Mar. 23. 1850.] 
MINOR QUERIES. 
Smelling of the Lamp.— Can you or one of your 
learned correspondents, tell me the origin or first 
user of the literary “smelling of the lamp?” I 
know that it is commonly attributed to Demos- 
thenes? but if it is his, I want chapter and verse 
for it. 
Gourders of Rain.—W ill any of your correspon- 
dents be kind enough to suggest the etymology of 
the word “ gourders” (= torrents)? It occurs in 
the following passage of Harding against Jewel 
(p- 189., Antv. 1565: — 
“ Let the gourders of raine come downe from you and 
all other heretikes, let the floudes of worldly rages 
thrust, let the windes of Sathan’s temptations blowe 
their worst, this house shall not be ouerthrowen.” 
C. H. 
St. Catherine’s Hall, Cambridge. 
The Temple or a Temple. —Iam happy to see 
that your correspondent, Mr. Thoms, is about to 
illustrate some of the obscurities of Chaucer. 
Perhaps he or some of your learned contributors 
may be able to remove a doubt that has arisen in 
my mind relative to the poet’s well-known de- 
scription of the Manciple in his Prologue to the 
Canterbury Tales. 
You are aware that the occupation of the 
Temple by students of the law in the reign of 
‘Edward ILI. has no other authority than tradition. 
Dugdale, Herbert, Pearce, and others who have 
written on the Inns of Court, adduce this passage 
from Chaucer in support of the assertion; and 
they all quote the first line thus : — 
} «“ A manciple there was of the Temple.” 
In Tyrwhitt’s edition of Chaucer, however, and 
in all other copies I have seen, the reading is — 
« A gentil manciple was ther of a temple.” 
Now the difference between “ the Temple” and 
“a temple” is not inconsiderable. I should feel 
obliged, therefore, by any explanation which will 
account for it. If Chaucer was, as he is some- 
times pretended to be, a member of the Temple, 
it is somewhat extraordinary that he should have 
designated it so loosely. The words in the real 
passage would seem to have a more general signi- 
fication, and not to be applied to any particular 
house of legal resort. Epwarp Foss. 
Family of Steward or Stewart of Bristol. —I 
have in my possession a drawing, probably of the 
time of James or Charles I., of the following arms. 
Azure a lion rampant or, with a crescent for 
difference, impaling argent a cross engrailed flory 
sable between four Cornish choughs proper — 
Crest, on a wreath of the colours a Saracen’s 
head full-faced, couped at the shoulders proper, 
wreathed round the temples and tied or and 
azure. 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
335 
On removing the shield from the paper on which 
it was pasted, I found a spoiled sketch of the coat 
of Poulett, with the name Ambrose Moore written 
over it in a hand of about the reign of Charles L: 
the object in pasting the fresh shield over the 
spoiled coat appears to have been merely to make 
use of the mantling. 
I have also a locket of silver gilt containing a 
miniature of a gentleman apparently of the time 
of the Commonwealth, finely executed in oils upon 
copper ; on the back are engraved the arms and 
crest above described without the impalement, the 
crescent bearing the addition of a label. The only 
information I have is, that the locket and the 
drawing belonged to a family of the name of 
Steward or Stewart, who were clothworkers at 
Bristol during the Commonwealth, and for some 
generations later; and they are now in the pos- 
session of their descendants. The first of whom I 
have any authentic record is Hercules Steward, 
who was admitted to the liberties of the city of 
Bristol in 1623. 
I cannot find that any family of Steward has 
borne the arms in question; and if any of your 
readers can throw a light on the matter, I shall 
feel greatly obliged to them. 
Query. Was there a Herald painter of the time 
named Ambrose Moore ? O.C. 
Feb. 26. 1850. 
Paying through the Nose.— Can any one tell me 
the origin of the phrase, “ Paying through the 
nose,” expressing a dear bargain ? A. G. 
Memoirs of an American Lady.— Are the Me- 
moirs of an American Lady out of print? They 
were written by Mrs. Grant, of Laggan, the 
authoress of Letters from the Mountains, and of 
whom some very interesting memoirs have lately 
been published by her son. Nemo. 
Bernicia. — Can any learned correspondent fa- 
vour me with the name or title of any English 
nobleman who held authority in Wales, or the 
Borders, in 1370-80? ‘The motive for this query 
is, that a poem of the time, by Trahaearn, a cele- 
brated bard, contains the following passage : — 
“Though fierce in his valour like Lleon, with a 
violent irresistible assault, he vaulted into battle, to 
plunder the King of Bernicia; yet the ravager of thrice 
seven dominions was a placid and liberal-handed chief, 
when he entertained the bards at his magnificent table.” 
It is not supposed that the king here mentioned 
was any thing more than a powerful nobleman, 
whose possessions, or castle and lands, were situ- 
ated in the north of England; in which division 
of the island the ancient Bernicia was placed. As 
there is no evidence as to the locality or limits of 
this ancient district, it is hoped that an answer to 
the above query will afford a satisfactory solution 
to an uncertainty that has long existed among 
Welsh antiquaries. GomMER. 
