208
NOTES AND QUERIES. [iis.xii.SErT. n,
- Breviaiium ad usum Sarum,' Procter and Words-
worth, Cambridge, 1882, vol. ii. pp. 229, 230.
Julian's ' Dictionary of Hymnology,' London, 1892, p. 721.
Procter and Frere's ' History of the Prayer Book,' London, 1902, p. 637.
Bishop Coverdale's ' Remains ' (Ghostly Psalms, &c.), Parker Society, 1846, pp. 554, 555.
JAS. M. J. FLETCHER.
The Vicarage, Wimborne Minster.
ROSES AS CAUSE OF COLDS AND SNEEZING (11 S. xi. 280, 369, 461 ; xii. 147). MB. FREE- MAN says, "It is true that in some parts of the world a disease like hay fever is produced by flowers." According to my experience, it is produced in England. The pollen from a bunch of the wild Chrysanthemum leucanthemum will give me pollen catarrh. So does the pollen of the Chrysanthemum indicum of China and Japan, grown in greenhouses in the autumn and early winter. Some years ago in late autumn I had a decided attack of catarrh, because I sat in a room containing a vase nearly filled with single flowers of this species. The pollen of primroses and of some other blossoms which appear when hay is not in flower affects me slightly.
A friend of mine who suffers severely from hay fever is subject to less serious attacks from the action of various kinds of pollen both before and after the hay season, while another friend who is also subject to the disease feels the effect of grass pollen only.
Quite lately a near neighbour of mine met an American lady who had come from one of ths Southern States of the Union to avoid the rose season. This lady found the roses used to decorate the dinner-tables of British hotels very trying. M. P.
THE COSMOPOLITAN CLUB (11 S. xii. 160). The following is from ' London Clubs,' by Ralph Nevill (1911), pp. 267-8 :
" Another club which was once the resort of many clever and distinguished men was the Cosmopolitan, in Charles Street, Berkeley Square. This ceased to exist not very many years ago. The house in which it held its meetings had *oeen pulled down, and though the Cosmopolitan migrated to the Alpine Club, it did not long survive the change. Its meetings were held twice a week, in the even- ing, no meals whatever being served, though light refreshments were supplied. The house in Charles Street had previously contained the studio of Watts the painter, and a great feature of the club- room was a very large picture representing a scene from the ' Decameron,' which had been painted by that artist. This is now in the Tate Gallery. When the Cosmopolitan was dissolved, a certain sum of money remained, and this, on the sugges- tion of a former leading member, is gradually being spent in dinners at which former members from time to time foregather."
G. L. APPERSON.
BOOKWORMS (11 S. xii. 138, 185). The
following is an extract from ' The Directory
of Second-hand Booksellers and List of Public
Libraries, British and Foreign,' edited by
James Clegg (Rochdale, London, &c., 1891),
p. 301 :
"PRESERVING BOOKS FROM INSECTS. To destroy insect pests powder the shelves, and, if necessary, the bindings and books themselves, with rinely- powdered burnt alum and pepper. The ' Insect Destroying Powder,' sold as such, would answer the same purpose. To prevent their ravages it is held good to wipe the shelves, and even the books also (two or three times a year), with a cloth steeped in a solution of alum, and after- wards dried ; or with a flannel in which some white birch bark has been kept. Birch bark con- tains a powerful essential oil, the smell of which is highly obnoxious to insects, hence the above ; hence also the recommendation to have some books on your shelves bound in ' Russia ' ( Russian leather is tanned with biroh bark), or to lay scraps of this leather on the shelves behind the books."
I have myself no experience of these bookworm remedies, but one may suppose that Mr. Clegg, printer, publisher, and second-hand bookseller, would not have given them unless they were useful. As to insect - destroying pow r der, having used a great deal abroad and sometimes in England, I recommend Keating' s. Many years ago, in a room overrun with ants, I tried Keating' s and some othe: powder greatly praised by a certain London druggist. I put some ants into each box. In the Keating box they were helpless ; from the other they crawled out easily.
Scraps of Russia leather for use amongst clothes, &c., can be bought, e.g., from Messrs. Berry & Roberts, bookbinders' material dealers, 53, Great Queen Street, W.C. ROBERT PIERPOINT.
DR. BUSBY: ROBERTS (11 S. xii. 140).
In ' The Royal Kalendar for the Year
1809,' p. 256, under .'Clerk of the Pells' (Exchequer Office), are
Dep. & Clerk's Assistants, W. H. Roberts, esq, F.LS., and Thomas Packer, esq.
Clk. of Exitus, C. Roberts, esq.
Clk. -Assist., W. H. Roberts, esq.
Sub nom. ' Old Annuity Pells Office,' Alexander Roberts, Esq., is one of three clerks under a 'Chief Clerk.
Excluding the Hon. Henry Addington, Clerk of the Pells, the name of Roberts holds four places out of eleven, though it does not appear in any other office of the Exchequer.
If the date fits, it is not unlikely that W. H. Roberts, F.L.S., is the Roberts men- tioned in the query.
ROBERT PIERPOINT.
