340 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 206, 



tbe deatb of the prophet Haken al Llokannah. 

 This person is said to have disappeared in 785, or 

 163 of the Hejrah, by casting himself into a 

 barrel of corrosive fluids, which dissolved his 

 body. Is it not tlie best supposition, that this 

 story was supposed by Ivhondemir and others, in 

 more advanced ages of science, to account for the 

 fact of his having disappeared, and of his real 

 fate having never been ascertained? I have 

 never seen this apparent anticipation of chemical 

 discoveries animadverted on. A. N. 



• Richard Geering. — Wanted, arms, pedigree, 

 and particulars of the family of Richard Geering, 

 one of the six clerks in Chancery in Ireland from 

 March 1700 to April 1735. One of his daughters, 

 Prudence, married, in 1722, Charles Coote, Esq., 

 M.P., and by him was motiier of tlie last Earl of 

 Bellamont. Another daughter, Susannah, was 

 wife of Mr. Charles Wilson ; who was, it is be- 

 lieved, a connexion of the family of Ward of 

 Newport, in Shropshire. Any information about 

 Mr. Wilson's ancestry Avould be very acceptable. 



Y. S. M. 



Stipendiary Cui'ates. — What is the earliest 

 mentionof stipendiary curates in our ecclesiastical 

 establishment ? And what other national churches 

 have priests placed in a corresponding position ? 



Bekosus. 



Our Lady of Itounceval. — Can you or any of 

 your correspondents furnish me with particulars 

 of our Lady of Rounceval ? A. J. Dunkin. 



JRodens Colt. — A lady of a certain age is said 

 in common parlance to be "Forty, save one, the 

 age of Roden's colt." What can Nimrod tell us 

 touching this proverbialised animal ? 



E. C. Warde. 



Kidderminster. 



Sir Christopher Wren and the Young Carver. 

 — A reader has a floating notion in his head of 

 having once read in the Literary Gazette a strange 

 story of a country boy going to town to seek em- 

 ployment as a c.irver or sculptor ; of his being 

 accosted by Sir Christopher Wren, and offering to 

 carve for him a sow and pigs, &o. Can any cor- 

 respondent have pity on him, and tell him where 

 to find the tale ? A. H. 



Vellum Cleaning. — Are there not preparations 

 in use for cleaning the backs of old vellum-bound 

 books without destroying the polish ? How made, 

 or where procurable ? J. F. M. 



Dionysia in Baotia. — Can any of your readers 

 refer me to a passage in any ancient author in 

 which this supposed town is mentioned ? 



Dumersan refers to Diodorus Siculus as his au- 

 thority for its existence, but my search in that 



author has been vain, and I am not alone in that 

 respect. Augustus Langdon. 



Bloomsbury. 



Poll Tax in 1641. — I find In Somers' Tracts^ 

 2nd ed. vol. iv. p. 298. : 



" Tlie copy of an order agreed upon in the House of 

 Commons upon Friday, 1 8th June, wherein every man 

 is rated according to his estate, for the king's use." 

 Is there on record the return made to this order ; 

 and where may it be consulted ? Tewaks. 



Thomas Chester, Bishop of Elpliin, 1580. — 

 This prelate, who was the second son of Sir 

 William Chester, Kt., Lord Mayor of London 

 in 1560, by his first Avife Elizabeth, daughter of 

 Thomas Lovett, Esq., of Astwell in iSTorthampton- 

 shire, is said by Anthony a Wood (Athence Oxon., 

 ed. Bliss, vol. ii. p. 826.) to have " given way to 

 fate at Killiathar in that city, in the month of 

 June in 1584." The calendars of the Will Office 

 of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury do not 

 contain his name ; can any of your Irish contri- 

 butors inform me whether his will was proved in 

 Ireland ? I should be glad to know, too, what 

 will offices exist in Ireland, and from what period 

 they date their commencement. He is said to 



have married , daughter of Sir James Cla- 



vering, Kt., of Axwell Park in iSlorthixmberland : 

 does any pedigree of the Claverings supply this 

 lady's Christian name ? His eldest brother, Wil- 

 liam Chester, Esq., married his cousin-german 

 Judith, daughter and co-heiress of Anthony Cave, 

 Esq., of Chichley Hall, Bucks, and was ancestor 

 to the extinct family of the baronets of that name 

 and place. Bishop Chester died s.p. Tewaks^ 



Itev. Urhan Vigors. — Amongst the chaplains of 

 King Charles I., was there one of the name of 

 Vigors, the Rev. Urban Vigors of Taunton ? Any 

 particulars of him will be acceptable. Y. S. M. 



Early English MSS. — What is the earliest 

 document, of any historical import to this country, 

 now existing ii^ MS. ? T. Hughes. 



Curing of Henry LV. — The best account of the 

 curing of Hen. iV. from the leprosy : vide Lam- 

 bard's Dictionary, p. 306. A. J. Dunkin. 



Standard of Weights and Measures. — I would 

 gladly learn something of the system of weights 

 and measures in other countries, and particularly 

 whether in England and America there exists 

 for this object any government inspection ; and if 

 so, how this is executed ? A list of works on this 

 subject would be most welcome. I am acquainted 

 only with the works of Ravon, Fuhrication des 

 Poids et Mesu7'es, Paris, 1843, and of Tarbe, Poids, 

 Mesures et Verif cation, both found in the En- 

 cyclopedic Poret; and the Vollstclndige Darstellung 



