182
NOTES AND QUERIES, [n s. XH. SEPT. 4, ms .
" HUNGARY WINE FOB CHEESEMONGERS."
In a letter written home by General
Francis Palmes, the British resident at the
Elector's Court, dated Dresden, 7 Dec.,
1718, the following passage occurs :
" I have tasted a great deal of Tockay here but none good except put of the ministers cellars, but I am informed it is all to be come att for mony in order to which I have taken some measures, but in the mean time expect every day two An tales from Poland of what I am told will be very good which as soon as Receaved if the Season permitts I shall forward to you and with it a couple of Antals off Hungary Wine of a moderate price good enough for most of the cheesemongers."
What is this allusion to cheesemongers ? An " antal " was a half -cask of Tockay.
L. L. K.
" SHAK," " SKAPE," "SCAPE." Can your contributors tell me the meaning and deriva- tion of this word, which occurs frequently in our baptismal register, together with any history of it to be noted in the transcrip- tion now being printed ?
Newington Butts. GEORGE W. WAINE.
SPONGE-PLANT. Is there a plant known by this name, and is it used as a substitute for, or as an imitation of, ginger?
R. B. POL.
WILLETT FAMILY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE. I am anxious to obtain information regarding the Willett family of Gloucestershire during the sixteenth and early part of the seventeenth centuries. One branch was settled in Broadwell, the Rev. Ralph Willett (died circa 1598) heading the pedigree in Hut- chins's ' Dorset,' vol. iii. p. 306. A nephew and namesake of his, whose parentage is unknown to me, lived at Cirencester, and died there in 1619, leaving descendants. There was a William Willett of Bristol (possibly the son of John Willett of Bristol, died 1606, and wife Alice), who married at St. Werburgh's on 23 Feb., 1608, Hester Mad- dox, and had several children baptized at the same church. Also a Richard Willett had a son Edward baptized at St. Werburgh's on 14 Oct., 1620.
There is reason to believe that all these branches had a common ancestor, possibly the father or grandfather of the Rev. Ralph Willett of Broadwell. I should be grateful for any clue which might help in establish- ing the exact relationship existing between these various members of the family, and also with the Barbados and Flushing, Long Island (U.S.A.), families.
E. HAVILAND HILLMAN, F.S.G.
4, Somers Place, Hyde Park, W.
'RACING FOR LAMBETH.' I should be
grateful if any of your readers could help
me to identify a small satirical print of pre-
sumably 1750-70 in date. It represents
Lambeth Palace and the Thames. ThL>re are
no other houses on the banks, only trees.
On the river are three bishops in canonicals
in canoes," racing for Lambeth." One is
much ahead of the other two ; the second
is looking round ; the third is very deter-
mined in aspect. Underneath them are,
written in pencil, Dr. P. (or ? C.), Dr. J.
(or ? G.), and Dr. W. If No. 1 is really C.
it might be Cornwallis, who became Arch-
bishop of Canterbury in 1768 (Stubbs's
- Registrum Sacrum,' p. 116). Dr. W. might,
I suppose, be Bishop Warburton, who was determined enough for anything, and was consecrated Bishop of Gloucester in 1760. A. H. CRUICKSHANK.
The College, Durham.
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION WANTED. (1) The Rev. Charles Towers, Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge Univ. 1753-7, and subsequently Rector of Ching- ford, Essex. I should be glad to learn the date and place of his death. (2) George Towers, son of the Rev. George Towers of Fordingbridge, Hants, matriculated at Oxford from Ch. Ch., 9 June, 1763, aged 18. Particulars of his career and the date of his death wanted. (3) Robert James Trouil- lart, son of the Rev. Peter Trouillart of France, matriculated at Oxford from Ch. Ch., 21 June, 1699, aged 18. Further particulars of his parentage and career, and also the date of his death, wanted. (4) Ralph Tmmbull, Vicar of Flore, Rut- landshire, 1671-6, is stated to have become Rector and Vicar of Witney, Oxfordshire. When and where did he die ? (5) John Tuer, Vicar of Elsenham, Essex, 1592. Particulars oi his parentage and the date of his death wanted. G. F. R. B.
THE CUCKOO IN FOLK-LORE. In ' A Bit o' Love,' by John Galsworthy, 1915, p. 42 (Duckworth & Co.). there is a reference to the cuckoo in connexion with matri- monial unfaithfulness. Is not this an error in a village drama ? Would a rough farmer speaking the broad dialect of a Western county regard the cuckoo from the point of view of people versed in European literature ? According to my experience, the bird is lucky in folk-lore. It is, like the swallow, the harbinger of sunlit, hopeful days which lead on to summer and harvest. So far as I know, it is a bird of good omen to
