Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/208

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [10* S. V. MARCH 3, 1906.


1840. The publisher was James Burns, of 17, Portman Street ; but the present firm, Burns & Gates, of Orchard Street, do not recognize the work. LIBRARIAN.

CHARLES I. AND ELIAS ASHMOLE. In- formation is solicited concerning the follow- ing prints :

King Charles L, engraved surface, 5 T V in. wide by 6 T V deep. Half-length portrait, face looking to left. Figure wearing plain starched linen collar and a cloak partially open, show- ing dark garment underneath, the right hand holding what appears to be a hoodwink or blindfold. At right top corner a repre- sentation in miniature of the execution at Whitehall, above which are the words, " O horrable murder." Underneath the portrait. a verse of eight lines, of which the first and last are :

But lo a charg is drawne, a day is set

Is forc'd to own such Horrid Villanie. Elias Ashmole, engraved surface, 4| in. wide by 5j\ deep. Half-length portrait, face looking nearly front, wearing a stern, mys- tical expression, very dark full eyes, the face clean shaved. Figure wearing plain un- starched linen collar, the body and arms enveloped in a dark cloak. Underneath, the following inscription, " Elias Ashmole. from an Original Painting. London, Published 1824 by H. Gibbs, 23 G fc Newport Street." This print of Ashrnole is quite different from either his book-plate or the portrait in the Ashmolean Museum, included in Acker- mann's prints of Oxford founders. No name of painter or engraver appears on either of the prints mentioned. That of Ashmole seems to have been taken from a quarto book, but I have hitherto been unable to trace its source. The print of Charles I. does not appear to have been bound.

W. B. H.

ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL : ITS FOUNDATION STONE. Can any reader of ' N. & Q.' tell me whether the foundation stone of St. Paul's is visible in any part of the Cathedral, and, if so, what inscription is on it 1 In a minia- ture volume entitled 'An American Church- man's Visit to London in I860' occurs the following :

" We were shown all over St. Paul's a magni- ficent building with glorious possibilities of Catholic worship in the future. From the cross on the dome to the foundation stone in the vaults, which latter, by the way, bears Wren's Masonic symbol, the pair of compasses," &c.

I cannot recall having ever seen this, and yet I have been over the cathedral repeatedly,


and made many visits to the crypt. In 'Saint Paul's' (Rev. A. Dimock) it is stated, "The first stone was laid June 21, 1675, at the south-east corner of the choir"; and a foot-note adds : " There seems to have been no religious service or great ceremony."

Could our American visitor have been shown some other stone which bore the masonic symbol, and which he mistook for the foundation stone ?

FREDERICK T. HIBGAME.

  • CURSE OF SEAFORTH.' I shall be obliged

if any one can tell me where to find the whole of 'The Curse of Seaforth/ by " War- lock of the Gien." E.

BOHEMIAN LANGUAGE. Can MR. M ARCHANT or any other reader inform me as to the best books in English upon the Bohemian language? C. J. PEARCE.

INVENTORIES AND STOCKTAKING IN ANTI- QUITY. Encyclopaedias and several works on Babylonia and Assyria at my command having failed to assist me, I should be grateful if a reader could refer me to an early or the earliest record of an inventory of property or goods having been made, and of a stocktaking having taken place.

T. A.

WIG AN BELL FOUNDRY. Some time back I read in a Lancashire newspaper that in the middle ages Wigan was celebrated for a bell foundry, and that there are several churches where Wigan cast bells are to be found. I shall be glad of any particulars as to the foundry itself, and the churches where such bells are hung.

W. E. HARLAND-OXLEY.

Westminster.

CHEMISTS' COLOURED GLASS BOTTLES. It appears to be the general custom for chemists to display in their shop-windows glass bottles containing coloured liquids, generally red, green, or blue. Any infor- mation (giving references if possible) as to the origin and purpose of this will greatly oblige. A. H. L.

HOMER AND THE DIGAMMA. I wish to know if any MS. exists of the 'Iliad' with the postulated digamma in situ. If so, has it ever been printed ? A. H.

QUARTERING OF ARMS. I have a difficulty over the following two points in quartering certain arms, and do not find the solution in the ordinary heraldic books :

1. If A marries B, an heiress, and has by such marriage a daughter C only, and by a