10 s. vii. JUNE s, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
449
I have searched in vain under various
spellings in a variety of dictionaries. Can
any reader of ' N. & Q.' help me to the word ?
I expect to find that it is some more or less
agreeable variety of the rope's-end, and
probably the recipients could have told us
all about it for some little time afterwards.
Shipboard justice in old days was pretty
severe, not to say brutal. As tracts bound
in a volume are apt to be submerged when
the volume is returned to its shelf, let me
attach a buoy to this. It is " 4. A. 1 Voyages
and Travels " in the Inner Temple Library,
at present under 57*. DOUGLAS OWEN.
Savile Club.
[To keelhaul is fully explained in the 'N.E.D., the first quotation being from the above passage. Cobkey is also explained, the first quotation being dated 1582. Minbirtli is the last word issued by Dr. Bradley, so perhaps readers of ' N. & Q.' can supply information as to morryoune that may be useful for the Dictionary.]
BUTCHERS EXEMPTED FROM JURIES. In the Second Prologue to ' Secret Love ; or, the Maiden Queen/ Dry den writes :
No Critick's Verdict should, of right, stand good,
They are excepted all as Men of Blood :
And the same Law shall shield him from their
Fury,
Which has excluded Butchers from a Jury. I should be glad to learn something of this law. When, and why, was it passed ? Is it still in force ? T. M. W.
SIR THOMAS LUCY. Can any of your readers give me a reference to a recent article in a magazine going to prove that Sir Thomas Lucy was not the original of Justice Shallow in ' The Merry Wives of Windsor ' ? G. S.
ABBOTS OF CROKESDEN. In the Collec- tanea Topographica et Genealogica, vol. ii. (1835), pp. 298-9, are extracts from the annals of Crokesden Abbey, co. Stafford :
"MCCXLII. Partem reliquam D'n's Henricus de Meisham, Abbas domus vii us , sufficienter consum- mavit."
" MCOLXXIV. Successit autem ei in regimine Cenobii, die beatse Lucise sequenti, D'n's Henricus de Moysam."
" MCCLXXXIV. D'n's H. de Moysam, Abbas yii us hujus domus, exoneravit se a cura pastorali, et cessit oneri, propter impotenciam sui, die Sancti Barnabe apostoli."
"Under Abbat Henr de Meisam [1274-1284]." P. 309.
Is it possible to find out whence these abbots came ? There was a Harry de Meysham, of Ewloe, near Hawarden, in I Flintshire, in 1268 ; a Richard de Meysham j in 1333 ; and several others down to 1475 and on ^ o f^ent times. Can these abbots j
of Crokesden Abbey be identified as being
connected with the De Meyshams of Ewloe ?
ARTHUR MESHAM.
Pontruffydd Trefnant K.S.O., N. Wales.
" LYING BISHOP." This name is given to a milestone between Clitheroe and Lancaster. The stone gives the distance to Lancaster as 16 miles ; to Preston 10 miles. But an iron rod rising from the centre of the stone states the distance to Lancaster to be 23 miles ; to Preston 15 miles. I have been told that a milestone is said to be " bishoped " if corrected in this manner. Can any reader give a satisfactory explana- tion of the name ? In the ' N.E.D.' " to bishop " seems to be applied only to horses. The Stonyhurst Magazine, unable to explain the name, has discovered " a hierarchy of such bishops " in the neighbourhood of the College. J. W. BROWN.
BAFFO'S POEMS. I have a copy of the poems of Baffo, 1771. The book is thus described by Bonneau in ' Curiosa ' :
"Le poesie di Giorgio Baffo, Patriziq, Veneto, 1771, in 8, petit volume d'une rarete insigne, dont on ne connait a 1'heure qu'il est qu'un on deux ex- emplaires. II en figure un, sous le no. 2971, dans
le Catalogue Libri et nous aviqns la^ bonne
fortune d'en posseder un autre, celui-la meme qui appartint a Lord Pembroke," &c. Is this book so rare? I should be glad to know, as a copv has come into my possession.
D.-C. L. O.
BURTON'S ' SCENTED GARDEN.' In the late Lady Burton's ' Life ' of her husband there is a defence by her of her action in destroying the MS. of ' The Scented Garden,' on which her husband was engaged, she states, up to the time of his death. Lady Burton also says that the MS. was unfinished, and that there is no authentic copy in existence. Now, in the list of works by Burton appended to the life of Burton published by his niece, there appears ' The Scented Garden.'
Was the book referred to ever published ? and what is the explanation of the above apparent contradiction ? If published, is the work obtainable ? R-
Kadina, South Australia.
[A French translation (1886) and an English ersion of it were privately printed, we believe, n the same year, but we do not know if they are 3omplete or authentic.]
BISHOP JOHN BEST, OF CARLISLE. The following is an extract from the parish registers of Bilston, co. Stafford :
" 1765, May 9th, on this day died at Bilston of a dead Palsy, with which she was struck the pre-
