Dec. 24. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



CS^ 



CHILDREN CALLED IMPS. 



(Vol. viii., p. 443.) 



" Heere resteth the bodye of the noble Impe, Robert 

 of Duddeley, Baron of Denbigh, sonne of Robert, Earle 

 of Leicester, nephew and heire unto Ambrose, Earle of 

 Warwick, brethren, both sonnes of the mighty Prince 

 John, late Duke of Northumberland, that was cosin 

 and heire to Sir John Grey, Vicount L'Isle, nephew 

 and heire unto the Lady Margaret, Countesse of 

 Shrewsbury, the eldest daughter and coheire of the 

 noble Earle of Warr : Sir Richard Beauchampe here 

 interred ; a childe of great parentage, but of farr 

 greater hope and towardnesse, taken from this transi- 

 tory unto everlasting life in his tender age, at Wan- 

 stead in Essex, on Sunday, 1 9th of July, in the yeare of 

 our Lord God 1 584, being the 26th yeare of the happy 

 raine of the most virtuous and godly Princesse, Queene 

 Elizabeth, and in this place layd up among his noble 

 auncestors, in assured hope of the general! resurrection. " 

 — Lady's Chapel, St. Mary's Church, Warwick. 



H. B. 



Warwick, 



An inscription on a tomb at Besford, near Per- 

 shore, Worcestershire, of the same period as that 

 at Aylesbury (mentioned by Mr. Brooks), con- 

 tains also the word imp. The tomb at Besford is 

 a most singular one, consisting of two large folding 

 doors fixed against the wall, their panels and the 

 interior being painted over with figures and in- 

 scriptions. From the latter, which are of some 

 length, the following extracts will be sufficient to 

 illustrate the subject : 



" An impe entombed heere doth lie." 



"... elder . . . from Christ to straie. 

 When such an impe foreshewes the waie." 



The old poetical word svgared, " Noe sugred 

 word," occurs in the inscription. 



The "impe" is supposed to be Richard Hare- 

 well, who died in 1576, aged 15 years, to whom 

 a second monument, of alabaster (close by the 

 former), was also erected ; a rare circumstance, I 

 should suppose. The Harewells appear to have 

 been a family at the time of the Conquest ; the 

 two following lines are a part of one of the in- 

 scriptions : 



" Of Harewell's blodde ere Conquest made, 

 Knowne to descende of gentle race." 



Nash, in his History of Worcestershire, makes 

 mention of this singular monument, but is any- 

 thing but correct in giving its inscriptions. 



CUTHBERT BeDE, B. A. 



T. W. D. Brooks will find this word used by 

 some modern authors to denote a child. In 

 Moral and Sacred Poetry, selected and arranged 

 by the Rev. T. Willcocks and the Rev. T. Horton 

 Ct)evonport, W. Byers, 1834), there is at p. 254. 



a piece by Baillle, addressed " To a Child,"" tbe 



first line of which runs thus : 



" Whose imp art thou, with dimpled cheek?'* 



And in a poem by Rogers, on the following^ V^'S^^ 

 the children of a gipsy are called imps. 



J. W. F. K3Bra;_ 

 Plymouth. 



THE DIVINING ROD. 



(Vol. viii., pp. 293. 479.> 



The inclosed extract from a letter whicE I Sanrc 

 just received from a friend on the subject ©f tbe 

 divining rod, will probably interest your resKfers, 

 as an answer to a Query which appeared soeae 

 weeks ago \\\\ your excellent work. Yois assj 

 entirely rely on the accuracy of the facts staied- 



J. A.H- 



" However the pretended effect of the divIiMi^ 

 rod may be attributed to knavery and credality 

 by philosophers who will not take the trouble oF 

 witnessing and investigating the operation, any 

 one who will pay a visit to the Mendip Hilfe m 

 Somersetshire, and the country round their b«s©, 

 may have abundant proof of the efficacy of it. Its 

 success has been very strikingly proved along^ tie 

 range of the Pennard Hills also, to the south oT 

 the Mendip. The faculty of discovering water ty 

 means of the divining rod is not possessed by 

 every one ; for indeed there are but few -nao 

 possess it in any considerable degree, or in wfiose 

 hands the motion of the rod, when passing orer 

 an undergEOund stream, is very decided ;; and 

 they who have it are quite unconscious of t&eir 

 capability until they are made aware of St. bf 

 experiment. 



" I saw the operation of the rod, or rather of a 

 fork, formed of the shoots of the last year,^ held in 

 the hands of the experimentor by the extrermties^ 

 with the angle projecting before him. Wbeo Be 

 came over the spot beneath which the water 

 flowed, the rod, which had before been perfeetfy 

 still, writhed about with considerable f(Hrce, so 

 that the holder could not keep it in its fonacr 

 position ; and he appealed to the bystandears to 

 notice that he had made no motion ta predoee 

 this effect, and used every effort to prevent it. 

 The operation was several times repeated vitb 

 the same result, and each time under the rf6»e 

 inspection of shrewd and doubting, if not iaere- 

 dulous, observers. Forks of any kind of grecxk 

 wood served equally well, but those of dead wood 

 had no effect. The experimentor had discovoretf 

 water. In several Instances, In the same paxvb 

 (Pennard), but was perfectly unaware of his «»- 

 pabllity till he was requested by his landlord to 

 try. The operator had the reputation of a per- 

 fectly honest man, whose word might be 



