NOTES AND QUEHIES: 



A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION 



FOB 



LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTiaUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC. 



** VTben found, make a note of." — Captain Cuttle. 



No. 210.] 



Saturday, .NovEMBEE 5. 1853. 



f Price Fourpence. 



I Stamped Edition, Sf^ 



CONTENTS. 



KoTKS : — Page 



Lord Halifax and Mrs. Catlierine Barton, by Professor 



Ue Morgan - - - - - - 429 



Dr. Parr on Milton - - - - - 433 



Parts of MSS., by John Macray - - - - 434 



"William Blake 433 



Folk Lore : — Legends of tlie County Clare — The 



Seven Whisperers ----- 436 



Italian.English, German-English, and the Refugee Style, 



by Philar^te Chasles . . . - . 43(5 



Shakspeare Correspondence, by Thos. Keightley, &c. - 437 

 Minor Notes: — Decomposed Cloth — First and Last 



— Cucumber Time — MS. Sermons of the Eighteenth 

 Century — Boswell's " Johnson " — Stage Coaches — 

 Antecedents — The Letter X — A Crow-bar - - 433 



Queries : — 



Minor Queuies : — Bishop Grehan — Doxology — 

 Arrow-mark — Gabriel Poyntz — Queen Elizabeth's 

 iind Queen Anne's Motto, "Semper eadem " — Bees 



— Nelly O'Brien and Kitty Fisher — "Homo unius 



libri " — "Now the fierce bear," &c Prejudice 



against Holy Confirmation — Epigram on MacAdam 



— Jane Scrimshaw — The Word " Quadrille " — The 

 Hungarians in Paules — Ferns Wanted — Craton the 

 Philosopher — Tlie. Solar Annual Eclipse in the Year 

 Ji!G3 — D'Israeli: how spelt? — Richard Oswald — 

 Cromwell's Descendants — Letter of Archbishop 

 Curwen to Archbishop Parker - . - - 440 



Minor QuEniES with Answers: — Margaret Patten — 

 Etymology of " Coin" — Inscription at Aylesbury — 

 " Guardian Angels, now protect me," &c. — K. C. B.'s 



— Danish and Swedisli Ballads — Etymology of 

 " Conger " — " Si vis me flere, dolendum est primum 

 tibi" 442 



Replies : — 



Medal and Relic of Mary Queen of Scots, by John 

 Evans, &c. ...... 444 



Early Use of Tin — Derivation of the Name of Britain - 445 

 Pictorial Editions of the Book of Common Prayer - 41f> 

 Yew-Trees in Churchyards, by Fras. Crossley, &c. - 447 

 Osborn Family - - - , - -448 



Inscriptions on Bells, by W. Sparrow Simpson and 

 J. L. Sisson - - - - - - 448 



1/adies' Arms borne in a Lozenge - - . 448 



The Myrtle Bee, by C. Brown - - - - 450 



Captain John Davis, by Bolton Corney - . - 450 



Photographic Correspondence : — Clouds in Photo- 

 graphs — " The Stereoscope considered in relation to 

 the Philosoiihy of Binocular Vision " — WuUer's 

 Processes — Positives on GIhss . - - - 431 



Replies to Minor Queries : — Peculiar Ornament in 

 Crosthwaite Church — Nursery Rhymes — Milton's 

 Widow — Watch-paper Inscriptions — Poetical Tavern ! 

 Signs— Parish Clerks' Compapv— " Elijah's Mantle" 



— Histories of Literature — Birthplace of General 

 Monk — Books chained to Desks in Churches, &c. - 452 



Miscellaneous : — 



Notes on Books, ^c. - . - . . 455 



Books and Odd Volumes wanted - - - - 456 



Notices to Correspondents . - _ - 455 



Advertisements ---... 455 



YoL. VIIL — No. 210. 



LORD HALIFAX AND MRS. CATHERINE BARTON. 



Those ■who have written on the life of New- 

 ton have touched with the utmost reserve upon 

 the connexion which existed between his half- 

 niece Catherine Barton, and his friend Charles 

 Montague, who died Earl of Halifax. They seem 

 as if they were afraid that, by going fairly into 

 the matter, they should find something they 

 would rather not tell. The consequence is, that 

 when a writer at home or abroad, Voltaire or 

 another, hints with a sneer that a pretty niece 

 had more to do with Newton's appointment to 

 the Mint than the theory of gravitation, those 

 who would like to know as much as can be 

 known of the whole truth find nothing in any 

 attainable biography except either total silence 

 or a very awkward and hesitating account of half 

 something. 



On looking again into the matter, the juxta- 

 position of all the circumstances induced in my 

 mind a strong suspicion that Mrs. C. Barton was 

 privately married to Lord Halifax, probably before 

 his elevation to the peerage, and that the marriage 

 was no very great secret among their friends. As 

 yet I can but say that the hypothesis of a private 

 marriage is, to me, the most probable of those 

 among which a choice must be made : farther in- 

 formation may be obtained by publication of the 

 case in "N. & Q.," the most appropriate place of 

 deposit for the provisional result of unfinished in- 

 quiries. 



Charles Montague (born April, 1661, died May 

 19, 1715) made acquaintance with Newton when 

 both were at Trinity College in 1680 and 1681. 

 Newton was nineteen years older than Montague, 

 and had been twelve years Lucasian professor. 

 At the beginning of their friendship, the Lucasian 

 professor must be called the patron of the young 

 undei'graduate, who was looking for a fellowship 

 with the intention of taking orders, a design which 

 he did not find sufficient encouragement to 

 abandon until after he had sat in the Convention. 

 By 1690, the rising politician had become the 

 patron of the author of the Princijna, Avho in that 



