388
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. xn. NOT. w, iocs.
writing rapidly, time was lost in taking the
pen off the paper, so the twos and three
were joined. Then four was the V minu
one (i.e., one below the line). Six was V + I
or one above the line. The explanation o:
seven has escaped me ; but eight was a
double square of four. Ten was X, or doubl(
five, or both palms, written ordinarily witl
a circle round it. The circle in combina
tion, with the centre dropped, representec
twenty, and so on. The nine, yet to be noticed
was the O with one subtracted or below
the line (like the four). It may be said thai
the solution is more ingenious than correct,
and appears to have been fitted roughly to
suit the figures. But the original explanation
is much more lucid and convincing than the
above rough note, given from memory ; and J
should be glad to be referred to the text.
J. H. RIVETT CARNAC. Schloss Rothberg, Vaud.
BERKSHIRE AND OXFORDSHIRE PARISH REGISTERS. Have the registers of any or all of the three parishes of Bray in Berk- shire, Henley-on-Thames and Great Hazeley, both in Oxfordshire, ever been transcribed and printed ? A. L. C.
'ESTHER,' TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. I should be glad to know where I can obtain the above novel. I believe it is published on the Continent in English. MAX.
" R AGGIE." What is the meaning of this word in the following quotation 1
1843. " As for myself, in my scarlet raggie, brim- stone facings, black waist-belt, and regulation sword, in my own opinion, I looked quite the god of war, and was fully armed for execution." Capt. Bellew ' Memoirs of a Griffin ; or, a Cadet's First Year in India.'
EMERITUS.
GEORGE ALMAR, ACTOR AND DRAMATIST.- When did he die ? WM. DOUGLAS
125, Helix Road, Brixton Hill.
THOMAS WILLIAM SNAGGE : OAKEN COFFINS. Who was this gentleman, who on 3 Feb. 1870, read before the Society of Antiquaries a most interesting paper entitled 'Some Account of Ancient Oaken Coffins discovered on the Lands adjoining Featherstone Castle near Halt whistle, Northumberland ' 1 The paper was printed in Archceologia. Is there any general work on ancient oaken coffins dealing, e.g., with that in St. John's, Chester?
T. CANN HUGHES, M.A., F.S.A. Lancaster.
RICHARD BETHEL Cox. Musgrave's 'Obituaries' gives: "(Mrs.) Mary, wife of lid. Bethel Cox, near Northampton, 8 Nov.,
1790 (G.M., 1057)." Can any reader connect
her husband with the Lady Cox whose name
occurs at Bath in connexion with Whiten* eld,
the Countess of Huntingdon, and others in
and after 1739 ? She was the widow of Sir
Richard Cox (Cocks), of Dumbleton, co.
Gloucester, who died 21 October, 1726, and
was herself a Bethel(b, daughter of William
B., of Swinton, co. York (Hunter, ' Fam.
Minor. Gentt.,' sub nom., pp. 917-18). It is
practically certain that there is a connexion ;
but I find ('New Baronetage of England,'
1769) that by neither of his wives had Sir
Richard any children. We might otherwise
have conjectured R. Bethel Cox to be her
son.
I have further been watching for clues to the identification of a " young gentleman " whom John Wesley met at Bath 2 March, 1789, and who insisted on Wesley going to his lodgings with him to "see his lady, though she had lain in but two or three days." His home was probably in or near Northampton, for on 25 December following Wesley writes with a somewhat caustic dis- appointment :
"Thence we went to Northampton, where I spent two evenings with great satisfaction ; although the great man who was so affected at Bath last year was, as I expected he would, ashamed to see me."
I notice, of course, that Wesley says "last year," whereas both entries I have quoted belong to the same year ; and, further, " the great man " of the second does not well fall in with the " young gentleman " of the first. But no " great man " is mentioned by Wesley at Bath in 1788. Wesley's indefinite references to lapsed time are frequently very inexact ; and although the identification is no doubt precarious a priori, yet facts may reconcile simply enough the varying descriptions. May [ hazard, for refutation or confirmation, the conjecture that the personage at Bath is the same as the personage at Northampton, and that both are Richard Bethel Cox 1
I do not find the date of the death of Lady 3ox. In Lady Llanover's 'Autobiog. and 3orresp. of Mrs. Delany,' vol. ii. p. 19, is an unquestionable reference to our Lady Cox, who was then at Bath, in December, 1738. Perhaps, also, the Lady Cox of Bath, 23 No- vember, 1755, and 23 October, 1760, may without hesitation be taken as the baronet's widow. But I should be glad of any help to piece all these facts together, if they are eally connected. F.
SCHOOL LIBRARY OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. In the Bodleian Library there is copy of " Alexandri ab Alexandro, Ivris-
