482 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[254 S. No24., June 14. 756. 
to the scholar that slept the while. Awaking, he heard by the late General Beatson. It was, = a in 
them accurately; and Atropos might be persuaded to 
pity as soon as he to pardon, where he found just fault. 
The prayers of cockering mothers prevailed with him as 
much as the requests of indulgent fathers, rather increas- 
ing than mitigating his severity on their offending chil- 
dren; but his sharpness was the better endured because 
impartial; and many excellent scholars were bred under 
him.” — Fuller. _ 
An Oxp PauLine. 
Town and Corporation Seals (2 §S. i. 312.) — 
The Yarmouth Corporation Seals, fourteen in 
number, have been lately engraved in Manship’s 
History of Great Yarmouth, edited by C. J. Pal- 
mer, Esq., 4to. Yarm., 1854, and a descriptive 
catalogue appended. For an elucidation of some 
of the legends I inserted a Query in “ N. & Q.,” 
1* S. vill. 269., while the work was in the press, 
but no satisfactory account can yet be given. 
Large collections on E.C.’s plan are making on 
medizval seals generally, by Mr. A. W. Morant, 
of Yarmouth, and Mr. T, G. Bayfield, Norwich, 
who possesses many hundred impressions, either 
of whom would, I believe, readily communicate 
with E. C. The plates of the Yarmouth seals can 
probably be still obtained of the publisher of Man- 
ship's History, Meall, Yarmouth. 
KE. S. Tayror. 
Surnames ending in “-house” (1% S. xi. 187.) 
— Ina Minor Query of Mr. W. Woopuovse on 
this subject, he alludes to the name of Mirehouse, 
and says, ‘‘ Which was actually possessed by the 
late Recorder of London.” Allow me to state 
that the late John Mirehouse, Esq., for some 
years filled the judicial post of Common Serjeant, 
but he never was Recorder. 
As to the nature and duties of the office of 
Common Serjeant, see Pulling’s Treatise on the 
Laws, Customs, Usages, and Regulations of the 
City and Port of London, 2nd edit., 1844, p. 120., 
&e. Jos. G. 
Inner Temple. 
Guano (2"4 §. i. 374.) — The precise date when 
Peruvian guano was first used as a manure cannot 
be discovered. The ancient Peruvians knew its 
fertilising qualities ages ago: 
“Long before we knew any thing about it the Peru- 
vians had turned to account, and had laws to prevent the 
birds being disturbed in their annual resorts to the islands. 
They used it by dibbling ina little at the foot of each 
plant, and then watering it.” * 
Its properties have been known to chemists for 
the last half century: Davy, Liebig, and Hum- 
boldt all mention it. “In 1806 an analysis of a 
very elaborate description was published by MM. 
Fourcroy and Vauquelin,” and in 1810 experi- 
ments were made in the islands of Saint Helena 
* A Shetcher’s Tour Round the World, by Robert 
Elwes, 1854, page 176. : 
the year 1840 an entirely new manure in England. 
In that year about twenty casks were imported 
by Mr. Myers of Liverpool, and in the year fol- 
lowing one or two cargoes arrived from the 
Pacific. See Farmers’ Magazine, vol. ii., 1841, 
pp: 198. 266. K. P. D. E. 
Sir James Lowther's Man-of- War (1*S. xii. 428.) 
—Qu-sitTus inquires whether the Earl of Lonsdale 
had volunteered to furnish a seventy-four gun- 
ship, fully equipped in every respect, and present 
her to the Admiralty for the service of the country. 
Looking in the Annual Register for 1802, I find, 
at pp. 507—509., a Memoir of his lordship, who 
died in May of that year, and which particularises . 
this somewhat equivocal offer, which big lordship 
did not press very urgently upon the Admiralty : 
“ In 1782, when it was generally understood that the 
war could not be of much longer continuance, Sir James 
Lowther waited on Lord Sandwich, who was then at the 
head of the Admiralty; and, after deploring the state of 
His Majesty’s Navy, voluntarily offered to build and 
equip, at his own expense, a 74°8un-ship. If this pro- 
posal was sincerely made, too much praise cannot be 
given to such disinterested patriotism; but if common 
suspicion be well-founded, it was merely a delusive at- 
tempt to acquire popularity, and ensure distinction, 
without the claim arising from actual merit. The peace 
of 1783 made the building of a ship at that time unneces- 
sary; but although the country has since been engaged 
in a more extensive contest, and attended with greater 
exertions than those which gave rise to the proposal of 
such a donation, the offer was never repeated.” RF 
“ Odments” (272 §. i. 433.) — This is a word in 
use in the northern counties, and also in some 
other parts of England. Your correspondent will 
find the following explanation of the word in the 
Teesdale Glossary : 
“ Odments ! n. pl. Seraps, fragments.—Jam., Car., 
Odds and Ends W. & C2? 
The references are to Jamieson’s Dictionary, 
Carr’s Craven Glossary, and the Westmoreland 
and Cumberland Glossary. 
I may also refer your correspondent to the 
Glossaries of Northamptonshire by Sternberg 
and Baker, of East Anglia by Forbes, and of 
Somersetshire by Jennings. D. 
Leamington. . 
Horsley Family’ (2° §. i. p. 375.) —There are 
seven townships of Horsley in England, each of 
which would probably give the name to one gentle 
and many unconnected simple families, Hence 
the commonness of the surname. Hereditary 
arms did not come into use before the Crusades ; 
crests much later. Armorial bearings derived 
from the sound of the name (as a horse’s heal 
from Horsley) are not considered very honour- 
able by heralds, though some of our oldest fa- 
miilies bear them. If the bishop were a man of 
