12 S. VIII. MARCH 19, 1921.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 227 in the Liberal interest at the head of the poll for Glasgow on July 31. It is obvious that
- the ' ' presumptuous pedant ' ' resented the
personal attack ; and on Mar. 10, 1848, there was something in the nature of an alterca- tion between Disraeli and himself in the iHouse of Commons, in the course of a debate on the Income Tax. Disraeli started this by saying that he " should first notice the gentleman to whom I have already made an allusion, as it would seem he challenges me ito do so I mean the honourable gentleman the member for Glasgow." McGregor twice
- interrupted, but the speaker declined to be
.turned aside from a slashing attack on the one who " has actually formed the minds of Prime Ministers. He is confessedly and avowedly the author of the fatal measures of 1845 and 1846." And, as long as this par- ticular controversy was actively continued,
- he last was not heard of " Popkins's Plan."
ALFRED BOBBINS. LANCASHIRE SETTLERS IN AMERICA. In a Lancashire Chancery suit of 1668, evidence was given that Robert Vause and William .and Edward his sons were then living in New England. It is clear, from the case, that they had emigrated, their relatives (living at^Wavertree and Blackrod (Pal. of Lancaster Chancery Depositions, bundle 80). In a later case (1727) it was alleged that Oapt. Edward (son of John) Barrow had about twenty-eight years previously settled in Virginia and there married. He died, and his on Edward, unknown in England, claimed some estate in Allithwaite in Cart- mel. They had kinsmen at Whitehaven. Rappahannock and co. Richmond are named as places of settlement (ibid., ^bundles 158, 159). J. BROWNBILL. SPIT-RACKS, It is quite common to find above the mantelpiece in public-houses which date from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries two pieces of wood fixed to the wall, with more or less orna- mental notches cut in them, and sometimes slightly carved. Their distance apart is
- always in proportion to the width of the
heart h above which they are fixed, but four feet apart may be taken as an average width. There is no question but that they served as a rack for the long steel spits upon which our wise forefathers skewered their meat and roasted it before a great fire. There is a brief reference to them in iShuffrey's classic ' The English Fireplace.' The curious point is that without any exception they are called " gun-racks," not only by the licensees and frequenters of the public -houses, but even by the Historical Monuments Commissioners for Buckingham- shire (vol. ii. p. 327). In this last case (a private house of the sixteenth century) in par- ticular the brackets now retain only one of three notches, this as usual is one inch across at the narrowest part, and they are 55 inches apart, so that even if the muzzle of a gun could be lodged in one notch, the other would be too narrow for the most slender "grip" at the stock end, and the distance apart adds to the absurdity of assigning their use to the support of guns ; to say nothing of the peculiarity of keeping two or three guns in every inn-kitchen. A search of a complete series of ' N. & Q.' fails to reveal any reference to spit -racks, and it would be most interesting to know whether any reader can explain the widely prevalent error as to their use. VALE OF AYLESBURY. END OF PRIVATE BANK NOTES. Accord- ing to The Times of Feb. 10 the last bank issuing its own notes, viz., Messrs. Fox, Fowler & Co., has been amalgamated with Lloyd's Bank, thus losing its privilege of issuing notes, to the amount of 6,528Z. Apparently, the absorbed bank used to be called Fox Brothers, and later the Wellington Somerset Bank. It appears under both these names in The Post Office London Directory for 1845. In The Connoisseur of January, 1903, vol. v. p. 34 et seg., is an article by Mr. Moberly Phillips on ' Bank Note Collect- ing ' in which are reduced facsimiles of Private Bank notes ranging in dates 1730- 1826, and in amounts 1Z.-80Z. Although there is not a facsimile of a Fox Brothers Bank note there is one of a blank Tally Note worded as follows : No. In consequence of the scarcity of Silver, this ticket is issued by Fox, Brothers, as a voucher for one shilling, in payment of wages. Persons in trade, and others are requested to take this ticket as money, and present the same for Cash, at Tonedale in sums not less than One Pound. Entd. (Perhaps Tonedale was the name of the house.) According to The Times : " In 1844, when the Bank Act was passed, were 207 private banks in England and having the right to issue notes up to an ato amount of 5.153,417Z." According to tho Directory, quoted above* the preface of which is dated Dec. 6, 1844>
