Jan. 25. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



69 



Nicliolas Downing of Exetei' College, vicar of 

 Ivingsteignton, in Devon, who died in 1G66, and 

 was buried there, seems to liave been of another 

 faniil}', as lie bore a very different coat of arms. 



A Lieut. Duwninji was buried in Charles church, 

 Plymouth, in 1799, but the arms on his monument 

 are not the same as either of the above. 



Other than these, I know of none of the name, 

 ancient or recent, in the county, and I shall be 

 glad to learn on what ground Sir George Down- 

 ing's family is said to be of most ancient origin in 

 Devonshire. The name does not appear in West- 

 cote, Pole, Prince, Risdou, or the Heralds' visita- 

 ticms, and the modern authorities state that the 

 family was from Esse.'i or jJ^orfollc. J. D. S. 



The following memorandum I found acci- 

 dentally on the margin of a MS. pedigree of 

 Downing, but I am sorry I cannot recall the 

 source from whence I obtained it. Possibly, how- 

 ever, it may assist " Alpha" in his enquiry. 



" Sir George Downing was not the son of Callbut 

 Downing, rector of Hackney, but of Emmanuel Down- 

 ing, a London merchant, who went to New England. 

 Governor Hutchinson, in his History of Massachusetts, 

 gives the true account of Downing's affiliation, which 

 has been furtlier confirmed by i\Ir. Savage, of Boston, 

 from the public records of New England." 



J. P. c. 



Hulls, the Inveiif&r of Steam-hoats (Vol. iii., 

 p. 23.). — Your facetious correspondent, No- 

 cab, may gain some information relative to his 

 friend Jonathan Hulls, by going to the British 

 Museum, and asking for the Ibllowing book from 

 Mr. Grenville's library. 



I will give the full title and Mr. Grenville's note, 

 as it stands in my Catalogue of the library. 



GRENVILLE CATALOGUE (A'^ol. i. ]). 351.) 



" Hulls, Jonathan. A Description and Draught of 

 a new-invented IMachinc for carrying vessels or ships 

 out of, or into any harbour, port, or river, against 

 wind and tide, or in a calm. For which his Mujesty 

 has granted letters patent, for tlie sole l)enefit of the 

 Autlior, for the space of Fourteen years. London, 

 1737. folding plate. * 8vo. R.f 



" This new invented machine is a steam-boat. It 

 entirely puts an end to tlie claims of America to the 

 invention of steam navigation, and establishes for this 

 country the honour of that important discovery." 



Henry Foss. 



42. Devonshire Street, 12. Jan. 1851. 



[We are also indebted to ct for a reply to Nocab's 

 query.] 



^^ The lucki/ have whole days" (Vol. i., pp.231. 

 35L). — I can inform your correspondents P. S. 

 and H. H., that tlie passage in question is cor- 



* Representing, as well as I remember, a perfect 

 steam-boat. 



f Meaning Russia binding. 



rectly quoted by the latter at p. 351., and that it 

 is to be found in Dryden's Tyrannic Love. 



Henrt n. Breen. 

 St. Lucia, West Indies, Nov. 1850. 



" Clarum et veneruhile nomen" (Vol. ii., p. 463.). 

 — Your enquirer as to whence comes " Clarum et 

 venerabile nomen," &c., will find them in Lucan. 

 Book ix. 1. 203. E.H. 



Norwich. 



Occult Transposition of Letters (Vol. i., p. 416.; 

 Vol. ii., p. 77.). — Concert of Natwe. — Other 

 examples of these ambiguous verses are given by 

 J. Baptista Porta, de Fiirtivis Literarum Notis, 

 one of which has suggested the following lines, as 

 conveying the compliments of tlie season to the 

 editor of "Notes and Queries;" but which, 

 transposed, would become an unseasonable ad- 

 dress : — 



" Principio tlbi sit facilis, nee tempore parvo 

 Vivere permittat te Dea Terpsichore. 

 Si autem conversis dictionibus leges, dicent, — ■ 

 Terpsichore Dea te permittat vivere patvo 

 Tempore, nee facilis sit tibi principio." 



I beg leave, sincerely, to add, in the words of 

 Ausonius (Ep. xxv.), — 

 " Quis prohibet Salve atque Vale brevitate parata 

 Scribere ? Felicesque notas mandare libellis." 



This magnificent epistle inculcating — 



" Nil mutum Natura dedit: non aeris ales 

 Quadrupedesve silent," &c. 

 should be compared with the celebrated stanza of 

 Spenser's Faerie Queen (book ii. canto xii. st. 71.), 

 besinnin<r with 



" The joyous birds shrouded in cheareful shade ; " 



and with D'Israeli's animated defence, in his Ame- 

 nities (vol. ii. p. 395.) of these charming verses 

 against the ■7r\Ttfj.fj.f\r]g and tastijless, the anti- 

 poetical and technical, criticism of Twining, in 

 his first Dissertation on Poetical and Musical 

 Imitation. T. J. 



Darhy and Joan (Vol. iii., p. 38.). — I never 

 heard of the tradition mentioned by H. I can 

 only suppose that tlie poet referred to was the 

 first person who introduced the ballad at the 

 manor-house. Helaugh Nichols, an excellent 

 authority in such mattei's, whose trade traditions, 

 through the Bowyers, fatlier and son, went back 

 a century and a half, tells us that the b.allad was 

 supposed to have been written by Henry Wood- 

 fall, while an appi'entice to Darby. The Darbys 

 were printers time out of mind — one Kobert 

 Darby was probably an assistant to Wynkyu de 

 AVorde, who certainly left a legacy to a jicrson of 

 that name. The Woodfalls, too, can be tr.aced 

 up as printers for nearly two centuries. The 

 Darby, and Joan, his wife, were probably John 

 Darby, printer, ia Bartholomew Close, who was 



