42i 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No., 292. 



and were used by him as tools to advance his own 

 power. Of the high iHtellectual capacity of Miles 

 Corbet, one of these worthies, who had been repre- 

 sented as a " gentleman of an ancient and honour- 

 able family in Norfolk, who, after going through 

 his academical 'studies, settled himself to the pro- 

 fession of the law, and was for many years a 

 member and resident in Lincoln's Inn," the follow- 

 ing anecdote, extracted from a rare tract entitled 

 Persecutio Vndecima, 1648, 4to., and of which 

 there is a copy in the library of the Faculty of 

 Advocates, may be taken as a sample : 



" Miles Corbet, the Recorder of Tamworth, indited a 

 man for a conjuror, and was urgent upon the jury to 

 condemne him upon no proofs, but a booke of circles found 

 in his study, which Miles sayd was a book of conjuring — 

 had not a learned clergyman told the jury that the booke 

 was but an old Almanac." 



This " honourable gentle,man and member of 

 Lincoln's Inn" was executed at Tyburn, April 19, 

 1662. J. M. 



Kitty dive's Opinion of Mrs. Siddons. — In a 

 book of Poems., Humorous and Sentimental, by 

 J. Hand of Worcester (1789), is the following 

 note to "Mrs. dive's farewell Epilogue:" 



" During her last winter she visited Mrs. Garrick in 

 London, and was induced once more to go to the theatre, 

 to see the performance of Mrs. Siddons. On being asked 

 her opinion of this lady's acting, she answered very 

 forcibly, though with a rusticity not unfrequent with her, 

 • that it was all truth and daylight.' " 



CUTHBEBT BeDB, B.A. 



A Suggestion. — I have been a subscriber from the 

 very commencement, and your valuable periodical 

 seems to increase daily in interest as it progresses ; 

 but I apprehend that it is almost a stranger in 

 Ireland. Your Hibernian contributoi's are but 

 few in number. The Emerald Isle could furnish 

 ample materials to gratify the appetite of the most 

 devoted antiquary. I would suggest to your Irish 

 subscribers to urge their literary friends to follow 

 the example of your English correspondents, and 

 not be sparing of the information they possess. 

 Parochial libraries, mortuary memorials, inscrip- 

 tions on monuments, old ruins, folk lore, &c., 

 present an ample field; and this country abounds 

 with men of deep research, anxious to promote 

 " the study and knowledge of antiquities," whose 

 stores of antiquarian lore would be a valuable 

 addition to " N. & Q." 



Give me leave to quote a very interesting com- 

 munication which appeared in Vol. iii., testifying 

 to the value of preserving ancient records : 



" As an instance of the practical use of such a collection, 

 let me inform your readers that in 1847, being engaged in 

 an ejectment case on the home circuit, it became most 

 important to show the identity of a young lady in the 

 pedigree, the parish register of St. Christopher-le- Stocks 

 only giving the name and date of burial. I found that 

 when St. Christopher's was pulled down for the enlarge- 



ment of the Bank of England, some kind antiquary had 

 copied all the monuments. The book was found at the 

 Heralds' College ; it contained an inscription proving the 

 identity, and a verdict was obtained." 



Glebicus (D). 

 Dublin. 



A Handbook of the War. — Notwithstanding 

 the little favour with which your correspondent 

 Qu'est-il regards " scissors and paste," I venture 

 to hope that the manifest utility of the following 

 proposition will entitle it to a place in your co-. 

 lumns, viz. A Handbook of the War, Historical, 

 Diplomatic, and Military ; to include, 1. A resume 

 of its diplomatic relations, and a succinct account 

 of the military operations to the present time. 



2. A popular description of fortification, and ex- 

 planation of technical military terms and phrases. 



3. A geographical and statistical sketch of Turkey 

 and Russia. 4. Biographical notices of the ge- 

 nerals of the allied and Russian armies. 5, A 

 general summary of the diplomatic relations of the 

 European states at the commencement of the war. 



A small manual of this description would serve 

 as a companion and explanatory guide to the 

 newspapers during the present eventful period. 



A. R. P. 



185. Great College Street, Camden Town. 



Origin of " Navvy.'' — This word has become 

 almost naturalised, and now is understood to mean 

 a labourer employed in the construction of rail- 

 way. It is a corruption of the word navigator; 

 but it may be asked. What has a navigator to do 

 with railway? Tiie answer is, that before the age 

 of railways, " navigable canals " were the order of 

 the day ; and the labourer employed in their con- 

 struction was, with some propriety, called a navi- 

 gator. When railways superseded canals, the 

 labourer very improperly was continued to be a 

 navigator, or, as now corrupted, a navvy : whereas 

 the word excavator* would have been better. 

 There are, I venture to assert, thousands who do 

 not know why a railway labourer is called a 7iavi- 

 gator. The above explanation therefore may be 

 useful. R- S. 



^Mitxiti^ 



THEEE LETTEBS ON ITALY. 



I have a 12mo. volume,, without name of either 

 printer, publisher, or place of publication, contain- 

 ing 192 pages (besides nineteen of a table of con- 

 tents), entitled: 



" Three Letters concerning the present state of Italy. 

 Written in the rear 1687. 1. Relating to the Affair of 

 Molinos and the' Quietists. II. Relating to the Inquisi- 

 tion, and the State of Religion. III. Relating to the 



[* The term excavator was at one time in very general 

 use. — Ed, "N. &Q."] 



