230
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. v. MARCH 24, im
in the history of Scotland 1 Sir, or Lord,
William Douglas called the Black went on
a crusade against the heathen Prussians in
the year 1389. He is said to have defended
Danzig, and on account of his valour to have
received the title of Duke of Spruce and
Prince of Danzig. Great privileges were
granted to his followers, and his coat of arms
was displayed over one of the town gates up
to the eighteenth century. It is related that
he was murdered by Lord Clifford or assas-
sins hired by him. All this seems highly
improbable. We have only the authority of
Hume of Godscroft for it. Fraser in his
- Douglas Book ' expresses himself doubtful ;
German sources deny the facts altogether. What is the truth 1 E. L. FISCHER.
[Consult the 'Diet. Nat. Biog.']
THOMAS SALISBURY. I have been told that Thomas Salisbury, one of the conspirators with Babbington in 1586, was arrested by his friend John Poole. Can any of your readers give me the authority for this statement 1 M. ELLEN POOLE.
Alsager, Cheshire.
WISDOM FAMILY. Any information on this family and its origins will be welcome. The earliest reference to it I can find is a Capt. Wisdom, who was one of the officers of Crom- well's army which invaded Scotland.
J. M. BULLOCH.
118, Pall Mall.
NELSON'S HOUSE AT MERTON. Any parti- culars of the house at Merton in which Lord Nelson and Sir William and Lady Hamilton resided will be gratefully received. Are there any engravings of the house left ; and by what name was it known ? NELSONITE.
BATTLE SHEAVES. In the opening part of 1 The Battle of Life ' Dickens vividly describes an old battle-field, and says that on it there were
"deep green patches that people looked at
awfully and it was known that underneath
those fertile spots, heaps of men and horses lay
buried indiscriminately and the sheaves they
yielded were, for many a long year, called the Battle Sheaves, and set apart ; and no one ever knew a Battle Sheaf to be among the last load at a Harvest Home."
Is there any English battle-field where this
idea survives, and where battle sheaves are
still set apart 1 JAMES HOOPER.
Norwich.
DOMINICAN ORDER. What were the arms (if any) of this order ? In what work can I see a drawing of the "Dog with a candle" badge of the order ? L. LLOYD.
AN UNCLAIMED POEM BY BEN JONSON.
(9 th S. iv. 491 ; v. 34, 77.)
I AM obliged to MR. SIMPSON for the refer- ence to Chetwood's book, with which I was not acquainted. However, I do not think I have lost much thereby, for on consulting Lowndes, I find that William Rufus Chet- wood bears an unenviable reputation. " This author," he says, "is styled by George Steevens a blockhead and a measureless and bungling liar." Gifford, in the note quoted by MR. SIMP- SON, which does not appear in the one-volume edition of Jonson's works, complains that Chetwood seldom mentions his authorities. This is evidently a case in point. Had Chet- wood quoted Camden's * Remaines,' second edition, pp. 381-2, published 1614, I venture to say that Gifford, who was well aware of the affection that existed between the master and his pupil, would have discovered so much "of our author's manner in the composition " that he would have included it among his poems. It is altogether incredible that Cam- den, who knew Jonson's style well, should have selected for special honour an epitaph, "patched up from different poems" by his friend, which was the work of some plagiarist, on a subject of the greatest interest to both of them, whilst the father of the dead prince was still on the throne, on whose favour each placed the utmost reliance. Even MR. SIMP- SON sees the force of the argument, which he tries to invalidate by a reference to " the silence of the 1616 folio." If he fancies that that volume contains all the poet's writings up to date, he is much mistaken. In his ' Memoirs of Ben Jonson,' p. 68, Gifford says :
"Some time elapsed, after the death of our author, before any of his later productions ap- peared ; two small editions of his minor pieces were at length sent to the press in 1640, and in the sub- sequent year a wretched reprint of the first folio, and a second volume of the same size, containing his dramatic pieces from 1612, several masques, and all that could be found of his occasional poetry, were published together."
In a letter, quoted by the same editor, p. 39, written to W. Druminond, Jonson mentions that he is composing a poem on the death of Queen Ann, the consort of James and the mother of I 3 rince Henry ; but the verses are lost, as those on her son would have been had not Camden preserved them in his valuable pages. Some of Jonson's most ad- mired productions, such as the two poems on Shakespeare and others, were collected from scattered publications. MR. SIMPSON is there- fore singularly unfortunate in asserting that
