2° d S. IX. Ai>ril 7. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



267 



These are some of the golden streams that have refresht 

 and made glad the City of God. How -wonderfully hath 

 the Church flourisht under these Dews, the Pulpit and 

 the Press have been the two Breasts of the Spouse, or, as 

 the Hands of Sampson on the Pillars of the Kingdom of 

 Satan. 'Tis true these Breasts have been, and alwaies 

 are, molested with ill humours, and give Blood, nay 

 sometimes Poyson, instead of Milk. But we have that 

 Glass in our hands that will discover where the Poyson 

 lies. To the Law and to the Testimony," &c. 



G.N". 



I have before me a small volume entitled — 



,; A Covert from the Storm, or the Fearful 'encouraged 



in Times of Suffering. By Nathaniel Vincent, a Preacher 



and Prisoner of Jesus Christ. 1C71." 



The dedication is — 



" To Him that is Higher than the Highest, and will 

 shortly come to judge the world in righteousness. 

 Most Mighty Lord, &c. &c. &c. 



Thine Eternalb'.— N. Vincent." 



The author was the son of a pious minister 

 (John Vincent) ; he was admitted to the Uni- 

 versity of Oxford at eleven years of age : was 

 Master of Arts at eighteen, and was ordained and 

 fixed as rector at Langeley Marsh at twenty- one. 

 From this place he was ejected, and came to 

 London in the year after the Great Fire. He 

 preached to a numerous congregation at South- 

 wark for some time, but suffered great perse- 

 cution for the truth. He died 21 June, 1697, 

 and was interred in the burying-ground at Bun- 

 hill Fields. J. A. B. 



I have now before me a book published in 1654, 

 which is also dedicated "to God;" the title is as 

 follows : — 



" The Dividing of the Hooff, or seeming Contradictions 

 throughout Sacred Scriptures, distinguished, resolved, 

 and apply'd. — For the strengthening of the Faith of the 

 Feeble, Doubtful, and Weake, in wavering Times. By 

 William Streat, Master of Arts, Preacher of the Word, in 

 the County of Devon. 1654." 



W. H. Burns. 



Cato asks: "Are any instances known of a book 

 being dedicated to Almighty God ?" An affirma- 

 tive reply is given in the opening passage of The 

 Last Judgment, a poem from the pen of an anony- 

 mous author. W. G t. 



MEDAL FOR THE SIEGE OF GIBRALTAR, 



1779-1783. 



(2 nd S.ix. 176.) 



Only four gold medals were struck to commemo- 

 rate this memorable siege, which were awarded by 

 the king to Governor Eliott and the three Ger- 

 man generals who assisted in the defence. (Dods- 

 ley's An,,. Beg. 1 784-5, p. 236.) These were Re- 

 den, Lamotte, and Sydow. 



In this limited distribution an unjust prefer- 



ence was shown by George III. for his Hanoverian 

 generals, to the exclusion of the gallant Lieut. - 

 Governor Sir Robert Boyd, and the successful 

 chief engineer, Sir William Green, both of equal 

 rank, at least, to the favoured Germans. 



By General Eliott's letter in "N. & Q.," 2 nd S. 

 ix. 176., it is evident that silver medals only were 

 presented by him to the Hanoverian brigade, so 

 that the gold medal in the British Museum must, 

 I presume, be one of those given by the king to 

 the four generals. 



It is said by Major Heise, that " Lord Heath- 

 field, as a token of gratitude, appropriated his 

 prize-money towards casting medals in gold and 

 silver, which, with the king's permission, he caused 

 to be distributed to every officer and soldier who 

 had the honour to serve under him." ( United Service 

 Journal, 1842, ii. p. '238.) As the major does not 

 support himself by authority, I conceive he has 

 erred ; and I have good reason for saying so, 

 having unavailingly tried to verify his statement. 



LordHeathfield's share of prize-money was about 

 2000^., (seeDrinkwater's Siege of Gibraltar) ; but, 

 generous as the " Cock of the Rock " was known to 

 be, his only outlay for medals, as far as discovery at 

 present makes us aware of it, appears to have been 

 the sum of 500£., more or less, to do honour to the 

 Hanoverian contingent. And yet there is a stray 

 ray of light dimly showing up a gift (about which 

 there is no record) as co-extensive as the garrison 

 itself. 



A gentleman at Gibraltar named Francis has in 

 his possession a medal (one of a number said to be 

 cast from the copper taken from the junk-ships), 

 which had been given to his father, Antonio 

 Francia, a Portuguese, at that time a corporal in the 

 soldier-artificer company, now Royal Engineers. 

 As this Antonio Francia possessed no merit beyond 

 that attaching in an equal degree to his fellows, 

 and was not more conspicuous than they for those 

 soldierly qualities which mark men out for dis- 

 tinction, it is natural to conclude that a similar 

 honourable award was made to every defender of 

 the fortress. 



Of the junk-ship medal I have two drawings be- 

 fore me. In form it is unlike anything we have 

 ever seen given for military services. Its shape is 

 almost an oval (l^f inches by l*£g), with a pro- 

 jection at the top interrupting the line of curve, 

 in which is a rectangular opening for a ribbon to 

 pass through. The medal is about the thickness 

 of a penny, and bears on its edge (so I am in- 

 formed) the name of the corporal who received 

 it. On the obverse, across the field, is this inscrip- 

 tion — 



GIB CALF OBSESSA 

 msr. FRUSTKATA 



FAVENTE DEO 



ET 



TE DUCE 



O. AUG. ELIOTT 



rlt.EF. 



