May 6. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



423 



be satisfactorily ascertained ? I remember hear- 

 ing it many years since during the bishop's life- 

 time. Such a circumstance is not beyond the 

 bounds of possibility, if we are to believe the 

 Parish Register of Bermondsey ; for there appears 

 an entry there of the marriage, on Jan. 4, 1 624-5, 

 of James Harriott, Esq., one of the forty children 

 of his father. I myself knew intimately a lady, 

 a clergyman's widow, who was the mother of 

 twenty-six children (Vol. v., p. 106. ; Vol. ix., 

 p. 186.) ; and I have heard it said that one of her 

 brothers-in-law was father of twenty-four, and 

 another of fourteen children. The late Sir Robert 

 Wigram, Bart., had twenty-four children : he died 

 at the age of eighty-six. Y. S. M. 



[Mrs. Thistlethwaite, in her Memoirs of her father, 

 p. 6., states, that " Benjamin Bathurst, Esq., the father 

 of the Bishop of Norwich, having married, first, Miss 

 Poole, an heiress, he had issue by her twenty-two 

 children ; by his second wife, Miss Brodrick, daughter 

 of Dr. Brodrick, a brother of Lord Midleton's, Mr. 

 Bathurst had a second family of fourteen children, of 

 whom my father was third child and second son. He 

 was a seven months' child, and I have heard that he 

 was so extremely small an infant, that he could not be 

 dressed like other children for some time after his 

 birth, but was obliged to be wrapped in cotton. My 

 father used to say in a joke, that he was wrapped in 

 cotton, and put into a quart mug." The bishop's 

 father had four children, one daughter and three sons. 

 These four had a hundred children between them, 

 thirty-six of whom fell to the lot of the bishop's father.] 



" Seldh." — What is the meaning of the word 

 Selah, which occurs so often in the Psalms ? I 

 have observed that most people, in reading, omit 

 it. Should it be read or not ? F. M. Middeeton. 



[A diversity of opinion prevails as to the exact im- 

 port of this term. The great musical critic Mattheson, 

 in a work written on the word, having rejected eleven 

 meanings, decides in favour of the twelfth, which makes 

 the word equivalent to the modern Italian da capo. 

 In this view, the word selah directs a repetition of the 

 air or song from the commencement, to the parts 

 where it is placed. Herder held that selah denoted a 

 swell, or a change in the rapidity of the movement, or 

 in the key. The Easterns, he says, are fond of a very 

 uniform, and, as it appears to Europeans, mournful 

 music ; but at certain points, they of a sudden change 

 the key, and pass into a different melody. These 

 points, he thinks, were among the Hebrews indicated 

 by the word selah. The balance of authority, however, 



is in favour of the former view The People's Diet. 



of the Bible. Consult also, Julius Bate's Critica Hebraa, 

 and Gesenius' Hebrew and English Lexicon.] 



The Long Parliament. — Where is a list of it, 

 including its various changes, to be seen ? 



Y. S. M. 



[Among the King's Pamphlets in the British Mu- 

 seum (Press-mark, E. 1836.) is the following: "A 

 List of the Names of the Long Parliament, anno 1640 ; 



likewise of the Parliament holden at Oxford ; as also- 

 of the three ensuing Parliaments holden at West- 

 minster in the years 1653, 1654, 1656, and of the late- 

 Parliament, dissolved April 22, 1659, with a Catalogue 

 of the Lords of the other House. London : Printed 

 in the year 1659." There is also another pamphlet 

 entitled " The Names of the Members of Parliament 

 which began on the 4th June, 1653. 4to. London, 

 1654."] 



" The Three Pigeons." — Was it the house at 

 Brentford, mentioned by Dr. Rimbatjlt (Vol. ix., 

 p. 331.), that suggested Tony Lumpkin's convivial 

 ballad in praise of " The Three Jolly Pigeons ? " 



G. Taylob. 



Reading. 



[It is highly probable that the scene " An Ale-house 

 Room" in Goldsmith's comedy She Stoops to Conquer 

 is the " Three Pigeons" at Brentford, as this remark- 

 able hostel dates its origin from the days of Shakspeare 

 and Ben Jonson. It is frequently mentioned by the 

 early dramatists, and appears at one time to have been 

 in some repute, having had for its landlord the cele- 

 brated tragedian, John Lowin, cotemporary of Shak- 

 speare, and one of the original actors in his plays, who- 

 died in this house at a very advanced age : 



" Thou art admirably suited for the Three Pigeons 

 At Brentford, I swear I know thee not." 



The Roaring GirL 



" We will turn our courage to Braynford — westward, 

 My bird of the night — to the Pigeons." 



Ben Jonson's Alchymist. 



See Faulkner's History of Brentford, p. 144.] 



Captain Cook. — Wanted, the pedigree of Capt- 

 Jas. Cook (the circumnavigator), and a full ac- 

 count of his lineal and collateral descendants. 



Wabdaee G. M'Allisteb.. 



Philadelphia. 



[Dr. Kippis's Life of Captain Cook may be eon- 

 suited with advantage. It is carefully compiled, and 

 will be found in the fourth volume of his Biographia 

 Britannica, as well as in a separate 4to. volume, 1788. 

 For the death of the eldest and only surviving son of 

 the celebrated navigator, see Gentleman's Magazine for 

 February, 1794, p. 182., and p. 199. of the same 

 volume. ] 



Varnish for old Boohs. — Can any of your 

 readers oblige me with a good receipt for varnish- 

 ing the binding of old books ? Bees-wax and tur- 

 pentine, used very thin, is a tolerably good one ; 

 but I am desirous of learning another, 



Investigatob. 



[A little common glue-size, made thin, would be 

 better than bees-wax and turpentine. The best varnish 

 that can be used is that made in France, and may be 

 had at Barbe Lechertier's, Artists' Colourman, 60. 

 Regent's Quadrant. It is called French varnish for 

 leather, and is sold at 14s. per pound. There is also 

 a common varnish for leather, which can be purchased 



