468 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9"‘S-V1-DEC-15- 1900- l queror to the Brahmans was, “Which men are the more numerous, those that are dead or those that are alive? ” YVILLIAM E. A. AxoN. Moss Side, Manchester. Quzrizs. WI: must rerkuest correspondents desiring infor- mation on faml y matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries,
- in order that the answers may be addressed to them
Irec . Passaes IN Cnaucsn.-Can any of your readers inform me of the poem, and art of it, of Chaucer in which occurs the following passage?- 'I‘here is no Workman _ That can both worken hastilie; This must be done at leisure, perfect-lie. I shall feel obliged if any one will send me the reference to m address. I have looked in vain throu h Chaucer. Vlll K. W. CHAFY, D.D. Rous Lench Court, Evesham. _ WEBB FAMILY.-Can any of your readers Inform me of the Parentage of Nathaniel Webb, at one time o Busbridge Surre I, who married, about the year 1780, Ellen Hlarriet, yfunger daughter and co-heir of Benjamin oare, of Boreham, Essex? Any particulars respecting Mr. and Mrs. Webb would be very acceptable to me. They left an only daughter, who resided at Har ledown, near Canter- bury. H, “MUMBLE A SPARROW.”-ACCOPdlDg to the ‘ Lexicon Balatronicum ’ (1811) this w » 88 “ a cruel sport practised at wakes and fairs. A cock sparrow whose wings are clip ied is put into the crown of a hat ; a man, having his arms tied behind him, attemsts to bite off the sRarrow’s head. but is generallylo llgcd todesist by t e many ecks and plnches e receives from the enraged birdl” Can any one tell me in what Part of England this cruel sport was practise( ? A. L. MAYHI-:w. Oxford. RICHARD Cosway.-Can any reader kindly inform me whether the above engraved the characters from Thomson’s ‘Seasons ’? I have a small oval vignette entitled ‘Palemon,’ much in Cosay’s style, but it is unsigned. It was published b T. Read, Coventry Court, Haymarket, 1 gecember 1789 _ H. SOTHERN. VVhItton Road, Twickenham. PAPERS or HUDSON GURNEY.-CRD any one tell me where the papers of Hudson Gurney, who died at Keswick Hall, November, 1864, are now kept? I know that he left no child, and that some of his writings_are only to be published fifty years after hIs death. But could the letters addressed to him by his Italian friends be inspected? He wrote also a translation of Ariosto’s ‘ Orlando FurIoso.’ EUGENIA LEVI. Via degli Alfani, 44, Florence. Taov WEIGHT Fon BREAD.-In a “Proclamation for Vaightes published _by the Queenes Maiesties commaundement ...... Giuen at our House of Somerset Place, the xvi. day of Decem- ber. In the thirtieth yeere of our Rexgne [l588], ’ it is provided that “no person. ..... sbal vse any Troy waight......but onely for waighing of Bread, _Gold, Siluer, and Electuaries, and for no other thing.” What was the reason for bread not being sold, like meat and butter, by avolrdupoxs Is it known whether troy weight was used In other countries for bread? And when did bread become (wer de pots ? Q. V. JAPANESE FOLK-Loan: LAUNCIIING A Waa- SHIP.-When the Ja anese warship Mikasa was launched at lgarrow -in - Furness on 8 November, a large globe of paper was hung well in front of the vessel, and so soon as the ship was safely in the water the (pieces form- ing the globe were released, an out flew a number of white pigeons. After a short High? many of them returned to the vessel. This am told, is a very inauspicious event, for the birds ou ht not to come back. The Daily Graphic lied an illustration of the launc just at the time the pigeons were leaving their paper cage, but In e no remark on the meaning. Is this custom rightli-explained by my informant? S. PETTY. Ulverston. BIONTAGUE.-Will any of your readers kindly inform me if t ere exist any dc- scendants of Richard Montague, Bishop of Chichester, 1628, translated to Norwic 1638, died 1641? A Gerrard Montague di 7 October, 1806 aged iiftyione, and 18 buried at Burlingham Bt. Peter, orfolk. The arms on his monument are the same as were borne by the bishop, viz., Argent, a fesse of five lozenges gules. Is it known whether any portrait exists of the bishop? CHARLES lVILLIAMS, F.R.C.S. Norwich. . TII.cKEaAY’s ‘BOUILLABAISSE.’- Can you inform me where I can find an unexpur- ated copy of Thackcray’s great classic ‘The Bouillabaissc’? In every copy that I have seen of late years there is a verse left out.
