2'>-« S. VI. 156., Dec. 23. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES, 



529 



18th June, 1815, half-past seven o'clock p.m.," and was 

 purchased at the Exhibition by the Duke, who passed 

 this criticism on it : " Good — very good ; not too much 

 smoke." Sir William painted two Waterloo pieces. In 

 the Duke's picture (which was the first), Mapoleon is in 

 the foreground ; in the second picture, it is the Duke. For 

 particulars respecting the life and works of Sir W. Allan, 

 vide AthencBum for 1850, pp. 240, 241, and the Art- Jour- 

 nal fov 1849, pp. 108,109.] 



David Humphreys, D.D. — Is anythino; known 

 of David Humphreys, D.D., who in 1730 pub- 

 lished An Historical Account of the Society for the 

 Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and 

 who lield at that time the office of Secretary to 

 that Society. Alfred T. Lee. 



[Dr. David Huraphre3'S held the office of Secretary to 

 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel from 1716 

 to 1739. He was Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, 

 and preferred to the Vicarage of "Ware, Herts, Jan. 6, 

 1730. He is best known as the author of An Historical 

 Account of the Society down to the year 1728. He died 

 in 1739 or 1740, and by his will left a legacy of 300/. to 

 the Society. Hawkins's Missions of the Church of England, 

 p. 434.] 



Burns' Mother. — When and where did she die, 

 and where was she buried ? I have read almost 

 all the lives of her immortal son, but none of them 

 mention this matter. Coila. 



[The mother of P.obert Burns lived in the household of 

 her other son Gilbert Burns at Grant's Braes, near Lething- 

 ton, till 1820, when she died at the age of eighty-eight, 

 and was buried in the churchyard of Bolton.] 



Wreck of the " Lutine." — In the Committee Room 

 of Lloyd's there are at the present momenta ship's 

 bell, an old musket, and other articles recently re- 

 covered by divers from the wreck of the English 

 frigate "Lutine," which is said to have foundered 

 near Harwich in the year 1790 [1799]. It is said 

 that the frigate was bound from Harwich to Am- 

 sterdam, and that, besides a large amount of trea- 

 sure, she had on board a number of distinguished 

 persons, all of whom, with her unfortunate crew, 

 perished. Can you give me any particulars relating 

 to this loss ? The recent recovery of 20,000/. worth 

 of the treasure and other articles, after a lapse of 

 nearly seventy years, imparts an interest which 

 farther accounts (no doubt known to some of your 

 readers) cannot fail to satisfy. 



Akthuk J. Dumas. 



[The "Lutine" sailed from Yarmouth Roads on Oct. 

 9, 1799, with several passengers, and an immense quan- 

 tity of treasure, for the Texel. During the same night a 

 strong lee-tide rendered every effort of Capt. Skynner to 

 avoid the threatened danger unavailable. When the 

 dawn broke, the " Lutine" was not to be seen: she had 

 gone to pieces, and all on board had perished, except two 

 men who were picked up. In the annals of our national 

 history, there has scarcely ever happened a loss attended 

 with 80 much calamity, both of a public as well as private 

 nature. The return from the bullion office made the 

 whole amount to fiOO.OOO dollars, about 140,000/. sterling, 

 in specie, on board the " Lutine," which had been shipped 

 by individual merchants for the relief of different commer- 

 cial houses in Hamburg.] 



Tyburn Ticket. — Oblige a constant reader by 

 giving the origin and use of what many years 

 since was called a Tyburn Ticket. S. J. M. 



[The Tyburn ticket was a certificate given to the pro- 

 secutor on the capital conviction of a criminal, by virtue 

 of the Act 10 & 11 Will. IlL c. 23. s. 2., which exempted 

 the prosecutor " from all manner of parish and ward oflS- 

 ces within the parish wherein such felony was com- 

 mitted ; which certificate shall be enrolled with the clerk 

 of the peace of the county, on payment of Is. and no 

 more." This Act was repealed by oSJjeo. III. c. 70., 

 passed 3rd June, 1818. Mr. George PhiUips, late of Char- 

 lotte Street, Bloomsbury, and now residing in Kingsgate 

 Street, Theobald's Road, was the last individual who re- 

 ceived the Tyburn ticket for a burglarj' committed by two 

 housebreakers on his premises. This ticket was purchased 

 of Mr. Phillips by the late Mr. Pfeil of Holborn.] 



PALM SUNDAY IN ROME, 

 (a"* S. vi. 347.) 



The so-called palms blessed and distributed in 

 the papal chapel, in all the basilican, and very 

 many of the other churches at Rome, are fronds 

 of the real date-bearing palm-phoenix dactylifera ; 

 in some of the smaller churches, however, of that 

 city, as well as in those of other places, short twigs 

 of the olive tree, whei'ever they may be had, are 

 used for the purpose, the rubric in the Roman 

 Missal saying : " Sacerdos .... procedit ad bene- 

 dicendum ramos palmarum et olivarum sive ali- 

 arum arborum," &c. ; and in one of the prayers of 

 the blessing, an especial mention is thus made of 

 the olive : " Hanc creaturam olivse quam ex ligni 

 materia prodire jussisti, quamque coluraba rediens 

 ad arcam proprio pertulit ore," &c. Never do I 

 recollect having seen the catkin-bearing boughs 

 of the willow employed anywhere in Italy for that 

 purpose ; nor do I ever remember witnessing the 

 people of Rome carrying about with them their 

 palms on Palm- Sunday. They do no more than 

 take them home in their hands from church. 



Though several palm-trees might be reckoned 

 up growing in and immediately about Rome, they 

 would not be sufficient to supply the hundredth 

 part of the palms wanted ; and A. A. (p. 347. 

 ante) is under a mistake. The privilege of sup- 

 plying Rome with palms belongs, not to a Roman, 

 but a Piedmontese family named Bresca, living 

 in the little sea-port town of San Remo, which 

 lies not far east of Nice. The way in which the 

 Bresca family got this favour conferred upon 

 them is curious. In 1586 that stirring and ener- 

 getic pontiff Sixtus V. raised, in .front of St. Pe- 

 ter's, the tallest obelisk in Europe. As the 

 weight of this unbroken shaft of red granite, 

 brought from Egypt by Caligola, is very great 

 (992,789 lbs.), the operation was one of difficulty, 

 nay danger. To hinder, as far as might be, all 

 chance of harm on the occasion, through hub- 



