"i S. V. 121., April 24. '58. 



If any such medals exist I should be happy to 

 know how I can come in possession of the same. 



E.N. 

 Batavia, Feb. 26. 



Sir W. RaleiglCs Distillation of Sea Water. — In 

 the Calendar of State Papers, 1610-1617, edited 

 by Mrs, Green, in a letter from Sir Thomas Wil- 

 son (who had charge of Sir Walter Raleigh in the 

 Tower), dated Sept. 29, 1628, is the following : — 



" This day Sir W. R. fell to discursing to me of the 

 wonders he had done, &c. and after fell to tell me of his 

 inventing the means to male salt water sweet by furnaces 

 of coper in the forecastle, and distilling of the salt water 

 as it wer by a buket putting in a pipe att once, and 

 within a quarter of an hour it will run lyk a spiggott; so 

 that he hath by that distilled water given 240 men every 

 day quarts a peece, and the water as sweet as milk." 



Is it known if this anticipation of the recent 

 adaptation of the locomotive machinery to the same 

 object was ever used in the Navy ? or did Sir 

 Walter's discovery die with him ? 



W. M. M. 



Ancient Poisons. — What was the nature of the 

 potion or poison given by his step- mother Ber- 

 trade to Louis le Gros of France ? Its effect was 

 an unnatural pallor, which he retained during the 

 remainder of his life. Couhl the potion hnve been 

 a decoction of any herb similar to the Exsangue 

 cuminum of the Roman poet? or are the properties 

 of that plant in causing a bloodless appearance 

 fabulous? L. L. A. 



Belknerves. — The foregoing tiame is one which 

 I never happen to have met with, except orally, 

 and under the peculiar circumstances which 

 prompt this communication. My object is to 

 ask whether any reader of " N. & Q." knows 

 anything of a family of the name of Belknerves ; 

 and, if so, whether they could give me any in- 

 formation concerning the parentage of a female 

 so called, who was, I believe, in the service or 

 family of the late Lady Turner, daughter of Mr. 

 Shuttleworth of Gawthorp, co. Lane, and who 

 married, I am told, a person of the name of Law- 

 ton ? I may just add that the object of my in- 

 quiry is purely genealogical. D. 



Reeve's '■'■History of the Holy Bible. — I have a 

 copy of the fifth edition of this book, with its 

 companion volume on the New Testament. The 

 author is the "Rev. Joseph Reeve," and the history 

 is " interspersed with moral and instructive re- 

 flections, chiefly out of the Holy Fathers." These 

 reflections mix up a great deal of apocryphal his- 

 tory with the inspired narrative. And as the 

 proper names are spelt in the Douay Bible style, 

 e.g. Isai for Jesse, Bethsaher for Bathsheba, Eli- 

 seus for Elisha, &c., I imagine Mr. Reeve to have 

 been a Romanist. The entire work is embellished 

 with 286 small square woodcuts, many of them of 

 the most villanous execution. I should uiuch like 



to know something of the author and the book, 

 of which copies, I should think, are not common: 

 at any rate, though I have inquired for them, I 

 have seen no other copy than my own. 



RusTicus ]^us. 



Ingenious Puzzles. — Allow me to ask the 

 readers of your pa[)er, if any of them will be kind 

 enough to aid me in forming a good collection of 

 ingenious puzzles (arithmetical, geometrical, or 

 otherwise) calculated to interest, amuse, and in- 

 struct boys out of school hours. Many clever 

 things, I believe. He buried in old magazines, &c., 

 while other morceaux are to be met with scattered 

 up and down as part of the " floating capital " of 

 society, needing only collection and arrangement 

 to form a highly entertaining and valuable little 

 volume. 



Any communication on the subject will be 

 gratefully received and acknowledged by the Rev. 

 J. Sidney Boucher, Holly Bank School, Birken- 

 head. 



Allusions in Ben Jonson ; Dr. Forman ,• Gama- 

 liel Ratsey ; Read ; Perprttml Motion at Eltham. — 

 Can any of your correspondents give any inform- 

 ation respecting the three following individuals, 

 astrologers and quacks mentioned by Ben Jon- 

 son ? — 



li " Dauphine. ' I would say, thou hadst the best 

 Philtre i'the World, and couldst do more than Madam 

 Medea or Dr. Foreman."-^£piccene, Act 111. Sc. 1. sub fine. 



2. " Face. ' Have all thy tricks 



******* 



Told in red letters ; and a face cut for thee, 

 Worse than GamalielRatsey's.' " 



Alchemist, Act I. Sc. 1. 



3. « Face. ' The law 



Is such a thltig — And then he says. Read's matter 

 Falling so lately.' 

 " Dapper. ' Read ! He was an ass, 



And dealt, Sir, with a fool.' " 



Alchemist, Act I. Sc. 2. 



What is the allusion in the following ? — 



" Morose. ' My very house turns round with the 

 tumult I I dwell in a Windmill ! The Perpetual Motion 

 is here and not at Eltham.' "—Epiccene, Act V. Sc. 3. 



Libya. 



Rugby. 



[Dr. Simon Forman was highly distinguished in his 

 day as a natural philosopher and astrologer. His Diary, 

 and a large collection of his papers, are preserved in the 

 Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. Some of his MSS. on 

 astrology are also in the British Museum. A portion of 

 his Diary is printed in The Archceologist, by J. O. Halli- 

 well, p. 34. ; see also The Loseley Manuscripts, by Kempe, 

 p. 387. ; and Lysons's Environs, uiider Lambeth, i. 303., for 

 a memoir of Forman. Lilly {^Hist. p. 17.) says, that 

 " Forman lived in Lambeth with a very good report of 

 the neighbotirhood, especially of the poor, unto whom he 

 was charitable. He was a person that in horary ques- 

 tions, especially thefts, was very judicious and fortunate. 



