14 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 166. 



of Erdeswick's Staffordshire? And can they refer 

 to a pedigree of Thomas Wood, Esq., Lord Chief 

 Justice of the Common Pleas, 1501 ; who is said 

 to have built Hall O'Wood, in Batterley, near 

 Botley, Staffordshire. N. C. L. 



" Ne'er to these chambers^'' ^c. — 



" Ne'er to these chambers where the mighty rest 

 Since their foundation, came a nobler guest, 

 Nor to th' immortal entrance e'er convey'd 

 A loftier spirit, or more welcome shade." 



Where do these lines come from ? Aram. 



Swillington. 



County History Societies. — I would suggest the 

 idea whether County History Societies might not 

 be formed with advantage, as there are so many 

 counties which have never had their histories 

 written. They are very expensive and laborious 

 for individuals to undertake, and constantly require 

 additions on account of the many changes which 

 are taking place, to make them complete as works 

 of reference for the present time : I think that by 

 the means suggested they might be made very 

 useful, particularly if complete statistical tables 

 were annexed to the general and descriptive ac- 

 count. With comparatively little expense, the 

 history and statistics of every county could be 

 brought down to the latest date, making a valu- 

 able work of reference to which all could refer with 

 confidence for the information which is constantly 

 being sought for. G. H. 



Hugh Oldham, Bishop of Exeter. — Is any 

 pedigree extant of the family of Hugh Oldham? 

 Baines speaks of him {Hist, of Lane, vol. ii. p. 579.) 

 as " descended from an ancient family," born, 

 " according to Wood and Godwin, at Manchester ; 

 but, according to Dodsworth, at Oldham." 



What arms did he adopt ? J. B. 



The English Domestic Novel. — My first inten- 

 tion was to ask whether Defoe was the founder of 

 this pleasing class of literature, but have just recol- 

 lected, that Mrs. Aphara Behn wrote something of 

 the kind in the time of Chai'les II. My first ques- 

 tion will be, therefore, who was the earliest writer 

 of this description ? And, secondly, is not the 

 matter of sufficient interest to ask your readers' 

 assistance in the formation of a list, giving full 

 titles, authors' names, and dates extending to 1730 

 or 1750? John Miland. 



Dr. Young. — In the most authentic biographical 

 accounts we have of Dr. Young the poet, it is 

 stated that he left in the hands of his housekeeper 

 a collection of manuscript sermons, with an in- 

 junction that after his death they should be de- 

 stroyed ; it is also added, that this request was 

 only complied with in part. Can any of your cor- 

 respondents confirm the hope that these sermons 



may still be in existence ; and if so, in what quar- 

 ter information may be obtained concerning them ? 

 The housekeeper is said to have been the widow 

 of a clergyman, and therefore was not regarded 

 by the Doctor in the light of a servant. J. H. 



Cambridge. 



Bishop Hairs Meditations. — I have an old copy 

 before me, the title-page of which runs as follows : 



" Oecasionall Meditations by Jos. Exon. Set forth 

 by 11. II. The Third Edition : with the Addition of 

 Forty-nine Meditations not heretofore published : 

 London, printed by M. F. for Nathaniel Butter, 1633." 



It is edited by Bishop Hall's son (Robert). I 

 should be glad to learn whether this is a scarce 

 edition. Boeoticus. 



Edgmond, Salop. 



Chatterton. — Dr. Gregory, in his Life of Chat- 

 terton, p. 100. (reprinted by Southey in the first 

 volume of his edition of Chatterton's Works, 

 p. Ixx.), says : " Chatterton, as appears by the 

 coroner's inquest, swallowed arsenick in water, 

 on the 24th of August, 1770, and died in conse- 

 quence thereof the next day." 



Mr. Barrett, the historian of Bristol, one of 

 Chatterton's best friends and patrons, Avho, from 

 his profession as a surgeon, was likely to have 

 made, and seems to have made, inquiries as to the 

 circumstances of his death, says, in his History of 

 Bristol, not published before 1789, and therefore 

 not misled by any false first report, that Chatter- 

 ton's principles impelled him to become his own . 

 executioner. He took a large dose of opium, some 

 of which was picked out from his teeth after his 

 death, and he was found the next morning a most 

 horrid spectacle : with limbs and features distorted 

 as after convulsions, a frightful and ghastly corpse" 

 (p. 647.). I do not know whether this contradic- 

 tion has ever been noticed, and shall be obliged 

 to any correspondent who can give me information. 

 I believe that Sir Herbert Croft's Love and Mad- 

 ness was the authority followed by Dr. Gregory, 

 but I have not the book. N. B. 



Passage in Job. — The wonderful and sublime 

 book of Job, authenticated by subsequent Divine 

 records, and about 3400 years old. Is very probably 

 the most ancient writing in the world : and though 

 life and immortality were especially reserved as 

 the glorious gift and revelation of our Blessed 

 Redeemer, the eternal Author and Finisher of our 

 salvation, yet Job was permitted to declare his 

 deep conviction, that he should rise from the dead 

 and see God. This memorable declaration (chap, 

 xlx. ver. 25.) can be forgotten by none of your 

 readers; but some of them may not know that the 

 Septuagint adds these words of life to chap. xlii. 

 ver. 17.: ^^ yeypairTai, (xeaurhv irdkiv afacTTijcTeffOai 

 ixed' S)v 6 Kipios w/iTTrja-o/." — (But it is written that 



