8 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 192. 



Pennycomequick, adjoining Plymouth. — The Bath 

 and West of England Agricultural Society held 

 their recent annual meeting here. Will any of 

 your correspondents oblige me with the derivation 

 of this remarkable word ? E,. H. B. 



Park the Antiqvnry. — In a note to the third 

 volume (p. Ixxiii.) of the Grenville Correspondence 

 is the following passage : " Barker has printed a 

 second note, which Junius is supposed to have 

 ■written to Garrick, upon the authority of Park 

 the antiquary, who states that he found it in a co- 

 temporary newspaper,'" &c. This is not strictly 

 correct. Barker says (p. 190.), "The letter was 

 found in a copy of Junius belonging to [Query, 

 which had belonged to ?] T. Park, &c. He had 

 [Query, it is presumed ?] cut it out of a news- 

 paper ; but unfortunately has omitted to furnish 

 the date of the newspaper." [Query, How then 

 known to be cotemporary ?] The difference is 

 important ; but where is the copy containing this 

 letter ? By whom has it been seen ? By whom 

 and when first discovered ? Where did Barker 

 find the story recorded ? When and where first 

 printed? P. T. A. 



Honorary D. C. L.^s. — It was mentioned in a 

 report of proceedings at the late Installation, that 

 the two royal personages honoured with degrees, 

 having been doctored by diploma, would be en- 

 titled to vote in Convocation, — a privilege not 

 possessed by the common tribe of honorary 

 D.C.L.'s. 



Can you inform me whether Dr. Johnson had, 

 or ever exercised, the right referred to in virtue 

 of his M. A. degree (conferred on the publication 

 of the Dictionary^, or of the higher academical 

 dignity to which his name has given such a world- 

 wide celebrity ? Cantabrigiensis. 



Battle of Villers en Couche. — Some of your cor- 

 respondents, better versed than myself in military 

 matters, will doubtless render me assistance by 

 replying to this Query. Where can I find a 

 copious and accurate account of the battle, or per- 

 haps I should rather say skirmish, of Villers en 

 Couche ? If I am rightly informed, it must be one 

 of the most remarkable actions on record, when 

 the comparative numbers of the troops engaged 

 are taken into consideration. We have, as an heir- 

 loom in our family, a medal worn by an officer on 

 that occasion : it is suspended from a red and 

 white ribbon, and is inscribed thus : 



" FORTITUDINE 



VILLERS EN COUCHE. 



24th APRIL, 



1794." 



I do not remember to have read any account of 

 the battle ; but, as I have heard from the lips of 

 one who gained his information from the officer 



before alluded to, the particulars were these : — 

 General Mansell, with a force consisting of two 

 squadrons of the 15th Hussars, and one squadron 

 of the German Legion, two hundred and seventy^ 

 two in all, charged a body of the French army, ten 

 thousand strong. The French were formed in a 

 hollow square : but five times, as I am informed^ 

 did our gallant troops charge into and out of the 

 square, till the French, struck with a sudden panic,, 

 retreated with a loss of twelve hundred men. I 

 am desirous of authenticating this almost incredible 

 account, and shall be thankful for such informatioit 

 as may guide me to an authoritative record of the- 

 action in question. W. Sparrow Simpson, B.A. 



Dr. Misauhin. — Will any of your numerous 

 correspondents give me any information, or refer 

 me to any work where I can find it, respecting 

 Dr. Misaubin, who appears to have practised in 

 London during the first half of the last century ? 

 What was the peculiarity of his practice ? 



Griffin. 



Kemble, Willet, and Forbes. — What are the 

 two concluding lines of an epigram published ten. 

 or twelve years ago, beginning, — 



" The case of Kemble, Willet, and Forbes, 

 Much of the Chancellor's time absorbs ; 

 If I were the Chancellor 1 should tremble 

 At the mention of Willet, Forbes, and Kemble " ? 



Ukeda.. 

 Philadelphia. 



Piccalyly. — The ornament, somewhat between, 

 a hood, a scarf, and an armlet, worn hanging over 

 the right shoulder of judges and Serjeants at law, 

 is called a piccalyly. What is the origin of this 

 peculiarity of judicial costume, what are the 

 earliest examples of it, and what its etymology ? 



No JUDGE^ 



Post-Office about 1770. — Mr. Smith, in the notes 

 prefixed to the Grenville Correspondence, says 

 several of Junius's letters appear to have been 

 sent from the same post-office " as the post-mark 

 is '■ peny post payd,' " — a peculiarity of spelling 

 not likely to occur often. Have any of your cor- 

 respondents letters of that date with a like post- 

 mark ? and, if so, can they tell us where posted ? 



P. A. O. 



" Carefully examined and well-authetdicated." — 

 I agree with Mr. Cramp (Vol. vii., p. 569.) that 

 " the undecided question of the authorship of 

 Junius requires that every statement should be 

 carefully examined, and (as far as possible) only 

 well-authenticated facts be admitted as evidence.'* 

 I take leave, therefore, to remind him that my 

 question (Vol. iii., p. 262.) remains unanswered ; 

 that I am anxious that he should authenticate his 

 statement (p. 63.), and name some of the " many'* 



