Haberdon, or Habyrdon.—A manor now belonging to the school at Bury St. Edmund's bears this name. Can any meaning be given to the word?

The land formerly belonging to the Abbey of St. Edmund, several registers of that monastery, A.D. 1520 and 1533, let the said manor of Habyrdon, on condition the tenant should yearly find one white bull, &c. The leases all describe this manor of Habyrdon and make it specially necessary to find a white bull. The land is contiguous to the town of Bury, and is called Haberdon at the present time, presents a hilly appearance and remains of ancient intrenchments. I have not heard of any other place by this name.

C. G.

Paddington.

Holles Family.—I am very desirous of obtaining any information that can be procured concerning the Holles family prior to the time of Sir William, who was Lord Mayor of London in 1540. I should also be obliged if any of your numerous correspondents can inform me, whether that member of the family who married a lady named Gelks, I think since 1700, left any posterity; from whom he was descended, and in what county he lived? Also, who the Gelkses were, and whether the family is represented now; and, if so, of what county they are?

The arms of the Holleses were—Ermine, two piles conjoining in the points sable. The crest was a boar's head erased, azure, langued gules, pierced with a pheon.

The Gelks bore—Ermine, three chevrons azure, charged with nine bezents inter nine annulets gules.

M. T. P.

Reading.

"To lie at the Catch" (Vol. vi., p. 56.).—From accidental circumstances I have only lately seen the notice of my Query. Will you excuse my saying that I do not yet understand the meaning of the phrase "To lie at the catch," and that I shall be greatly obliged if you or any of your correspondents will explain it further, or, in other words, give me a paraphrase that will suit the two passages I have quoted.

M. D.

Names of Planets—Spade.—Would any of your correspondents give me some information respecting the names of the different planets of our system, whether their titles are coeval with the apotheosis of the various denizens of Olympus whose names they bear; or whether such names were bestowed upon the heavenly bodies at some later date in honour of those divinities?

I should also like to hear explained, how the word spade, which from its affinities in other languages would appear to have originally meant sword, ever came to be transferred from a weapon of war to the useful and harmless implement it now designates.

??de?.

Arms in painted Glass.—The following arms have recently been found in some decorated windows of the early part of the fourteenth century. Information as to whom belonging would be esteemed a favour.

1. Gules, a chevron, or.

2. Quarterly, first and fourth gules, a mullet, or, second and third sable, a cross, or.

3. Argent, on a chevron, or, three bucks' heads caboshed, tincture indistinct, probably sable.

QuÆrens.

The Sign of "The Two Chances."—An inn, at Clun, in this county, bears the unusual sign of "The Two Chances." What can this mean? Mine host is also Registrar of Births and Deaths for the district. Does it refer to these two chances?

George S. Master.

Welsh-Hampton, Salop.

Consecrators of English Bishops.—It may appear a waste of space to insert in your columns my Queries on this subject, but when you consider that I have been an exile in India for the last eleven years, and consequently unable to refer, in this country, to authorities, which are easily accessible at home, I venture to hope that you will not only give a place to this, but also that you, or some clerical reader of "N. & Q.," will afford me the required information.

I have continued Mr. Perceval's list of English consecrations, given in his able work, An Apology for the Doctrine of Apostolical Succession, 2nd edition of 1841, but have been unable to complete it with the names of the consecrators of the following prelates, the objects of my Query; viz. 1. Bishop Gilbert, of Chichester, on 27th February, 1842; 2. Bishop Field, of Newfoundland, 28th April, 1844; 3, 4, & 5. Bishops Turton of Ely, Medley of Fredericton, and Chapman of Colombo, on 4th May, 1845; 6. Bishop Gobat, 5th July, 1846; 7 & 8. Bishops Smith of Victoria, and Anderson of Rupert's Land, on 29th May, 1849; 9. Bishop Fulford of Montreal, 25th July, 1850; and 10. Bishop Harding of Bombay, on 12th August, 1851. The dates are, I believe, correct, but if not, of course I should like the mistakes to be pointed out. I also desiderate the date of Bishop Binney's (of Nova Scotia) consecration, in March or April, 1851, with names of his consecrators; and finally, the place of Bishop Lonsdale's (of Lichfield) consecration, on 3rd December, 1843. If these data are supplied, the lacunÆ in my supplemental list of English consecrations, from the Reformation to the present day, will be complete.

A. S. A.

Punjaub.

A nunting Table.—What is it? The word occurs in a quotation from Dr. Newman in the Irish Ecclesiastical Journal for December, 1852, describing a modern English church. I suppose I shall be snubbed for not giving the passage; but my copy of the journal has vanished.

A. A. D.

John Pictones.—Is anything known of John Pictones, or Pyctones, a person mentioned in a MS. as having taught languages to Queen Elizabeth when she was young?

C. R. M.

Gospel Place.—In a definition of the boundaries of Bordesley Abbey, dated 1645, given in Nash's Worcestershire, there frequently occurs the term "Gospel place," thus:

"And so to a Cross or Gospel Place near to Brown's cottage, and from thence to a Gospel Place under a tree near to a mill ... thence to the old Gospel Place oak that standeth on the common."

I have heard that at each one of these "Gospel places" there was kept up a mound on which it was usual to rest a corpse on its way to the churchyard, during which time some portion of the gospel was read. Can any of your correspondents say if such a practice was observed in any other part of the country, its origin, its intention, and the period of its discontinuance? And if not, can give any other explanation of the term?

G. R.

York Mint.—Can any of your correspondents inform me of the names of the officers of the local mint at York, instituted about 1696?

O. O. O.

Chipchase of Chipchase.—I should be glad to learn if any pedigree exists of the ancient family of Chipchase, or De Chipches (as the name is spelt in pleadings and deeds of the fourteenth century). A family bearing that name appears to have occupied or dwelt near the "Turris de Chipches," co. Northumberland, so early as Edward I.; at which time the manor of Prudhoe, of which Chipchase is a member, was held by the Umfravilles. The fact of the principal charges in the armorial bearings of both families being similar, seems to have led to the suggestion that the Chipchases were cadets of the former; but this opinion is without sufficient foundation.

A. G. W.

Newspapers.—Which is the oldest newspaper, town or country, daily or weekly, now published? The Lincoln, Rutland, and Stamford Mercury (weekly), published at Stamford, is the oldest paper I am acquainted with. The paper for the 21st January, 1853, is numbered "Vol. 158. No. 8231." This gives the year 1695 as the commencement of the paper. Perhaps other readers of "N. & Q." will follow up this interesting subject. Vide Vol. ii., p. 375., and Vol. iii., pp. 164. and 248.

L. L. L.

On alleged historical Facts.—

"During the troubles in the reign of Charles I., a country girl came up to London in search of a place as a servant-maid; but not succeeding, she applied herself to carrying out beer from a brewhouse, and was one of those then called 'tub-women.' The brewer observing a well-looking girl in this low occupation, took her into his family as servant, and, after a little while, she behaving herself with so much prudence and decorum, he married her; but he died when she was yet a young woman, and left her a large fortune. The business of the brewery was dropped, and the young woman was recommended to Mr. Hyde, as a gentleman of skill in the law, to settle her affairs. Hyde (who was afterwards the great Earl of Clarendon), finding the widow's fortune very considerable, married her. Of this marriage there was no other issue than a daughter, who was afterwards the wife of James II., and mother of Mary and Anne, queens of England."—Newspaper Paragraph.

What truth is there in the foregoing statement; and if in any degree true, what further is known of the fortunate "tub-woman?" Is her existence ignored in the Hyde pedigree?

J. B.

Costume of Spanish Physicians.—I have been informed that the Spanish physicians for a very considerable period, and even until about forty years ago, wore a dress peculiar to their profession. Can any of your readers inform me where I can find a representation or a description of this dress; and also whether it would be the one worn by a Flemish physician residing in Spain about the middle of the sixteenth century?

Z.

Genoveva.—Can any of your readers inform me what history or legend is illustrated by a fine engraving in line, by Felsing after SteinbrÜck (size 13 × 11 inches), which has no other clue to its subject than the word Genoveva, in the lower border. It represents a beautiful maiden, with a sleeping child in her lap, at the foot of a beech-tree in a forest, and a hind or fawn in the background approaching from a cavern. It was published some years ago at Darmstadt, and is not common: but beyond a guess that it is meant for St. Genevieve, the printsellers can tell me nothing about it; and I do not find in her history, as given by Alban Butler, any such incident.

Silurian.

Quotation.—In the Miscellaneous Writings of the celebrated Franklin (Chambers's People's Edition) I find the following anecdote, in an article on "The Art of procuring Pleasant Dreams." Franklin says:

"It is recorded of Methusalem, who, being the longest liver, may be supposed to have best preserved his health, that he slept always in the open air; for when he had lived five hundred years, an angel said to him, 'Arise, Methusalem, and build thee an house; for thou shalt live yet five hundred years longer.' But Methusalem answered and said, 'If I am to live but five hundred years longer, it is not worth while to build me an house: I will sleep in the open air as I have been used to do.'"

From what source did Franklin derive this information?

Christophoros.

"God and the World."—I shall be obliged by being informed from what poet are the following lines:

W. H.

"Solid Men of Boston."—Where are the verses to be found of which the following were part? I have an indistinct recollection that they were quoted in parliament during the American revolution:

Uneda.

Lost MS. by Alexander Pennecuik.—In the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, is preserved a MS. in 4to., called The whole Works of Alexander Pennecuik, Gent., vol. ii. It commences at p. 215. Upon the boards is written "Edinburgh, January 1759. Ex dono viduÆ J. Graham, Bibliopegi, cum altero volumine." It is not known in what way the Faculty of Advocates became possessed of this volume. Query, Where is the first?

Edward F. Rimbault.

"The Percy Anecdotes."—Who were the compilers of this excellent collection, published about thirty years ago?

Uneda.

Norman Song.—In the year 1198 there was a song current in Normandy, which ran that the arrow was being made in Limousin by which Richard Coeur de Lion was to be slain. Can any of the readers of "N. & Q." inform me where the ballad is to be found, or if MS., give me a copy?

R. L.

God's Marks.—In Roper's Life of More there is an account of Margaret Roper's recovery from an attack of the sweating sickness. The belief of the writer was, that the recovery was miraculous; and to enforce that opinion he asserts, that the patient did not begin to recover until after "God's marks (an evident undoubted token of death) plainly appeared upon her." (Roper's More, p. 29., Singer's edition.) Pray what is meant by "God's marks?"

John Bruce.

The Bronze Statue of Charles I., Charing Cross.—What is known of the life and history of John Rivers^[4], to whose loyalty the good people of London are now indebted for the preservation of this bust, which the Parliament in the time of Cromwell had ordered to be destroyed? That he was a brazier, and a handy workman, is all that I know of him.

W. W.

Malta.