Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/212

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NOTES "AND QUERIES. [9 th B. vni. SBPT. 7, iwi.


A CORK LEG. A gentleman of varied in- formation said the other day that a cork leg was so called because the inventor lived in Cork Street, and not because of the presence of cork in the manufacture. Is this accurate ?

AUTHOR OF POEM WANTED. Who is the author of a poem in which a woman, con- demned to a long period of purgatory, sees her husband, still on earth in the arms of a second wife, and finds that in that agony her purgatory is passed ? H. G R. W.

HINDU CALENDAR AND FESTIVALS. It would be a favour if you could refer me to any reliable information regarding the Hindu calendar and festivals. I believe the year begins with the March new moon, but whether the months are of equal duration or corre- spond to ours I have hitherto failed to ascertain. I suppose the principal festivals are also determined by the moon, but would gladly receive information on the subject.

W. H. C.

FIRE ON THE HEARTH KEPT BURNING. The following obituary appears in the Illus- trated London News, dated 18 November, 1843:

" At Chedzoy, Cornwall, in the house in which he was born, and had always resided, Francis Adams Stradling, Esq., aged 92 years and 7 months.

It is singular that a fire ignited by his ancestor

John Stradling, Esq., in the year 1622 has always been carefully preserved, and still burns upon the hearth of the hall."


Is this fire still burning ?


G. H. D.


PORTRAIT OF LORD RAGLAN. I shall be grateful to any one who will tell me where to find an engraved portrait of Lord Raglan.

W. TUCKWELL. Waltham, Grimsbv.

[Portraits of Lord Raglan by Burgess, after Morton, and by H. Cousins, after Sir F. Grant- are included in Mr. Francis Harvey's 'General Catalogue of Rare and Valuable Engraved Por- traits, recently issued.]

THE RANGER'S LODGE, BLACKHEATH. This house, which was the residence of the Duke of Connaught during the time he was study- ing at Woolwich, and was afterwards in the occupation, first of Countess Mayo and then of Lord Wolseley, has been recently purchased by the London County Council who are about to turn it to account in con- nexion with Blackheath, one of the Council's open spaces. The ground upon which the

i Q U e . St f^ S Wa u demi > ed b y the Crown in 1688 to Andrew bnape for twenty-one years bnape was succeeded in 1697 by Nicholas


Lock, a London merchant, whose lease termi- nated in 1793, and who probably built the centre portion of the house. It is not known who was the architect of the building, or whether an architect was employed. Sir Christopher Wren was engaged for a portion of Greenwich Hospital in the year 1696 and onwards, and it seems not improbable that he may have designed the Rangers Lodge, in which case the carving, which is of considerable merit, would be the work of Grinling Gibbons. I shall be glad of any information as to the design of the building.

JOHN HEBB.

LITTLE GIDDING : STOURBRIDGE FAIR. I find the following on pp. 220, 221 of Miss Cruwys - Sharland's remarkable edition of 'The Story Books of Little Gidding, 1631, 1632,' published in 1899. The conversation is taking place in the great hall of the manor house, and "the guardian" (John Ferrar) says :

" Let me see ; Sir Thomas Mores storie suites me so well, that lie seek no further.

" At a certaine Faire (1 know not whether it were Sturbridge or no) there happened," c. Where was Sturbridge fair 1 Is it still held 1 Why was it so famous 1 I find it quoted in an old family letter from an undergraduate at Cambridge, 26 August, 1650, to a young lady cousin at Little Gidding. It is a love- letter, and has the following postscript :

" I hope you will not frustrate our expectation of you at Sturbridg Faire."

MICHAEL FERRAR.

Little Gidding, in Baling.

[Stourbridge is in Worcestershire. Two fairs yearly are still held there.]

W T HARTON FAMILY OF BEVERLEY. An interesting manuscript has lately come into my possession, in the shape of the original book of accounts of the executors of Michael Wharton, Esq., of Beverley (ob. 9 Aug., 1688), son of Michael Wharton and grandson of Sir Michael Wharton. Who is the present repre- sentative of this family 1 I should be glad if any descendants of Michael Wharton would put themselves into communication with me. BERNARD P. SCATTERGOOD.

Moorside, Far Headingley, Leeds.

'THE BOKE OF GOOD WORKES.' Can any correspondent give me particulars as to author, printer, date, &c , of a little black- letter volume thus entitled, of which unfor- tunately the title-page is missing 1 By the fold and signatures it appears to be a very small octavo ; the edges being cut, it stands 5^ in. high. There are twenty-three lines to the page. It has signatures and catchwords,