Nov. 19. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



49a 



author of either of the tracts I have mentioned ; 

 and if so, who he was, and where I can find an 

 account of him and his writings. 'AXteis, 



Dublin. 



Minav catteries. 



Henry Scohell. — Henry Scobell, compiler of a 

 well-known Collection of Acts, was for several 

 years clerk to the Long Parliament. I should be 

 glad to learn what became of him after the dis- 

 solution of that assembly. A Leguleian. 



The Court House. — This place is situated in 

 Painswick, in Gloucestershire, and has been de- 

 scribed to me as an old out-of-the-way place. 

 Where can I meet with a full description of it ? Is 

 the tradition that a king — supposed to be either the 

 first or second Charles — ever slept there true ? 



F. M. 



Ash-trees attract Lightning. — Is it true that 

 ash-trees are more attractive to lightning than 

 any others ? and the reason, because the surface 

 of the ground around is drier than round other 

 trees ? C. S. W. 



Symhol of Sow, ^-c. — A sow suckled by a litter 

 of young pigs is a common representation carved 

 on the bosses of the roofs of churches. What is 

 this symbolical of? F. G. C. 



Ottery St. Mary. 



Passage in Blackwood. — 



" I sate, and wept in secret the tears that men have 

 ever given to the memory of those that died before the 

 dawn, and by the treachery of earth our mother." — 

 Blackwood's Magazine, December, 1849, p. 72., 3rd line, 

 second column. 



Will some of your readers give information re- 

 specting the above words in Italic ? D. N. O. 



Rathhand Family. — Can any of your readers 

 assist me in distinguishing between the several 

 members of this clerical family, which flourished 

 during the period of the Commonwealth, and im- 

 mediately preceding? From Palmer's Noncon- 

 formist Mem. (vol. i. p. 520.), there was a Mr. 

 William Rathband, M.A., ejected from Southwold, 

 a member of Oxford University, who was brother 

 to Mr. Rathband, sometime preacher in the Min- 

 ster of York, and son of an old Nonconformist 

 minister, Mr. W. Rathband, who wrote against 

 the Brownists. — I should feel obliged by any in- 

 formation which would identify them with the 

 livings they severally held. Oliver. 



Encaustic Tiles from Caen. — In the town of 

 Caen,_ in Normandy, is an ancient Gothic building 

 standing in the grounds of the ancient convent of 

 the Benedictines, now used as a college. This 



building, which is commonly known as the " Salle 

 des Gardes de Guillaume le Conquerant," was 

 many years ago paved with glazed emblazoned 

 earthenware tiles, which were of the dimensions of 

 about five inches square, and one and a quarter 

 thick ; the subjects of them were said to be the 

 arms of some of the chiefs who accompanied 

 William the Conqueror to England. Some anti- 

 quaries said these tiles were of the age of Wil- 

 liam I. ; others that they could only date from 

 Edward III. I find it stated in the Gentleman^s 

 Magazine for March, 1789, vol. lix. p. 211., that 

 twenty of the tiles above spoken of were taken up 

 by the Benedictine monks, and sent as a present 

 to Charles Chadwick, Esq., Healey Hall, Lanca- 

 shire, in 1786. The rest of the tiles were de- 

 stroyed by the revolutionists, with the exception 

 of some which were fortunately saved by the 

 Abbe de la Rue and M. P. A. Lair, of Caen. 

 What I wish to inquire is, firstly, who was Charles 

 Chadwick, Esq. ? and secondly, supposing that he 

 is no longer living, which I think from the lapse 

 of time will be most probable, does any one know 

 what became of the tiles which he had received 

 from France in 1786 ? George Boase. 



P. S. — The Gentleman! s Magazine gives a plate 

 of these tiles, as well as a plate of some others with 

 which another ancient building, called " Grand 

 Palais de Guillaume le Conquerant," was paved. 



Alverton Vean, Penzance. 



Ai'tificial Drainage. — Can any of your cor- 

 respondents refer me to a work, or works, giving 

 a history of draining marshes by machines for 

 raising the water to a higher level ? Windmills, I 

 suppose, were the first engines so used, but neither 

 Beckmann nor Dugdale informs us when first used. 

 I have found one mentioned in a conveyance dated 

 1642, but they were much earlier. Any inform- 

 ation on the history of the drainage of the marshes 

 near Great Yarmouth, of which JDugdale gives a 

 passing notice only, would also be very acceptable 

 to me. E. G. R. 



Storms at the Death of great Men. — Your cor- 

 respondent at Vol. vi., p. 531., mentions "the 

 storms which have been noticed to take place at 

 the time of the death of many great men known to 

 our history." 



A list of these would be curious. With a 

 passing reference to the familiar instance of the 

 Crucifixion, as connected with all history, we may 

 note, as more strictly belonging to the class, those 

 storms that occurred at the deaths of " The Great 

 Marquis" of Montrose, 21st May, 1650; Crom- 

 well, 3rd September, 1658 ; Elizabeth Gaunt, who 

 was burnt 23rd October, 1685, and holds her re- 

 putation as the last female who suiTered death for 

 a political offence in England ; and Napoleon, 

 5th JMay, 1821 ; as well as that which solemnised 



