510 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[224 8. No 26., June 28, 756. 
says, “The Pope knew that Henry VI. was not king de 
jure, but only de facto, and a poor creature.” This is also 
the opinion of Mr. Habington in his Life of Hdward IV.) 
SHinor Queries. 
Eales Family.—Nov. 26, 1670, the following 
arms were granted, or confirmed, to “ Luke Eales, 
Doctor of Physic, and to his brother Thomas,” 
viz.: “Per pale, or and sable, a fess engrailed, 
and in chief 3 fleurs-de-lis, also countercharged.” 
The doctor is elsewhere described as physician to 
the king. 
I am desirous of obtaining any particulars of 
either of the brothers or their descendants, or 
collateral relations. 
There is a highly respectable family of the name 
in Devonshire or Somersetshire; and Richard 
Eales, Esq., is mentioned in Lysons’s Devonshire 
(1822) as lord of the manors of Dawlish, Huish, 
South Sydenham, and other estates in that 
county. A.K 
Council of Lima.—Can any of your corre- 
spondents inform me in what work I shall find an 
account of the proceedings of this Council, and 
also the several decrees passed on that occasion ? 
I have in vain consulted the different histories of 
councils within my reach. It was held in 1583. 
Crxricus (D.) 
Translation of Camoens.—In the European 
Magazine for 1824 (vol. Ixxxv. p.251.), there is 
a translation of the “Island,” from the Lusiad of 
Camoens, by H. Ap. Can you inform me who is 
the author ? R. J. 
Earl of Essex’s “ Letters.” —In the second 
volume of the Memoirs of the Court and Regency, 
published by the Duke of Buckingham, it is said 
at p. 236., that there then were five volumes of 
Letters of the Earl of Essex, from 1673 to 1677. 
Can you tell the world what has been the fate of 
these volumes ?* They ought to be curious. 
ANon. 
“ The Ascension,” an Oratorio, §c.—Is any- 
thing known regarding the authors of the two 
following works, the music of which was composed 
by Mr. Hook, the father of Theodore Hook ? 
1. The Ascension, an oratorio, 1776. 2. An 
Opera, containing thirty-six airs, said to be 
written by a Miss Williams of Norwich. KR. J. 
1500 Winebibbers starved to Death after a 
Drinking Bout ! !! — Mr. Quinton,—in his clever 
little work on the apparently successful process of 
[* A selection of these Letters (for the year 1675) were 
published in a quarto volume in 1770; but the editor has 
not stated where the originals are preserved, or by whom 
communicated. } 
the painless extraction of teeth by the anesthetic 
application of cold to the portions of gum imme- 
diately proximate to them, — when speaking of 
the effect of extreme cold on the human frame, 
has the following extraordinary statement : 
“We are told, that at a féte given once at St. Peters- 
burgh by a farmer-general of distilled spirits, fifteen 
hundred persons who committed excess in spirituous 
drink, perished miserably from cold in the squares and 
streets of that capital.” 
I shall be glad if Mr. Quinton, or any one else, 
will kindly tell me the authority for this story, 
the date of which, it will be observed, is not 
given. Henry Kensineton. 
Dr. Franklin. — When and where did William 
Temple Franklin die, and at what age? He was 
Dr. Franklin’s grandson, and published the Me- 
moirs of his Life and Writings, in 6 vols., in 1818. 
Did he leave any posterity? Any particulars 
relative to the descendants of Benjamin Franklin 
would be interesting. J. 
“ Moral Plays,” by a Lady. — There was a yo- 
lume of Moral Plays published in 1832, by a 
Lady. Can you inform me who was the author ? 
I think the preface is signed “ H. St. A. K.” 
R. J. 
Melrose Abbey.—Can any of your Scottish 
readers inform me if the design was ever enter- 
tained of restoring the Abbey of Melrose, and if 
an estimate was made and published of the pro- 
bable cost ? 
A vats Visitor to Metrosz ABBry. 
Our National Spiders. — For the purposes of 
measurement the old astronomers were accus- 
tomed to use six or eight wires, which crossed the 
tube of the telescope. This was all very well 
when the science of astronomy was not so far ad- 
vanced as it is now; but in the present day, when 
we are discovering new orbs at the rate of about 
a planet a week, a much finer material than wire 
is required for the exquisitely accurate observa- 
tions which are now so indispensable. In Gar- 
diner’s Music and Friends, 1853, there is a brief 
account of the Observatory at Greenwich, in the 
course of which I find the following statement : 
“ A superior breed of spiders is now kept in the institu- 
tion, whose daily labours contribute much to siderial as- 
tronomy by spinning a finer web than has hitherto been 
produced.” 
As I have never before heard of these spiders, 
and as no “item” for their breeding and feeding 
appears in the parliamentary estimates, I should 
be glad to know whether or not the above state- 
ment is correct. If it is, I think an account of 
our national spiders, and of the habits and ma- 
nagement of the “superior breed” we are so 
fortunate as to possess, would be generally inter- 
esting. Henry Kensineron. 
