Falsified Gravestone in Stratford Churchyard.—The following instance of a recent forgery having been extensively circulated, may lead to more careful examination by those who take notes of things extraordinary.

The church at Stratford-upon-Avon was repaired about the year 1839; and some of the workmen having their attention directed to the fact, that many persons who had attained to the full age of man were buried in the churchyard; and, wishing "for the honour of the place," to improve the note-books of visitors, set about manufacturing an extraordinary instance of longevity. A gravestone was chosen in an out-of-the-way place, in which there happened to be a space before the age (72). A figure 1 was cut in this space, and the age at death then stood 172. The sexton was either deceived, or assented to the deception; as the late vicar, the Rev. J. Clayton, learned that it had become a practice with him (the sexton) to show strangers this gravestone, so falsified, as a proof of the extraordinary age to which people lived in the parish. The vicar had the fraudulent figure erased at once, and lectured the sexton for his dishonesty.

These facts were related to me a few weeks since by a son of the late vicar. And as many strangers visiting the tomb of Shakspeare "made a note" of this falsified age, "N. & Q." may now correct the forgery.

Robert Rawlinson.

Barnacles in the River Thames.—In Porta's Natural Magic, Eng. trans., Lond. 1658, occurs the following curious passage:

"Late writers report that not only in Scotland, but also in the river of Thames by London, there is a kind of shell-fish in a two-leaved shell, that hath a foot full of plaits and wrinkles: these fish are little, round, and outwardly white, smooth and beetle-shelled like an almond shell; inwardly they are great bellied, bred as it were of moss and mud; they commonly stick in the keel of some old ship. Some say they come of worms, some of the boughs of trees which fall into the sea; if any of them be cast upon shore they die, but they which are swallowed still into the sea, live and get out of their shells, and grow to be ducks or such like birds(!)."

It would be curious to know what could give rise to such an absurd belief.

Speriend.

Note for London Topographers.—

Extracted from Rawlinson MS. A. 170, fol. 132.

J. Yeowell.

The Aliases and Initials of Authors.—It has often occurred to me that it would save much useless inquiry and research, if a tolerable list could be collected of the principal authors who have published their works under assumed names or initials: thus, "R.B. Robert Burton," Nathaniel Crouch, "R.F. Scoto-Britannicus," Robert Fairley, &c. The commencement of a new volume of "N. & Q." affords an excellent opportunity for attempting this. If the correspondents of "N. & Q." would contribute their mites occasionally with this view, by the conclusion of the volume, I have little doubt but a very valuable list might be obtained. For the sake of reference, the whole contributions obtained could then be amalgamated, and alphabetically arranged.

Perthensis.

Pure.—In visiting an old blind woman the other day, I was struck with what to me was a peculiar use of the word pure. Having inquired after the dame's health, and been assured that she was much better, I begged her not to rise from the bed on which she was sitting, whereupon she said, "Thank you, Sir, I feel quite pure this morning."

Oxoniensis.

Oakridge, Gloucestershire.

Darling's "CyclopÆdia Bibliographica."—The utility of Mr. Darling's CyclopÆdia Bibliographica is exemplified by the solution conveyed under the title "Crellius," p. 813, of the following difficulty expressed by Dr. Hey, the Norrisian professor (Lectures, vol. iii. p. 40.):

"Paul Crellius and John Maclaurin seem to have been of the same way of thinking with John Agricola. Nicholls, on this Article [Eighth of the Thirty-nine Articles], refers to Paul Crellius's book De Libertate Christiana, but I do not find it anywhere. A speech of his is in the Bodleian Dialogue, but not this work."

Similar information might have been received by your correspondent (Vol. vii., p. 381.), who inquired whether Huet's Navigations of Solomon was ever published. In the CyclopÆdia reference is made to two collections in which this treatise has been inserted, Crit. Sac., viii.; Ugolinus, vii. 277. With his usual accuracy, Mr. Darling states there are additions in the Critici Sacri printed at Amsterdam, 1698-1732, as Huet's treatise above referred to is not in the first edition, London, 1660.

Bibliothecar. Chetham.