Various

Prophecy in Hoveden.—I should be extremely obliged if any one of your numerous readers would give me the following information. In the account given by Hoveden (p. 678. of the Frankfort edition of Sir H. Savile's Scriptores post Bedam) of the proceedings during the stay of Richard I. at Messina, that author says:

"Then was fulfilled the prophecy which was found written in ancient characters on tablets of stone, near a vill of the King of England, which is called 'Here,' and which King Henry gave to William Fitz-Stephen. Here the said William built a new house on a pinnacle, on which he placed the figure of a stag, which is supposed to have been done that the said prophecy might be fulfilled, which was to the following effect:

'Whan thu seches in Here hert yreret.

Than sulen Engles in three be ydeled.

That han sal into Yrland altolate waie,

That other into Puille mid prude bi seue,

The thridde into Airhahen herd alle wreken drechegen.'"

This is evidently full of typographical errors, and may be more correctly set forth in the English edition of 1596, which I have not at hand. I therefore wish for information on these points:

1. What is the correct version of this prophecy, and where may it be found?

2. What place is meant by "Here?"

I need hardly say that I have no difficulty as to the first two lines: "When you see a hart reared (erected) in Here, then shall England be divided into three parts."

J. H. V.

A Skating Problem.—The motto of your paper is, "When found, make a note of it." Here then is one for you.

In several of my skating excursions I have observed, and noted it to others, that ice of just sufficient strength to bear any one in skates standing upon it, will instantly break if tried by the same person without having skates on. I don't know if any of your readers have made the same discovery: if so, can they explain the cause? If, on the contrary, any are incredulous enough to doubt the fact, I would recommend them to test the truth of my statement by a personal trial, before they pass a hasty judgment of the subject.

A Skater.

"Rap and rend for."—In Dryden's Prologue to The Disappointment, or the Mother in Fashion, we find these lines:

"Our women batten well on their good nature

All they can rap and rend for the dear creature."

"All they can rap and run for" is the more frequent colloquial version of this quaint phrase.

In Chaucer's "Chanones Yeman's Tale" it stands thus:

And to this last word Tyrwhit, in his Glossary, gives "rend?" with a mark of interrogation, as doubtful of the meaning.

Johnson gives it "rap and rend," and quotes a line of Hudibras:

and adds, "more properly, rap and ran; rÆpan Sax., to bind, and rana, Icelandic, to plunder."

The question is, are we to accept this phrase in the sense it is commonly used, to seize and plunder; or have later and better philologists mended the version?

The context in Chaucer does not seem to warrant the interpretation given by Tyrwhit. The narrator is warning his hearers against the rogueries of alchemy:

M.

"The wee brown Hen."—Can any of your correspondents oblige me with a copy of the old Jacobin song, the "Wee brown Hen?" It begins thus:

The words are very old, and conveyed a certain religious and political allusion. I know the tune of it, and I shall take it as a favour to be furnished with a correct version of the songs.

Fras. Crossley.

Deprived Bishops of Scotland, 1638.—Neither Bishop Keith, with all his industry (in his Hist. Catal. of the Scottish Bishops), nor subsequent ecclesiastical writers on the same subject, appear to have been able to mention the period of the deaths of nearly all those prelates deprived of their sees in 1638. The researches of late years may, perhaps, have been more successful, and in that hope I now venture to inquire when and where the lives of the following Scottish bishops came to a close—1. David Lindsay, Bishop of Edinburgh. 2. Alex. Lindsay, Bishop of Dunkeld. 3. Adam Ballenden, Bishop of Aberdeen. 4. John Guthrie, Bishop of Moray. 5. James Fairly, Bishop of Argyle. 6. Neil Campbell, Bishop of the Isles. 7. John Abernethy, Bishop of Caithness. 8. Geo. Graham, Bishop of Orkney; and 9. Robert Baron, Bishop elect of Orkney, 1638. The Archbishops of St. Andrew and Glasgow, and Bishops of Brechin, Dunblane, Ross, and Galloway, are slightly noticed, though even in these few there are discrepancies, both as to year and place of demise, which might be corrected. The later ecclesiastical records of Scotland are also exceedingly scanty; for Mr. Perceval, with all his acumen and research (in his Apology for the Doctrine of Apostolical Succession, 2nd edit., Appendix, pp. 250-3.), acknowledges with regret his inability to give more particulars of the consecrations in Scotland between 1662 and 1688, for the column with names of consecrators is without dates of consecrations during that period, and is, with very few exceptions, a blank. In continuation of this topic, may I inquire when and where the two following bishops, deprived in 1690, died?—1. John Hamilton, Bishop of Dunkeld and 2. Archibald Graham, Bishop of the Isles. The notices given by Bishop Keith, of the other deprived Scottish bishops, are also exceedingly brief and meagre; nor has Mr. Lawson (Hist. Scot. Epis. Ch.) added much.

A. S. A.

Wuzzeerabad.

Passage in Carlyle.—Carlyle (French Revolution, vol. i.), in his description of the horrors attendant on the death-bed of Louis XV., mentions the ghosts of the men "who sank shamefully on so many battle-fields from Rossbach to Quebec, that thy harlot might take revenge for an epigram." Who was the harlot, and what the epigram?

Ficulnus.

Madagascar Poetry.—Can any of the readers of "N. & Q." throw any light upon the origin of the following lines? I found them among family papers, written about the year 1805, where they are described as the "Invocation of Madagascrian Spirit;" by which, I imagine, we are to infer that they are a translation of some native lay from the island of Madagascar:

C. S.

Ink.—From the following lines by Whitehead, which I find in my note-book, I am induced to ask who was the inventor of ink?

Philip S. King.

Hamilton Queries (Vol. vi., p. 429.).—Lord Brayboooke says, in writing of Lord Spencer Hamilton, that he "was a younger son of James, third Duke of Hamilton." I find, on referring to a Peerage, date about 1720 (I cannot quote it more particularly, as it has no title-page), that the third inheritor of the dukedom of Hamilton was Anne, daughter of the first and niece of the second Duke of Hamilton; and that she married William, Earl of Selkirk, eldest son of the Marquis of Douglas. The date would better accord with Lord Spencer's being a son of James, fifth Duke of Hamilton. Was it not so?

Sir William Hamilton.—Who was the first wife of Sir W. Hamilton, the celebrated ambassador, and when did he marry her? Who was the second, who has attained such notoriety in connexion with Nelson's name; and when and where were they married?

Was Single-speech Hamilton a member of the ducal family of Hamilton? If so, his lineage from that house?

Tee Bee.

Derivation of Windfall.—Arvine, in his CyclopÆdia, gives the following plausible reason for the origin of this term, now in such common use. Query, Is he correct?

"Some of the nobility of England, by the tenure of their estates, were forbidden felling any trees in the forests upon them, the timber being reserved for the use of the royal navy. Such trees as fell without cutting, were the property of the occupant. A tornado was therefore a perfect god-send, in every sense of the word, to those who had occupancy of extensive forests; and the windfall was sometimes of very great value."

W. W.

Malta.

Do the Sun's Rays put out the Fire?—There is a current and notorious idea, that the admission of the sun-light into a room puts the fire out; and, after making every deduction for an apparent effect in this matter, I confess I am disposed to think that the notion is not an erroneous one. Can any of your correspondents account for it on philosophical principles, or disprove it experimentally?

C. W. B.

Denmark and Slavery.—Dr. Madden, in A Twelve Months' Residence in the West Indies, 1834, says, in allusion to a remark of Mr. Brydges, to the effect that England was the last European power to enter into the slave trade, and the first to abandon it, "This is inaccurate: to the honour of Denmark be it spoken, the slave trade was abolished by her five years before England performed that act of tardy justice to humanity" (vol. ii. p. 128.). The object of the present communication is neither to question nor disparage the merit here claimed for Denmark, in reference to "the slave trade:" it concerns the abolition of slavery itself by that power. I shall therefore be obliged to any reader of "N. & Q." who will inform me when freedom was granted to the negroes in the Danish island of St. Thomas, in the same manner as to those of the British West Indian colonies in 1838? And also in what work I can find any detailed account of such act of manumission?

L. L.

Spontaneous Combustion.—Is there such a thing as spontaneous combustion?

H. A. B.

Bucks, most ancient and honourable Society of.—A candid inquiry into the principles and practices of this society, with its history, rules, and songs, was published in 1770. It appeared that there were at that time thirteen lodges of the society in London, and a few in other places. Do any lodges of this society still exist? Did they issue any medals? Do they, or did they, wear any badges? Who wore them, officers only, or all members? How many varieties were there, and of what sizes? The book I have, and two varieties of what I suppose may have been worn as badges.

Edw. Hawkins.

Lines quoted by Charles Lamb.—There are some lines quoted by Charles Lamb in one of the Essays of Elia: I am very anxious to know whose they are:

L. M. M. R.

Descendants of Dr. Bill.—Are there any records extant of the family or descendants of Dr. Bill, whose name is first on the list of those who drew up the Prayer-Book, tempus Edward VI.? He was also Lord Almoner to Queen Elizabeth. Dr. Bill's only daughter and heiress, Mary Bill, was married to Sir Francis Samwell: had she any family, and did they assume the name of Bill?

Did a branch of the family settle in Staffordshire, and where?

A. R. M.

"The Rebellious Prayer."—Can any of your readers inform me whether some stanzas entitled "The Rebellious Prayer" have ever yet appeared in print, and, if so, in what collection of poems they are to be met with? The opening lines are as follows:

They describe the anxious watchings of a wife at the sick couch of her husband. In her agony she prays that his life may be spared, at whatever cost: her prayer is granted, and her husband is restored, but bereft of reason.

J. A.

Ravenshaw and his Works.—Can any of your readers give me information, or refer me to any works, of John Ravenshaw, who was ejected from Holme-Chapel^[2] under the Act of Uniformity? He is described by Calamy as having been a good scholar, and possessing a taste for poetry.

B.