Life.—Is it not the general feeling that man, in advancing years, would not like to begin his life again? I have noted that Edgeworth, Franklin, and Sismondi express the contrary.

A. C.

"The Boy of Heaven."—I have a poem entitled The Boy of Heaven, copied some years ago from a manuscript. Can any of your readers inform me who is the author, whether it has ever appeared in print, or give me any other information respecting it?

W. P.

Bells.—Can any of your readers inform me why the bells of the Convent of Santa Theresa, at Madrid, alone have the privilege of tolling on Good Friday, in that city? In all Roman Catholic countries the bells on that day are forbidden to be rung; and there is no exception made, even in Rome.

As much has been said about the baptizing of bells, as if it were a custom nearly or entirely obsolete, I beg to say that I was present at the baptizing of a bell in the south-west of France not very long ago; and have no doubt that the great bell at Bordeaux, which is to have the emperor and empress as its sponsors, will undergo the full ceremony.

Ceridwen.

Captain Ayloff.—Where can I find any notices of Captain Ayloff, one of the coadjutors of Tom Brown in the eccentric Letters from the Dead to the Living?

V. T. Sternberg.

Robert Johnson.—Perhaps some of your correspondents could give me some information relative to the pedigree of Robert Johnson, Esq., who was a baron of the Exchequer in Ireland in 1704; his parentage and descent; his wife's name and family; his armorial bearings; and date of his birth and death.

Was he the Robert Johnson who entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1671, as a Fellow Commoner at the age of fourteen? If so, his birthplace was London, and his father's name was also Robert.

E. P. L.

Co. Westmeath.

Selling a Wife.—What is the origin of the popular idea, that a man may legally dispose of his spouse by haltering her, and exposing her for sale in a public market? Some time ago the custom appears to have been very prevalent; and only a few months back there was a paragraph in The Times, describing an occurrence of the kind at Nottingham.

French romancers and dramatists have seized upon it as a leading trait of English society; and in their remarkably-faithful delineations of English life it is not unusual to find the blue-beard milord Anglais carting milady to Smithfield, and enlarging upon her points in the cheap-jack style to the admiring drovers.

V. T. Sternberg.

Jock of Arden.—This worthy of the Robin Hood class of heroes, is understood to figure very prominently in the legendary history of Warwickshire. Where can any references to his real or supposed history be found, and what are the legends of which he is the hero?

W. Q.

Inigo Jones.—Where can a full list of mansions and other important buildings, erected from designs after that great master architect Inigo Jones, be found?

A Correspondent.

Dean Boyle.—Wanted, the pedigree of Richard Boyle, Dean of Limerick, and Bishop of Leighlin in 1661. He had a brother Roger, also in the church. Was he a grandson of John Boyle of Hereford, eldest brother of Roger, father of Richard, first Earl of Cork? This John married Alice, daughter of Alex. Hayworth, of Burdun Hall, Herefordshire.

Y. S. M.

Dublin.

Euphormio (Vol. i., p. 27.).—Mention is made of Censura Euphormionis and other tracts, called forth by Barclay's works: where can some account of these be found?

P. J. F. Gantillon, B.A.

Optical Query.—Last summer the following illusion was pointed out to me at Sandwich, Kent. The ingenious horizontal machine to enable the treadmill to grind the wind, in default of more substantial matter, although certainly revolving only in one direction, say from right to left, at intervals appeared to change its direction and turn from left to right. This change appeared to several persons to take place at the same time, and did not seem to be owing to any shifting of the perpendicular shutters for regulating the resistance of the air. The point from which I viewed it was near the south door of St. Clement's Church. Have any of the readers of "N. & Q." noticed a similar illusion, and can they explain it?

H. H.

Gloucester.

Archbishop King.—The well-known William King, Archbishop of Dublin, was interred in the graveyard of the parish of St. Mary, Donnybrook, near Dublin, as appears from the following entry in the Register of Burials: "Buried, Archbishop King, May 10th, 1729." There is no stone to mark his grave. I would be glad to know whether there is any monument elsewhere,

I would likewise be glad to know whether there is any good engraving of the archbishop in existence. I have lately procured a copy of a small and rather curious one, engraved by "Kane o' Hara," and "published, Sept. 20th, 1803, by William Richardson, York House, 31. Strand;" and I am informed by a friend that a portrait (of what size I am not aware) was sold by auction in London, 15th February, 1800, for the sum of 3l. 6s. It was described at that time as "very rare."

Donnybrook graveyard, I may add, is rich in buried ecclesiastics, containing the remains of Dr. Robert Clayton, Bishop of Clogher (a man of note in his day), and other dignitaries of our church.

Abhba.

Neal's Manuscripts.—In Neal's History of the Puritans, he frequently refers at bottom of the page to a manuscript in his possession thus (MS. penes me, p. 88.): will any of your readers inform me where this MS. is preserved, and whether I can have access to it? It was evidently a voluminous compilation, as it extended to many hundred pages.

T. F.

Whence the Word "Cossack?"—Alison says, on the authority of Koramsin (vi. 476.), "The word Cossack means a volunteer or free partisan," &c. (Vide History of Europe, vol. ix. p. 31.) I have found the word "Kasak" in the Gulistan of Saadi, which there means a robber of the kind called rahzÁn. From the word being spelt in the Gulistan with a ?, it appears to me to be an Arabic word. Can any reader enlighten

Muhammed?

A. N. Club

Picts' Houses and Argils.—The Cimmerians, a people mentioned by Herodotus, who occupied principally the peninsula of the Crimea, are distinguished by Prichard from the Cimbri or Kimbri, but supposed by M. AmÉdÉe Thierry to be a branch of the same race, and Celtic. Many of their customs are said to present a striking conformity with those of the Cimbri of the Baltic and of the Gauls. Those who inhabited the hills in the Crimea bore the name of Taures or Tauri, a word, Thierry says, signifying mountaineers in both the Kimbric and Gaulish idioms. The tribe of the plains, according to Ephorus, a Greek writer cotemporary with Aristotle, mentioned in Strabo, lib. v., dug subterraneous habitations, which they called argil or argel, a pure Kimbric word, which signifies a covered or deep place:

"?f???? f?s?? a?t??? ?? ?ata?e???? ????a?? ???e?? ?? ?a???s?? ??????a?."

Having seen several of the rude and miserable buildings underground in the Orkneys, called Picts' houses, I should like to know something of these argils or argillÆ, but suppose them to be calculated for the requirements of a more advanced state of society than that of the dwellers in Picts' houses. Perhaps some of your correspondents could give information on this matter. For the above, vide Introduction to AmÉdÉe Thierry's Histoire des Gaulois, &c., 1828, p. 57.

W. H. F.

The Drummer's Letter.—The letter from the drummer to the corporal's wife in The Sentimental Journey (it is hardly possible to give a precise reference to any part of this little work) ends thus:

"Je suis, Madame,

"Avec toutes les sentimens les plus respectueux et les plus tendres, tout À vous,

"Jaques Rocque."

Why is the first of the adjectives agreeing with les sentimens in the wrong gender? The blot may be a trifling one, but I think I may say that it defaces every copy of this well-known billet-doux. I have seen many editions of The Sentimental Journey, some by the best publishers of the time in which they lived, and I find the same mistake in all: I do not know of a single exception. If Sterne wrote toutes, it must have been by accident; there is nothing to prove that he wished to make the poor drummer commit the solecism, for the rest of his letter is not only correctly, but even elegantly written.

C. Forbes.

Temple.

The Cardinal Spider.—I have read somewhere an account of a singular species of spider, which is of unusually large size, and is said to be found only in Hampton Court Palace.

It is supposed by superstitious persons that the spirits of Cardinal Wolsey and his retinue still haunt the palace in the shape of spiders; hence the name "Cardinal."

Can any of your correspondents inform me where such an account is to be met with, as I have forgotten the name of the book in which I have seen it?

W. T.

Norwich.

New England Genealogical Society, &c.—Can any of your correspondents inform me where I can address a letter to, for Dr. Jenks, Secretary to the New England Genealogical Society? And where can I see a copy of Farmer's New England Genealogical Register, 1829, and The New England Genealogical Register and Magazine for 1847, mentioned by your correspondent T. Westcott, "N. & Q.," Vol. vi., p. 495.?

J. K.