342 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[2-4 S.No 17., Apri 26. °56. 
without proclamation of banns at all, by the pro- 
duction of a certificate from his commanding 
officer that he is not aware of any impediment to 
his marriage. The reason is that a soldier is 
liable to be called away at any time without pre- 
vious notice, and therefore cannot be refused 
marriage under any circumstances if he has the 
consent of his superior officer. There is a well- 
known story of the late General Gordon, of Fyvie, 
which will illustrate the Scotch practice satisfac- 
torily. The general having remained unmarried 
till pretty far advanced in life, and having had a 
son in his youth who became a great favourite, 
and the mother being still alive, he one day sent 
for the parish minister, and bringing forward the 
mother of his son, who was now both old and 
blind, ordered the clergyman to marry them on 
the spot. The clergyman at first refused; but 
upon the general reminding him that he was in 
his Majesty’s service, and thus liable to be called 
away at a moment’s notice, the marriage took 
place, by which means the son was legitimised, 
and the fine estate of Fyvie, with its magnificent 
castle, which was strictly entailed, was kept in the 
family. 
Aberdeen. 
Bacon's “ Reflections on Death” (24S. i. 173.) 
— As no one has answered Mr. Srncer’s Query, 
I beg to refer him to Mr. Craik’s work on Lord 
Bacon and his Writings, in Knight's Shilling 
Series. Mr. Craik says, “the only authority for 
attributing it [the essay referred to] to Bacon is 
that of the Remains (1648), in which volume it 
first appeared. It isa composition of considerable 
beauty, but not in his manner.” (Vol. i. p. 87.) 
And in the preceding page Mr. Craik says, “ the 
collection called The Remains is of no authority.” 
I think every one familiar with Lord Bacon’s 
writings will concur in the remark that the piece 
referred to is not in his style. J. W. Parties, 
Haverfordwest. 
William Kennedy (2°° §. i. 113.) —Mr. William 
Kennedy, of whom your correspondent Parricius 
inquires, was a student in Belfast College about 
the year 1819. He belonged to Aughnacloy, in 
the county of Tyrone. His father, if I rightly 
recollect, was a dissenting clergyman at that 
place. Young Kennedy, it was stated, was de- 
signed for the same profession: at least, he re- 
ceived his education in an institution, in which, at 
that time, and for many years afterwards (indeed, 
till the opening of the Queen’s Colleges), nearly 
all the dissenting clergy in Ireland were prepared 
for the ministry. When there, he was distin- 
guished for great ability ; but I can tell nothing 
farther regarding him of my own knowledge. 
The statements current in the place of his early 
education respecting his subsequent career, and 
which, there is every reason to think, are in the 
main correct, were, that he became attached to 
the newspaper press in Paisley ; afterwards some- 
where in England, and, having published several 
works which your correspondents notice, that he 
finally received the appointment of secretary (such 
was the rumour) to the late Earl of Durham, and 
accompanied that nobleman to Canada in that 
capacity. It was from this appointment his two 
volumes on Texas shortly after resulted. One of 
your’correspondents states, though rather hesita- 
tingly, that Mr. Kennedy is dead. I would like 
to know if such be the fact. If unfortunately 
true, his work on Texas was probably his last ; 
his first was one published a great many years 
ago, and of which probably none of your corre- 
spondents have heard. It was called My Early 
Days, and though adapted for juveniles, and, as 
well as I remember, somewhat weak, was a very 
pleasing and popular little volume, and inculcated 
a most excellent moral. 
Liverpool. 
Heaven in the sense of Canopy (24S. i. 133. 
201.) — Talking of the ceiling of Canterbury ca- 
thedral before it was burned down, a.p. 1174, 
Gervaise the monk says : 
“Ccelum inferius egrie depictum, superius vero tabula 
plumbex ignem interius accensum celayerunt.” — Hist. 
Anglican. Script. ed. Twysden, ii. 1289. 
Why it should be unfitting to call the covering 
of a throne by the same word “heaven,” as the 
covering of a building is unintelligible ; so natural 
is the thought, that the smallest room has its 
ceiling, its coelum, its heaven, to English under- 
standings. CrEpHAs. 
School-boy Rhymes (1* §. xi. 113.) — The fol- 
lowing lines, which are quite new to me, I picked 
up recently from a respectable rat-catcher in the 
west of Fife: es 
* God made man, 
Man made money ; 
God made bees, 
Bees made honey ; 
God made the deil, 
The deil made sin; 
God made a muckle hole 
And pat the deil in!” 
A. R. X. 
Paisley. 
Freer Family (2 S. i. 261.) —I regret I can- 
not furnish Mr. Frere with any particulars of 
the Perthshire family of Freer. The earliest 
person of the name that I have met with was 
George Freer, who was minister of the parish of 
Lethendy, in 1697. It was his son, I believe, who 
acquired the large estate of Innernethy, which 
passed by purchase into the family of Moncrieffe. 
The Perthshire Freers bore ‘Argent, a saltire 
azure, in chief a mullet, and in base a martlet; 
