i2s. vii. OCT. 23, 1920.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
331
L^ESSOE IN NORWAY, LONGEVITY IN.
Eric Pontoppidan, Bishop of Bergen from
1747 to his death in 1764, is said (in Southey's
- Commonplace Book,' fourth series, at
p. 544), to have recorded in his 'Norges Naturlige Historie ' (torn. ii. p. 411), which was published at Copenhaven in 1753, that in the Gudbrandsdal and especially in the parish of Lsessoe, there were persons of -such extreme age, that from a lassitude of longer life, they got themselves removed elsewhere to die the sooner. The Gudbrands- dal or Gudbrandsdalen is well-known, and has about 50,000 inhabitants mainly en- gaged in cattle-breeding: but I have been unable to identify the parish. Perhaps it has another name. Are the Gudbrandsdoler noted for extreme longevity now ?
JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.
AMERICAN WAR, 1776. Can any reader supply me with information as to the exact elate of the fast-day which was ordered in connexion with the British reverses of that year. The fact is said to have made a deep impression upon Charles Simeon, then a boy at school. R. A. A.-L.
PREPARATORY SCHOOLS IN THE EIGH- TEENTH CENTURY Can any reader give me information about Davies who kept a school at Wandsworth, and Cormack, or Cormick who had one at Putney. John Hookham Frere is said to have been at the latter 's.
R. A. A.-L.
A POEM OF SHELLEY. The commentators refer the stanzas of April, 1814, beginning "Away ! the moor is dark beneath the moon," to Shelley's relations with Mrs. Boinville and her daughter. Why does Sir Henry Newbolt ('A New Study of English Poetry,' 64, 103) refer it to his quarrel with Godwin and the subsequent elopement with Mary and Claire ? The dates as usually given do not seem to suit his theory.
G. G. L.
DIXONS OF BEESTON. At 6 S. iv. 200, appears a letter from your then correspondent, R. W. Dixon, of Seaton Carew, co. Durham, from, which it would -appear he was then about to have printed for private circulation a history of the 3)ixons of Beeston, co. York, under the title, 'Dixon Genealogies,' by a member of the Royal Historical Society.
Can any reader inform me if this was actually published and where a copy may 'foe had or inspected ?
Also, with reference to the Dixon arms,
Sa., a fleur-de-lis or, a chief ermine; crest,
an eagle displayed sa. ; motto, Quod dixi
dixi, Fairbairn, and Burke in his ' General
Armory,' both attribute the above crest
to the Dixons of Beeston, but I should be
obliged if any reader could supply me with
information as to the use of this crest by the
Dixon family. The arms are described as
above in many County Histories, &c.. but
not so, to my knowledge, the crest.
H. HARCOURT-DIXON,
Lieut. -Commander.
3 Paper Buildings, Inner Temple, E.C.
HOATHER. Can any one tell me the derivation of this surname ? I am told that it is to be found in Sussex. I have searched works on surnames without result. Please reply direct. C. WATSON.
294 Worple Road, Wimbledon.
THE MAKER OF AN OLD COMMUNION PATEN. Would some one who has access to sources of information on such matters help me to make out the name of the maker of an old paten belonging to the Parish Church of Llysfaen. The other marks are a lion's head erased with the letter B in court hand in escutcheon, and a Britannia, which show that the paten is silver, and that it was made in London in the year 1697-8. The mark of the maker is almost obliterated, but I fancy I can make out R.O. or R.C., with some device above the letters, and all inside a shield. I wonder whether such a book as Mr. C. J. Jackson's 'English Goldsmiths and their Marks ' has any information on these initials.
(Rev.) T. LLECHID JONES.
Llysfaen Rectory, Colwyn Bay.
SPENCER. Jane, daughter of Sir John Spencer of Hodnell, co. Worcester, married Sir William Cope of Hanwell (d. 1513) and was the mother of Sir Anthony Cope of Hanwell and Sir John Cope of Canons Ashby.
I would be glad to have any notes on the pedigree of Sir John Spencer.
A. BARTLETT.
THE EARL OF BANBTJRY : WINCHESTER CASTLE RECORDS : THE DUKE OF WELLING- TON. By the courtesy of Mr. Henry Barber, clerk to the County Council of Southampton, I learn that a mass of papers first lodged at Winchester Castle many years ago, and still there, embraces letters and documents sent from abroad at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries
