9*s. vi. JULY 2i, 1900.] NOTES AND QUERIES. would be' useful and interesting to others besides myself. W. ROBERTS. CURIOUS NAUTICAL EPITAPH.—The Middle- sex Journal and Evening Advertiser for 2-4 Sept., 1777, records the curious epitaph as below :— " The following inscription is on the tombstone of a Hoy man in i'avershain Church-yard, in Kent: Tho' Broreas's [KIT] blasts and Neptune's waves Have toss'd me to and fro, In spite of both, by God's decree, I harbour here below; Where I do now at anchor ride With many of our fleet; Yet once .-iv.iin we must set sail, Oar Admiral Christ to meet. This may be original, although it seems familiar to me elsewhere, but possibly of later date, W. I. R. V. [A slightly different version appears 8th S. xii. 212. See also Indexes to Seventh and Eighth Series under ' Epitaphs: Admiral Christ.'] "THE FIRST RATE."—Quoting from Henry Mackenzie's 'Life of Home' in his 'Church History of Scotland,' ii. 508, Dr. Cunningham writes :— "'The town,' says Dr. Carlyle (and ' I can vouch how truly,' says Henry Mackenzie), 'was in an uproar of exultation [over John Home's ' Douglas'] that a Scotsman should write a tragedy of the first rate, and that its merits were first submitted to them." This illustrates the use of " rate" in the sense of value, rank, order, as applied in the year 1756, when 'Douglas' was first acted in Edinburgh. It would be interesting to have other, and especially later, examples. Shakespeare, of course, employs the word in this sense, as, e.g., in 'Midsummer Night's Dream,' III. i. 161 :— I am a spirit of no common rate. THOMAS BAYNE. WK must request correspondents desiring infor- mation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers maybe addressed to them direct. DEED OF ATHELSTAN.—In Bishop Briwere's deed of dedication (1238) of the church of St. Buryan, in Cornwall, is what purports to be a copy of Athelstan's deed of infeuda- tion of the same church. The date of this latter is given as A.D. 943, " xix" Cicli vij°, Indiccione ij", Concurrente vij", Epacta xij", mei Imperil vj10, Cicli Lunaris v1", xj Luna, pridie Nonas Octobris." The same dates appear in MS. Ee. 5, 34, Cambridge Uni- versity Library. This MS. is the same as is described by Sir Henry Ellis (notes to Ta_n- ner's ' Notitia' in Da vies Gilbert's ' Parochial History of Cornwall,' vol. iv. p. 322) as " Frag- mentum registri tempore Roberti Knollys decani viz. ab anno 1473 ad annum 1485." The date 943 is, of course, impossible, Athel- stan being then dead. The date ordinarily assigned for Athelstan's conquest of Scilly, which tradition alleges as the moving cause of his foundation of the college of St. Buryan, is 939, but that date does not tally with the other dates given above. The witnesses (according to the copy printed by Prebendary Hinges ton-Randolph on p. 84 of his edition of Bishop Grandisson's 'Register') include Hulshilmus, Ethelfel, and Radulfus, arch- bishops (who respectively add Consensi, affirruavi, and annul). In the Cambridge MS. the list of witnesses is not complete, but the first two appear as Huselmus and Ecketsel (or Ecketset). The first is Hulshil- mus or Wulselmus, Archbishop of Canterbury. I thought the next might be Oskytel, Arch- bishop of York, but his rule as such did not, I believe, begin until 956. Will some reader of ' N. & Q. who has a library kindly assist me as to the date and identity of witnesses ( The only other name in the Cambridge MS. is Elsihe, Dux, who also occurs in the Exeter copy. I venture to suggest to some good friends that such works as the 'Dictionary of National Biography' have not yet found their way into the libraries of this far-away part, Cornwall. YOREC. " ESK-LITS."—This is a local name applied to the spring which is the source of the Esk. It is surmised that the word " lits" may mean springs. Does "lits" occur in any other local name in the north of Yorkshire ? A. L. MAYHEW. Oxford. GENERAL CHARLES GEORGE GORDON, C.B. — Can any of your readers give the date of the Times newspaper which contained a speech by Lord Cairns on the career of General Charles George Gordon? It was delivered about the year 1884. AUGUSTUS HAKE. North End Lodge, St. John's Wood, N.W. LAMB FAMILY.—Philip Lamb married, circa 1740, Ann , and had one son, Philip, and three daughters, Elizabeth, Ann, and Sophia, all baptized at Ombersley, co. Worcester. Wanted to know his parentage and surname of his wife, date and place of birth, marriage, Ac. F. LAMB. Glenalden, Leamington Park, Acton, W.
