2 nd S. IX. May 26. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



413 



Lord North. He appears to have succeeded 

 Bradshaw as Secretary to the Treasury under the 

 Duke of Grafton, and afterwards under Lord 

 North. In this capacity he had probably a good 

 deal to do with dispensing bribes and patronage. 

 He must have died young, as we find no mention 

 of him in succeeding years.* 



His name often occurs in verse as well as in 

 prose : — 



" I know the charm by Robinson employed, 

 How to the Treasury Jack his rats decoyed." 



Pol. Eclogues (Rose), I. leg. 

 " Search through each office for the basest tool 

 Reared in Jack Robinson's abandon'd school." 



The Li/urs (Fitzpatrick). 

 " No sooner said than I nnmber the flitting shades of 

 Jenky, for behold the potent spirit of the black-browed 

 Jacko. Tis the Ratten Robinson, who worketh the works 

 of darkness. 'Hither I come,' said Ratten. 'Like the 

 mole of the earth, deep caverns have been my resting- 

 place. The ground rats are my food.' " — Probationary 

 Odes (Maepherson). 



" The genius of Mr. Bradshaw inspires Mr. Robinson." 

 — Junius. 



I can nowhere find any trace of the anecdote 

 about the rats. 



As to the " Bell's Calvinist Mermaids," I con- 

 jecture these were some religious young ladies 

 who came to Buxton to bathe and distribute 

 tracts. " Bell," perhaps some person with whom 

 they lodged, or had dealings of some kind. 



Buxton reminds me of Mary Queen of Scots' 

 pretty apostrophe on leaving the place : 



" Buxtona, qure calidae celebrabere nomine lymphse, ' 

 Forte mihi posthac nop adeunda, vale ! " 



Adapted from Caesar's " Feltria," etc., Camden's 

 Britannia, Gough's edition. 

 I cannot tell what ancient is meant. W. D. 



Hereditary Alias (2 nd S. ix. 344.) —The in- 

 formation asked by F. S. C. M. will be found in 

 Mr. Kite's admirable work on The Wiltshire 

 Brasses, published a few days ago : a work which 

 contains thirty-two plates and twenty-one wood- 

 cuts, all by the author. He refers to the Heralds' 

 Visitation of Wiltshire in 1623 (Harl. MS., No. 

 1443.) for three instances of the hereditary alias; 

 these are in the pedigrees of the Wiltshire fami- 



[* John Robinson, Esq., was for many years M.P. for 

 Harwich. His active talents and skill in business re- 

 commended him to Lord North as a fit person for the 

 arduous office of Secretary to the Treasurj-, which he con- 

 tinued to hold till the termination of that noble Lord's 

 administration, when Mr. Robinson retired with a pen- 

 sion of 1000/. per annum. In 1777, lie had a lawsuit 

 with Henry Sampson Wuodfall for several liberties taken 

 with his character in the Public Advertiser. (Annual 

 Rtghter, xx. 101.) In 1788, Mr. Robinson was appointed 

 by Mr. Pitt to the lucrative office of Surveyor-General of 

 his Majesty's Woods and Forests, which he held till his 

 death, which took place on Dec. 23, 1802. Gent. Mag., 

 Dec. 1802, p. 1172.; Annual Register, xliv. 622.; Junius' 's 

 Letters (Bohn's edit.), i. 306. 350. 358. — Ed.] 



lies of Pytt alias Benett, whose descendant was 

 lately M.P. for Wilts ; Weare alias Browne, and 

 Richmond alias Webb, — this last containing the 

 marriage of William Richmond and Alice, daugh- 

 ter and heiress of Thomas Webb, immediately 

 before the alius begins. F. A. Carrington. 



A remarkable instance exists in Cumberland of 

 a family whose name is Oldcorn alias Robinson. 

 They have been so called for many generations ; 

 and not merely in common parlance, but so writ- 

 ten in wills and deeds. The tradition of its origin 

 is, that an ancestor of the family, a statesman, 

 hoarded his grain : and a scarcity happening, he 

 was the lucky holder of a large stock, and realised 

 so much by his old corn as to acquire the name, 

 and also considerable property. The property is 

 said to have been dissipated by a gambling de- 

 scendant, who fell a prey to sharpers by being 

 placed with his back to a looking-glass so ad- 

 justed as to enable a confederate to see his cards 

 in it. The name remained to the family, who to 

 this day write themselves Oldcorn alias Robinson. 



Carlisle. 



Witty Translations (2 nd S. ix. 116. 246. 332.) 

 — The following humorous renderings occur to 

 me as likely to please those classics who think 

 with Horace : 



" Nee verbum verbo curabis reddere fidu3 

 Interpres.". 



S. T. Coleridge says Charles Lamb translated 

 my motto, " Sermoni propriora," by " Properer 

 for a sermon /" 



Goldsmith's Essays : 



"Lilly's Grammar finely observes that './Es in pree- 

 senti perfectum format,' that is, ' Ready money makes a 

 perfect man!' " — Essay II. 



The writer of a Times leader, some years ago, 

 observed on " all London " thronging out of town 

 on the great race-day, that their cry, like that of 

 the Romans of old, was — " Panem et Circenses ! " 

 = A sandwich and the Derby. F. S. 



Discoloured Coins (2 nd S. ix. 363.) — Your 

 correspondent may restore the colour of his silver 

 coins by boiling them in a solution of carbonate 

 of potash in distilled water, — say two ounces of 

 the former to one pint of the latter. After boil- 

 ing for a few minutes the coins are to be wiped 

 dry with a new wash-leather. 



The cause of discolouration may be traced to 

 the white satin employed to line the case; white 

 satin is during its manufacture " sulphured," to 

 improve its whiteness, and it is this trace of sul- 

 phur on the satin which has discoloured the silver 

 coins. Wasli-lealher is the best material to line 

 the case. G. W. Septimus Piesse. 



Heraldic (2 nd S. ix. 179.) — Burke {Gen. Arm.) 

 assigns the arms given by H. to "Parker" (no 

 locality given). H. W. S. Taylor. 



