April 22. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



375 



Portrait of D. P. Tremesin. — Has there ever 

 been any portrait known to exist of one Dompe 

 Petor Tremesin, who is supposed to have been the 

 earliest equestrian who performed feats on horse- 

 back, and of whom mention is thus made in the 

 Privy Purse Expenses of King Henry VIII., 

 p. 218. : 



" Paied to one Dompue Peter Tremesin, that dyd 

 ryde two horses at once, by wave of rewarde, C corons, 

 *'. e. 23/. 6s. 8d.'' 



J. W. G. G. 



Edition of " Othello." — I shall feel much indebted 

 to Messrs. Collier, Singer, &c. for information 

 relative to an edition of Othello which was shown 

 to me in January, 1837, and had previously be- 

 longed to J. TV. Cole (Calcrafr.), Esq., then ma- 

 nager of the Theatre Royal, Dublin. It consisted 

 of the text (sometimes altered, I think) and notes 

 connected exclusively with astrology. There was, 

 if I remember rightly, a frontispiece representing 

 some of the characters, their heads, arms, bodies, 

 ■and legs being dotted over with stars, as seen 

 in a celestial globe. It was published about the 

 year 1826, and was evidently not the first play of 

 Shakspeare published under similar circumstances; 

 for I recollect that when Brabantio first appears 

 at the window, a note informs the reader that "if 

 lie will refer to the diagram of Brabantio in the 

 frontispiece, he will discover, by comparison of 

 the stars in the two diagrams, that Brabantio 

 corresponds with " a character in another play of 

 Shakspeare, the name of which I forget. Mr. 

 Cole is now in London, and connected with one 

 of the leading theatres. I do not know his ad- 

 dress. M. A. 



Prospect House, Clerkcnwell. — Will any of 

 your correspondents learned in old London topo- 

 graphy inform me when the " Prospect House, or 

 Dobney's Bowling Green," Clerkenwell, ceased to 

 be a place of amusement ; and where any account 

 is to be found of one Wildman, who is said to 

 have exhibited his bees there in 1772. (Vide 

 Mirror, vol. xxxiv. p. 107.) And in what con- 

 sisted this exhibition ? Also, if any other plate of 

 the Three Hats public-house, Islington, exists than 

 that in the Gentleman's Magazine f Also, if there 

 exists any portrait of Mrs. Sampson, said to have 

 been the first female equestrian performer, and 

 Life of Sampson, who used also to perform at the 

 gardens behind the Three Hats ? J. W. G. G. 



Ancient Family of Widderington. — In an old 

 Prayer Book, now before me, I find this entry : — 

 "Ralph Witherington was married to Mary Smith 

 the 13th day of Nov. in the year of our Lord 1703, 

 at seaven o'clock in the morning, Sunday." Then 

 follow the dates of the births of a numerous progeny. 

 Can any of your readers tell me who these parties 

 were, or any particulars about them ? The early 



hour of a winter morning seems strange. Some 

 of the children settled in Dublin, and intermar- 

 ried with good Irish families ; but from the entry 

 in another part of the volume, in an older hand, of 

 " Ralph Witharington of ILiuxley, in the parish 

 of Warqurth, in the county of Northumberland," 

 the family appear previously to have lived in 

 England. 



I have never been able to find the motto of the 

 Widderingtons. Their arms are, of course, well 

 known, viz., Quarterly, argent and gules, a bend 

 sable ; crest, a bull's head : but I have never seen 

 their legend. W. X. 



P. S. — The marriage is not entered in the 

 registers of Warkworth. It may be in some of 

 the records (of the city) of Dublin. I have seen 

 the motto " Veritas Victrix " appended to a coat 

 of arms, in which the Widderington shield had a 

 place ; but it was believed to belong to the name 

 of Mallet in one of the quarters. 



Value of Money in the Seventeenth Century. — 

 What are the data for comparing the value of 

 money in the seventeenth century with its present 

 value? What may 1000Z. in 1640, in 1660, in 

 1680, be considered equivalent to now ? C. H. 



&ut0r <&\xzxit£ tut'tfi ^nSfcontf. 



Ruin near St. Asaph, North Wales. — About 

 two miles from Sc. Asaph, in Flintshire, near to a 

 beautiful trout stream, called, I think, the Elway, 

 stands an old ruin of some ecclesiastical edifice. 

 There is not very much of it now standing, but 

 the form of the windows still exists. I have in 

 vain looked in handbooks of the county for an 

 account of it, but I have seen none that allude to 

 it in any way. It is very secluded, being hidden 

 by trees ; and can only be approached by a foot- 

 path. In the centre of the edifice, there is a 

 well of most beautiful water, supplied from some 

 hidden spring ; and from the bottom of which 

 bubbles of gas are constantly ascending to the sur- 

 face. The "well is divided by a large stone into 

 two parts, one evidently intended for a bath. The 

 peasantry in the neighbourhood call it the Virgin 

 Mary's Well, and ascribe the most astonishing 

 cures to bathing in its waters. I could not, how- 

 ever, find out what it was. Some said it was a 

 nunnery, and that the field adjoining had been a 

 burial-ground ; but all seemed remarkably igno- 

 rant about it, and seemed rather to avoid speaking 

 about it ; but, from what I could gather, there 

 was some wild legend respecting it : but, being 

 unacquainted with the language, I could not learn 

 what it was. I should feel obliged if any of your 

 correspondents could give me a description of it, 

 and any information or legend connected with it. 

 Near to it are the celebrated " Kaffen Rocks," which 



