Oct. 12. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



309 



ledgment that the cross won at the battle of 

 Neville's Cross was believed to have been taken by 

 King David from the hart in the forest of Edin- 

 burgh ? In the " Lament for Robert Neville," 

 called by Surtees "the very oldest rhyme of the 

 North," we read — 



" Wei, qwa sal tliir homes blaw 

 Haly rod thi day ? 

 Nou is he deile and lies law 

 Was wont to blaw tliaim ay." 



7. Is it known what became of the "Holy Cross" 

 or "Black Itood" at the dissolution of Durham 

 Priory ? P. A. F. 



Newcastle-oil- Tyne, 



dSStnor cattcrfcS. 



Tragus Pompehis. — In Hannay and Dietrich- 

 sen's Almanack for the Year 1849, 1 find the fol- 

 lowing statement under the head of " Kemarkable 

 Occurrences ot the Year 1847 :" — 



"July 21. A portion of the history of Trogus 

 Pompeius (the author abridged by Justin) is discovered 

 in the library of Ossolinski at Berlin." 



Not having noticed any contemporary account 

 of this occurrence, I should be glad of any infor- 

 mation respecting the nature and extent of the 

 discovery. E. L. N. 



Moi'tuary Stanzas. — Could any of your readers 

 supply me with information respecting the prac- 

 tice of appending mortuary stanzas to the yearly 

 bills of mortality, published in many parishes; 

 whether there are any extant specimens of such 

 stanzas besides those memorable poems of Cowper 

 written for the parish clerk of Northampton ; and 

 whether, also, the practice is still kept up in any 

 parts of the country ? ^iKiirarpis. 



Laird of Grant. — In the north of England, I 

 have repeatedly heard the uuld wife remark, on 

 observing any unwonted act of extravagance, such 

 as burning more than the ordinary number of 

 candles, &c. &c., — "Who is to be Laird of Grant 

 next year?" As this saying apjiears to be used 

 only in the north, I have no other medium at 

 present than to seek a reply through the aid of 

 your valuable little work. Senkx. 



[A similar "saw" was formerly current in the me- 

 tropolis. — "What, three candles burning! we sball be 

 Lord Mayor next year."] 



JiuHlille, MS. llecords of. — Are there amongst 

 the JSISS. of the JJritish Museum any documents 

 relating to spies, or political agents, eni[il<>yed by 

 tiie French and English governments from IG43 

 to 171 J, who were incarcerated in the liustilh; ? 



M. V. 



Orkney under the Norwegians. — Torfaeus (Or- 

 cades), under the transactions of the year 1431 

 (p. 182-3 ), has an incidental mention of the Ork- 

 neys as among the forbidden islands, " vetitas 

 insulas," of which the commerce was forbidden to 

 strangers, and confined to the mother country, as 

 to this day it is with Denmark and her posses- 

 sions of the Faroe Islands and Iceland, both men- 

 tioned in the paragraph of the historian among 

 the islands whose commerce was restricted. It 

 would be very desirable to know of the social 

 state of Orknev under the government of Norway 

 and its native Jarls of the Norwegian race, and of 

 its connexion with Norway and Denmark ; and 

 some of your correspondents may take the trouble 

 to point out sources of information on the subject 

 of this Query. W. H. F. 



Kirkwall. 



Swift's Woi'ks. — In Wilde's Closing Years of 

 Dean Swift's Life (2d edit. p. 78.) is mentioned 

 an autograph letter from Sir Walter Scott to 

 C. G. Gavelin, Esq., of Dublin, in the MS. library 

 T. C. D., in which he states he had nothing what- 

 ever to do with the publication or revision of the 

 second edition of the Works of Jonathan Swift. 

 Tills does not agree with the statement given in 

 ]Mr. Lockhart's Life of Sir Walter Scott, 2d edit, 

 vol. vii. p. 215. AVho was the editor, and in what 

 does the second edition differ from the first ? 



W. H. F. 



" Pride of the Morning." — Why is the small rain 

 which falls in the morning, at some seasons of the 

 year, called " the pride of the morning?" P.H.F. 



Bishop Durdent and the Staffordshire Historians. 

 — It is stated by Sampson Erdeswick, Esq., in his 

 Survey of Staffoj-dshire,\>.\Q-^. r2mo. 1717, that — 



" Not far from Tame, Roger Durdent held Fisher- 

 wickeof tlie bishop, 24 Ed. I. And 4 Ed. IL Nicholas 

 Durdent was lord of it, which I suppose was procured 

 to some of his ancestors of the same name by their 

 kinsman Waltur Durdent, Bishop of Litchfield, in 

 Henry II. 's time." 



but no authority is given for this statement. 



In Shaw's History of Staffordshire, p. 3G5., 

 fol., 1798, it is further recorded that — 



" Walter Durdent, in the beginning of Henry II., 

 appears to have granted it 1 I'ishorwicke) to some of his 

 relations, for we tiiid Wilfuun Durdent of Fisherwicke 

 temp. Henry II.; and in tlie 40tli of Hen. III. Roger 

 Durdent occurs, who held Fisherwicke of the bishop, 

 24 Ld. I. In the 4 Ed. II. Nicholas Durdent was 

 lord of it." 



Shaw refers to Erdeswick, and to the Annals of 

 Burton Ahhey, p. 3(i4. 



In Dr. ilarwood's edition of Erdeswick, 8vo., 

 1844, the same statements are repeated, but no 

 authority is adiluced. Could any of your corre- 

 spondents obligingly furnish me with the original 



