386 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»-> S. IX. May 19. 'CO. 



Mrs. Dbgaed Stewart. — This lady, whose 

 maiden name was Jane Anne Cranston, was grand- 

 daughter of Lord Cranston, co. Roxburgh, and 

 sister of Lord Corehouse, an eminent judge at 

 Edinburgh. She was authoress of an exquisite 

 song commencing : — 



" The tears I shed must ever fall, 

 I mourn not for an absent swain." 



Of what other pieces was she the authoress, and 

 where are they to be found ? T. 



" The Death of Herod." — Is anything known 

 regarding the authorship of this tragedy, written 

 in imitation of Shakspeare, by a gentleman of 

 Hull. It is noticed in the Biographia Dramatica, 

 as having been written about 1785, and as being 

 still in MS. X. 



Fisch op Casteelaw, Berwickshire, 1720. — 

 Can anyone give me any particulars respecting 

 this family ? They possessed lands in Fifeshire 

 also. Were they a Fifeshire family ? 2. ©. 



Oeiphant. — Some derive this personal name 

 from the D. olifant,' an elephant ; but query, is 

 this the proper etymology, seeing that we have 

 the name Olivanl, the last syllable of which would 

 appear to be the same with that in Bullivant, Pil- 

 livant, Sturtevant, &c. ? R. S. Charnock. 



" The Triumph of Friendship." — In The 

 Oxford Miscellany, 8vo. 1752, there is an un- 

 finished Masque called " The Triumph of Friend- 

 ship," also two acts of a tragedy without a title. 

 Can you give me any information regarding the 

 subject, or dramatis })ersona, of these pieces ? Is 

 anything known regarding the authorship ? X. 



"Do you know Dr. Wright of Norwich ?" — 

 In New York, several years ago, I was at a wine- 

 party — all there were Englishmen. The bottles 

 were at my left hand, when a Cumberland gen- 

 tleman, in a loud voice, asked me if I knew Dr. 

 Wright of Norwich ? I said innocently, and as a 

 fact, — Yes, I knew a Dr. Wright of Norwich, and 

 that he stood high in his profession. This created 

 a laugh ; and I found the phrase was intended to 

 intimate that I was a bottle-stopper ! It seemed 

 to be well known among my English friends, and 

 to have been used, by drinking men, many years 

 before I heard it. Pray can any of your readers 

 tell how it originated ? E. 



New York. 



Dick Turpin. — Did this famous highwayman, 

 with great jack-boots, gold-lace coat, cocked hat, 

 and mounted on his bonny Black Bess, ever ride 

 from London to York in twelve hours ? Or, with- 

 out raising a question as to his costume*, or the 

 colour of his horse, did he perform the journey at 

 all? 



Popular editions of his Trial say he did — story- 

 books narrate, in a glowing manner, how the five- 



barred gate was cleared — all Lives of Highway- 

 men make a chapter of the story — old country- 

 men and red- faced village lads say he did — nine 

 out of ten schoolboys implicitly believe in the feat, 

 from the time Turpin left Highgate till he came 

 to York. And Mr. Harrison Ainsworth, in his 

 popular novel of Rookwood, has with infinite skill 

 narrated the complete circumstances of the famous 

 ride according to popular belief. 



But the late Lord Macaulay had no faith in the 

 story. He was dining one day at the Marquis of 

 Lansdowne's : the subject of Turpin's ride was 

 started, and the old story of the marvellous feat 

 as generally told was alluded to, when Macaulay 

 astonished the company by assuring them that the 

 entire tale from beginning'to end was false ; that 

 it was founded on a tradition at least three hundred 

 years old; that, like the same anecdote fathered 

 on different men in succeeding generations, it was 

 only told of Turpin because he succeeded the 

 original hero in the public taste ; and that if any 

 of the company chose to go with him to his li- 

 brary, he would prove to them the truth of what 

 he had stated in " black and white " — a favourite 

 phrase with Lord Macaulay. 



Might I ask if the old book is known which 

 gives the original of Turpin's ride ? And if so, 

 what is its title ? John Camden Hotten. 



Piccadilly. 



Eynsham Cross. — Wanted some account of 

 Eynsham Cross, Oxon. ? Brayley gives a draw- 

 ing of the cross, but no description of it. 



W. II. Overaee. 



Polwhele's "Devon," etc. — 1. Were the re- 

 maining volumes of Polwhele's Historical Views 

 of Devonshire written, as Vol. I. was all that was 

 published in 1793 ? If so, in whose possession 

 are they ? 



2. Has the Domesday Book, as far as relates to 

 Devonshire, or the Exeter Domesday Book, ever 

 been translated and published ? If so, where can 

 they be seen ? G. P. P. 



The Judas Tree. — At the present moment, 

 when our own beautiful almond tree is covered 

 with its robe of pink blossoms, I am induced to 

 ask a question concerning that which may be said 

 to be, in some sort, its representative in the par- 

 terres of Southern Europe. I allude to the so- 

 called Judas tree (Cercis siliquastrum), which 

 almost every person who happens to have visited 

 France or Italy in the earlier part of the year 

 must have noticed and admired : it is not un- 

 known to our nurserymen, nor in old gardens, 

 but does it ever, or otherwise than very rarely, 

 bloom in this country ? I never saw it in flower ; 

 and a gentleman has just told me that of -four 

 which he brought from Paris only one put forth 

 a few abortive blossoms in the first year of its 

 foliation in England, but never afterwards. Will 



