222 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»« S. IX. Mar. 24. '60. 



have belonged to Francis Gwyn, who was Under-secre- 

 tary of State from 1G80 to 1682. They now form the 

 Add. MSS. 1G.370 and 10,371." 



Sir F. Madden adds : — 



" Before I conclude I must add that a miniature por- 

 trait in oil of Sir Bernard de Gomme is prefixed to a col- 

 lection of plans (executed probably for him) illustrating 

 the campaign of the Prince of Orange between 1625 and 

 1645, preserved in George lll.'s library, No. en. 21." 



It would be interesting to the writer of the 

 foregoing Note to be informed whether any men- 

 tion is made of Sir Bernard de Gomme in any 

 other of the English writers of the period in which 

 he flourished ; and also whether he is buried in 

 the chapel of St. Peter ad vinculo, in the Tower, 

 or what other place there ; and if any tombstone 

 or monument is erected to his memory. 



He had a daughter, who married John Riches, 

 Esq., a native of Amsterdam, who was naturalised 

 by act of parliament 19 George II., and was living 

 in Surrey in 1692. They had a daughter, "Cathe- 

 rine," who married William. Bovey, Esq., of Flax- 

 ley, in Gloucestershire. Mrs. Catherine Bovey 

 survived her husband many years, and was a 

 lady celebrated not only for her beauty, but for 

 her piety, and deeds of active benevolence also. 

 She appears in Ballard's Memoirs of Celebrated 

 British Ladies ; and to her Steele dedicated the 

 second volume of The Lady's Library. She is 

 also supposed to be the widow to whom Sir Roger 

 de Coverley, in the Spectator, paid his addresses 

 in vain. She died, without issue, in 1726, and 

 has a monument in Westminster Abbey, erected 

 to her memory by Mrs. Mary Pope, her execu- 

 trix, who had been her confidential friend for a 

 period of forty years.* D. W. S. 



Punning and Pocket-picking. — Four years 

 ago I transcribed from the Public Advertiser of 

 January 12, 1779, an anecdote which imputed the 

 origin of the saying that " the man who can make 

 a pun will not hesitate to pick a pocket" to John 

 Dennis, the dramatist and critic — the occasion 

 being a conversation between Congreve and 

 Henry Purcell, and the latter the punster who 

 raised the critic's ire. The anecdote and a Query 

 if there was any " better authority for attributing 

 the phrase to Dennis? " you did me the favour to 

 insert in "N. & Q." 2" d S. i. 253. I was aware 

 that the expression had sometimes been fathered 

 upon Dr. Johnson, but unable to find any refer- 

 ence whatever to where and when he had used it. 



Recently I met with a foot-note appended to 

 an article in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1781, 

 which also assigns the idea to Dennis, but on a 



[* An interesting account of Sir Roger de Coverley's 

 " Perverse Widow," Mrs. Catherine Boevey, will be found 

 in H. G. Nicholls's Forest of Dean, pp. 185—188. ; see 

 also YVills's Sir Roger de Coverley, p. 122. — Ed.] 



different occasion. The note is as follows, and, it 

 will be observed, bears the impress of Editorial 

 authority : — 



" This reminds us of a pun of Garth to Rowe, who 

 making repeated use of his snuft'-box, the Doctor at last 

 sent, it to him with the two Greek letters written on the 

 lid *P (Phi Ro). At this the sour Dennis was so pro- 

 voked as to declare that ' a man who could make so vile 

 a pun would not scruple to pick a pocket.' — Edit." — 

 Gent's Magazine, vol. li. p. 324. 



Thus it will be seen that in two special in- 

 stances the phrase is set down at the door of 

 Dennis, and (here I am content to let it remain, 

 Mr. Planche to the contrary notwithstanding. 

 This admirable writer in his witty prologue to the 

 Forty Thieves — the joint-stock burlesque enacted 

 on; t lie 7th inst. by the members of the Savage 

 Club at the Lyceum Theatre — again places the 

 saddle on Dr. Johnson's back : — 



" Atrocious punsters ! villainous jest breakers ! 

 We laugh the dull old Dictionary maker's 

 Abuse to scorn. Admit the fact and mock it. 

 The men who made these puns would pick your 



pocket, 

 And don't mind getting two months with hard 



labour 

 Like this again, to help a needv neighbour." 



Daily Telegraph, March 8. 1860. 



Perhaps you will now permit me to vary my 

 former Query by asking if there is any authority 

 for attributing the phrase in question to the 

 " dull old Dictionary maker? " 



Robert S. Salmon. 



Newcastle-on-Tyne. 



Saint E-tiian or Y-than. There is a well 

 in the neighbourhood of Burghead, in the north 

 of Scotland, bearing this name. I should be glad 

 if any of your correspondents who are read in 

 saint lore could oblige me with some information 

 regarding its patron. A small chapel had at one 

 time stood on the adjoining promontory, but no 

 notice of it is to be found in the records of the 

 ancient diocese, which extend as far back as the 

 thirteenth century. It is possible that this well 

 may have preserved to our times the name of the 

 first apostle of Christianity in the district ; and 

 one is curious to know if any other traces of him 

 can be recovered. I have written the word as it 

 is pronounced by the natives of the place ; but 

 the proper orthography may be very different. 



James Macdonald. 

 Elgin. 



Early Communion in Ripon Cathedral. — 

 The following information about a custom pre- 

 vailing at Ripon Cathedral, which I have received 

 from a friend, seems to me worthy of a place 

 amongst your Short Notes : — 



" On Easter Day the Holy Communion is administered 

 thrice, at 5 a.m., at 7 a.m., and after the usual morning 

 service. Ripon Cathedral is the parish church of a parish 

 18 or 20 miles long ; and the three Communions on Easter 



