70
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io th s. v. JAN. 27, im
similar works that discuss modes of dating.
Have any of your readers come across these
letters before the date in other books 1
H. T. F.
ESTHER GILES : DR. W. CARSON. Can any of your readers give me information concern- ing a family named Giles ? Esther Giles married in Birmingham, about 1800. Dr. William Carson, of Billies, Kelton, Kirkcud- bright. Dr. Carson subsequently went to Newfoundland. (Mrs.) C. J. CROSFIELD.
Anwoth, Park Avenue, Mossley Hill, Liverpool.
GRANTHAM OF GOLTHO FAMILY. Can any reader of ' N. & Q.' tell me what has become of the Grantham altar-tomb, and an ancient stained-glass window, which had an elaborate coat of arms of that family, with the allusive motto " Comme Dieu Grantitos," which a quarter of a century ago was in Goltho Church, Lincolnshire.
EVERARD GREEN, Rouge Dragon.
Heralds' College.
" PIN-FIRE." We want a quotation for this as applied to a cartridge or breech-loader before 1885. (It is said to have been invented in 1835.) J. A. H. MURRAY.
u PIN -FLAT." This is said in recent Ameri- can dictionaries to be the name in Canada of "a scow carrying a square sail." I should be glad of any information as to this word, its age, and the reason for the name. Can any Canadian help us]
J. A. H. MURRAY.
LORD CROMARTIE'S ISSUE.
(10 th S. v. 28.)
MR. BULLOCK'S query raises an interesting point, and perhaps I may be permitted to go into the subject in some detail.
Lord Cromartie married "bonnie Bel Gordon," 23 September, 1724. Their eldest child, a daughter, Isabella who afterwards succeeded to the Cromartie-Mackenzie estates under an entail executed by her brothe. Lord Macleod, and married in 1760 George sixth Lord Elibank was, according to Si William Fraser, born 30 March, 1725. Afte. her Lady Cromartie bore three sons an seven daughters, though Amelia, the thirc youngest, who died as a child, is not given in the ordinary works of reference.
The youngest daughter, and the lates born of her family, was Augusta, who be came the wife, in 1770, of Sir William Murray of Ochtertyre, Bart. She it was who wa
orn in the Tower, where her father
was confined from May, 1746, till 18 Feb-
uary, 1748, where he was allowed to lodge
a,t the house of the messenger. I do not know
he exact date of her birth, but there are
ome curious circumstances to be noted re-
garding it. In the letter which MR. BULLOCH
[uotes, of date 30 October, 1746, her uncle,
Sir John Gordon, says that Lady Cromartie
s now " within a very few weeks of her
ime." Twelve weeks afterwards there ap-
)ears an announcement in The Scots Maga-
~ine: "23 January, 1747, at the Tower of
London, the Countess of Cromartie of a dead
hild." When the mental strain which she
nust have undergone for months is con-
sidered, this is only what might have
Deen expected ; but, extraordinary to re-
ate, six months afterwards there appears
another announcement in the same periodical :
"27 July, 1747, In the Tower of London, the
Countess of Cromartie of a daughter. 5 ' It is,
of course, impossible that Lady Cromartie
can have had a child in January, and another
in July of the same year ; in ordinary cir-
cumstances one would say the first entry was
an error, though how originated would be
hard to say. But then we have Sir
John Gordon's letter of 30 October giving
the news that a birth was expected shortly.
I have no solution of the puzzle to offer.
It is said that Augusta, the daughter who was born in the Tower, had the mark of an axe and three drops of blood upon one side of her neck ; but this has already been discussed (9 th S. ix. 172, 219, 292).
J . .D. x
LONDON NEWSPAPERS (10 th S. iv. 510 ; v. 10). I will not moot the question what is a newspaper, but must refer B. M. to the British Museum catalogues of periodical publications. He will also now on the same shelf find catalogues of newspapers, which have just been printed, in consequence of the papers themselves having been sent (or on their way) to Hendon, their future home. Many readers look upon this as equivalent to being sent to Siberia. Nevertheless some- thing was imperatively necessary, in order to relieve the space of tons upon tons of papers which were seldom referred to.
It is with much regret that I see the tendency to multiply catalogues. Thus, besides that of (1) periodical publications at the B.M. there are separate catalogues of (2) English and Welsh provincial newspapers ; (3) London and suburbs ; (4) Scotland ; and (5) Ireland. There are other multiplications of the catalogues too long to enumerate
