Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 10.djvu/94

72 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 S. X. JAX. 28, 1922. DE KEMPLEN'S AUTOMATON CHESS-PLAYER. This was exhibited at 8, Savile Row in 1784, and the supposed mystery and its ex- posure were the subject of two pamphlets : 1. ' Inanimate Reason ; or A Circum- stantial Account of that Astonishing Piece of Mechanism, M. de Kemplen's Chess | Player,' &c. This has a folding frontispiece and generally supports the " piece of j mechanism " delusion. 2. ' The Speaking Figure and the Auto- maton Chess-Player Exposed and Detected,' &c. This is anti the " piece of mechanism " and pro the hidden " director of the game." j It may be inferred that many other pamphlets were issued in support of or opposed to the delusion, and a mechanical chess-player was, I believe, exhibited in Piccadilly about a century later. References to other pamphlets or adequate descriptions of the exhibition will be appreciated. ALECK ABRAHAMS. WILL-O'-THE-WISP. The ' Encyclopaedia Britamiica ' says there is much difference of opinion as to the exact cause of will- o'-the-wisps (also known as "Jack-o'- la.nterns," " corpse candles," ignis fatuus). Is the cause now known ? ALFRED S. E. ACKERMANN. MULBERRY-TREES. At what age do mul- berry-trees begin to bear ? ALFRED S. E. ACKERMANN. BEARS. Are bears in reality very fero- cious compared with other wild animals ? ALFRED S. E. ACKERMANN. RAIN AND FISHING. Does a shower of| rain, or a wet day, improve fishing ? If so, why ? ALFRED S. E. ACKERMANN. KYN ASTON. Thomas Southhouse Kynas- ton was admitted to Westminster School Sept. 10, 1782, and Edward Kynaston Jan. 12, 1829, aged 13. I should be glad to obtain any information about them. G. F. R. B. JOHN CHRISTOPHER FREDERICK KEPPEL was admitted to Westminster School Jan. 1-9, 1775. I should be glad to obtain any information about his parentage and career. G. F. R. B. PROVERBS AND PHRASES. What is the origin of the following : 1. "A tailor is only the ninth part of a man." 2. " You must tell that to the marines." J. J. WARREN. [The first of these was discussed at 4 S. ii. 437, 587 ; iii. 84 ; viii. 36, under the form " Nine tailors make a man."] AUTHORS WANTED. 1. I recently came upon a small old marble statuette of a goat climbing a vine, with this verse on the base : " Eat, goat, and live ; The fruitful vine Will ever yield Enough of wine." but I have not been able to trace the source or author, and I am writing to inquire if you can assist in the matter ? E. HENDERSON. 2. Who wrote : " I have seen the wings of Hermes glisten Seen him wave afar his golden wand (?) But to me the Herald would not listen As the Dead swept by at his command, Not with that pale crew Durst I venture too, Ever closed for me the Silent Land. " Day and night before that gloomy portal, Giant shapes, the Guards of Hades lie, None of heavenly kind, nor yet of mortal, May unchallenged pass those Warders by. None that way may go, Unless he can show His last passport to Eternity." " N. O. SELLAM." 3. Whose is the saying : " All suffering flesh is Christ." E. R. THE ARMS OF LEEDS. (12 S. ix. 507; x. 56). WITH reference to MRS. COPE'S query under the above heading, I venture to think that there is more inaccuracy in The Morning Post's remarks than in the maligned arms. In ' The Book of Public Arms/ by A. C. Fox-Davies, the arms of Leeds are thus described : Azure a fleece or, on a chief sable three mullets argent. Recorded at the Visitation of the County of Yorkshire, 1662 [sic]. A crest, an owl argent, and supporters, on either side an owl argent ducally crowned or, are regularly used, but are of no authority. Motto, " Pro Rege et Lege." Burke in his ' General Armory gives the tinctures, azure a fleece or, on a chief of the last three mullets of the field, but the arms as given above are regularly used (p. 432). It is not the fact that " soon after Charles I. ascended the throne Leeds added certain unauthorized embellishments to its shield," for prior to Charles the First's time Leeds was not a corporate borough ; and having no arms therefore could not "add embellishments " to what it did not possess. The real fact is that Leeds first assumed armorial bearings when Charles I. Was king. Leeds was incorporated by that sovereign in 1626, and the first corporate seal, with the legend SIGILLVM BVBGI DE