470 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 211. 



Skinner, Esq., who raanied Ann, daughter of Sir 

 William Wentworth, brother to the unfortunate Earl 

 of Strafford. The estate was purchased from one of 

 the Skinner family by Sir Richard Sutton, Bart, j it 

 is now in the possession of Lord Yarborough. In 

 taking down a wall in the ruins of the abbey, a human 

 skeleton was found, with a table, a book, and a candle- 

 stick. It is supposed to have been the remains of the 

 fourteenth abbot, who, it is stated, was for some crime 

 sentenced to be immured — a mode of capital punish- 

 ment not uncommon in monasteries. Four views of 

 the abbey are given in Allen's History of Lincolnshire, 

 vol. ii., and some farther notices of its ancient state will 

 be found in Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. vi. pi. i. p. 324, ; 

 Tanner's Notitia, Lincolnshire, Ixxvii. ; and Beauties 

 of England and Wales, vol. ix. p. 684.] 



Bishop Wilson's " Sacra P7-ivata." — In the new 

 edition of this work, p. 381., there is given a table 

 of " The Collects, with their Tendencies." Under 

 the head of Fasting, references are made to the 

 First Sunday in Lent, and the Tenth and Tiventy- 

 third after Trinity. There must be some mistake 

 in this, as the last two collects refer to prayer. 

 This for your correspondent Mb. Denton, to 

 whom I understand the Church is indebted for the 

 redintegration of the good bishop's journal. 



A. A. D. 



[We have submitted the above to the Rev, William 

 Denton, who expresses his obligations to A. A. D. for 

 pointing out the error, which seems to have escaped 

 the notice of all the previous editors of the Sacra 

 Privata. The second edition is now at press, and, if 

 not too late, the correction will be made. Mii, Den- 

 ton doubts whether the list after all is the bishop's ; 

 but thinks it was only copied by him from some work. 

 Can any one point out the source ? It is singular 

 that another mistake of the bishop's should have 

 escaped the notice of all previous editors, namely, the 

 tendency of the collect for Whit- Sunday being de- 

 scribed as Humiliatinn instead of Illumination.^ 



Derioation of " Chemistry. ''' — Are there any his- 

 torical reasons for deriving the word chemistry 

 from Chemi, the name of Egypt, as is done by 

 Bunsen and others ? T. H. T. 



[Dr. Thomson, the writer of the article " Che- 

 mistry " in the Encijclopcedia Britannica, thus notices 

 this derivation : " The generally received opinion 

 among alchymistical writers was, that chemistry ori- 

 ginated in Egypt ; and the honour of the invention 

 has been unanimously conferred on Hermes Trisme- 

 gistus. He is by some supposed to be the same person 

 with Chanaan, the son of Ham, whose son Mizraim 

 first occupied and peopled Egypt. Plutarch informs 

 us that Egypt was sometimes called Chemia : this 

 name is supposed to be derived from Chanaan. Hence 

 it was inferred that Chanaan was the inventor of che- 

 mistry, to which he affixed his own name. Whether 

 the Hermes of the Greeks was Chanaan, or his son 

 Mizraim, it is impossible to decide ; but to Hermes is 

 assigned the invention oi chemistry, or the art of making 

 gold, by almost the unanimous consent of the adepts." 



Dr. Webster says, " The orthography of this word has 

 undergone changes through a mere ignorance of its 

 origin, than which nothing can be more obvious. It 

 is the Arabic kimia, the occult art or science, from 

 kamai, to conceal. This was originally the art or 

 science now called alchemy ; the art of converting 

 baser metals into gold." Webster says the correct or- 

 thography is chimistry.'\ 



Burning for Witchcraft. — When and where was 

 the last person burned to death for witchcraft in 

 England ? W. K. 



[We believe the last case of burning for witchcraft 

 was at Bury St. Edmunds in 1664, tried by Sir 

 Matthew Hale, although some accounts state that the 

 victims, Amy Duny and Rose Callender, were executed. 

 In the same year Alice Hudson was burnt at York for 

 having received 10s. at a time from his Satanic ma- 

 jesty. The last case of burning in Scotland was in 

 Sutherland, a. d. 1722 ; the judge was Captain David 

 Ross, of Little Dean. At Glarus, in Ireland, a servant 

 girl was burnt so late as 1786. The last authenticated 

 instance of the swimming ordeal occurred in 1785, 

 and is quoted by Mr. Sternberg from a Northampton 

 Mercury of that year : — "A poor woman named 

 Sarah Bradshaw, of Mears Ashby, who was accused of 

 being a witch, in order to prove her innocence, sub- 

 mitted to the ignominy of being dipped, when she 

 immediately sunk to the bottom of the pond, which 

 was deemed to be an incontestable proof that she was 

 no witch ! "] 



The Small City Companies. — Where does the 

 fullest information appear respecting their early 

 condition, &c. ? Herbert's work only occasionally 

 refers to them, and I am aware of many incidental 

 notices of them in Histories of London, &c. ; but 

 it does not amount to much, and I should be glad 

 to know if there is no fuller account of them. 

 The companies of Pewterers or Bakers, for ex- 

 ample. B. 



[Beside the incidental notices to be found in Stow, 

 Maitland, and Seymour, our correspondent must con- 

 sult the Harleian MSS. ; and if he will turn to the 

 Index volume at p. 294., he will find references to the 

 following companies : — Bakers', Drapers', Painters', 

 Stainers', Pinners', Scriveners', Skinners', Wax-chand- 

 lers', Wharfingers', Weavers', and other miscellaneous 

 notes relating to the city of London generally.] 



Rousseau and Boileau. — Are there any full and 

 complete English translations of Rousseau's Con- 

 fessions and Boileau's Satires ? Alledius. 



[The following translations have been published: — 

 The Confessions of J. J. Rousseau, in two Parts, London, 

 12mo., five vols., 1790; Boileau's Satires, 8vo., 1808: 

 see also his Works made English by Mr. Ozell and 

 others, two vols. 8vo., London, 1711-12, and three 

 vols. 8vo., London, 1714.] 



Bishop KennetCs MS. Diary. — Where is Bishop 

 Kennetfc's MS. Diary, from which his often-cited 

 description of Dean Swift is taken, to be found ? 



