10 s. XIL OCT. so, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
349
SUSSEX IRONWORKS : OBSOLETE TERMS
&c.
1. Boit, boyt. This name occurs in in ventories and accounts as an implement o: forge-tackle. A boit weighed half a hundred weight. What was it ? The word has escaped Dr. Murray.
2. Swedge. Occurs as above, and did not bear its present meaning. Weight, one hundredweight two quarters.
3. " Mrs. Barton one ^ we. 2 qr. of wo and 2 prs. creapers, poiz 2 qrs. ; in all poiz 1 cwt. 2 qrs." What is the meaning of the italicized words ?
4. " Gunheads sold to Mr. Masters (1 543), 210 cwt.
"Sowes and sundrys to do. (1543), 871 cwt 1 qr. 3 Ibs.
- Three potts 1.10 gall. Mr. Hawes (I 576).
" To Tydy gunheads (I 560) 341 cwt.
"To sundrys to Mr. Tydy (1560), anvils, &c 25 cwt."
What do the parenthesized signs mean ? The capital letter might be I or J.
5. " By bringing 3 patterns for guns and 7 devils." What were devils ?
The date of the above accounts is 1730-80.
P. LUCAS. 188, Marylebone Road, N.W.
APSSEN COUNTER. In a Sussex will of 1583 occurs the bequest: "I gyve unto
her foure paire of sheetes, one Apssen
counter, one seame of wheate," &c. What was an Apssen counter ? P. LUCAS.
SLAVERY AND THE POPES. When did the Popes cease to keep slaves or bondmen ? Could the Mohammedans taken in war and sent to the galleys be considered slaves ?
B. L. R. C.
CARLYLE ON FANNY ELSSLER. " At whose twinkling feet the Second Napoleon laid his frail life down." I believe that the above is somewhere in Carlyle, but I cannot locate it. It is not in ' The Opera,' ' Mis- cellaneous Works,' vol. vii. Is the implica- tion justified ? WM. H. PEET.
REV. MATTHEW FEILDE. Can any one add to my information concerning the above as summarized in the subjoined paragraph ?
Of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge ; M.A. of Cambridge University ; chaplain to Lord Southampton ; Vicar of Ugley, Essex ; Reader in Divinity in St. Paul's Cathedral ; Prebendary of Ealdstreet in same (1794-6); and of Gretton in Lincoln Cathedral ; Rector of SS. Anne and Agnes with St. John Zachary (1788-96). He died 11 Aug., 1796, and was interred on the 16th of the month in the cloisters of Christ's Hospital, whereof
he was under grammar master. He left
a wife (Mary) and seven children, but no
will.
Mr. Feilde is alleged by obituarists of the period to have been the author of a pastoral play entitled 'Vertumnus and Pomona,' which was performed one night at Covent Garden in 1782. I shall be glad of light on this. WILLIAM MCMURRAY.
SIR FRANCIS BLAKE DELAVAL, K.B. I shall be obliged for any reference to Sir Francis Blake Delaval, but I have already consulted the obvious sources of informa- tion, such as the Walpole, Selwyn, Edge- worth, and Foote memoirs, as well as the obituary notices in all the newspapers and magazines. HORACE BLEACKLEY.
PETRE EPIGRAM. I want the text of ah epigram which describes a Peter or Petre as breaking the laws of God, and man, and metre. I cannot trace it in any of the obvious sources of reference, but feel sure I have read it somewhere. K. M.
COMBE AND PRETTY FAMILIES. Robert and Edmund Combe owned Gaspar Manor, near Stourton, at the beginning of the eigh- teenth century. Edmund is described in Phelps's ' Somerset ' as of Lincoln's Inn, but he is not on the roll of barristers or solicitors. He is thought to be the same Edmund who in 1702 married at Winchfield Catherine Pretty, daughter of Thomas Pretty, the rector of that place ; but neither his will nor death notice can be found anywhere. Can any one give me information about either family ?
(Baroness) M. VON ROEMER. Lime Park, Hurstmonceux, Sussex.
HOUSTON AND GORDON FAMILIES. Any information about the ancestry of the follow- ing persons would be very welcome :
1. Claud (or perhaps John) Houston, a well-to-do-Ayrshire gentleman, who crossed bo Ireland about the middle of the seven- teenth century, and bought, with other property in Ulster, the Castle Stewart estate in co. Tyrone.
2. Grace Gordon, who is said to have been he daughter of Alexander Grant Gordon of
Aberdeenshire, and grand-daughter of one of the Huntly family, and who married in Scotland the Claud (or John) Houston above mentioned.
3. Alice Gordon, said to be " of Haddo, Aberdeenshire," who married in Scotland
ohn Houston, son of the Claud Houston above mentioned. T. PAKENHAM LAW. 6, St. James's Place, S.W.
