448
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. xn. DEC. 4, 1909.
5. Blemmyes, folk with no heads, but a
semblance of a face upon their breasts. Is
there any English expression except " the
headless folk n ?
6. Silphium, the plant, spoken of as a good ingredient for sauces.
I should be most grateful for any sug- gestions that may throw light on these words, as Cairo is not a place where one can get information easily. R. FBANCIS.
Turf Club, Cairo.
JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE. I should be very glad to know something further about a North American poet of the name of Joseph Rodman Drake, born 7 Aug., 1795, died 20 Sept., 1820. He is the author of a poem entitled ' Niagara.'
E. FIGAKOLA-CANEDA.
Compostela 49 (altos), Habana, Cuba.
THE THREE RAVENS AND JAMES I. In an address urging the claims of the Navy League to public support the speaker told a story traceable to Phineas Pette, Pepys's predecessor at the Admiralty to the effect that at a critical moment Pette made a personal appeal to King James I for funds for the Navy. The King turned a deaf ear to all arguments, and Pette was on the point of being sent empty away when a courtier, approaching the royal chair, whispered to King James : " Remember the three ravens in St. Vincent, 3 ' whereupon the King changed his mind and granted the request. Another version of the story gives " the three ravens of Burgos ' ? as the talis- manic words employed.
Can any of your readers throw light upon either reading, and explain the con- nexion of the three ravens with Navy needs or their supply ?
LIONEL G. ROBINSON. Reform Club, S.W.
[A. G Y also sends a query about the ravens of Burgos.]
CHARLES I. MEDALLION. There has come to my hands, descended from my grand- father G. P. R. James, a small gold medallion, concerning which I am desirous of securing more definite and authentic information than I now have at hand. On one side it bears the British coat of arms and the inscription " Honi Soit Qui Male Pence [?] ; and on the reverse the head of King Charles I. in relief. Appended at the bottom is a small locket containing the remnant of some hair, which I believe to be that of King Charles.
On account of several recent deaths among the older members of my family, I have been
up to now unable to trace the history of this
medallion very satisfactorily, but have
personal knowledge that it was in the hands of
my grandmother, who took great care of
it and prized it highly for many years.
I also find information, believed to be
trustworthy, to the effect that it is one of four
of like kind which were made for King
Charles himself while in Scotland, and
presented to some close friends ; but I
lack information as to just when it came to
my family or in what circumstances. I
have also at some time either heard or
read that the others were in England and
their whereabouts known, but that the one
in my hands was lost trace of. J shall be
glad if readers of ' N. & Q,. 1 can aid me in
securing the desired information.
V. W. JAMES.
Chippewa Valley Bank Building, Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
KIPLING IN SPANISH. Which of Kipling's books have appeared in a Spanish transla- tion ? The only one I have by me is ' Cuentos de las Montanas l (' Plain Tales from the Hills '), an excellent version by Don Agustin F. de Laserna, the dramatist. It is singularly free from error, though, to be sure, the famous piebald horse appears as " caballo pio. ?2 The preface places Kipling in juxtaposition with "los cuentos de Can- torbery, los del Tonel, y los de Navidad,'* i.e., ' The Canterbury Tales, 1 ' Tale of a Tub,* and ' Christmas Carol ' rather an odd mixture. JAS. PLATT, Jun.
AUTHOBS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED. I have an idea that the following line comes in one of Samuel Lover's songs. I will not vouch for the verbal accuracy of my version :
Come live in my heart and you '11 pay no rint. Can any reader tell me where to find it ?
W. E. M.
' When I gazed into those stars, have they not looked down on me with pity from their serene spaces, like eyes glistening with heavenly tears over the little lot of man?"
JOHN T. PAGE.
"MOBS SCEPTBA LIGONIBUS JEQUAT."
2an any of your readers inform me whence
- his is taken ? It occurs on a fourteenth-
century wall-painting in Battle Church, . Sussex, and is one of the mottoes on a seventeenth-century engraving of the Ana- tomical Theatre of Leyden. I have seen it ascribed to, but cannot find it in, Lucan.
F. P. WEBEB.
