2n-i S. VI. Ml., Oct. 2. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



279 



Ghosl Story (2°* S. v. passim.') — The following, 

 evidently a true relation of a dream which had 

 presented itself to the narrator with the force of 

 reality, is entered in the pai-ish register of Gately, 

 Norfolk. The simple credulity of the worthy 

 vicar, which led him to insert a story wholly un- 

 connected with his parish, fur the edification of 

 those who would have occasion to refer to those an- 

 nals of mortality, is not the least amusing part of it. 

 "Dec. 12th, 170G. 



" I, Eobt. Withers, M.A., Vicar of Gately, do insert 

 here a story whicli I had from undoubted hands — -for I 

 have all the moral certainty of the tnith of it imaginable. 

 'Tis tlius : — 



" iMr. Grove went to see Jlr. Shaw on the second of 

 Aug. last. ' As they sat talking in the evening,' says Mr. 

 Shaw, 'on the 21st of the last month as I was smoking 

 a pipe and reading in my stud}- between eleven and 

 twelve at night, in comes Mr. Naylor (formerly Fellow of 

 St. John's College in Cnmb., but has been dead this four 

 years). When I saw hira I was not much affrighted ; I 

 asked him to sit down, w'' accordingly he did for about 

 two hours, and we talked tog^ I asked him how it fared 

 with hira.' ' Very well,' sa}'S he. ' Were any of our old 

 acquaintance with him.'' 'No' (at which I was much 

 concerned); 'but Sir. Orchard will be with me shortlj', 

 and j'ourself not long after.' 'As he was going away, I 

 asked him if he would not stay a little longer, but he re- 

 fused. I asked him if he would call again.' ' Xo ; he 

 had but three daj-s' leave of absence, and, he had other 

 business.' 



" Mr. Orchard d3"'d soon after; Mr. Shaw is now dead. 

 He was formerly Fellow of St. John's, an ingenious, good 

 man. I knew him (Shaw), but at his death he had a col- 

 lege living in Oxfordshire, where he saw the appari- 

 tion." 



G. A. C. 



Degrees o/LL.D., ^-c. ('i""" S. vi. 233.)— I beg 

 to refer your correspondent to a letter of my own 

 in Gent. Mag. for May, 1836, p. 498. Also to 

 flie Law Beview, vol. i. pp. 146. 345. ?;., and " N. 

 & Q.," P' S. iv. 191. 242. LL.D. 



Sir John Acton (2"* S. vi. 229.)— I wish to cor- ' 

 rect some inaccuracies in an anecdote relating to j 

 the Court of Najiles in a recent number. As to 

 the ariccdote itself, I know not how far it may be 

 true ; though I believe it to be not a bad description 

 of the said court at the time referred to. I would, | 

 however, beg to remark that the person referred 

 to as Sir Joseph Acton, was Sir John ; that his j 

 father was an Englishman, and his mother a j 

 Frenchwoman (thus having nothing Irish about ' 

 him) ; that he was father, not brother, to Cardinal 

 Acton ; and that he dieil, not in 1808, but in 

 1811. K. T. 



Winchester: Bicetre (2"'^ S. vi. 167.) — 

 " ("e chateau, bati au xiii<^ sifecle, sur I'em placement de 

 Lit Cruni/e aiix Queux, par Jean, eveque dc Winchester, 

 dont le nom altc're dans le langage puri.sien devint celui 



(le Vkestre ou JJiceatre," etc. Cf. M. Fdurnier's 



VarUUi's Jfistorli/iics el Lktirairi's, vol. vii. pp. 271, 272., 

 in .Iiinnct's liililhtk. FAzcnir. Cf. also llcgnier's works 

 {BM. Etzcvir.), p. 12^. 



GUSTAVE MaSSON. 



''P.M. A. C. F." (2"a S. i. 49. 110. 206. 247.) 

 — A friend of mine suggested to me that this ana- 

 gram must surely be a syllabic formation of ini- 

 tials from "PortsMouth And ChifFinch." And 

 this suits the circumstances, though not to the 

 letter : the Duchess of Portsmouth moved Ba- 

 rillon to speak to the Duke of York, and Chiffinch 

 smuggled the priest into the king's bedroom. 



The quotation of F. C. H. (p. 247.), taken as it 

 is from Huddleston's Memoirs, almost settles the 

 point. There is but one question upon it. If 

 Huddleston's biographer took his information 

 from the broadside which contains the initials, 

 then perhaps he is but a guesser like ourselves. 

 Who was he ? and when did he live ? Did the 

 writer of the broadside see the ambiguity, and 

 use it intentionally ? . A. De Morgan. 



The 3fass termed a " Song " (2"'' S. vi. 214.) — 

 Mr. Boys sa3's : "We still speak of siriging mass, 

 and to the service of the mass the term ' song ' 

 was particularly applied." As Mb. Bots puts 

 forth this assertion in such a confident manner, 

 may I ask him to be so good as to supply one from 

 the several authorities which I presume he must 

 have for assuring us that the term was so particu- 

 larly .applied ? True it is we speak of singing mass, 

 but much oftener of saying mass : the fact is, for 

 one mass that is sung, there are thousands said 

 daily throughout the Church. D. Rock. 



Bev. Mr. Wilson (2"'' S. vi. 233.) — See Hey- 

 Vin's Life of Laud, p. 290. ; Prynne's Canterhurie's 

 Doonie, Index, s. o., and especially pp. 149. 504- 

 506. ; Sir E. Br^'dges' Bestituta, vol. iii. p. 53. 



J. E. B. Mayor. 



St. John's College, Cambridge. 



" It is not worth an old Song!" (2"* S. vi. 148.) 

 — J. Y. asks what could have given rise to this 

 expression of contempt for any valueless article ? 

 and adds that " it seems peculiar to the English, 

 for the Scotch, Irish, and Welsh have a great es- 

 teem for old songs." I am persuaded that the 

 proverb originated in England from the excessive 

 abundance of old songs, and because, v.'hen new, 

 they were only sold for a penny. If we could 

 club together all the songs that were printed in 

 Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, before the last cen- 

 tury, there is great reason to doubt whether they 

 would equal a thousandth part of those published 

 in England within the same period. 



Wm. ClIAl'PELL. 



Topographical Desideratum (2"'' S. vi. 204.) — 

 Permit me to remark that there was published in 

 1796 a work of the most essential importance in 

 tlie elucidation of " Scottish History," which I 

 think may supply a part of what your correspon- 

 dent has been pleased to suggest. It is entitled : 



" Geographical Illustrations of Scottish History, con- 

 taining the Names of Place.-* mentioned in Chronicles, 

 Histories, Kecords, &c. ; with Corrections of the corrupted 



