300 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 103. 



west by a narrow footway, once (if not still) 

 called Cutthroat Lane. Or it may be identified 

 thus : take the map of Stoke Newington in Kobin- 

 son's history of that place, London, 18-20, 8vo., and 

 look directly below the first "e" in " Clmrch 

 Street." Among the papers by which the house 

 is held is the co])y of the oirolment of a surrender 

 fo the lord of the manor, dated February '26, 1740, 

 in which the house is described as " heretofore in 

 the tenure or occupation of Daniel Defoe." The 

 history just mentioned states that he was living at 

 Newington in 1709. There appears no reason to 

 suppose that he built the house. Dr. Price lived 

 for some years in it, as the domestic chaplain of a 

 subsequent owner. M. 



Study of Geometry in Lancashire (Vol. ii., 

 p. 57.). — Your correspondent Mr. T. T. AVil- 

 KiNSON, in his interesting article on this subject, 

 attributes the first rise of the study of geometry 

 in Lancashire to the Oldham Mathematical So- 

 ciety. But he is not perhaps aware, that half a 

 century before a Mathematical Society existed at 

 Manchester. I have a thin Svo., entitled — 



" Mathematical Lectures; beins; the first and second 

 that were read to the Matliem:itical Society at Man- 

 chester. Bv the late in.'enioiis RLnthematician John 

 Jackson. ' Who cnii mmiber the Sunrh nf the Sea, the 

 Drops of liain, undtlie Dai/s nf Etirnity?' Ecclus. i. 2. 

 ' He tititt telitth the Number of the Stars, and calleth them 

 all hy their Names.' Psvilm cxlvii. 4. I\Iancliester, 

 prhited by Ilo^er Aiiams, in the Parsonage, and sohi 

 by William Clayton, Buokseller.at the Conduit. 1719." 



The book is dedicated to the " Virtuous and 

 Heligious Lady Bland." The Preface states that 



" There having been lately set up in ]\Ianchester a 

 IMadicniatieal Society, which was eneoiuMged by many 

 (and some Honorable) subscribers, and the composhig 

 of the Lectures being undertaken by the late ingenious 

 l\Ialheniatician Mr. ,Tohn Jackson, and he having dis- 

 charged himself well becoiring bis parts and character 

 in the reading of several extraordinary ones in Geo- 

 metrv, we thought it would ho great pity, as well as 

 ingratitude, to let such worthy performances expire 

 with him." 



Then follow the two Lectures, which terminate 

 at p. 41. The first was read Aug. 12, 1718; the 

 second, Aug. 19, 1718. The Manchester ]\Iathe- 

 matical Society would be on-3 of the earliest in the 

 kingdom. Perhaps the Oldham Society might be 

 a branch of the Manchester. James Ckossley. 



Coke, how pronminccd (Vol. iv., pp. 24. 74. 9.3. 

 138. 244.). — I think the pronunciation of Cook for 

 Coke is not a " modern affectation," as in a MS. 

 journal of the proceedings in parliament of the 

 session of 1621, now in my possession, there is, 

 amongst many other amusing things, an account 

 of a qu.irrcl between Mr. Clement Coke, son of 

 Sir Edward, and Sir Charles Moryson, in which 

 Mr. Coke's name is frequently spelt Cooke. I 



should judge that the pronunciation was by no 

 means settled at that time ; for, as the journal was 

 evidently written whilst the debates were going 

 on, it appears to me that the pronunciation of each 

 speaker was followed, and the name is spelt differ- 

 ently ins[ieeches that succeed each other. I send 

 you an exact copy of one example of this : 



" M' Vv'hittbye. — That M' Coke will submitt and 

 satisfy in acknowS his wrong don, if S"^ Char* will say 

 he ment it not a disgrace. 



" S' Kg. PhilP^ — I would any way mitigate y' cen- 

 sure : I should need no other induce' but to rememb' 

 he is y" sonn of such a father. But I must say, I 

 thinhe S"' Char* hath not given y" least occas" to M' 

 Cooke," &c. &c. 



C.deD. 



Quisfourne (Vol. iv., p. 116.). — Hero is a word 

 so very like the Devonshire one which has puzzled 

 a cori-espondent, that it nuiy be the same in sense 

 as well as in sound. In one (4' the Low-Xorman 

 insular dialects, it denotes a slap with the back of 

 the hand; in French-British*, kis dour.n, revers 

 de main. G. M. 



Seneca's Medea (Vol. i., p. 107. ; Vol. iii.,' p. 464.). 

 — I cannot feel much doubt that the prophecy 

 ascribed to Medea was a mere allusion to events 

 actually past. It was a compliment to Claudius 

 iqion the recent reduction of Britannia under the 

 Pioman arms, with nothing future, unless it were 

 an encouragement to bring Caled<inia, Ireland, and 

 the small islands, into similar subjection. The 

 Oceanuswas su])posed to extend indefinitely west- 

 ward, beyond the world, into the regions of Night 

 and Chaos, and was not only dreaded for its stormy 

 navigation, but fi'om feelings of religious awe. 

 The expedition toBiitain was peculiar from being 

 ultra-mundane, and an invasion of the ocean, so 

 that 



" Oceanus 



Vincula rerum laxet et ingens 



Pateat tell us." 



For that reason only they called the Britons "peni- 

 tns toto divisos orbe." "Britain (said the pseudo- 

 Hegesippus) lying out of the world, was by the 

 power of the Roman empire reduced into the 

 world," cit. Camden. And the same is implied in 

 another place of Seneca himself — 

 " Ille Britannos 



Ultra noli 



Littora poiiti, etc. 



Dare Romulcis 



Culla catenis 



Jussit." 



* I was once asked by a great and true scholar, now 

 no more. What do you mean by British 9 My answer 

 was, " 'I'he nation whom you have nicknamed ll'elsh or 

 Stranpers, which they are not. With me the English 

 are still English, the Scotch Scots, the Biitons in 

 France the British there." 



