346
NOTES 'AND QUERIES. [9* s. vm. OCT. 26, MOI.
identical with a " King's Arms " at 66, Lom-
bard Street, the sign of a goldsmith, in 1710
(F. G. H. Price's 'Signs of Lombard Street').
There were, of course, many other "King's
Arms," but the above appear to have been
four of the most central. "Grigsby's"
Coffee-house was also "behind the Royal
Exchange" in Threadneedle Street, facing
the "New England" Coffee-house, and
having for its next-door neighbour the
" Antigallican." It was a very popular and
fashionable English mid-eighteenth-century
resort, as advertisements of the period,
especially in the Daily Advertiser, testify.
It is spoken of in the ' Epicure's Almanack '
of 1815 as " a Steak-house where they do dress
dishes. A rich larder is tastefully displayed
in front, where everv individual member
of that board of health seems to say to the
passer-by, 'for your own sake, if not for
ours, pray come and try how you like us.'"
According to a list of coffee-houses in the
reign of Queen Anne, in John Ashton's 'Social
Life of the Reign of Queen Anne,' 1882,
Grigsby's in Threadneedle Street was altered
to "Smith's "in 1712. At the "New York"
Coffee-house, also "behind the Exchange,"
VS? neral Meetin S of the Proprietors of
the West New-Jersey Society was appointed
on the 25th of March, at Twelve O'Clock, for
electing a President, a Vice-President, eleven
of the Committee, and a Treasurer for the
Year ensuing" (Daily Advertiser, 18 March,
Ju 42 <K T In x The Picfcur eof London 'for 1803
A i? ^? W York " is descr ibed as in Sweeting's
Alley, Cornhill, and was then frequented by
shipbrokers, merchants, &c. "Grigsby's"
was at the same time used by "merchants
and stockbrokers." Of "Caviac's" I know
of no mention anywhere, and think there
must be some mistake in the name, at all
events as representing either a tavern or
coffee-house. It sounds like the name of a
famous cook, or of a caterer like Pontack.
Perhaps ' Kivat's " is meant. "Kivat's," in
Mackys 'Journey through England,' is de-
scribed as one of two (theother being Pontack's)
very good French Eating Houses, where
there was a constant Ordinary as abroad for
all Comers without Distinction, and at a very
reasonable Price " (ed. 1714, vol. i. p. 113).
J. HOLDEN MACMICHAEL.
ANIMALS IN PEOPLE'S INSIDES (9 th S vii 222, 332, 390; viii 89). -I can remember hearing, when a lad forty-five vears ae-o It Coxbench in Derbyshire, 'what were thtn to me frightful tales of people who had "live things* m their msides, and I now believe that some of them were not without some
foundation. In the whole of that district of
Derbyshire nearly all the water obtainable
was from open wells in the little dells or on
the lower hillsides, and men, women, and
children used to drink in the old-fashioned
way by sucking from the trough, or drinking
with the hand as a ladle. Many were the
tales of water-newts and frogs swallowed in
this way, and growing big in the insides of
people. Many of the ailments were attri-
buted to this cause, and one elderly man who
lived near my parents used to declare that
when he was hungry the creature in his
inside leapt into his throat. He drank many
decoctions of " yarb-tea " in the hope of reliev-
ing his torment, and in the end he succeeded
in producing something "alive and black."
I did not see it, but that is what the neigh-
bours told us. I knew several children who
were said to have " things inside them," and
there was a standing warning, constantly
repeated during the hot summer days, not to
"sup watter from t' wells " except by lifting
it with the hand. I might add that cattle
ailments of the throat and chest were attri-
buted to the same causes.
THOS. RATCLIFFE.
Worksop.
In the Leeds Intelligencer for 20 July, 1801, Dr. Gardner, " the inventor of the Universal medicines in the form of pills, plaister, and ointment," was advertising his arrival in Leeds, and was exhibiting worms and other creatures of which he had rid men's bodies "to prove what no man, nor any body of men upon earth, can deny." His exhibits, which could be seen at the doctor's lodg- ings, No. 8, St. Peter's Square, included " Two uncommon creatures, one like a Lizard, the other has a mouth like a Place [sic], a Horn like a Snail, Two Ears like a Mouse, and its Body covered with Hair. It was destroying the Man's liver, a portion of which it has brought off with it."
CHAS, H. CROUCH.
"Askard" or "asker," as meaning a newt, is not restricted to North-Country or Midland districts, as would seem to be inferred. The late Rev. William Barnes (the Dorset poet), in his ' Grammar and Glossary of the Dorset Dialect,' gives : "Asker, a water newt." The newt is also called " evet " (eft) by Dorset people. J. S/UDAL.
Antigua, W.I.
Cf. ' The Worm Doctor's Harangue,' Gent. Mag., April, 1735. J. H. MACMICHAEL.
SCILLY ISLANDS (9 th S. viii. 205). The following may refer to the aboye query, but