Jan. 29. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



107 



possible, that Dr. Fuller derived his estimation of 

 the town of Banbury from Camden : still, as we 

 know that Banbury in the seventeenth century 

 had a character for Puritanism, he may have in- 

 tended by tiie word zeal to refer to the sectarian 

 spirit of the inhabitants. But what I would ask 

 is, whether any events occurred in Banbury in the 

 ei<:^hteentii centurj', which justify The Tatlcr in 

 classing it amonjr those places which were hot in 

 the cause of the Church ; and giving to the words 

 of the " facetious divine," whom he quotes, a signi- 

 fication entirely different to that Avhich must have 

 been inteiuled ? 



Also, where is the first mention of Banbury 

 cakes ? Did their reputation decline in the 

 eighteenth century, and revive again afterwards ; 

 or had they a celebrity in early days to wliich the 

 present age can present no parallel ? The Ban- 

 bury people would hardly assent to The leaders 

 disparaging remark. Erica. 



Warwick. 



:^tuor caucrtei^. 



Richardson or Murphy. — I have in my col- 

 lection a portrait, purporting to be that of "Jo- 

 seph Richardson, Esq., Barrister, and Member 

 for Newport in Cornwall," engraved in line by 

 W. J. Newton, from a picture by the late pre- 

 sident, M. A. Shee, Esq., R.A.; and another im- 

 pression, from the same plate, inscribed "James 

 Murphy, Esq., Architect." AVill any of your readers 

 be good enough to inform me which of those gen- 

 tlemen was the real Simon Pure, and what in- 

 duced the alteration of name, &c. ? 



I could cite numerous instances of the same 

 kind of trick having been practised, and may 

 trouble you with further inquiries on a future 

 occasion. At present I am anxious to ascertain 

 Avhether I have got a genuine or spurious por- 

 trait in my portfolio of artists. J. Burton. 



38. Avenham Lane, Preston. 



Legend attached to Creeper in the Samoan Isles. 

 — ^Walpole, in his Four Years in the Pacific, men- 

 tions a creeper of most singular toughness, to 

 which the natives attach a legend, which makes it 

 the material employed by some fabulous ancestor 

 to bind the sun, and which they term facehere, or 

 Jtu^s cord, affirming that it cannot be broken " even 

 by the white man, clever as he is." Mr. Walpole 

 certainly failed in his attempts to clear a way 

 through it. Will any of your botanical readers 

 give me the proper name of the plant ? and also of 



famous for cheese, the translator had added cakes and 

 ale. But Mr. Camden, thinking it too light an ex- 

 pression, clianged the word ale into zeal ; and so it 

 passed, to the great indignaiion of the Puritans, who 

 abounded in this town." — Ed.] 



the " Giant Arum," which the same people call 

 the king or chief of plants ? Seleccus. 



Shearman Family. — Is there a family named 

 either Shearman or Spearman in Yorkshire or in 

 Wales? What are their arms? Is there any re- 

 cord of a member of this family settling in Ireland, 

 county of Kilkenny, about the middle of ihe 

 seventeenth century; his name, &c. ? Are tl ere 

 any genealogical records concerning them ? 



James Graves. 



Kilkenny. 



American Fisheries. — Almost from the first set- 

 tlement of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, this 

 has been a troublesome question ; and now that it 

 is under the consideration of the English and 

 American governments, it is to be hoped that it 

 may be finally settled. 



In June, 1623, a vessel arrived at Plymouth, 

 Cape Cod, commanded by Admiral West, who had 

 been sent from England for the sole purpose of 

 preventing all persons, whether subjects of Great 

 Britain or foreigners, from fishing on the coast, 

 unless they had previously obtnined permission for 

 that purpose from the Council of New England. 

 The admiral meeting with much opposition, and 

 finding he could not settle the question in an 

 amicable manner, left Plymouth in disgust, and 

 sailed for southern Virginia. The colonists then 

 appealed to Parliament, and an act was passed that 

 the fisheries should be free. 



Query, In what year was this act passed, and has 

 the permission then granted ever been annulled ? 



w. w. 



Malta. 



Grindle. — What is the true meaning of this 

 word, and are any other parts of the kingdom 

 called thus ? The one I allude to is still called 

 " The Grindle," close adjoining the town of Bury 

 St. Edmund's; and consists of an encampment 

 and earthworks, very similar to several mentioned 

 before in " N. & Q." under the articles " Grinis- 

 dyke" (Vol. iv., pp. 152. 331. 454.; Vol. v., p. 43. 

 &c.). A local guide to the town (Gillingwater, 

 p. 5.) gives the word Grim, a fortress = CnnraeaZ, 

 depths In the ground. 



Can any reader of your valuable Notes give 

 any further explanation of the word, or of its 

 origin at Bury ? C. G. 



A Gentleman executed for whipping a Slave to 

 Death. — In the first volume of Easteim Europe, 

 published in London by T. C. Newby, in 1846, it 

 is thus recorded : 



" During the administration of Spencer Perceval, 

 on the 8th of May, 1811, the Honourable A.W. Hodge, 

 a member of his Britannic Majesty's council at Tortola, 

 was executed for the murder of one of his negroes by 

 excessive flogging." 



