302 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 286. 



to learn is, whether the office of the latter saint 

 has in these cases (of which there are many) been 

 displaced in order to insert that of the former, or 

 if it has alwajs been a simple commemoration. 



A. 0. H. 

 Blackheath. 



" Wapping Old Stairs^^ — In the Curiosities of 

 London, recently published by John Tirabs — 

 where, at p. 750., the site of Wappin;? Old Stairs is 

 pointed out — a quotation is given from the well- 

 known ballad bearing the same name, stating it 

 to be C. Dlbdin's, and belonging to The Water- 

 man. How the author, who has really been ex- 

 tremely careful throughout his curious work, 

 which is a mass of information well digested, 

 should have fallen into the error, is unaccountable. 

 The authorship of the ballad has been considered 

 doubtful. The words, entitled " A Characteristic 

 Song," are stated to have first appeared in The 

 British Album, the contributor's signature being 

 " Arley." * And it appears to have been thought 

 by some persons to have been Richard Brinsley 

 Sheridan's, who was a contributor to the above 

 work. The music is said to be the composition of 

 John Percy, and the name of Manning has ap- 

 peared in prints as the writer. Perhaps some of 

 your contributors can throw a light on the sub- 

 ject. J. R. J. 



Queen Zideinia. — In Household Words of No- 

 vember 1, 1851, there is a little poem entitled 

 "Queen Zuleima." Who was Queen Zuleima? 

 What is her history, or where may it be found ? 

 Pray enlighten the ignorance of Cato. 



Oysterx, with an r in the Month. — A letter from 

 G. Hartlib to Robert Boyle, August 4, 1657, 

 mentions " Roman wormwood, which agrees with 

 all the months that have r, as for oysters" (Boyle's 

 Works, vol. V. p. 267.). How far back has this 

 notion been traced ? It is very generally received 

 in the New England states. Veetaur. 



[* Most of the poems in The British Album were origin- 

 ally published in a daily paper called The World, and were 

 afterwards collected into two volumes under the title of the 

 Poetry of the World, and then the Poetry of Delia Crusca, 

 Anna Matilda, &c. (See Lowndes's Manual, vol. i. p. 259.) 

 Some of the writers of the Delia Cruscan school are known, 

 such as Delia Crusca (R. Jlerry), Anna Matilda (Mrs. 

 H. Cowley), The Bard (E. Jerningham) ; but we cannot 

 identify Arley. Mr. Gifford, in his introduction to The 

 McBviad, gives the names of some of the contributors. He 

 says, " 1 remember that Mr. Bell (the publisher of the 

 British Album), in his excellent remarks on The Bavaid, 

 had charged the author with ' bespattering nearly all the 

 poetical eminence of the day.' Anxious, therefore, to do 

 impartial justice, I ran for the Album, to discover whom 

 I had spared. Here I read, ' In this collection are names 

 whom genius will ever look upon as its best supporters ! 

 Sheridan, [what, is Saul also among the prophets !] 

 Merry, Parsons, Cowley, Andrews, Jerningham, Colman, 

 Topham, Robinson,' &c."] 



Quotations wanted. — 



" The law which form'd a tear, 



And bids it trickle from its source. 

 That law preserves the earth a sphere, 

 And keeps it in its course." 



Semper Eadbk. 



" Triumphant leaders at an army's head, 

 Henim'd round with glories, pilfer cloth and bread ; 

 As meanly plunder as they bravely fought, 

 Now save a people, and now save a groat." V. T. 



" By education we are much misled. 

 We 80 believe because we so were bred ; 

 The priest doth finish what the nurse began. 

 And so the child imposeth on the man." W. R. M. 



Locality of high and equable Temperature. — 

 What situation in the United Kingdom possesses 

 the most equable temperature, and where does the 

 thermometer maintain the highest range towards 

 60° ? T. W. Y. 



TTie Butterfly. — Although Schmetterling is the 

 German word, yet the animal has another desig- 

 nation, viz. Molkendieb, literally whey-thief Is 

 there anything in the habits of the butterfly to 

 account for these names ? Is it indeed lactivo- 

 rous ? or have they been bestowed, like goat- 

 sucker, without sufficient grounds? Perhaps some 

 of your entomological contributors will kindly 

 enlighten us on this subject. A. C. M. 



Exeter. 



Junius' s Letters, supposed Writers of. — I have 

 a copy of Woodfall's Junius. On the fly-leaf 13 

 " AV. Lamb, e Coll. Exon. ; " and the book is 

 sprinkled with MS. notes in the same handwriting. 

 They are written with care, but are now of little 

 value. One is : 



" Absurdity and any improbability short of physical 

 impossibility seem to be recommendations to the Junius- 

 hunters. So far from being surprised that George HI., 

 Captain Allen, Dr. Wilmott, and Mr. Suett, having each 

 had some supporters, I wonder they had so few, and that 

 the superior claims of Mr. Bickerton have found no ad- 

 vocate. Perhaps his own modesty keeps him from setting 

 up against Sir Philip Francis." 



I shall be obliged by reference to any works in 

 which the above claims are stated. That they are 

 earlier than 1820, I infer from "our fat Regent" 

 being mentioned in a note. Who were Captain 

 Allen, Mr. Suett, and Mr. Bickerton ? L. (2) 



Gage Family. — Lipscombe's Bucks, vol. il. 

 p. 345., states that Richard Hampden married 

 Joan, daughter of Sir John Gage, and that she 

 was buried at Hagbourne, co. Berks, Feb. 1572. 

 The arms over the monument are. Azure, a sal- 

 tire gules. Can any of your readers oblige me as 

 to who this Sir John Gage was ? and was he of 

 the family of Gage of Firle, co. Sussex ? and 

 where may his pedigree be found ? N. K. C. 



