502 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 113. 



prescriptive riglit to be miscliievous on "clmllv- 

 baek day." Does such a practice exist elsewhere, 

 and what is its origin ? S. W. Rix. 



Beccles. 



364. Moravian Hymns. — Can any of your 

 readers jjive me an account of the earlier editions 

 of the Moravian hymns ? In the Oxford Maga- 

 zine for July, 1769, some extraordinary specimens 

 are given, which profess to be taken from " a book 

 of private devotions, printed for the use of the 

 Unitas Fratrum, or Moravians." One of them is — 



" To you, ye wounds, we pay 



A thousand tears a-day, 



That you have us presented 



With many happy virghi rows. 



Since the year forty, 



Pappa ! mamma ! 



Your hearts Fiamlein, 



Brother Fiamlein, 



Gives the creatures 



Virgin hearts and features." 

 The Others look still more like burlesque. I 

 cannot find them in any Moravian hymn-book 

 which I have seen ; and have searched the British 

 Museum in vain for that which is referred to in 

 the Oxford Magazine. Are they genuine, or a 

 fabrication of Anti-moravians ? P. H. 



365. Rural and Urban Deans. — The name and 

 office of rural dean is familiar to every one ; but 

 may I ask your clerical readers in London, or in 

 any other of the large towns of England, whether 

 the office of dean is still existing among them ; or 

 have the urban deans altogether cease<l to be 

 chosen and to act ? AY. Fraser. 



366. Ducks and Drakes. — When a man squan- 

 ders his fortune, he is said in vulgar parlance to 

 " make ducks and drakes of his money." Does 

 this odd expression allude to the thoughtless 

 school-boy practice of throwing stones as nearly 

 as possible on a parallel with the surface of the 

 water, whose elastic quality causes them fre- 

 quently to rebound before they sink? In my 

 younger days this amusement (so to speak) was 

 called " ducks and drakes." M. AV. B. 



Bruges. 



367. Vincent Kidder. — • I shall be much obliged 

 by any information respecting the descent of 

 Vincent Kidder of Aghaboe in the Queen's County, 

 Ireland, who held a commission as major in Crom- 

 well's army. He married Ellen Loftu's, the grand- 

 daughter of Sir Thos. Loftus of Killyan, one of 

 the sons of Adam Loftus, Archbishop of Dublin ; 

 and, in 1670, had a grant of forfeited lands in the 

 county of Kilkenny. I have reason to believe 

 that he sprang from a family of that name in 

 Sussex. His son, also named Vincent, was a lieu- 

 tenant in Cottingham's regiment at the battle of 

 the Boyne, Master of the Goldsmith's Com[)any in 

 Dublin in 1696, and High Sheriff of Dublin in 



1718. He married Elizabeth, the daughter of 



Proud foot, and left issue. I shall be glad of 



any information as to the marriage of the last- 

 named Vincent, and as to the family of Proudfoot. 



C. (Streatbam.) 



368. House at Welling. — Every one who has 

 travelled on the carriage-road between London 

 and Eiith must have noticed at the end of the 

 village of Welling an old-looking house, with high 

 garden walls, and a yew hedge about thrice the 

 height of the walls. It is said that one of our 

 English poets once inhabited this house ; but lohof 

 is a Query to which no one seems able to give an 

 answer. Perhaps some of your numerous corre- 

 spondents may have a Note on the subject, and 

 would kindly furnish it. It is said by some to 

 have been Young, the author of the Night 

 Thoughts; but this again is denied by others. B. 



369. Shropshire., Price of Land. — What was the 

 average number of years' purchase at which land 

 sold in Shropshire and Montgomery between 1770 

 and '80 ? Is there any book where information on 

 tliis subject can be found ? B. R. I. 



370. Legal Time. — The town clerk of Exeter, a 

 short time since, in reply to the question " AVhat 

 is legal time ? " said, that " one of the courts of 

 law had decided (in reference to a young lady 

 becoming of age in London) that St. Paul's was 

 so." jSTow St. Paul's, as well as all otiier Lon- 

 don clocks, keeps Greenwich time. Query, Is 

 St. Paul's time legal time ? Is it so because it is 

 the cathedral clock of London, or because it 

 is a commonly recognised standard of time for 

 London ? Exon. 



iMtitnr caucrteiS QiriStocrcIl. 



Thorns of Danphine. — What is the meaning of 

 the proverb mentioned by Bishop Jeremy Taylor : 



" The Thorns of Dauphine will never fetch blood, if 

 thev do not scratch the first day?" — Sermon XVI. 

 " Of Growth in Sin," p. 319. Loiid. 1678. fol. 



Ex. 



Warmingtou. 



[Montaigne, in his Essays, book i. chap. Ivii., 

 quotes tliis proverb, and gives a clue to its meaning. 

 He says ; " For my part 1 believe our souls are adult 

 at twenty, as much as they are ever like to be, and as 

 capable then as ever. A soul that has not by that 

 time given evident earnest of its force and virtue will 

 never alter come to proof. Natural parts and excel- 

 lences produce what they have of vigorous and fine 

 within that term, or never : 



' Si I'espine non picque qnand nai, 

 A pene que picque jainai,' 

 as they say in Dauphiny."] 



Inscription at Lyons. — In Bishop Burnet's 

 Travels (1685), he mentions a monumental in- 

 scription which he saw at Lyons, of a certain lady, 



