April 30. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



441 



that the Scottish traders should enjoy certain 

 privileges, which were considered of such import- 

 ance that the crown appointed a conservator of 

 them. The last of these staple contracts was made 

 with Campvere in the year 1747 ; but soon after- 

 wards the increasing prosperity of Scotland, and 

 the participation of its burgesses in the foreign 

 trade of England, rendered such partial arrange- 

 ments useless, and the contracts and the privileges 

 have long since been reckoned among the things 

 that were. The office of conservator degenerated 

 into a sinecure. It was held for some time by the 

 J?e». John Home, author of the tragedy of Douglas, 

 who died in 1808 ; and afterwards by a Sir Alex. 

 Lenier, whose name is found in the Edinburgh 

 Almanack as " Conservator at Campvere" till 1847, 

 when the office and the officer seem to have ex- 

 pired togethei*. J. L. 



Sir Gilbert Gerard ("Vol. v., pp. 511. 571.). — 

 In addition to the information I formerly sent you 

 in answer to Mb. Spedbing's inquiry, I am now 

 enabled to state two facts, which greatly reduce 

 the period within which the date of Sir Gilbert 

 Gerard's death may be fixed. Among the records 

 in Carlton Ride, is an enrolment of his account 

 as Custos Domus Conversorum from January 29, 

 34 Eliz. (1592) to January 29, 35 Eliz. (1593). 

 And a search in Doctors' Commons has resulted 

 in the discovery, that Sir Gilbert's will was proved, 

 not, as Dugdale states, in April, 1592, but on 

 April 6, 1593. He died therefore between Janu- 

 ary 29 and April 6, 1593. 



_ Dugdale mentions that there is no epitaph on 

 his monument. Edward Eoss. 



^ Mistletoe (Vol. vii., p. 270.). — I wish to men- 

 tion that the mistletoe has been tried at the 

 Botanic Gardens belonging to Trinity College, 

 Dublin ; and, after flourishing for some years, it 

 died away. Indeed, I think it has been repeat- 

 edly tried there, but without eventual success. 



Y. S. M. 

 Dublin. 



Wild Plants and their Names (Vol. vii., p. 233.). 

 — Cowslip, " Palsy Wort." Culpepper says : 



" Because they strengthen the brain and nerves, and 

 remedy palsies, the Greeks gave them the name para- 

 lysis." " The flowers preserved, or conserved, and the 

 quantity of a nutmeg taken every morning, is a suffi- 

 cient dose for inward disorders." 



For the ointment he gives the following receipt : 

 " Bruise the flowers; and to two handfuls of these, 

 add a pound of hog's grease dried. Put it in a stone 

 pot, covered with paper, and set it in the sun or a 

 warm place three or four days to melt. Take it out 

 and boil it a little ; strain it out when hot ; pressing 

 it out very hard in a press. To this grease add as 

 many herbs as before, and repeat the whole process, if 



you wish the ointment strong. — Yet this I tell you, 

 the fuller of juice the herbs are, the sooner will your 

 ointment be strong ; the last time you boil it, boil it 

 so long till your herbs be crisp, and the juice con- 

 sumed ; then strain it, pressing it hard in a press ; and 

 to every pound of ointment, add two ounces of turpen- 

 tine, and as much wax." 



Cehidwen. 



Coninger or Coningry, Coneygar or Conygre 

 (Vol. vii., pp. 182. 241. 368.). — There are many 

 fields in the midland counties which bear the 

 name of conigree. In some instances they are in 

 the vicinity of manor-houses. The British name 

 of a rabbit Is cwningen, plural cwning. That of a 

 rabbit warren is cwning-gaer, that is, literally, 

 rabbits' camp. The term coneygar is so like this, 

 that It may be supposed to have been derived 

 from it. N. W. S. (2) 



NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC. 



It would be difficult to find a book better calculated 

 to prove the good service which the Camden Society is 

 rendering to historical literature, than the one which has 

 just been circulated among its members. The work, 

 which is entitled Letters and Papers of the Verneij 

 Family down to the end of the year 1639. Printed from 

 the original MSS. in the possession of Sir Harry Verney, 

 Bart., edited by John Bruce, Esq., Treas. S. A., is of 

 direct historical value, although at the first glance it 

 would seem rather to illustrate the fortunes of the 

 Verneys than the history of the country. For, as the 

 editor well observes — 



" The most valuable materials, even for general 

 history, are to be found among the records of private 

 and personal experience. More true knowledge of the 

 spirit of an age, more real acquaintance with the feel- 

 ings and actual circumstances of a people, may be 

 gleaned from a delineation of the aflfairs of a single 

 family, than from studied historical composition. The 

 one is the expression of cotemporary and spontaneous 

 feeling, and, although limited, is unquestionably ge- 

 nuine ; the other is a deduction from knowledge, im- 

 perfect even when most extensive, and too frequently 

 coloured by the feelings and prejudices of a subsequent 

 and altered period." 



But, valuable as are the materials which the liberality 

 of Sir Harry Verney has placed at the disposal of the 

 Society, it is obvious that they are of a nature which ' 

 a publisher might hesitate to produce, even if their 

 owner, which is very doubtful, had thought fit to place 

 them in the hands of one for that purpose. Hence 

 the utility of a society which has influence to draw 

 from the muniment rooms of our old families, such 

 materials as those found in the present volume, and 

 which, strung together with the agreeable and in- 

 structive narrative with which Mr. Bruce has accom- 

 panied them, will secure for the Verney Papers the 

 character of being one of the very best, as well as of 

 the most amusing books, which the Camden Society 

 has given to the world. 



