May 14. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



477 



in defence of the Oxford decree of 1695, on the 

 subject of the Trinity ? Tteo. 



Dublin. 



Mrs. Cobb's Diary. — Can any of your readers 

 give me any information as to the following book, 

 Extracts from the Diary and Letters of Mrs. Mary 

 Cobb : London, printed by C. and R. Baldwin, 

 1805, 8vo., pp. 324. ; said to he privately printed ? 



John Maetin. 



Roxiield, Bedfordshire. 



Compass Flower. — 



" Look at this delicate flower that lifts its head from 



the meadow — 

 See how its leaves all point to the north, as true as 



the magnet ; 

 It is the compass flower, that the finger of God has 



suspended 

 Here on its fragile stalk, to direct the traveller's 



journey 

 Over the sea-like, pathless, limitless waste of the 



desert." 



Evangeline, Part II. iv. line 140., &c. 



"Where can I find a description of this flower, 

 and what is its scientific name ? 



In Abercrombie's Intellectual Powers, p. 49. 

 edit. 1846, I find the following passage : 



" The American hunter finds his way in the track- 

 less forests by attention to minute appearances in the 

 trees, which indicate to hiin the points of the compass." 



Can any one tell me what these " minute ap- 

 pearances" are ? A. H. Battier. 

 East Sheen, Surrey. 



Nuns of the Hotel Dieu. — What is the religious 

 habit of the nuns at the hospital of the Hotel 

 Dieii in Paris at the present day ? M. L. 



Purlieu. — Some of your correspondents seem 

 afraid tliat an attempt to repair the deficiencies of 

 our English dictionaries, by research into disputed 

 etymologies in "N.& Q.," would tend to produce 

 too much and too tedious discussion, and fill its 

 space too much. Could this, at least, not be done 

 without much objection ? Could we not co-operate 

 in finding the earliest known mention of words, 

 and thus perhaps trace the occasion and manner of 

 their introduction ? 



At any rate, this word purlieu is certainly in 

 want of some examination. Johnson has adopted 

 the wretched etymology of pur, Fr. for pure, and 

 lieu, Fr. for place ; and he defines it as a place 

 on the outskirts of a forest free of wood. 



The earliest record in which this word occurs, 

 so far as I have seen, is in an act of Edward III., 

 quoted by Manwood, and it is there spelt /)MraZe?/ ; 

 and it relates to the disafforested parts which seve- 

 ral preceding kings permitted to be detached from 

 their royal forests. 



Might I ask if any of your correspondents find 

 an earlier use of the word ; and can it be gifted 

 with a probable paternity ? 



The tracing of the earliest known mention of 

 disputed words is a task capable of being finished, 

 and might pei'haps be attended, in many cases, 

 with happy results. It would rid us probably of 

 many puerilities which degrade our current dic- 

 tionaries. M. C. E. 



Jennings Fam.ily. — Some time since I requested 

 as a great favour that your correspondent Per- 

 ccRiosus would kindly inform me where I could 

 get a sight of the Spoure MSS, I repeat that I 

 should feel greatly obliged if he would do so: and 

 as this is of no public interest, I send a postage 

 envelope, in the event of Peecuriostjs obliging 

 me with the desired information. J. Jennings-G. 



Latimer's Brothers-in-Law. — In Bishop Latimer's 

 first sermon, preached before King Edward VI., 

 we find the quaint martyr-bishop magnifying the 

 paternal prudence for having suitably "married his 

 sisters with five pounds, or twenty noble?, apiece ;'* 

 but neither the editors of the sermon, nor the 

 writers of several biographical notices of Latimer 

 consulted by me, and in which the extract appears, 

 give any account of the fortunate gentlemen whom 

 the generous parent thus doubly blessed with his 

 twofold treasure. 



Can you, or any of your readers, oblige by fur- 

 nishing the names of Bishop Latimer's brothers-in- 

 law, or by giving some references or brief account 

 of them ? - * * 



Autobiographical Sketch. — A fragment came into 

 my possession some time ago, among a quantity of 

 waste paper in which books were wrapped, which, 

 from the singularity of its contents, I felt desirous 

 to trace to the book of which it forms a part, but 

 my research has hitherto proved unsuccessful. It 

 consists of two leaves of a large octavo sheet, pro- 

 bably published some twenty years back, and is 

 headed " Autobiographical Sketch of the Editor." 

 It commences with the words : " The Commis- 

 sioners of the Poor Laws will understand me, when 

 I say, that I was born at Putney, in Surrey." The 

 pages are of course not consecutive: so after an 

 allusion to the wanderings of the writer, I have 

 nothing more up to p. 7 , at which is an account of 

 a supposed plot against the lord mayor and sheriffs, 

 concocted by him with the assistance of some 

 school-boy coadjutors ; the object of which appears 

 to have been, to overturn the state-coach of the 

 civic functionary, as it ascended Holborn Hill, by- 

 charging it with a hackney coach, in which sat the 

 writer and certain widows armed with bolsters in 

 pink satin bags. The word having been given to 

 " Charge ! " this new kind of war-chariot was 

 driven down the hill at full speed, gunpowder 

 ignited on its roof, and blazing squibs protruded 



