460
NOTES AND QUERIES, [ii s. XL JUNE 12, 1915.
be forgiven. About the year 1750 a Mr. Hancock,
a descendant of the family [seven of whom died of
the plague at Eyam in 1666, and are commemorated
by the " Biley gravestones "], discovered, or rather
recovered, the art of covering ingots of copper with
plate silver, which were afterwards flattened under
rollers, and manufactured into a variety of articles
in imitation of wrought silver plate. This business
he introduced into the town of Sheffield, where it
has since become one of its most important and
lucrative concerns. Birmingham has attempted
to rival this elegant manufacture, but with the
exception of the Soho establishment its preten-
sions are humble. I have not hesitated to use the
term recovered as applicable to the art of which
Mr. Joseph Hancock has been considered the
founder, for I am well aware that the practice of
covering one metal with another more precious is
of great antiquity " ;
and Rhodes goes on to instance the use of candlesticks of similar manufacture temp. Henry VII. W. B. H.
" SCUMMER "' (11 S. xi. 398). The common name for a privateer or a pirate ship in Dutch or Flemish, as the language was called in the reign of Edward III. was and is " zee-schuimer."
A " kog," or " koggeschip," was the usual name for a merchantman at that period in the Netherlands.
Flemish was the common language of Dunkirk, Calais, and even Boulogne, in those days. On both sides of the Channel words were freely borrowed and annexed, aid bravely frenchified by the scribes. These facts may help to explain the interesting notes out of the King's Remembrancer's Accounts quoted by Q. V. at the reference above.
I cannot agree with Q. V.'s second foot-note. It seems to me that the " delf " was used to enable the " Cogge Johan " to rejoin the fleet : " amener a [la] Flotte. " Amesner " for getting afloat seems almost too slipshod even for our casual ancestor scribes of the fourteenth century. And why the capital if meant for afloat ? W. DEL COURT.
TUBULAR BELLS IN CHURCH STEEPLES (11 S. xi. 250, 307, 408). In Church Bells for 12 July, 1873, under ' A Substitute for Church Bells,' is a paragraph in which Dr. Ferdinand Rahles, of Malvern House, South Hackney, suggests the use of steel bars as a substitute for church bells. They had already been introduced in the United States and Germany with great success, and the writer continues :
" There is not only a large area for them in Eng- land, but a great demand may be expected from the flourishing colonies of Canada, Australia, New /ealand,and India, as soon as they are known in
those regions ...... Steel bars produce a very pure,
distinct, and particularly melodious sound over church bells of moderate size. Their weight will be light in comparison to the present ponderous productions ...... They are not liable to crack, and
are, therefore, adapted for use in any climate. By a simple and mechanical contrivance they are more easily set in motion. The cost, compared with manufactured cast bells, is trivial. Three or four steel bars, forming a peal whose weight would not exceed 100 Ibs., could be manufactured for 111. or 12?., whereas only three cast bells of the same power would at least amount to 50/. or 60."
The editorial note on this is what one would expect :
" If the only object be to make a noise, for calling
eople to church, or for occasions of rejoicing, no oubt steel bars would answer well enough ; so would a lot of old frying pans : but neither one nor the other would be bells ; therefore it is vanity ta talk of such substitutes."
This industry was established in England within a few years of the above notice. In G. R. Park's * Church Bells of Holderness r (1898), p. 60, I find under ' Sproatley ' :
" In 1888, on the restoration of the church, a set of tubular bells, the gift of the rector (Rev. C. J. ^Yal]), was placed in the tower of the church, pro- vided by Harrington & Co. of Coventry.'
Tubular " bells " have not been generally adopted in parish churches, notwithstanding the advantages claimed for them. Mr. H. B. Walters, F.S.A., in his ' Church Bells of Shropshire,' published this year, says that there are in that county six sets of tubular or hemispherical " bells, ' ; numbering forty-six in all. He supplies the names of the churches- where these are hung, but says nothing about the firms who supplied them. Those hanging. in the Roman Catholic church in Upper North Street, Brighton, used to be more resonant than agreeable. I do not think, any one could call their tone sweet.
C. DEEDES.
Chichester.
NANCY DAWSON (11 S. xi. 400).
Dawson was the daughter of Emmanuel
Dawson, a porter, bom in the neighbourhood
of Clare Market, about 1730. After the
death of her mother, she was deserted by
her father, and at the age of 16 she seems to
have commenced her career as a dancer. A
contemporary writer says : " She was ex-
tremely agreeable in her figure, and the
novelty of her dancing added to it, her
excellent execution soon made her a, favourite
in the town." She gained her celebrity
largely through dancing in Gay's ' Begga.r's-
Opera ' during its run in October, 1759 ;
the tune to which she danced was afterwards
set to words under the title ' The Ballad of
