9* s. vir. FEB. 2, i90i.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
87
not add * many returns of the season.' She resides
with her youngest daughter, Mrs. McLean, who,
although about sixty-five years of age, is an outworker
on the Ardgowan estate. Mrs. McEwan can now
read without the aid of spectacles, the use of which
she discarded about ten years ago. She is rather
deaf, but has all her other faculties, and assists in
the work of the house while her daughter is at work.
Her husband, who died when over eighty years of
age, was a native of Glendarnel, and at the time of
their marriage and till his death was employed in
the powder-mills. Mrs. McEwan's grandmother
was one hundred and three years of age when she
died, and her great-grandmother one hundred and
five years. Mrs. McEwan is in excellent health,
and from her appearance may even break the latter
record. Her family [have] resided in the Glenlean
district of Argyllshire for the past five hundred
years."
ROBERT F. GARDINER. 252, Langside Road, Glasgow.
[We fancy instances of the kind are fairly common.]
A BOTANICAL CHRISTENING. The January number of the St. Mark's Parish Magazine, & monthly record of the church thus named in Coburg Road, Camber well, contains the fol- lowing notice of a baptism which is perhaps unique in its way: "Dec. 3: Violet Rose May Ivy Stocking." " May " is a popular name for the hawthorn ; so that four plant-names have been given to this sprig of humanity with an ill-matched surname, prevented itself from being botanical by the final syllable. I en- close a f ragmen toi the publication containing the notice. F. ADAMS.
WE must request correspondents desiring infor-
mation on family matters of only private interest
to affix their names and addresses to their queries,
in order that the answers may be addressed to them
direct.
VAN DER MEULEN AND HUCHTENBURG. Can any of your readers suggest the date and subject of a gallery picture said to be by Van der Meulen, representing the siege of a town fortified by walls and ditches, and apparently lying not far from the seacoast? Numerous cavalry and infantry support the siege. The scene is probably Flemish. Is it known for whom another gallery picture representing the siege of Namur by Huchtenburg was painted % Portraits of William III. and Lord Churchill on horseback appear in the fore- ground. H.
HERALDIC. The assistance of your readers is solicited in identifying some coats of arms found on an ancient leather cover
in the vestry of Sweffling Church, Suffolk.
The difficulty consists in the tinctures not
being indicated in the tooling on the leather.
Further, the coats are somewhat common
ones, and, differenced by tinctures, are borne
by several families. Still the combination of
five coats or quarterings may enable some
of your readers to identify the family to
which they belong, and thus assist in assign-
ing an approximate date to the leather cover.
The arms may be those of a priory or some
ecclesiastic. Sweffling is near Saxinundham,
and the locality may assist in determining
the question. 1. A lion rampant. 2. A
chevron between three mullets. 3. A cross
fleury. 4. A bend dexter. 5. Three pikes
impaling the same. Each of these on a
separate shield. 1 and 2 are repeated on the
cover, indicating that they are the dominant
arms. J. H. RIVETT-CARNAC.
Schloss Wildeck, Switzerland.
VELMATIUS AND HIS ' CHRISTEID.' Can any reader suggest the reason why this work was placed on the ' Index Librorum Prohibi- torum ' in the year 1603? The poem, a com- position of about eight thousand lines in Latin hexameters, is one of the precursors of ' Para- dise Lost.' I know little about Velmatius, and cannot tell whether my edition of his work (Venice, 1538) is the editio princeps or not. RICHARD H. THORNTON.
Portland, Oregon.
[So far as we know, yours is the first and only edition.]
CHARLES BARBANDT (OR BARBANT), organist to the Bavarian Embassy, London, in 1764. Is anything known of his life and works beyond what is to be found in 'D.N.B.'and Gillow's * Bibliographical Dictionary of Eng- lish Catholics'? S. G. OULD.
THE DRESDEN AMEN. Will any one oblige me with its history? S. G. OULD.
"THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL." Where can I find an account of the alleged reception of the golden plates containing the " Everlasting Gospel " by the monk Cyril from an angel ? The vast amount of literature on this Gospel, in connexion with the life of John of Parma and Joachim, which is available, does not tell the story of Cyril. W. A. L.
Hackensack, New Jersey, U.S.
[Concerning what is called in ' Le Roman de la Rose' "the gospel perdurable," otherwise the "Euangelium Eternum sive Euangelium Spiritus Sancti, it may be worth while to consult Skeat's ' Chaucer,' i. 447, note on line 7102, and Southey's ' Book of the Church,' chap. xi. It is not pretended that you will find there what you seek.]
