526 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 187. 



Child-mother. — Four months ago, on board 

 the Brazil packet, the royal mail steam-vessel 

 Severn, there was an instance of a " child-wife," 

 which might be worthy of a place among your 

 curiosities of that description. 



She was the wedded wife of a Brazilian travel- 

 ling from the Brazils to Lisbon, and her husband 

 applied for permission to pay the " reduced pas- 

 sage money " for her as being " under twelve 

 years of age ! " 



As the regulation on that head speaks of " chil- 

 dren under twelve years of age," this conscientious 

 Brazilian's demand could not be countenanced. 



His wife's age was under eleven years and a 

 half, and (credat Judaus') she was a mother ! 



A. L. 



^ustitS, 



rUKTHER QUERIES KESPECTING BISHOP KEN. 



(Continued from Vol. vll., p. 380.) 



In a Collection of Poems, in six volumes, by 

 several Hands (Dodsley, 5th edition, 1758), and 

 in vol. iii. p. 75., is found "An Epistle from Flo- 

 rence to T. A., Esq., Tutor to the Earl of P . 



Written in the year 1740. By the Honourable 



." Can any one explain an allusion contained 



in these three lines of the epistle ? 



" Or with wise Ken judiciously define, 

 "When Pius marks the honorary coin 

 Of Caracalla, or of Antonine." 



It Is hardly to be supposed that the Ken here 

 named could mean the bishop, who died so far 

 back as 1711. Was there a coin-collector of that 

 name living about 1740? 



We learn (from Ken's Prose Works, ed. Round, 

 pp. 93, 94.) that the Bishop's sister, " my poor 

 sister Ken," most probably then a widow, lost her 

 only son, who died at Cyprus, in 1707. Was this 

 ]VIrs. Ken the Rose Vernon, sister of Sir Thomas 

 Vernon, of Coleman Street, London, and the wife 

 of Jon Ken, the bishop's eldest brother, and 

 treasurer of the East India Company ? This Jon 

 and Rose Ken are represented, in Mr. Markland's 

 Pedigree of the Ken family, as still living in 1683. 

 Is there no monumental memorial of this Trea- 

 surer Ken, or his family, In any of the London 

 churches ? 



In Mr. Macaulay's History of England, 5 th ed,, 

 vol. ii. p. 365., he states that " it was well known 

 that one of the most opulent dissenters of the City 

 had begged that he might have the honour of 

 giving security for Ken," when the seven bishops 

 were bailed, previous to their trial. On what 

 authority (for none Is cited) does this statement 

 rest? 



Can any one give a clue to this passage from a 

 letter written to Mr. Harbin, Lord Weymouth's 



chaplain, by Bishop Ken, and dated " Winton, 

 Jan 22." [1701] : 



" I came to Winchester yesterday, where I stay one 

 post more, and then go either to Sir R. U. or L. New- 

 ton, where you shall hear from me." — Ken's Prose 

 Works, by Round, p. 53. 



Can " Sir R. U." (the U perhaps being a mis- 

 take for W.) designate Sir Robert Worsley, Bart., 

 of Chilton, in the county of Southampton, married 

 to Lord Weymouth's daughter? and can " L. 

 Newton" be a mistake for Long Sutton, in Hants ? 

 or may It be Long Newton, in the hundred of 

 Malmesbury ? J. J. J. 



Temple. 



THE BEV. JOHN LAWSON AND HIS MATHEMATICAL 

 MANUSCEIPTS. 



In the year 1774 the Rev. John Lawson, B. D., 

 Rector of Swanscombe In Kent, published A Dis- 

 sertation on the Geometrical Analysis of the An- 

 tients, with a Collection of Theorems and Problems 

 without solutions for the Exercise of young Students. 

 This work was printed anonymously at Canter- 

 bury, but the merits of the essay did not permit 

 the author to remain long In obscurity ; the real 

 writer was Immediately known to most of the 

 geometers of the day, and the elegant character of 

 many of the theorems and problems, led to a 

 general desire that their solutions should be pub- 

 lished in a separate work. In accordance with 

 this intention, it was announced on a tly-sheet 

 attached to some copies of the work, that — • 



" The author of this publication being a man of 

 leisure, and living in a retired situation, remote from 

 any opportunity of conversation with mathematicians, 

 would be extremely glad of a correspondence with any 

 such, who are willing to be at the expense of the same ; 

 or if this be thought too much, will pay the postage of 

 his answers to their letters. But no letters, except 

 post-paid, can be received by him ; otherwise a door 

 would be opened for frolic, imposition, and impertinence. 

 Any new geometrical propositions, either theorems or 

 problems, would be received with gratitude, and if sent 

 without solutions, he would use his best endeavours to 

 return such as might be satisfactory. Any new so- 

 lutions of propositions already in print, especially of 

 those included in the presejit collection, would also be very 

 agreeable. If a variety of such demonstrations essen- 

 tially different from those of the original autliors should 

 be communicated, he proposes at some future time to 

 publish them all, \nt\i a fresh collection for further 

 exercise; and then each author's name shall be affixt 

 to his own solution, or any other signature which he 

 shall please to direct. Any person who shall favour 

 the publisher with his correspondence shall have 

 speedily conveyed to him the solutions of any propo- 

 sitions contained in this collection, which he may be 

 desirous of seeing. Letters (post-paid) directed for 

 P. Q., to be left at Mr. Nourse's, Bookseller, in the 



