12 s. ix. NOV. 26, 1921.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 437 SURNAMES AS CHRISTIAN NAMES (12 S. ix. 370). -There is a double reason for thinking that " Janet Nares Lydgate " could not be a possible name for a woman born in the fourteenth century. In the first place, double names, though not absolutely un- known, were exceedingly uncommon before the seventeenth century in this countrv (see 6 S. vii. 119, 172 ; viii. 153, 273, 371 ; ix. 36, 438 ; xi. 214, 333 ; 9 S. vi. 107, 217 ; 11 S. viii. 125 ; 12 S. v. 289 ; vi. 192). In the second, surnames used as Christian names were even more rare before the Reformation. The earliest case 1 have come across is that of Lord Chidiock Paulet, third or fourth son of the 1st Marquess of Winchester. Lord Chidiock was Receiver of Hampshire and Captain of Portsmouth from 1552 to 1562. It would be interesting to have early examples of the use of Percy, Sidney, Stanley, Douglas, Desmond, Evelyn, and the like. Percival seems to have been a Christian name before it became a surname. JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT. UNIDENTIFIED ARMS (12 S. ix. 330, 306). The tincture of some of these is not given completely, and it is also possible some may not be quite correctly quoted. Perhaps MRS. COPE will find the following suggestions useful, but none correspond exactly : 2. Ar. a chevron erm. between three bears' heads erased sa. muzzled or. Werde- mann, Charleton, Berks. 3. On a chief three plates. Hungerford (fifi eenih century). On a chief three roundels. Camoys. Plates and roundels might be mis- taken for roses. Henry VI., 1448, granted to Nicholas Cloos, three silver roses on a chief sable, together with other charges. 5. Three Swans 1535. Lyte. WATLER E. GAWTHORP. 16, Long Acre. T.R.E.O. (12 S. ix. 354). Cunningham's
- London ' has the following heading :
' Lyceum Theatre (The Royal or English Opera House).' Might not this house be called Theatre Royal English Opera ? 16, Long Acre. WALTER E. GAWTHORP. This puzzled me also for a very long time. About a year ago I asked Mr. G. R. Sims if he could explain it. After some research, he very kindly in- formed me that the initials "T.R.E.O." or " T.R.O.E." both are used stood for " Theatre Royal, English Opera." C. M. "MAKING BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW" (12 S. ix. 331, 398). As an engineer MR. A. S. E. ACKERMANN should know that bricks, at any rate sun-dried bricks, are never placed in a position where they would be subject to tension. Following up the matter, I have consulted ' Encyclopaedia Biblica,' by the Rev. T. K. Cheyne and J. Sutherland Black (London, 1899) and found (s.v. Brick) the statement that in the case of Egyptian bricks one often finds chopped straw or reed mixed with the Nile mud to make this more consistent and to prevent cracking i during drying. The first reason given seems j to support the colloidal theory, while the i second is the one suggested by me. L. L. K. Having seen, when a boy, the process of making bricks with straw, perhaps the follow- ing rough outline may be of interest. The clay was trodden by a horse working in a circle, water being added as required, and considerable quantities of straw trodden in with it. When the clay was " worked " sufficiently, it was placed in large wooden moulds, say 12 by 9 by 6 in., or something of that kind, and left to dry in the open, after which the bricks were used for barns and such like. The function of the straw was, I believe, purely mechanical, much in the same way that iron rods are employed in ferro-concrete. G. W. YOUNGER. 2, Mecklenburgh Square, W.C.I. ADMIRAL VERNON (12 S. ix. 321, 350, 393). In reference to the ascription to the once- famous Admiral Edward Vernon that he was high in the councils of certain of the London Port lodges of the " Antient " Freemasons of the eighteenth century, it is locally recalled that " James Annesley," the little ragged street child, haunter of Trinity College, Dublin, who soon claimed to be the legitimate son and heir of Arthur, Lord Altham, and therefore the rightful Earl of Anglesea, enjoyed association with Captain, I afterwards Admiral Vernon, which throws jsome light upon his character. The story goes that Jimmie, aged 13, was kidnapped from Dublin streets at the instance of Captain Richard Annesley (his uncle and 1 rival claimant of the earldom), and shipped j to the slavery of the Plantations of America. | Escaping at last from this thraldom, he 'joined Vernon's ship, the Falmouth, as a I common sailor. Some of the junior officers | aboard became interested in the youth's I strange story and repeated it to Vernon, and
