Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 11.djvu/370

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. XL MAY s, 1915.


recently, presumably dates from 1888, and seems to have been designed to represent Scotland and Ireland as well as England. It is based on the arms of the Knights of Malta, with the additions of lion and imicorn and Union Jack.

JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

AUTHORS WANTED. Can any reader of ' ^N". & Q. name the author of the following lines, which have been attributed to R. Browning (!) and to Mrs. Maybriok ?

Unanswered yet? Faith cannot be unanswered, Her feet are firmly planted on the Rock. Amid the wildest storms she stands undaunted, Nor quails before the loudest thundershock. She knows Omnipotence has heard her prayer, And cries," It shall be done sometime, somewhere."

R. GRIME. 62, Duckworth .Street, Blackburn.

Will some one kindly tell me whence comes the line,

Their sword, death's step, where it did mark, it took?

G. L. APPERSON.

GRAINGER'S ' SUGAR CANE.' A review in a recent issue of The British Medical Journal begins thus :

"Readers of Boswell's 'Life of Johnson' will remember a story there told about Dr. Grainger's ' Sugar Cane,' which in its original form contained the line,

Xow, Muse, let 's sing of rats ! The mention of this humble scourge of plantations set the wits at Sir Joshua Reynolds's table on a roar when the poem was read in' manuscript." What was this ' Sugar Cane ' ?

W. L. S.

[A poem in four books first published in 1764, and reviewed favourably, in part by Johnson, in The London Chronicle, 5 July, 1764. Johnson, it will be remembered, in speaking of it, said : " What could be made of a sugar cane? One might as well \vrite the Parsley Bed : a Poem ' ; or ' The Cabbage '" '


a p oem-'" V. Boswell's ' Life of Johnson,' c i , 1 . here ls a llfe of ^rainger, with particulars ot the history of the poem in the ' D.N.B.'J

WITNESSES TO MARY WOFFINGTON'S MAR- RIAGE. On 30 Xov., 1746, "Mrs. Mary Woff- ington of St. Ann's, So-ho- [sic]," youngest sister of the celebrated "Peg," and then aged 17 years, was married at the notorious

!\ew Chapel in Mayfair " to Robert Chol- mondeley of St. James's, Westminster, Esq. Upon the original licence for this marriage dated as above, appears a declaration as iollows : ' Being of the age of seventeen years, I doo solemnly declare I have the consent of my friends," signed "Mary Woffington," with "Charlotte McCarthy


and "Sam 1 Swift" as witnesses. The hand' writing of all three is so much better than usual at that time, that an interesting ques- tion arises as to the social status of the witnesses, and whether, they were the- " friends " referred to in the declaration.. Who were they ? Can any reader of ' N. & Q.' throw light upon this problem ?

OLD DRURY.

EARLY VOLUNTEERING : " PLAN II." In 1797 at least two different schemes of form- ing volunteer companies were put before the country. In the letters of the 'Lords Lieu- tenant to the Home Secretary reference is constantly made to the choice of " Plan II."" What was it ? I do not recall having seen> any reference to a Plan I.

J. M. BTTLLOCH.

123, Pall Mall, S.W.

ALT OFEN: SARAJEVO. The Prussians besieged these towns in 1686-9. What was the occasion of these wars ? Where can I find a descriptive account in English t I should be grateful for the information. ISRAEL SOLOMONS.

[Buda (Alt Ofen) was taken by the Imperial troops- on 2 Sept , 1686, after a siege of ten weeks. This- was part of the War of the Holy League (Austria, Poland, and Venice) against the Turks (1684-98).. Prof. Lodge in 'The Cambridge Modern History,' vol. v., gives a resume of the history, and the bibliography belonging to the chapter might be- consulted.]

M. MCDONNELL. This person was editor of The Telegraph towards the end of the- eighteenth or the beginning of the nine- teenth century. 1 shall be obliged for any information about him.

HORACE BLEACKLTJY.

MADAME THIEBAULT, NEE THAYER. Sir Thomas Lawrence painted a portrait of this lady. Who was she, and where is the- picture ? HORACE BLEACKLEY.

ZACHAIIY MACAULAY'S MARRIAGE. Lord. Macaulay's father, Zachary Macaulayv married Miss Selina Mills in a church at Bristol, 26 August, 1799. Can any reader oblige with the name of the church ?

F. 0. WHITE.

HEMBOROW. What is the origin of the surname Hemborow, and with what place is it first known to be connected ? I cannot myself trace anything approaching it except- ing Harborow and Hambro. I may mention that up to my father's time the name was Bond-Hemborow. Can am reader throw- any light upon it ? T. W. HEMBOROW. 87, Hubert Grove, Clapham, S.W.