82 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»a S. IX. Feb. 4. '60. 



social manners in her time which they occasionally 

 reveal. Among others he quotes a passage which 

 < shows that in those days (at least in such com- 

 pany as Miss Austen frequented) it was the cus- 

 tom for the ladies to proceed first to the dining- 

 room, the gentlemen following, instead of marching 

 in pairs, each gentleman with a lady, as now ; and 

 asks what other authority there is for this extinct 

 fashion ? 



Madame de Genlis says in her Memoirs that 

 such was the fashion in Parisian dinners in her 

 youth : — 



" Les femmes d'abord sortaient toutes du salon ; celles 

 qui e'taient le plus pres de la porte passaient les premieres. 

 . . . . Le maitre et la maitresse de la maison trouvaient 

 facilement le moyen, sans faire de scene, d'engager les 

 quatre femmes les plus distingue"es de l'assemble'e k se 

 mettre k cote" d'eux "... (that is, I suppose, each flanked 

 by a brace of ladies)—" Commune'ment cet arrangement, 

 ainsi que presque tous les autres, avait ele decide en par- 

 ticulier dans le salon." 



The authoress goes on to say that the modem 

 (or Noah's ark) fashion was confined to stiff pro-, 

 vincial dinners in her youth, and introduced in 

 good society at Paris, along with other vulgarities, 

 by the Revolution. Your correspondent would be 

 glad of any information respecting this curious 

 change of custom. There must be those alive who 

 can almost remember it for themselves, or at least 

 describe it from good traditional authority. 



Cl-DEVANT. 



Sir Eustace or Sir Estus Smith. — Any in- 

 formation concerning Sir Eustace or Sir Estus 

 Smith, who resided at Youghal, in Ireland, about 

 the year 1683, his family or descendants, would 

 confer a great favour. S — k. 



New York. 



Matthew Scrivener. — I shall be glad of 

 some information respecting Matthew Scrivener, 

 a divine of some eminence in the seventeenth cen- 

 tury. He wrote A Course of Divinity, or an In- 

 troduction to the Knowledge of the True Catholic 

 Religion', especially as professed by the Church of 

 England, in two parts ; the one containing the 

 Doctrine of Faith, the other the Form of Worship. 

 London, printed by Tho. Roycroft for Robert 

 Clavil in Little Britain, 1674. Is this book of any 

 value or rarity? Where was Scrivener edu- 

 cated ? and when did he die ? Did he write any 

 other books on divinity besides the above ? 



Alfred T. Lee. 



[Matthew Scrivener was a Fellow of St. Catharine 

 Hall, Cambridge, and vicar of Haselingtield in that 

 county. An indenture dated 1 June, 1695, recites, " That 

 Matthew Scrivener, by his will bearing date 4 March, 

 1687, did give unto the Master and Fellows of St. Ca- 

 tharine's Hall in Cambridge, and their successors, all 

 lands in Bruisyard or Cranford (Suffolk), or elsewhere 



adjacent, part of the rents and profits thereof to be em- 

 ployed for certain uses and purposes therein mentioned, 

 and the remainder of the rents to be expended about the 

 chapel of the said college or hall." One of these pur- 

 poses mentioned in his will was the augmentation of the 

 living of Bruisyard of 6/. 13s. 4rf. per annum (Addit. 

 MS. 5810., fol. 96 b. Brit. Mus., and Kennett's Case of 

 Impropriations, p. 281.). Besides the work noticed by our 

 correspondent this learned Divine wrote — 1. Apologia 

 pro S. Ecclesia: Patribus adversus Joannem Datla'um de usu 

 patrutn, 8fc. ; accedit apologia pro ecclesia Anglicana ad- 

 versus nuperum schisma. 4° Lond. 1672. 2. A Treatise 

 against Drunhennesse, with Two Sermons of St. Augustin. 

 12mo. Lond. 1685. 3. The Method and Means of a true 

 Spiritual Life, consisting of Three Parts, agreeable to 

 the True Ancient Way. 8vo. Lond. 1688.] 



King David's Mother. — Can any correspon- 

 dent kindly enlighten me? I have searched in 

 vain in Joscphus, and many of the commentators. 

 Some persons imagine that they have discovered 

 her in 2 Sam. xvii. 25, where Abigail is stated to 

 be the daughter of Nahash, and sister to Zeruiah. 

 Now these were undoubtedly the daughters of 

 Jesse, but St. Jerome (Hieron. Trad. Heb. in lib. 

 2. Reg. cap. 17.) distinctly states that Nahash and 

 Jesse were one and the same person. Abulensis 

 and Liranus confirm this, and, indeed, it is so ex- 

 plained in the margin of our own Bibles. There 

 is no other passage in the Bible that throws any 

 light upon the matter. I repeat it, if any corre- 

 spondent, skilled in Rabbinical lore, will answer 

 this Query he will confer a great favour upon me. 

 I can hardly think that the mother of so great a 

 monarch is utterly unknown. 



Since writing the above, I have referred to the 

 admirable index of the First Series of " N. & Q.," 

 and found that the question has already been 

 asked (vol. viii. p. 539.). It seems to have pro- 

 duced but one reply (vol. ix. p. 42.), and that 

 merely refers to 2 Sam. xvii. 25. The supposition 

 of Tremellius and Junius, as to Nahash being the 

 mother of David, appears to me to be completely 

 set aside by St. Jerome, who has not only stated 

 positively that Nahash and Jesse arc the same 

 person, but has explained the meaning of the 

 name (a serpent), and why Jesse was so called. 



C. 



Workington. 



[Our correspondent appears to have thoroughly inves- 

 tigated this question. We, also, have looked into it, 

 and have come to the conclusion that it cannot now 

 be decided. David occasionally makes mention of his 

 mother in the Book of Psalms ; and as he more than once 

 speaks of her as the Lord's " handmaid," we may con- 

 clude that at any rate she was a good and pious woman, 

 although her name cannot be found in Sacred Writ.] 



The Buteer of Burford Priory. — Can any 



one give me the title of a book, published many 

 years since, containing an anecdote related, I 

 think, by Mr. Edgeworth, of a butler in the ser- 

 vice of Mr. Lenthall of Burford Priory (a de- 

 scendant of the Speaker of that name), who, 

 having drawn a considerable lottery prize — some 



