234 



NOTES ANB QUERIES. 



[No. 175. 



7. Looks as vild (worthless) as a pair of York- 

 shire sleeves in a goldsmith's shop. 



8. Hearts is trumps at Eskett Hall. (Near Pel- 

 ton, Northumberland.) 



9. Silly good-natured, like a Hexham goose. 



10. There are no rats at Hatfield, nor sparrows 

 at Lindham. (Co. Ebor.)| 



11. A Dent for a Galloway, a Hind for an ass. 

 (Ibid.) M. AisLABiE Denham. 



Piersebridge, Darlington, Durham. 



Hermit Queries. — 1. Some years ago a her- 

 mitage existed in certain grounds at Chelsea, the 

 proprietor of which frequently advertised for a 

 hermit, and, I believe, never got one. Who was 

 the proprietor of the said hermitage ; and did he 

 ever succeed in getting his toy tenanted ? 



2. In Gilbert White's poem, Invitation to Sel- 

 home, the following lines occur : 



" Or where the hermit hangs the straw-clad cell, 

 Emerging gently from the leafy dell, 

 By fancy plann'd," &c. &c. 



The only edition of the " Letters " which I pos- 

 sess, is that by Sir William Jardine and Mr. Jesse, 

 which affords a note on the passage, to the effect 

 that the hermitage referred to was used by a 

 young gentleman, who appeared occasionally " in 

 the character of a hermit." What was the name 

 of the eccentric, and what is known of his hermit 

 life ? Is the hermitage still in existence ? 



3. Where is to be found the best account of an- 

 chorites, real and fictitious ? Shirley Hibbebd. 



Derivation of " Cohb." — What is the derivation 

 of the word Cobb ? There is but one harbour of 

 that name in England, that of Lyme Regis : there 

 was once another at Swanage. This was also 

 styled, some three centuries ago, the " Cobb or 

 Conners." 



Query : What is the derivation of the family 

 name " Cobham ?" G. R. L. 



Play-bills. — Will any of your correspondents 

 inform me in what year play-bills were first in- 

 troduced ; and at what period the year was added 

 to the day of the month and week, which only is 

 attached .to the early bills ? J. N. G. G. 



Sir Edward Grymes, "Bart. — A correspondent 

 in a recent number of the Naval and Military 

 Gazette, asks who was Sir Edward Grymes, Bart., 

 whose appointment appeared in the War Office 

 Gazette of December 10, 1776, as surgeon's mate 

 to the garrison at Minorca, when the baronetcy 

 came into the family, when he died, and whether 

 a gentleman of the same rank has ever, before or 

 since that period, served in a similar situation in 

 the English army ? 



I have transferred these Queries to the columns 

 of " N. & Q.," supposing that they might be an- 

 swered by some of its correspondents. W. W. 



Malta. 



SmolletCs Strap.— In "N. & Q.," Vol. iii., p. 123., 

 is an extract from the Examiner, March 26, 1809, 

 relating to Hugh Hewson, who is there mentioned 

 as being " no less a personage than the identical 

 Hugh Strap." 



Mr. Faulkner, in his History of Chelsea, vol. i. 

 p. 171., states that Mr. W. Lewis, of Lombard 

 Street, Chelsea, was the original of this character. 

 He established himself in Chelsea by Smollett's 

 advice, and died there about 1785. Faulkner 

 states that he resided with his widow for seven 

 years, and thus having opportunities of being ac- 

 quainted with the facts, I am inclined to give his 

 account the preference. Now that these different 

 accounts are brought forward, some reader of 

 " N. & Q." may be enabled with certainty to fix 

 who was the identical. H. G. D» 



The Iron Mash — Mr. James Cobnish (Vol. v., 

 p. 474.) says, that " after half a century's active 

 exertions, the Iron Mask was unveiled," and this 

 sanguine person gives it also as his opinion that 

 the author of Junius's Letters will " eventually be 

 unearthed." The last event may perhaps happen ; 

 but what authority has he for asserting that the 

 mysterious secret of the " Masque de Fer " has 

 ever been satisfactorily explained? Numerous, 

 learned, and ingenious, as many of the hypotheses 

 on the subject have been for upwards of a century, 

 I have always imagined that an impenetrable veil 

 of secrecy still continued to cover this wonderful 

 historical mystery. A. S. A. 



Wuzzeerabad. 



Bland Family. — In the Carey pedigree in the 

 Ducaius Leodiensis, it is stated that Sir Philip 

 Carey of Hunslet, near Leeds (brother of the first 

 Visct. Falkland), married Elizabeth, daughter and 

 heiress oi Rich.Bland of Carleton (about a.d. 1600). 

 Can any of your numerous readers inform me who 

 this Mr. Bland was, whom he married, and which 

 Carleton is meant ? 



I have searched the Yorkshire Visitations at the 

 Museum, and consulted Nich. Carlisle's History of 

 the Bland Family, with no result. 



Possibly Mr. Hunter, who is so deeply versed 

 in Yorkshire matters, might throw some light on 

 the subject. G. E. Adams. 



Oxford and Cambridge Club. 



Thomas Watson, Bishop of St. David's, 1687- 

 99, Sfc. — No notice of the period or place of his 

 death has yet appeared, nor of the age of Bishop 

 Turner of Calcutta, 1829-31, as also that of Bishop 

 Gobat. Regarding the latter prelate, as he is styled 

 D.D. in the ecclesiastical almanacks and direc- 



