376 NOTES AND QUERIES. [i 2 s.ix.Nov. 5 , 1921. ST. COLME'S CHARM (12 S. ix. 330). Saint Bride and her brat, Saint Colme and his cat, Saint Michael and his spear. Keep the house frae reif and wear.* Scott, * Guy Mannering, chap. iii. Allan Cunningham ('Songs of Scotland' (1825) vol. i., p. 139) has the following version : Who sains the house to-night ? They that sain it ilka night Saint Bryde, and her brat, Saint Colme, and his hat, Saint Michael and his spear Keep this house from the weir. Such songs were popular lyrical prayers to protect the house from the wild Bor- derers. As St. Bride was vowed to perpetual vir- ginity from the age of 14, " her brat " cannot be a child in the Shakespearian sense ("this brat is none of mine"), but rather the cloak, veil, or apron which the name signifies in Gaelic, as well as in Irish. The " brat," however, is not the symbol of St. Bride. That is a tongue of flame repre- senting, I think, the Holy Spirit. I can find no reference to either St. Colme's hat or cat in the books I have been able to consult here. W. COTJRTHOPE FORMAN. JEWS' DISABILITIES (12 S. ix, 250, 294). PAN will find a good deal of information in vol. v. of. * The Jewish Encyclopedia.' Jacobs' s ' The Jews of Angevin England ' and Blunt 's ' History of the Jews in England,' both British publications, will also afford information. HENRY LEFFMANN. Philadelphia. SURNAMES WITH DOUBLE LETTERS (12 S. ix. 332). I hope W. J. M. and other " Notequerists " will pursue this matter further. I do not think the names will be found to have contained these double letters originally. During the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries registrars and parish clerks either attempted to adjust orthography to local pronunciation, or found some beauty in long names of which the owners were unconscious. Dering, Roper, Huberd, Mannock, to take Kent names as they occur, became Deering, Hooper, Hub- boorde, Mannooch, but I doubt whether this originated with the respective families. Compare the Amies or Armas family, who continued to sign themselves thus long
- Bobbery and injury.
| after they appeared in official lists as the AmoSy which was more familiar to " clerks " of all kinds. PERCY HULBTTRD.
BROTHERS OF THE SAME CHRISTIAN NAME (12 S. ix.230, 273,312, 336). The late Duke of Beaufort (8th Duke) named all his five sons Henry, after himself and his, with one exception, predecessors in the dukedom. Most of the Earls of Shaf tesbury have borne the name of Anthony, and the 7th Earl named all his five sons Anthony ; the present (the 9th) Earl has continued the custom of the family with his two sons. I can only suppose as regards these families that it is the wish of each respective representative that the Christian names of the 1st Duke and the 1st Earl in them should be per- petuated whilst their families last. CROSS -CROSSLET. I can quote from parish registers cases of the same name and infant mortality at that date, which accounts for these efforts to keep a family Christian name extant. E. E. COPE. THE PRINTS AND LIBRARY OF JOSEPH NOLLEKENS (12 S. ix. 328). -Who was J. T. Smith ? Was he related to Benjamin Smith, of Harewood Square, London, 1850, who possessed the Gainsborough picture of the Pomeranian dog and puppy men- tioned in Smith's * Life of Nollekens ' ? E. E. COPE. CHARLES WITHER (12 S. ix. 329). The advowson of Ashe, Hants, was bought in 1660 for 360 by Mr. George Wither of Hall, and passed in 1677 to his brother Charles Wither. It then went to Charles, son of Charles Wither, and finally to the daughter of the latter, Henrietta Maria, wife of Edmund Brampston of Boreham, Essex, 1748, who, in 1755 S sold presenta- tions of Ashe Rectory. Apparently the Worsleys were connected with Ashe in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. (From * The History of Ashe,' by the Rev. F. W. Thoyts.) E. E. COPE. Finchampstead. Berks. REV. E. DAVIES, POET (12 S. ix. 292, 338). According to the British Museum Catalogue, MR. RUSSELL MARKLAND is in error in confusing the Chancellor of Brecon with the author of ' Blaise Castle,' who Was the Rev. Edward Davies, rector of Port- skewett and Sudbrook in Monmouthshire.
