Notes and Queries, Number 64, January 18, 1851

    H.

William Chilcot.—As I am about to reprint an excellent little work, entitled, Practical Treatise concerning Evil Thoughts, by William Chilcot, can any of your readers give me any account of his life? The work was originally, I believe, printed in Exeter, 1698, or thereabouts, as I find it in a catalogue of "Books printed for and sold by Philip Bishop, at the Golden Bible over against the Guildhall in Exon, 1702." It was reprinted, "London, 1734," for "Edward Score, over against the Guildhall in Exeter." And again (privately), a few years ago. Of the first edition I have never seen a copy, although I am not aware that it is particularly scarce; of the second, copies are not uncommon.

If any of your readers could communicate any information regarding the author, I should feel much obliged.

    RICHARD HOOPER.

University Club, Suffolk Street.

Benj. Wheeler's Theological Lectures.—In the year 1819 was published Vol. i. of the Theological Lectures of Benjamin Wheeler, late Regius Professor of Divinity in Oxford. In the preface, it is said—

"The first of the three volumes, in which the Lectures will be comprised, is offered to the public as an experiment of its disposition towards the completion of the work; the favourable entertainment of which will determine the editor's purpose of sending the two remaining volumes after it with all convenient expedition."

Can any of your readers inform me whether the MSS. of the two unpublished volumes are preserved, and where they are to be found?

    W.A.

Sir Alexander Cumming.—A Nova Scotia baronet, living in 1730, of Coulter, called by some, "King of the Cherokees." He married Elizabeth, one of the last coheiresses of the ancient family of Dennis, of Pucclechurch, co. Gloucester. Where may be found any account of his connection with the Cherokees; also any thing of his death or descendants?

    S.S.

Cross between a Wolf and Hound.—May I call the attention of such of your correspondents as are versed in natural history, to an account that I have lately received from a gentleman of intelligence, education, and undoubted veracity. I am informed by him that he has lately seen, in the south of France, a she-wolf that had been caught at a very early age, and brought up on very friendly terms with a kennel of hounds. The animal had come to its maturity when my friend observed it and its good understanding with its canine neighbours had never been interrupted. So far from it, indeed, that the she-wolf has had and reared a litter of pups by one of the dogs, and does duty in hunting as well as any dog of the pack. Buffon states that he had found that an experiment continued for a considerable time, to bring about the like result between the like animals, never showed the least appearance of success. The circumstances which he mentions as to the capture and habits of the she-wolf are nearly the same as I have above described, and from the failure of the experiments, Buffon doubted the possibility of any sexual conjunction between these kinds of animals. Some of your correspondents may be able to say how far subsequent observation confirms Buffon's conclusion.

    T–N.

Athenæum.

Landwade Church, and Moated Grange.—About five miles from the town of Newmarket, the metropolis of the racing world, and from Eening, a village in the county of Suffolk, there is a secluded hamlet called "Landwade," which contains a "moated grange," and a church to all appearances very ancient.

The church contains several antique tombs, together with curious monumental brasses, nearly all, I believe I may say all, to the memory of the Cotton family; amongst whom, judging from the inscriptions, were crusaders and knights of mighty emprize, and other worthies. There is only one grave and gravestone in the churchyard, and that is to an old domestic servant of the said Cotton family.

Can any of your readers or antiquaries give any information touching the church, the ancient tombs and effigies, the Cotton family, the grange, &c.

When a boy I used to look upon the old house and the quaint little church with a deal of awe.

It is very distressing, but I cannot find any published account of this ancient and remarkable place and its antiquities.

    JONATHAN OLDBUCK, JUN.

Dr. Bolton, Archbishop of Cashel.—Any information respecting the family, the arms, or descent of Doctor Theophilus Bolton, Archbishop of Cashel, in the early part of the last century, will oblige.

    X.X.

Dec. 31. 1850.

Genealogy of the Talbots.—In some of the printed genealogies of the Talbots, to whose ancestry you have lately made several references, descent is claimed for that noble family from the emperors of the East, through Anne, wife of Henry I., King of France, and daughter of Iaroslaf, or Georges, King of Russia, whose father, the great Vladimir, married Anne, sister of Basilius, Emperor of Byzantium.

Now that excellent authority, L'Art de Vérifier les Dates, gives the date of 988 for the conquest of the Chersonese by Vladimir and his marriage with the emperor's sister, and that of 978 for the birth of Iaroslaf, who must, therefore, be a son of one of the many concubines mentioned in that work as preceding his wife Anne.

Can the rare honour of descent from the Eastern emperors be substantiated by the correspondents who appear to take interest in the pedigree of this house?

I may add, that L'Art de Vérifier les Dates, though seldom incorrect, seems to err when it asserts Enguerherde, wife of the above-named Iaroslaf, to be the daughter of Olaus, or Olaf, "King of Norway, and not of Sweden," as the Heims Kringla of Snorro Sturleson gives a long account of the betrothal of Ingigerd or Enguerherde, daughter of Olaf Ericson, King of Sweden, to St. Olaf, King of Norway, and of her subsequent marriage to Iaroslaf, or Jarislief, King of Russia.

Can you say where the best pedigree of the early kings of Sweden is to be found?

    E.H.Y.

Robertson of Muirtown (Vol. ii., p. 253.).—In thanking A.R.X. for his reference to a pedigree of Robertson of Muirtown, I should be glad if he can explain to me the connection with that branch of George Robertson, of St. Anne's, Soho, who lived in the middle of the last century, and married Elizabeth Love, of Ormsby, co. Norfolk. He was uncle, I believe, to Mr. Robertson Barclay (who assumed the last name), of Keavil, co. Fife, and nearly related, though I cannot say in what degree, to William Robertson, of Richmond, whose daughter Isabella married David Dundas, created a baronet by George III., and one of whose granddaughters was married to Sir James Moncreiff, and another to Dr. Sumner, the present Archbishop of Canterbury. This William Robertson, I believe sold the Muirtown property. Is he one of those mentioned in the work to which A.R.X. has referred me? and was he the first cousin to Robertson the historian? Perhaps A.R.X. can also say whether the arms properly borne by the Muirtown branch are those given to them in Burke's Armory, viz. Gu. three crescents interlaced or, between as many wolves' heads erased arg. armed and langued az., all within a bordure of the third, charged with eight mullets of the first. The late Rev. Love Robertson, Prebendary of Hereford (son of the above George Robertson), was accustomed to use: Gu. three wolves' heads erased arg., armed and langued az., which are the arms of the original stock of Strowan. As I am entitled to quarter his coat, I should be glad to know the correct blazonry.

    C.R.M.

Booty's Case.—Where can an authentic report be found of "Booty's case," and before what judge was it tried? The writer would also be obliged with an account of the result of the case, and a note of the summing up, as far as it is to be ascertained. The case is said to be well known in the navy.

    DEMONOLOGIST.

[We have seen it stated that this case was tried in the Court of King's Bench about the year 1687 or 1688.]

Did St. Paul's Clock ever strike Thirteen.—There is a very popular tradition that a soldier, who was taxed with having fallen asleep at midnight, whilst on guard, managed to escape the severe punishment annexed to so flagrant a dereliction of duty, by positively averring, as evidence of his having been "wide awake," that he had heard the clock of St. Paul's Cathedral strike thirteen at the very time at which he was charged with having indulged in forbidden slumbers. The tradition of course adds, indeed this is its point, that, upon inquiry, it was found that the famous horary monitor of London city had, "for that night only," actually treated those whose ears were open, with the, till then, unheard of phenomenon of "thirteen to the dozen." Can any of your readers state how this story originated, or whether it really has any foundation in fact?

    HENRY CAMPKIN.

Jan. 9. 1851.

REPLIES

DRAGONS

(Vol. ii., p. 517.)

The subject on which R.S. jun. writes in No. 61. is one of so much interest in many points of view, that I hope that a few notices relating to it may not be considered unworthy of insertion in "NOTES AND QUERIES."

In Murray's Handbook of Northern Italy, mention is made, in the account of the church of St. Maria delle Grazie, near Mantua, of a stuffed lizard, crocodile, or other reptile, which is preserved suspended in the church. This is said to have been killed in the adjacent swamps, about the year 1406. It is stated to be six or seven feet long.

Eight or ten years ago, I saw an animal of the same order, and about the same size, hanging from the roof of the cathedral of Abbeville, in Picardy. I then took it for a small crocodile, but I cannot say positively that it was one. I am not sure whether it still remains in the cathedral. I do not know whether any legend exists respecting this specimen, or whether it owed its distinguished post to its being deemed an appropriate ornament.

At the west door of the cathedral of Cracow are hanging some bones, said to have belonged to the dragon which inhabited the cave at the foot of the rock (the Wawel) on which the cathedral and the royal castle stand; and was destroyed by Krak, the founder of the city. I regret that my want of osteological science prevented me from ascertaining to what animal these bones had belonged. I thought them the bones of some small species of whale.

I hope that some competent observer may inform us of what animals these and the lindwurm at Brünn are the remains.

It has struck me as possible that the real history of these crocodiles or alligators, if they are such, may be, that they were brought home by crusaders as specimens of dragons, just as Henry the Lion, Duke of Brunswick, brought from the Holy Land the antelope's horn which had been palmed upon him as a specimen of a griffin's claw, and which may still be seen in the cathedral of that city. That they should afterwards be fitted with appropriate legends, is not surprising.

Some years since, when walking down the valley of St. Nicholas, on the south side of the Valais, my guide, a native of the valley, pointed out to me a wood on the mountain side, and told me that therein dwelt great serpents, about 24 feet long, which carried off lambs from the pastures. He had, however, never seen one of these monsters, but had only seen those who had, and I failed in procuring any testimony of a more decisive character. My guide, however, affirmed that their existence was generally believed in the valley.

    N.

ORIGIN OF THE FAMILY NAME OF BACON

(Vol. ii., p. 247.)