310 NOTES AND QUERIES. [ 12 s.vm. ^0.46,1921. BLACK CAT SUPERSTITION. What is the j origin of the superstition that a black cat < brings good luck ? I shall be glad of any j references to books giving it, or back j numbers of 'N. & Q.,' as I can obtain access j to them in my vicinity. I have searched j Dr. Brewer's handbooks without succsss. A. K. T. [At 10 S. iv. 505; viii. 227, will be found notes on the luckiness of a black cat. At 7 S. viii. 464, is a brief mention of a white cat being unlucky.] REGATTAS. In ' Venice,' by Poinpeo } Molmenti, translated by Horatio F. Brown, (1908) Part III., vol. i., p. 110, it is stated ; that " to ingratiate herself with England, which was ; beginning to make her influence felt in Italy, the Republic [of Venice], in June of 1764, bestowed great honours on Edward Augustus, Duke of j York, who attended the most splendid regatta j which was given in that century." Eleven years afterwards, on June 23, j 1775, according to Toone's ' Chronological Historian,' ii. 260, " an entertainment, called a regatta, borrowed": from the Venetians, was exhibited on the Thames i and at Ranelagh gardens, and, being a new amusement in this country? attracted a great assemblage of persons." The Italian word is " regata," not regatta. Is it an abbreviated form of ' remigata,' now more usually abbreviated into the form " remata,' 2 derived from the Latin " remi- gatio "? JOHN B. WAINE WRIGHT. " Sm RODERICK SPENS." I am de- sirous of finding out in what work the character " Sir Roderick Spens " appears and also who was the author of this work. Is there any reference book published which would give the names of literary characters and the works in which they occurred ? J. M. SOUTHERN. St. Margarets, Marine Parade, Tankerton, Kent. [Our correspondent might find Brewer's
- Reader's Handbook ' generally useful. " Sir
Roderick Spens " is not, however, mentioned there. Could the name, where it occurs, be, by any chance, a clerical error for " Sir Patrick Spens " ?] OLD LONDON : THE CLOTH FAIR. In the year 1606, a book was printed in London " by Simon Stafford, dwelling in the Cloth- Fayre, at the sign of the Three Crownes." In what part of town was the Cloth Fair ? G. B. M. The Lodge, Laleham Road, Cliftonville, Margate. [The Cloth Fair is in West Smithfield. A short account of its history will be found in Wheatley's ' London Past and Present.'] FOUR-BOTTLE MEN. Some of our fore- fathers took a certain pride in being "four- bottle men " able to drink four bottles of port at a sitting and to walk away after it. Can anyone say how much, in comparison with the modern bottle of port, the eighteenth and early nineteenth century bottle of port contained ? MEDINEWS. SOURCE or LINES WANTED. I recently received from a correspondent living in S.E. London the following lines said to be Well known and traditional there :
- ' A loaf of bread to feed the Pope,
A penn'orth of cheese to choke him, A pint of beer to wash it down, And a jolly good fire to roast him." Are these well-known lines ? Are there variants which yield truer rhymes ? In what counties are they known ? THURSTAN MATTHEWS. 27, John Dalton Street, Manchester. [There can hardly fail to be a version ending: " A jolly good fire to smoke him."] DICKSON, BOOKSELLER, EDINBURGH. I seek the name of the parents of James Dickson, who was a bookseller in Edinburgh in 1789. He was one of the gentlemen appointed to receive subscriptions to the fund for the erection of New Buildings for the University of Edinburgh. JAMES SETON-ANDERSON. DRURY AND CASTLE. Major Robert Drury, Will P.C.C. 113 Guy, made at Waterford 15 Sep., 1650, confirming the disposal of his estate in Ireland. Formerly Governor of Dungarvine, Co. Waterford. Mentions brother Robert ^Drury, his son Castle Drury then under age', wife Elizabeth, executrix. Castle Drury, under age in 1650, after- wards of Oxford, admin, of goods granted to relict Anne in P.C.C., 16 Feb., 1720/1. M.L. (Faculty Office, 1632-1714). Jan. 7, 1683/4, Castle Drury and Ann Leech. John Castell of Glatton, Hamts, Esq., will dated 1657 proved P.C.C., 1658 ; leaves 5 to Castell Drury, when 21 years of age. Richard Castell, of St. Michael's, Cornhill, London, Citizen and Woolman, Will dated 1658, proved P.C.C. , 1659 ; leaves 5 to " Cousin Master William Drury." Any further information on this Drury connexion would be much appreciated. H. C. DRURY. 48, Fitzwilliam Square, Dtiblin.
