480 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2n* S. VI. 164., Dec. U. '58. 



Sir Ch-istopher Minns, Knight, served as Cap- 

 tain in thf first Dutch war, and as Vice-Admiral, 

 June 4, 1666, when he was slain, gallantly lead- 

 in<r Prince Rupert's division. Camden, in his 

 Britannia (NurflT.), says, "at Cockthorpe, between 

 Cley and StiflTkey, were born the Admirals Sir 

 Cloudesley Shovel and Sir Christopher Minns." 

 Campbell, in his Lives of the British Admirals, 

 says, " Sir Christopher Minns was the son of an 

 honest shoemaker in London." In I. 1. 1499. 

 Add. MSS. Brit. Mus., among other " coats and 

 crests of Norfolk families," are the " bearings of Sir 

 Christopher Minns of Bintree, Norff.," as follows : 

 Or, a fesse party per pale indented gu. and erm. 

 between 6 cross-crosslets sab. Crest : a wild boar 

 passant sab. 



I am desirous of knowing whether Norfolk may 

 reckon Minns among her naval heroes, and shall 

 be glad of any farther information respecting him. 

 His portrait is at Greenwich Hospital, where it 

 was removed from Windsor by King George IV. 

 Bromley says there is a portrait of him, folio, ac- 

 cording to Hist, of Norfolk, 2 vols., drawn by 

 Bullfinch, and engraved by Dunkarton. I have 

 never seen this, and shall be glad to know where 

 I may meet with it.* G. R. W. 



BonnetCs Moat. — About half a mile to the east 

 of the Tivetshall Station, Norfolk, there is a moat 

 of some forty yards square, filled with water, and 

 about eight feet in depth. It is in a cultivated 

 field, and the space within the moat is covered 

 with trees and brushwood. It is called Bonnett's 

 Moat in the neighbourhood, but nothing appears 

 to be known of its origin. Can any of your readers 

 oblige me with its history ? F. 



Something to be said on both sides, — The fol- 

 lowing query is as exactly balanced as Moham- 

 med's coffin, or as Buridan's ass between the two 

 bundles of hay. If the whole of the northern 

 hemisphere were land, and the whole of the 

 southern hemisphere water, would the northern 

 hemisphere be an island, or the southern hemi- 

 sphere a lake ? A. De Moegan. 



Early Etching. — Would any of your readers 

 be so kind as to give me any information respect- 

 ing a fine old etching in my possession of an anti- 

 quated belle sitting before a mirror, and assisted 

 at her toilette by two female attendants, with the 

 following inscription? — 



" Het deugtsdem eel gesicht is boven al te prysen 

 Waer door de mensch bewoogen is syn god eer te be- 



wysen 

 Dues looft V schepper dan ea dient hem met ootmoet 

 Voor dit schoon eel gesicht en al het aersche goet." 



OB. 



[* Pppys, in his Diary, has several notices of Sir 

 Christopher Mings, as he spells the name. Under April 

 18, 1666, he speaks of having seen Lely's portrait of Sir 

 Christopher Mings at the painter's residence. — Ed.] 



Old China. — Is anything known of the origin 

 of the tall white female figures of Oriental porce- 

 lain so often seen keeping guard on the high man- 

 tel-pieces of old houses ? I find no notice of 

 them ill Marryat's work. He describes figures of 

 Fo or Bouddha and of Kuan-yin, but they are not 

 of this form. 



The dress of these figures very much resembles 

 a surplice worn over an alb, and confined at the 

 waist by a girdle, and over it again a short scal- 

 loped cope. The left hand bears what may be a 

 sceptre, a short rod with a floriated ornament at 

 the top of it. The hair is turned up, and divided 

 at the sides, rather in the style of the last century, 

 the tail being gathered into a coil behind. 



I have lately heard it said that the monsters 

 called kylins, so dear to our great-griindmothers, 

 are of European origin, and were introduced into 

 China from Madrid. Is it possible that thesie 

 gaunt figures also may be the debased imitations 

 of some European type, imported perhaps by 

 Jesuit missionaries? They certainly have a sort 

 of ecclesiastical air about them. 



I should also be glad to know what is the sup- 

 posed class of Oriental china to which are to be 

 assigned vases of a bright yellow porcelain, very 

 thick and heavy both as to paste and glaze. On 

 this yellow ground is a subject consisting of water, 

 at the edge of which grow large blue and red 

 flowers, and a tall flowering rush. Vebna. 



To the Members of the English and Scottish Uni- 

 versities. — I shall be very much obliged by copies 

 of the entries, on admittance to their colleges, of 

 the following gentlemen, all other modes of gain- 

 ing genealogical information touching them having 

 failed : — 



Richard Dixon, Bishop of Cork and Cloyne, 

 from 1570. 



Robert Dickson, Vicar of Birstall, W. R. of co. 

 York, from 1587. 



Joshua Dixon, Minister of Rivington, co. Lane, 

 in 1717. R. W. Dixon. 



Seaton-Carew, co. Durham. 



The Serio-Jocular Medley. — I have before me 

 some sheets of a work (in folio) bearing the above 

 title. It appears to have been published by Brice 

 of Exeter, the leading bookseller of the West of 

 England in the early part of the last century. 

 The contributions are addressed to him, and their 

 being dated from CoUumpton, Ufl'culme, &c., all 

 indicate a Devonshire origin. Some of the articles 

 against the Romanists, subscribed Irenteus, are 

 quite equal to the theological contributions to 

 periodicals of the present day, and must have been 

 much superior to those of the time [1735] in 

 which these were written. If any of your west 

 country contributors can furnish a notice of the 

 Serio-Joculur Medley I shall feel obliged. I may 

 observe that it appears to have been supplemental 



