474 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 111. 



been excited with reference to the difficulties at- 

 tending; the ordinary means of access to various 

 public depositories of documentary evidence in 

 this country. In some of tiiese departments, the 

 commencement of a welcome reform is already ap- 

 jiarcnt ; others, it is but reasonable to iiope, will, 

 ere long, yield to the frank and inquisitive spirit 

 of the times in this respect. The present com- 

 munication is confined to a very wide, though less 

 dignified source of official information, viz. Parish 

 Registers. I am sure I neetl not say one word to 

 illustrate the importance of the last-mentioned 

 class of evidence to the genealogist, the topo- 

 grapher, or the archajological inquirer in general, 

 — in one word, to those who enter into tlie spirit of 

 the " Notes and Queries." I beg, therefore, to 

 submit tiis following inquiries : 



1. Have the actual parishioners of a place a 

 right to consult their own register of baptisms, 

 marriages, and burials, gi'atuitou.sly ? If not : — 



2. AVhat fee is legall/j demandable, — and by 

 whom, — and under what restrictions ? And — 



3. Do the terms differ when the inquirer is not a 

 parishioner ? If so, in what respect do they differ ? 



Tiiese inquiries have reference to the contents 

 of the chests kept in, or in connection with, paro- 

 chial churches and chapels, and not to tliose in the 

 custody of the modern " Registrar." I need 

 scarcely add, that my concern is vvith the strictly 

 legal rights of search, and demand of fees ; and 

 not as to what courtesy may concede, or usage 

 sanction. D. 



llotheifield. 



345. Bacon a Poet. — In Boswell's Journal of 

 his Tour to the Hebrides he quotes the subjoined 

 couplet, premising, " As Bacon says — 



" Who then to frail mortality shall trust, 

 But limns the water, or but writes in dust." 



Is not Bacon here a slip of the pen or press ? 

 Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Bacon, and Bacon the 

 sculptor, are the only cons[)icuous men of the 

 name, and none of them that I know wrote verses. 



R. Cs. 



346. Tregomvell Frnmpfon. — Where can I ob- 

 tain any particulars of the life of Tregonwell 

 Frampton, Esq., commonly called the '' Father of 

 the Turf," who died at an advanced age about 

 1727-8. Reference is made to him in the 

 Rambler. T. R. W. 



347. Weever and Fuller — their Autograjihs 

 ivanted. — Can any of your readers direct the 

 etcher of a poii;rait of Weever, where to find his 

 autograph, from which to make a copy to illustrate 

 it? It is not to be found in the British Museum. 

 The extreme paucity of information respecting 

 this worthy is somewhat strange, considering the 

 value of his contributions to literature. In our 

 leading biographies and cyclopaedias his name does 



not occur. By-the-bye, where was he buried, 

 and what inscription is there on his "funeral mo- 

 nument?" 



An etched portrait is about to be published in 

 the next part of the Antiquarian Etching Club, 

 of Fuller, the author of Worthies, Church History, 

 &c., without a copy of his signature for the same 

 reason, unless one should be discovered. 



It has been suggested that search made in the 

 library of Queen's College, Cambridge, might 

 prove successful in both cases, from tlie fact of 

 their having both belonged to that college. 

 Perhaps some member of the university would 

 kindly undertake the inquiry. A. E. C. 



348. Is the Badger Amphibious ? — Turner 

 (Sacred Historij of the World, Letter XV. vol. i. 

 p. 428. 4th edit. 1833) says : 



" The beaver, otter, and badger are amphibious crea- 

 tures, but not oviparous." 



Surely this is a mistake, and worthy of a Note ? 

 I cannot fin<l the badger mentioned as an amphi- 

 bious animal in any modern zoology. I certainly 

 have not by me Kerr's Linnceus to refer to, as a 

 verification of Sharon Turner's note on this pas- 

 sage. CuARLES Paslam. 



iaaitnar dlucricS ^ir^tocrcU. 



Royal Registers. — I have nine volumes of 

 a work published by Bew, Paternoster Row, and 

 which appeared from 1778 to 1784, pretending to 

 give sketches of the characters of public men by 

 his Majesty. Can any of your correspondents in- 

 form me who was the writer, and what number of 

 volumes were published ? B. 



[Tills literary curiosity was completed in nine vo- 

 lumes, which are sometimes bound in three. In 1841 

 Mr. H. G. Bohn advertised a copy with all the names 

 filled up in manuscript, the initials being no doubt 

 sufhciently i[itelligible at that time. For a notice of 

 the work on its first appearance, see the Gentleman's 

 M.igiizine, vol. xlviii. p. 130.] 



Pmd Hoste. — Paul Hoste, a Jesuit, pub- 

 lished early in the seventeenth century a small 

 quarto with diagrams on "Breaking the Line," so 

 much discussed, as being first done in Rodney's 

 action. If any one can give me some account of 

 Paul Hoste and his scientijic views on naval archi- 

 tecture, the information will be acceptable to 



iEcROTUS. 



[See Chalmers' and Gorton's Bingruphical Diction- 

 aries ; Moreri, Le Grand Dictioimaire, and ISoiweau 

 Dictionnaire Historique, s. v.] 



" Liber Mirabilis.''' — Can any of your readers 

 inform me if there be a copy of the Liber Mi- 

 rabilis in any library in the United Kingdom? 

 It contains a remarkable prediction of St. Csesario, 

 Bishop of Aries, in the year 542. The work is 



