374
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. XL MAY s, im
At Poulton le Fylde in 1611 it was presented
that various persons had been " married by
popish priests."
In 1707 and 1710 several marriages are entered in the Ribchester registers as having been solemnized " per Romish priest " or
- ' per papist priest."
The ' Diary ' of Nicholas Blundell of Little Crosby gives the following entries as to his marriage in 1703 :
"Juno 16th. Lady Dowager Webb acquainted me the marriage was to be the day following.
"June 17th. I was married to Lord Langdale's daughter by Mr. Sloughter, a clergyman.
"June 21st. I went with Sir John Webb to Parson Burcher's and gave him half a guinea as marriage dues."
William Bourcher became Rector of Hath- crop in Gloucestershire in 1686, as appears from Foster's ' Alumni.'
A century ago it was usual for Catholics to be married by a priest and in the parish church as well the latter to secure the legal registration. Examples will be found in the marriage advertisements in the news- papers. The double ceremony was probably a consequence of the Marriage Act of 1753.
J. B.
FIRST OF MARCH : SWEEP " FLEES " AWAY (10 S. xi. 226, 277). I ought to have added to my note that this saying is in connexion with " spring cleaning," and the sweeping of " flees " away means to clear out the dead flies which, with dust, are found at the back of pictures and in holes and corners. A very large number of people say " flees " when they mean flies. Then, again, it is said that fleas begin to be troublesome after March has set in, which bears out the saying of MB. JOHN B. TWYCROSS'S grandmother. THOS. RATCLIFFE.
Worksop.
There was no trouble to find flies here in March this year. "We then swept them up by the hundred every day in the brick court at the back of my house ; being in a semi- dormant state they were easily swept together and destroyed. We very seldom see one there now. JOHN T. PAGE.
Long Itchington, Warwickshire.
MECHANICAL ROAD CARRIAGES (10 S. xi. 305). The term " triumphant," as applied to the modern motor-car, appears to me to be somewhat inappropriate, for the auto- mobile has not yet altogether beaten the railway train.
During the eighteenth century there appears to have been several attempts to construct an automatic road vehicle. The
Public Advertiser of Wednesday, 16 May,
1759, contains the following paragraph :
" Mr. Ladd's Patent four-wheel carriage that goes without horses, and will carry four or hve persons at the rate of six miles an hour, is at Mr. Cock's Great Room, Spring Gardens. It is on solid mechanical principles."
The Gentleman's Magazine, xxxix. 369 (August, 1769), contains a description, with an illustration, of "a machine to go without horses, which was mentioned by the professor of Trinity College, Dublin, in the course of his lectures about three years ago." It appears to have been a species of bicycle.
Early in the nineteenth century we come upon the following account in The St. James's Chronicle, 13-16 April, 1805 :
"H. Young, executed at Worcester a few days ago for forgery, was the person who invented a machine to go without horses, and worked himself from London to Hales, Devon.
Hitherto the motor chronicler, who, to say the least, is very perfunctory in his historical methods, seems to have overlooked Mr. Ladd's patent four-wheel carriage entirely. HORACE BLEACKLEY.
SEVENTH LIGHT DRAGOONS (10 S. xi. 310). The movements of the regiment during the period 1790-1810 were Hounslow, 1789- 1790 ; to Lewes in June, 1790 ; to Brighton in April, 1791 ; to Canterbury in June, 1791 ; and in the summei of 1792 to Nottingham. Served in campaign in Flanders in 1793-5, including the actions of Lannoy, Fremont, Cateau, Tournay, Roubaix and Mouvaix, second battle of Tournay, Breda, Nimeguen, and the retreat through Holland to Germany. Returned to England Nov., 1795. En- camped near Windsor in 1799. Campaign in Holland, 1799 ; embarked in September at Ramsgate, battle of Bergen and Egmont- op-Zee, and actions of Beverwyck and Wyck-op-Zee ; returned to England Dec., 1799. 1799-1800, Canterbury ; 1801, Read- ing, Oxfordshire, and Wiltshire ; 1802-8, Ipswich and Norwich ; 1808-9, Peninsular War, including actions at Sahagun, Carrion, and Benevente, and the retreat to Corunna, 1809, returned to England, quartered at Guildford and Weymouth. Embarked for Ireland May, 1810, where it remained until 1813. R. MACKENZIE HOLDEN, Col.
United Service Club, S.W.
See pp. 56-62 of ' Historical Records of the Seventh Dragoon Guards.'
A. RHODES.
[We have forwarded to MR. HOI-WORTHY the long account sent by MR. RHODES.]
