154 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[2nd §, No 8, Fe. 23. °56. 
strange and uncouth woodcuts. Can any of your 
readers inform me what is the proper title-page 
of this volume, and at what date it was printed ? 
Where can a perfect copy of it be seen? Isita 
book of rarity and value? Henry Kensineron. 
[This work is extremely rare: no copy is to be found 
either in the Bodleian or British Museum Catalogues. It 
was translated by Laurence Andrewe, a native of Calais, 
and some time printer at the sign of the Golden Cross, 
near the eastern end of Fleet Street, by the bridge which 
crossed the Fleet. It is entitled, “ The Wonderful Shape 
and Nature of Man, Beastes, Serpentes, Fowles, F ishes, 
and Monsters, translated out of diuers Authors, by Laur. 
Andrewe of Calis, and printed at Antwerpe, with Pictures 
by Joh. Doesborow” (15:0), fol. It appears to have been 
reprinted in London with the following title: The Myr- 
rour: and the Dyscrysscyon of the World, with many Mer- 
uaylles. London: no date, small folio. } 
Who was Tom Thumb ?—TI learn from Sharon 
Turner’s History of the Anglo-Saxons, that Tom 
Thumb was once a living character, and flourished 
in the reign of Edgar. Is anything farther known 
of him? I shall be grateful to any of your cor- 
respondents who may reply; and the more fully, 
the greater my gratitude. SHERIDAN WILsoN. 
Bath. 
[Turner’s authority for connecting this renowned dwarf 
with King Edgar’s court is Tom Hearne, who, in the 
Appendix to Benedictus Abbas, p.lvy., states, that “Robert 
Burton, the famous author of The Anatomy of Melancholy, 
was such a collector of little ludicrous pieces, which he 
gave, with a multitude of books of the best kind, to the 
Bodleian Library, one of which little pieces was The His- 
tory of Tom Thumb, which however looked upon as al- 
together fictitious, yet was certainly founded upon some 
authentic history, as being nothing else originally but a 
description of King Edgar's dwarf.” Mr. Ritson, how- 
ever, thinks that Hearne was probably led to fix upon 
this monarch by some ridiculous lines, added about his 
own time, to introduce a spurious second and third part, 
namely, Dr. Wagstaffe’s Thomas Redivivus : or a Compleat 
History of the Life and Marvellous Actions of Tom Thumb, 
fol., 1729, which was written to ridicule the ballad of 
Chevy-Chase, by Mr. Addison. The piece given by Bur- 
ton to the Bodleian (Selden, Art. L. 79.) is the oldest 
copy known of this story: it is a small 8vo. in black 
letter, entitled “ Tom Thumbe his Life and Death : where~ 
in is declared many maruailous acts of manhood, full of 
wonder and strange merriments. Which little knight 
lived in King Arthur’s time, and famous in the Court of 
Great Brittaine. London: printed for John Wright, 
1630.” It commences thus :— 
“Tn Arthur’s court Tom Thumbe did liue, 
A man of mickle might, 
The best of all the table round, 
And eke a doughty knight: 
“His stature but an inch in height, 
Or quarter of a span; 
Then thinke vou not this little knight 
Was prou’d a valiant man?” 
This piece has been reprinted, with some biographical 
notices, in Joseph Ritson’s Pieces of Ancient Popular 
Poetry, 12mo., 1791, p. 93.] 
Count Borowlaski.— The celebrated Polish 
dwarf, Count Borowlaski, spent the latter days of 
his life in Durham, and is said to have died there. 
Can any of your readers inform me in what year 
the Count died, at what age, and where he was 
buried? He was alive in 1828. G. H. L. 
{Count Borowlaski, the celebrated Polish dwarf, died 
at his residence, the Bank's Cottage, near Durham, on 
September 5, 1837, aged ninety-eight. His remains were 
placed near those of the late Mr. Stephen Kemble, in the 
nine altars in Durham Cathedral. The person of the 
Count, thcugh of diminutive formation, was of the com- 
pletest symmetry, his height being short of thirty-six 
inches. Jn former times he travelled on the Continent, 
as well as in the United Kingdom. About sixty years 
ago, having been casually seen by some of the preben- ~ 
daries of Durham, he was prevailed upon by that body to 
take up his abode in the above cottage for life, they en- 
gaging to allow him a handsome income, which he en- 
joved up to his death. The Count was an excellent wit 
and humorist, and full of information as to foreign parts, 
as well as being acquainted with several languages, which 
made his company much courted by the gentry of the 
city and neighbourhood. When young he married. It 
is rather remarkable that the Count had brothers and 
sisters, some of them above six feet. Mr. Bonomi, the 
a8” took a full cast of him.— Gent. Mag., Oct. 1837, 
p. 435. 
Mrs. Pilkington’s “ Memoirs.” —I have lately 
looked into Zhe Memoirs of Mrs. Letitia Pilking- 
ton, wife to the Rev. Mr. Matth. Pilkington, 
written by herself, 2 vols. 8vo., Dublin, 1748. It 
is a curious production of its kind, and contains 
many anecdotes of Dean Swift and his contempo- 
raries in Ireland; but it is not by any means 
suitable for general reading. Is it a narrative of 
facts ? and if so, who was Mrs, Pilkington? Any 
information will oblige. ABHBA. 
(Mrs. Pilkington’s Memoirs are written with great 
sprightliness and wit, and describe the different humours 
of mankind very naturally; but they must, as to facts 
(says Chalmers), be read with the caution necessary in 
the Apologies of the Bellamys and Baddelys of our own 
day. Mrs. Pilkington was the intimate friend of Swift 
(see Scott’s edition of Swift’s Works) who thought very 
highly of her intellectual faculties, of which her power of 
memory would seem to have been the most remarkable, 
if it be true, as stated, that she was able to repeat almost 
the whole of Shakspeare by heart. Consult Cibber’s 
Lives; Biographica Dramatica; and any of our Biogra- 
phical Dictionaries for her personal history. ] 
Credence Table. — So much is now heard about 
a credence table, that I think it would be well to 
know the right meaning of the word. I am in- 
clined to think too much meaning is attached to 
it. Perhaps some of your correspondents will en- 
lighten. us. E.S. W. 
Norwich. 
[ The derivation of this word has been lately discussed 
in The Times. One writer states, that “the word is of 
Italian derivation, and is used in ordinary conversation. 
La credenza means nothing more than a small cupboard 
or shelf in any handy situation, serving to stow away 
any odd matters that may be wanted at a moment’s no- 
tice: La credenza is not necessarily a piece of religious 
furniture, nor has it any connexion with religious rites 
