Notes and Queries, Number 206, October 8, 1853

I am perhaps catching at a straw: but it is possible there may be something more than a coincidence in the name of Milton Clark, who is spoken of in the fourth chapter of the Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin as brother to Lewis Clark, the original of the character of George Harris. Perhaps some of your transatlantic friends can inform us:

1st. Whether there is, or has been, in use any system of assigning names to slaves, which would account for their bearing the Christian and surname of their owners or other free men, and thus lead to the inference that there has been some free man of the name of Milton Clark.

2nd. Whether there is any family in America of the name of Clark, in which Milton, or even Abraham or Isaac, is known to have been adopted as a Christian name; and, if so, whether there is any tradition in the family of migration from India.

    J. F. M.

AN ANXIOUS QUERY FROM THE HYMMALAYAS

I was honoured, a few days ago, with a communication from India, which contains a Query that is out of my power to answer. But being very solicitous to do my best towards affording the desired information, I bethought myself of sending the letter, in extenso, for insertion in your very valuable and exceedingly useful miscellany. I venture to think that you will agree with me, that the interesting nature of the communication entitles it to a place in "N. & Q." As the letter speaks for itself, I shall say no more about it, but proceed to transcribe the greatest part of it at once.

    "Landour Academy, May 26th, 1853.

"Rev. M. Margoliouth,

"Sir,—I do not know in what terms to apologise to you for this communication, especially as it may entail trouble on you, which can result in my advantage alone.

"I am a Jew, believing that Jesus is the Messiah; and I trust this will induce you to assist me in my search after some of my relations whom I believe to be in England.

"I wrote to Dr. Adler, Chief Rabbi of the Jews in England, some years ago, but his information was limited to some distant connexions, the Davises, Isaacs, and Lewises, who still professed Judaism. Subsequent inquiries discovered two uncles of mine, Charles Lewes and Mordan Lewes, in London, who informed me that my grandfather, Isaac Levi, was for ten years a clergyman of the Church of England, and had congregation at Lynn, in Norfolk, and that he had published a tract against Judaism. Beyond this I can get no farther information: my uncles are either too poor or unwilling to prosecute their inquiries any farther. Could you ascertain for me whether my grandfather left any family, and if any member is still alive? My object is to discover their existence, and to renew a correspondence which has been interrupted for more than forty years.

"I am the grandson of Isaac Levi, for many years dead, reader of a congregation of Jews in London; my father, Benjamin Levi, is still alive, and is with me. I keep a school at Landour, in the Hymmalayas, in the north-western provinces of India. I have been led to write to you after reading your Pilgrimage to the Land of My Fathers, and seeing in it that you are the author of a work entitled The Jews in Great Britain, which I have not seen, and concluding from this that if any one can obtain information you can.

"I send this letter to Messrs. Smith and Elder, booksellers, of Cornhill, London, with a request to send it to you through your publisher, Mr. R. Bentley," &c. &c.

I do not feel justified in publishing the last two paragraphs in my correspondent's letter, and have therefore omitted them. I shall feel extremely obliged to any of the readers of "N. & Q." who could and would help me to answer the anxious Query from the Hymmalayas.

    M. M.

Wybunbury, Nantwich.

Minor Queries

"De la Schola de Sclavoni."—On a large marble slab at North Stoneham, near Southampton, is the following, inscription:

Año Dni MCCCCLXXXI Sepvltvra de la Schola de Sclavoni."

Is this the burial-place of the family of one of the foreign merchants settled in this country, and can any of the correspondents of "N. & Q." give any information about it?

    John S. Burn.

Mineral Acids.—As it is generally supposed that these powerful solvents were not known anterior to circiter A.D. 1100, I should be glad to learn what opinion is entertained by the learned concerning the death of the prophet Haken al Mokannah. This person is said to have disappeared in 785, or 163 of the Hejrah, by casting himself into a barrel of corrosive fluids, which dissolved his body. Is it not the best supposition, that this story was supposed by Khondemir and others, in more advanced ages of science, to account for the fact of his having disappeared, and of his real fate having never been ascertained? I have never seen this apparent anticipation of chemical discoveries animadverted on.

    A. N.

Richard Geering.—Wanted, arms, pedigree, and particulars of the family of Richard Geering, one of the six clerks in Chancery in Ireland from March 1700 to April 1735. One of his daughters, Prudence, married, in 1722, Charles Coote, Esq., M.P., and by him was mother of the last Earl of Bellamont. Another daughter, Susannah, was wife of Mr. Charles Wilson; who was, it is believed, a connexion of the family of Ward of Newport, in Shropshire. Any information about Mr. Wilson's ancestry would be very acceptable.

    Y. S. M.

Stipendiary Curates.—What is the earliest mention of stipendiary curates in our ecclesiastical establishment? And what other national churches have priests placed in a corresponding position?

    Berosus.

Our Lady of Rounceval.—Can you or any of your correspondents furnish me with particulars of our Lady of Rounceval?

    A. J. Dunkin.

Roden's Colt.—A lady of a certain age is said in common parlance to be "Forty, save one, the age of Roden's colt." What can Nimrod tell us touching this proverbialised animal?

    R. C. Warde.

Kidderminster.

Sir Christopher Wren and the Young Carver.—A reader has a floating notion in his head of having once read in the Literary Gazette a strange story of a country boy going to town to seek employment as a carver or sculptor; of his being accosted by Sir Christopher Wren, and offering to carve for him a sow and pigs, &c. Can any correspondent have pity on him, and tell him where to find the tale?

    A. H.

Vellum Cleaning.—Are there not preparations in use for cleaning the backs of old vellum-bound books without destroying the polish? How made, or where procurable?

    J. F. M.

Dionysia in Bœotia.—Can any of your readers refer me to a passage in any ancient author in which this supposed town is mentioned?

Dumersan refers to Diodorus Siculus as his authority for its existence, but my search in that author has been vain, and I am not alone in that respect.

    Augustus Langdon.

Bloomsbury.

Poll Tax in 1641.—I find in Somers' Tracts, 2nd ed. vol. iv. p. 298.:

"The copy of an order agreed upon in the House of Commons upon Friday, 18th June, wherein every man is rated according to his estate, for the king's use."

Is there on record the return made to this order; and where may it be consulted?

    Tewars.

Thomas Chester, Bishop of Elphin, 1580.—This prelate, who was the second son of Sir William Chester, Kt., Lord Mayor of London in 1560, by his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Lovett, Esq., of Astwell in Northamptonshire, is said by Anthony à Wood (Athenaæ Oxon., ed. Bliss, vol. ii. p. 826.) to have "given way to fate at Killiathar in that city, in the month of June in 1584." The calendars of the Will Office of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury do not contain his name; can any of your Irish contributors inform me whether his will was proved in Ireland? I should be glad to know, too, what will offices exist in Ireland, and from what period they date their commencement. He is said to have married –, daughter of Sir James Clavering, Kt., of Axwell Park in Northumberland: does any pedigree of the Claverings supply this lady's Christian name? His eldest brother, William Chester, Esq., married his cousin-german Judith, daughter and co-heiress of Anthony Cave, Esq., of Chichley Hall, Bucks, and was ancestor to the extinct family of the baronets of that name and place. Bishop Chester died s. p.

    Tewars.

Rev. Urban Vigors.—Amongst the chaplains of King Charles I., was there one of the name of Vigors, the Rev. Urban Vigors of Taunton? Any particulars of him will be acceptable.

    Y. S. M.

Early English MSS.—What is the earliest document, of any historical import to this country, now existing in MS.?

    T. Hughes.