394 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 235. 



To him who else were lonely, that another 

 Of the great family is near and feels." 



The analogy is as beautiful as it is true. 



H. M. Bealbt. 

 North Brixton. 



Before this talented judge was advanced to the 

 bench, he amused himself and instructed his 

 clients by occasional metrical notes, of which the 

 annexed is a specimen. To make it intelligible to 

 those whom it may not concern, I must add an 

 explanation by the attorney in the suit, who has 

 obligingly placed the learned Serjeant's notes at 

 my disposal. This gentleman says : "These notes 

 are in the margin of a brief held by the serjeant 

 as leading counsel in an action of ejectment 

 brought against a person named Rock, in 1842. 

 In converting into rhyme the evidence of the 

 witness Hopkins, as set out in the brief, he has 

 adhered strictly to the statements, whilst he has 

 at the same time seized the prominent points of 

 the testimony as supporting the case." 



John Hopkins will identify the spot, 

 Unless his early sports are quite forgot, 

 And from his youngest recollection show 

 The house fell down some forty years ago. 

 And then — a case of adverse claim to meet, 

 Show how the land lay open to the street ; 

 And there the children held their harmless rambles, 

 Till Robert Woolwich built his odious shambles, 

 And never did the playmates fear a shock, 

 From anything so hateful as a Rock. 



Perhaps the above may elicit from other 

 quarters similar contributions ; indeed, any me- 

 morial of the friend of Charles Lamb must be 

 precious to the Muse. T. J. Buckton. 



Lichfield. 



THE SCREW PROPELLER. 



In 1781, when the steam engine, only recently 

 improved by Watt, was merely applied to the 

 more obvious purposes of mine drainage and the 

 like, Darwin, in his Botanic Garden, wrote — 



" Soon shall thy arm, unconquer'd Steam ! afar 

 Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car." 



And in an appended note prophecies that the new 

 agent might " in time be applied to the rowing of 

 barges, and the moving of carriages along the 

 road." The ingenious chronicler of the " loves of 

 the plants," however, was no doubt, when he wrote, 

 aware of the experiments of DAuxiron, Perier, 

 and De Jouffroy ; those prosecuted at Dalswinton 

 and in America were some years later, about 

 1787-8 I think. But in another and less widely 

 known poem by the same author, the Temple of 

 Nature, published in 1802, there occurs a very 

 complete anticipation of one of the most important 



applications of science to navigation, which may 

 prove as novel and striking to some of your 

 readers as it did to me. It is, indeed, a remark- 

 able instance of scientific prevision. In a note to 

 line 373, canto ii. of the poem, the author sets out 

 with, " The progressive motion of fish beneath the 

 water is produced principally by the undulation 

 of their tails ; " and after giving the rationale of 

 the process, he goes on to say that " this power 

 seems to be better adapted to push forward a 

 body in the water than the oars of boats ; " con- 

 cluding with the query, " Might not some ma- 

 chinery resembling the tails of fish be placed 

 behind a boat so as to be moved with greater 

 effect than common oars, by the force of wind or 

 steam ? " Anon. 



ANCIENT CHATTEL-PROPERTY IN IRELAND. 



The Memoranda Roll of the Exchequer, 4 & 5 

 Edward II., membrane 14., contains a list of the 

 chattel-property of Richard de Fering, Archbishop 

 of Dublin, which had been sold by Master Walter 

 de Istelep, the custos of said See, for the sum of 

 112/. 10s. 9|c?. sterling, consisting, amongst other 

 things, of — 



iij aflV, price xijs. 



xiij bobus, iiijft. v*. 



xlvij acr' warrectan' & rebinand' ibidem, Ixxs. \]d. 



ij carucis cum apparatu, iiijs. 



v crannoc' frumenti ad semen & liberationes famulorum 



ibidem sibi venditis per predictum custodem, xxijs. 



vjd. 

 xj crannoc', iij bussellis aven', xxxixs. iijef. 

 iij carucis cum apparatu, vjs. 



The chattel-property of Sir James Delahyde is 

 set forth upon the Memoranda Roll 3 & 4 Rich. IL, 

 mem. 3. dorso, and is as follows : 



" Unu' collobiu' de rubio scarleto duplucat' cu panno 

 rubio, unu' collobiu' duplex de sanguineto et Bukhorn', 

 unu' collobiu duplex, de sanguineto et nigro, unu' gip' 

 desericoauro int'text furrat' cu menivero, unu' gyp' de 

 rubio et nigro furrat' cu' calibir', unu' gyp' furrat cu' 

 grys, unu' paltok' de nigro serico, unu' paltok de nigro 

 panno, unu' paltok' de nigro Bustian, duo cap'icia, 

 una' pec' de rubio Wyrset, unam pec' de nigro Wyrset, 

 una' pec'panni linei vocat' Westenale, quinq; pec' Aule 

 pro camera & Aula, tres curtynis cu uno celuro de rubio 

 Wyrset, quinq; mappas, duas pelves cii lavatorio & 

 quatuor p'ia secular'." 



Upon the attainder of William Fytzhenry of 

 Dublin, " Capytayn," in the reign of Edward VI., 

 it was found by inquisition that he had " unum 

 torquem aureum ponder' septem uncias di," put 

 in pledge for 20Z., and worth 221. sterling. In tins 

 reign " quinque vasa vocat' fyrkyns de prunis " 

 each worth 6*. 8d. ; a firkin of wine, 5s. ; " a fyrkyn 

 de aceto," 6s. 8d. ; " quinque tycks," worth lis. 8d. 

 each ; and "duas duodenas cultellorum," worth 4s., 



