8
NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. XL JAN.
WILLIAM THOMPSON, D. 1775. I am
trying to trace the origin of the first William
Thompson in the subjoined extract from my
pedigree. Any information I can get as to-
his place of birth, &c., or surname of s hi&
first wife, will be most gratefully received.
Martha (?)=j=William Thompson, d. 26 May,=f Anne Swaddell, 2nd wife.
1775. Surgeon of St. Katherine's Executrix with son Thomas
1st wife.
by the Tower of London.
Will dated 10 Jan., 1774,
P.C.C. 209 Alexander.
to her husband's will.
Died at Holbeach Marsh
in Torry Elston's house.
Eleanor =f William, b. May, 1743,
Elston at St. Katherine's
as son of William and
Martha.
Dr. of Physic.
Buried at St. Mary's,
Taunton.
John, Deborah, Thomas
b. Feb., b. July, (not baptized
1747. 1745. at St.
Katherine's).
Daniel
(of Smeaton
and Scar-
borough,
gent.),
sb.,
b. Fe
1756.
George,=M...C...(?>
b. Sept.,
1758.
Served
in Hon.
East India
Co.'s Service.
Eleanor
William, b. 19 March, 1775,=rSophia Nott
at Bourne.
Solicitor.
D. 1853 at Stamford.
of Stamford.
W. G. THOMPSON, Major R.H.A.
BOTOLPH LANE. In the parish accounts
of St. Mary-at-Hill the following entries
appear :
"1483-5. Gabriel de Urs, Merchant of Venice, held the Great Lombard's Place here at a rental of 131, 6-s. Sd. per annum."
"21 Ed. IV. Repairs of the Lombardy's Place, and of other tenements in Fawster Lane. * Paid to John Carpenter for his good wyll to be showed in the building of the Lorn bardis Place in St. Botolph's Lane, 6*. 8d.' "
In 1485 Peter Conteryn, of the well-known Venetian family of Contarini, was living here.
Stow says the Lombards or Florentine merchants met in a house abutting south on Lombard Street and north on Cornhill, which was confirmed to them by Edward II. Is it not possible that Lombardy's Place, Botolph Lane, was a house devoted to a similar use in the reign of Edward IV. ?
REGINALD JACOBS.
NATHANIEL COOKE. Who was he ? Was he related to several famous musicians of that name ? I picked up at a bookstall a book by him :
" A Collection | of | Psalms and Hymns | Sung at the Parish Church I Brighthelmston | To which are added Several I Canons. | and a | Te Deum laudamus | Composed, Selected and Arranged for the | Organ or Pianoforte | By | Nathaniel Cooke
| Organist of the Parish Church."
There is no date in the book ; 148 psalms have tunes assigned to them, and a few hymns are set to tunes. Portuguese and Sicilian hymn tunes are in the collection. Strange to say, " Hark ! the herald angels sing," is not there. M.A.OxoN.
SIB EVERARD DIGBY'S LETTERS. In pub-
lications relating to the Gunpowder Plot it
is stated that in 1675 several letters
written by Sir Everard Digby the conspira-
tor, while" in the Tower, to his wife and
children, were discovered amongst the
papers of the executor of his son Sir Kenelm
Digby, and were printed. Is it known
what has become of the originals of those
letters ? B. M.
SALUTING THE QUARTER-DECK. " Bar- timeus," in * Naval Occasions,' at p. 49, speaks of this as " a custom that has sur- vived from days when a crucifix over- shadowing the poop required the doffing of a sailor's cap." It sounds very improbable, and if the matter has not already been discussed in ' N. & Q.,' may I ask for any evidence there may be for this statement ? JOHN B. WAINE WRIGHT.
BISHOP DOUGLAS'S VIRGIL : THE SIBYL. In the Prologue to Book VI. of the '^Eneid ' this translator alludes to those foolish persons who made a mock of his author. He represents them as saying (ed. Small, 1874, vol. iii. p. 2) :
Quhat of thir fureis, or Pluto that plukkit duke, Or call on Sibil, deir of a revin sleif.
The " plukkit duke " is a plucked duck, without question ; but what is a " revin sleif" ? The edition 1553 gives us " dere of ane reuin sleue," which does not afford much help. "A riven sleeve " suggests itself, but makes no apparent sense. Per- ad venture one might read " callot Sibil,'*
