Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/448

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [10* s. n. NOV. 5, 190*.


without being certain of finding the inscrip- tion in question.

I have, therefore, recourse to the invaluable

  • N. & Q.,' i Q the hope that some of its readers

will be able to tell me whether the book mentioned above is the right one, and if so, on what page I can find the inscription ; or, if I am wrong, the title of the real book would greatly oblige. Perhaps the Italian words would be Se pubbliche questo, sei un asino. J. H. HESSELS.

Cambridge.

HYDE DE NEUVILLE, the active and fear- less royalist agent of the time of the Consulate and the Empire, was a direct descendant of Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon. A note in his ' Memoires et Souvenirs ' says he was descended from Richard, the second son of Laurence Hyde ; but, according to the

  • D.N.B.,' Laurence Hyde had only one son

who survived childhood Henry, afterwards fourth and last Earl of Clarendon. Which statement is correct ? Hyde added De Neuville (an estate belonging to his mother) to his name to give it a French sound. With two queens in the family, it is no wonder he was a royalist. ROBERT B. DOUGLAS.

64, Rue des Martyrs, Paris.

LORD HIGH TREASURER'S ACCOUNTS. Can any one enlighten me as to the meaning of the following words, which occur in the accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland ?

1. Ay dye. " Rebatit of the wecht for aydye tre of the barrell (of gunpowder) vi stane." I think this must be a mistake of the clerk, who perhaps wrote it from dic- tation.

2. Burneis. Taffety to "burneis" horse caparisons.

3. Carcansonis and Carcransoun grey. This is probably a woollen stuff made at Carcassonne, in France, at one time a seat of that industry.

4. Maye. Probably another stuff used for making doublets and other vestments.

5. Burris.^ Rislis blak to be burris to ane pair of hois."

6. Kathit." Ane lang kathit hude of the Frenche fassoun."

7. Powpenny. This is an exceptionally curious word. *' To the powpenny delivered to David Lindsay, Lyoun Herald, ane croune of wecht, xxs" This is in connexion with the obsequies of Madeline of France, the first wife of King James V. If pmv = head or poll, can it have any connexion with the ancient custom of putting a coin in the mouth of a corpse 1 The actual value of this


" powpenny " was, it will be noticed, as much as 20s. J. B. P.

Edinburgh.

[4. Ray is fully described In the ' N.E.D.,' both as substantive and adjective, with quotations ranging from the fourteenth century to the nine- teenth.]

OXENHAM EPITAPHS. In Ho well's 'Familiar Letters ' I find the following :

"As I passed by St. Dunstans in Fleet Street the other Saturday I stepped into a lapidiary or stone- cutter's shop to treat with the master for a stone to be put up upon my father's tomb ; and casting my eyes up and down, I might spy a huge marble with a large inscription upon it, which was thus to my best remembrance :

" ' Here lies John Oxenham, a goodly young man,, in whose chamber, as he was struggling with the pangs of death, a bird with a white breast was seen fluttering about his bed, and so vanished.

"'Here lies also Mary Oxenham, the sister of the said John, who died the next day, and the same apparition was seen in the room.'

" Then another is spoke of. Then

" * Here lies hard by James Oxenham, the son of the said John, who died a child in his cradle a little after, and such a bird was seen fluttering about his head a little before he expired, which vanished afterwards.'


" To all these be divers witnesses, both squires and ladies, whose names are engraven upon the stone. This stone is to be sent to a town hard by Exeter, where this happened.

"Westminster, 3 July, 1632."

Can any one say if the stone remains, and where ? Perhaps MR. HEMS may know some- thing of this. E. MARSTON.

LADY ARABELLA DENNY. In 1792 the Royal Irish Academy offered a gold medal, value one hundred guineas, for the best monody on the death of Lady Arabella Denny. The medal was won by John Macauley, M.R.I. A. Can any one give me information as to the present whereabouts of this medal, or of any drawing or description of it 1 I have before me a journal of travel, &c., written by Lady A. Denny, and edited, with a memoir of her life, by Mrs. A. Percival, which it is hoped will be shortly published. Any matter of interest suitable for incorpora- tion in the above memoir would be thankfully received by me. (Rev.) H. L. L. DENNY.

Queen Street, Londonderry.

TITHING BARN. Can any reader of ' N. & Q.' point me to a passage in history or historical fiction describing the scene at a tithing barn, tenants bringing their tithes in kind? J. SPENCER CURWEN.

ARDEN AS A FEMININE NAME. - - Two ancestresses of mine, in the latter half of the