B. L. M.—What is the meaning of the abbreviation B. L. M. in Italian epistolary correspondence? I have reason to believe that it is used where some degree of acquaintance exists, but not in addressing an entire stranger. In a correspondence now before me, one of the writers, an Italian gentleman, uses it in the subscription to every one of his letters, except the first, thus:

I need not add more examples. There is nothing in Graglia's Collection of Italian Letters that explains it.

J. W. T.

Dewsbury.

Member of Parliament electing himself.—In the biographical notices of the author of an Inquiry into the Rise and Growth of the Royal Prerogative in England, 1849, I find the following curious circumstances:

"The writ for election (of a member for the county of Bute) was transmitted to the sheriff, Mr. M‘Leod Bannatine, afterwards Lord Bannatine. He named the day, and issued his precept for the election. When the day of election arrived, Mr. Bannatine was the only freeholder present. As freeholder he voted himself chairman of the meeting; as sheriff he produced the writ and receipt for election, read the writ and the oaths against bribery at elections; as sheriff he administered the oaths of supremacy, &c., to himself as chairman; he signed the oaths as chairman and as sheriff; as chairman he named the clerk to the meeting, and called over the roll of freeholders; he proposed the candidate and declared him elected; he dictated and signed the minutes of election; as sheriff he made an indenture of election between himself as sheriff and himself as chairman, and transmitted it to the crown office."

Can any of your correspondents furnish me with a similar case?

H. M.

Peckham.

"Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re."—This rule is strongly recommended by Lord Chesterfield in one of his letters, as "unexceptionably useful and necessary in every part of life." Whence is it taken, and who is its author?

J. W. T.

Dewsbury.

Jacobite Garters.—Can any of your readers inform me of the origin of the "rebel garters," a pair of which I possess, and which have been carefully handed down with other Stuart relics by my Jacobin fathers?

They are about 4 feet long, and 1¼ inch deep, of silk woven in the loom; the pattern consists of a stripe of red, yellow, and blue, once repeated, and arranged so that the two blue lines meet in the centre. At each end, for about six or seven inches, and at spaces set at regular intervals, these lines of colour are crossed, so as to form a check or tartan; the spaces corresponding with the words in the following inscription, and one word being allotted to each space:

"Come lett us with one heart agree"

and it is continued on the other:

"To pray that God may bless P. C."

The tartan, however, does not appear to be the "Royal Stuart."

Probably they were distributed to the friends and adherents of poor Prince Charles Edward, to commemorate some special event in his ill-fated career. But it would be interesting to know if many of them remain, and, if possible, their correct history.

E. L. I.

Daughters taking their Mothers' Names.—Can any of your readers favour me with any instances, about the time of the first, second, and third Edwards, of a daughter adding to her own name that of the mother, as Alicia, daughter of Ada, &c.

Buriensis.

General Fraser.—Have there been any Life or Memoirs ever published of General Fraser, who fell in Burgoyne's most disastrous campaign? If any such exist I should be glad to know of them.

W. Fraser.

Tor-Mohun.

A Punning Divine.—Wanted the whereabouts of the following sentence, which is said to be taken from a volume of sermons published during the reign of James I.:

"This dial shows that we must die all; yet notwithstanding, all houses are turned into ale houses; our cares into cates; our paradise into a pair o' dice; matrimony into a matter of money, and marriage into a merry age; our divines have become dry vines; it was not so in the days of Noah,—O no!"

W. W.

Malta.

Contango.—A technical term in use among the sharebrokers of Liverpool, and I presume elsewhere, signifying a sum of money paid for accommodating either a buyer or seller by carrying the engagement to pay money or deliver shares over to the next account-day. Can your correspondents say from whence derived?

Agmond.

Pedigree to the Time of Alfred.—Wapshott, a blacksmith in Chertsey, holds lands held by his ancestors temp. Alfred (M‘Culloch's Highlands, vol. iv. p. 410.). Can this statement be confirmed in 1853?

A. C.

"Service is no inheritance."—Will you or any of your readers have the goodness to inform me what is the origin of the adage occurring twice in the Waverley Novels, thus:

"Service, I wot, is no inheritance now-a-days; some are wiser than other some," &c. (See Peveril of the Peak, chap. xiv.)

and

"Ay, St. Ronan's, that is a' very true,—but service is nae inheritance, and as for friendship it begins at hame."—St. Ronan's Well, chap. x.

I have seen a stone in an old building in the north of Scotland, with the following inscription, cut in letters of an ancient form: "Be gude in office, or (or perhaps 'for,' part of the stone being here broken off) servitude is no inheritance to none." And I am curious to know the origin of this proverb, so similar to that put by Sir Walter Scott in the mouths of two of his homely characters; the one English and the other Scotch. An answer will very much oblige

G. M. T.

Edinburgh.

Antiquity of Fire-irons.—In an old book, published 1660, I met with the following couplet:

Query, When were fire-irons first used?

Aliquis.

General Wolfe at Nantwich.—I observe in the pamphlet entitled Historical Facts connected with Nantwich and its Neighbourhood, lately referred to in "N. & Q.," it is stated that according to local tradition General Wolfe, the hero of Quebec, may in his boyhood have lived in the Yew Tree House, near Stoke Hall. Now as this brave warrior was a native of Kent, it is scarcely probable he would have been a visitor at the house alluded to, unless he had relatives who resided there. Is he known to have had any family connexion in that quarter, since the fact of his having had such, if established, would tend to confirm the traditionary statement respecting his domicile at the Yew Tree House?

T. P. L.

Manchester.

"Corporations have no Souls," &c.—It was once remarked that public corporations, companies, &c. do harsh things compared with what individuals can venture to do, the fact being that they have neither noses to be pulled nor souls to be saved; you have no hold upon them either in this world or the next.

B.

Leeming Family.—A member of the Society of Friends, named Thomas Leeming, lived at or near Wighton in the Wolds, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, between the years 1660 and 1670. What were the dates of his birth and death? what were the names of his parents, his brothers, and his children? did any of them leave their native country? and how would a letter from the inquirer reach a descendant of the family, who could furnish farther information on the subject? An answer to the whole or part of the above Queries will much oblige the undersigned.

W.

MS. Poems and Songs.—In the third volume of Mr. Payne Collier's invaluable History Of English Dramatic Poetry, p. 275., it is stated,—

"Mr. Thorpe, of Bedford Street, is in possession of a MS. full of songs and poems, in the handwriting of a person of the name of Richard Jackson, all copied prior to the year 1631, and including many unpublished pieces by a variety of celebrated poets."

Can any of the contributors to "N. & Q." oblige P.C.S.S. by informing him where this MS. now exists, and whether the whole, or any portion of it, has been published?

P. C. S. S.

Bishop Watson.—In a lecture delivered by this bishop at Cambridge, he gave the following quotation:

"Scire ubi aliquid invenire posses, ea demum maxima pars eruditionis est."