which seeme more pale and wan to them then to us.-Book ii. c. xii. p. 307, col. 1. Flamineo...they that have the yellow jaundice think all objects they look on to be yellow. Jealousy is worser: her fits present to a man, like so many bubbles in a bason of water, twenty several crabbed faces, &c. The White Devil,' 11. 213-17, p. 8, col. 1. In Northward Ho,' written by Webster and Decker, Bellamont says:— Jealous men are either knaves or coxcombs; be you neither you wear yellow hose without cause. -I. iii. 48-50, p. 254, col. 1. And in the next page we find this : Bellamont. Art not thou ashamed to be seen come out of a prison? Philip. No, God's my judge; but I was ashamed to go into prison.-I. iii. 186-9, p. 255, col. 2. This is surely a recollection of one of Montaigne's stories : For as Aristippus (speaking to some young men who blushed to see him go into a bawdy house) said, "The fault was not in entring, but in comming out again."-Book iii. c. v. p. 450, col. 2. CHARLES CRAWFORD. (To be continued.) And many more fine things we see As when the sun should set and rise, And when the moon should change. I did not like to stand so near When all these things I heard, waye of preface, I thought yt not amysse* to satisfye hys godly purpose herein, wherby to incyte y studious mynds of such as have leysure to reade, to ye diligent perusyng hereof, and so much yo more, for that perceauyng y co'tents of thys treatyse collected as principall floweres out of so lerned wryters, I thynk ye same not so very frutfull and noble only, but rather neadeful specially for yo stayng of them weh want co'fort and consolation,† according as, I nothing doubt but by readyng herof, thou shalt better understand thyself, gentle reader, nether countyng any labour lost, nor tyme myspent co'ferred and employed in ye brewyng and tastyug heroff." The Archbishop of York is no doubt Edmund Grindal, who became Bishop of London in July, 1559, and Archbishop of York in 1570. After Parker's death he was elected Archbishop of Canterbury in January, 1575. The book would therefore probably be issued early in the period 1570-5, and, from the sympathies both of Grindal and Foxe, would, it may be expected, be a Puritan compilation. I have failed to identify it. WILLIAM E. A. AXON. Manchester. "To PLY." What is the etymology of For I thought in my heart it was the black art, the verb to ply "-I mean the verb And I was a little afeard. of "to ply" when used for "to practise, to practise diligently, to use diligently, to do repeatedly," as when we speak 'plying a task," "plying the needle," or of a steamer "plying between Harwich and Antwerp"? The dictionaries usually identify this word with the Fr. plier, "to fold, to bend," Lat. plicare, "to fold." But there are difficulties in the way of this derivation, for the French word is nowhere to be found in the sense of "to practise," and its meanings "to fold, to bend," are difficult to connect with the aforementioned senses of the English" ply." I think there are grounds for maintaining with Dr. Johnson that this verb ply, "to practise," is not of Romanic but of Germanic origin. There is no doubt that there did once exist in North German dialects a verb identical in form with ply, and used in the sense of "to practise," a verb distinct in origin from Fr. plier. I have been reading lately 'Reinaert,' the famous beast-epic written by the Flemish poet Willems in the thirteenth century. In this poem there constantly occurs the verb plien interchanged with pleghen, and glossed by the German editor, E. Martin, by 66 pflegen, üben." So this Low German plien is closely connected in form with G. pflegen, Alternative reading, not deleted, "labour not amysse bestowed." † Alternative reading, not deleted, "wch stand in nead of lerned." and is identical therewith in meaning. The the somewhat disconcerting inference of the same word occurs in Old English in the forms essayist. Besides, an unconscious utterance pleon, plion (in third per. sing. pliho, plid); of any description should not be accorded see Sievers's 'A.-S. Grammar (ed. 1898), literary value. THOMAS BAYNE. Index. But the O.E. word seems to have become obsolete, and our "ply" in the sense of " to practise " is probably an importation from the Low Countries. It seems to be a comparatively late word in English. A. L. MAYHEW. 'THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.'-Every one knows, at least through copies and engravings, some little of what this famous picture of Holman Hunt's is like, and from an artistic and, I suppose, symbolical standpoint also, it is deservedly a world's picture; but how came it to be 'The Light of the World'? My impression is that the artist labelled it Behold, I stand at the door and knock"; but I have seen recently (I think in The Times) some letters referring to a duplicate lately painted, and, unless my memory deceives me, calling it by this other name. Has it been pointed out that such a name is quite inapplicable? If the light illuminating the picture were from the halo, and the idea in the picture was John i. 4, 5, the name would be all right; but to call a figure standing in a darkness neither it nor its halo illumines, and with a lantern from which the light proceeds, 'The Light of the World,' seems to be worse than an absurdity, for it directly misleads from the real idea. I find nothing in N. & Q' touching on this, and the picture is so beautiful that I think this note on it may not be out of place there. LUCIS. "ROBERT BURNS'S LAST WORDS."-Writing on Sentence of Death' in the little volume of thoughtful essays which he entitles 'The Sensitive, and other Pieces,' Mr. Manning Foster has this passage: "It is a great thing to know how to die at the right time. Napoleon, for instance, should, of course, have finished at Waterloo, instead of dragging out an ineffectual existence at St. Helena, while one can hardly bear to think that the last days of Walter Scott should have been passed in a sordid struggle to satisfy his harpy creditors, or that Robert Burns's last words should have been a curse on a dunning tailor." This is a somewhat lurid version of the report given by the poet's son of his father's supreme moments. For some time before the end the sufferer, it would appear, was in a state of delirium, and "his last expression," says young Robert, who was in the mourning group at the bedside, muttered reference to the threatening letter he had received from the clothier's lawagent." There is nothing in this to warrant was a an M. This abbreviation for Monsieur is. some French writers-e.g., M. de Bismark, Streatham Common. "THE LIGHTS OF LONDON." - The recent references at 10th S. iii. 428, 476, to the wellknown play The Lights o' London,' produced by the late Mr. Wilson Barrett at the Princess's Theatre, Oxford Street, in the early autumn of 1881, suggest an inquiry as to when the phrase was first used. On this Gazette of 14 April, 1887, which, I think, head a note appeared in The St. James's deserves reprinting: The "It is always interesting to trace the genesis of a popular phrase; and one of the reminiscences narrated in the autobiographical sketch Sir John Millais this week presented to a Sheffield audience forms part of the history of one of them. artist told how, when a child, he was conveyed by coach from Southampton to London; and that, as the metropolis was approached, he observed a great red glow in the sky which was new to him, and he asked his mother what it was. replied, those are the Lights of London.' My boy,' she The exact date of this occurrence was not mentioned; but, as Sir John was born in 1829, it may be conspeech, that it was in 1837 or 1838 that the coachcluded, from other circumstances mentioned in the ride was undertaken and the particular expression. used. It would, therefore, be interesting to know whether Mrs. Millais had been reading Oliver Twist,' which was in course of publication in Bentley's Magazine during those years; for it was after passing through Highgate Archway on their tramp * In Bohemian mistr is the title of those who have passed M.A.-e.g., Mistr Jan Hus. along the Great North Road that Noah Claypole replied to his sweetheart's question, 'Is it much further?' with Look there! those are the Lights of London.' Mr. Sims revived the phrase, with an unmeaning alteration, in the title of his play The Lights o' London' at the Princess's, nearly six years ago; and it now, therefore, has some part in the history of three forms of art-the literary, the dramatic, and the pictorial." But the idea goes back farther than is thus traced, for Byron, in the eleventh canto of Don Juan,' stanzas xxvi.-xxviii., waxed almost ecstatic over the lights of London, in the lines beginning : The line of lights, too, up to Charing Cross, Match'd with the Continent's illumination. DUPLICATE WILL REGISTERS.-During the Vacation, when Somerset House is closed to literary men, it may save some of my fellowgenealogists a long wait if they know that a register belonging to the Commissary Court of London, covering the years 1792-4, is in the Public Record Office, where for the same period is a register of the Consistory Court of London. The official references are Treasury, Miscel. Various, 181 and 182. GERALD FOTHERGILL. 11, Brussels Road, New Wandsworth. 66 ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND WHATELY.-I have somewhere read that the great American President, when a deputation during the Civil War ventured on the remark, We trust, sir, that God is on our side," replied, "It is more important to know that we are on God's side." This seems to have been (and the parallel is striking) an unconscious replica of Whately's well-known saying, "It is one thing to wish to have truth on our side, and another thing to wish to be on the side of truth." 66 J. B. McGovern. St. Stephen's Rectory, C.-on-M., Manchester. CHARLES I.'S EXECUTION.-I do not know whether attention has been called to the bearing of the tract named below on the controversy respecting the mode of decapitation of Charles I. Brown Bushell was executed on Tower Hill, by beheading, on Saturday last, being the 29 of March, 1651." This works out correctly. The Dict. Nat. Biog.' makes it 29 April, which was Tuesday. The British Museum copy (1132 a. 48; another copy K. 1 a. 8) of The Speech And Confession of Capt. Brown-Bushel,' &c., 1651, quarto, has a woodcut on the title-page representing him as stretched at full length, his head projecting beyond a very low block. In the minute account which the tract, "by G. H., an Eye-witnesse," gives of the execution, is a dialogue between Bushell and the headsman, in which this occurs (p. 5): "Is this the Block and Ax which my late Royal Master received the fatal blow from? yes Sir, these are the same." The account further states that Bushell produced a "Red Scarf," measuring five yards by three, which was laid upon and "covered the Block and all the Sawdust," and became, by Bushell's gift, the property of the headsman. V. H. I. L. I. C. I. V. Queries. WE must request correspondents desiring information on family matters of only private interest to affix their nanies and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct. SIR T. WILKINSON.-Of the many Government officers who have served in the Chota Nagpur country, the name of one, Capt. T. Wilkinson (locally known as Olkissen Saheb), is remembered by the people to this day. Capt. T. Wilkinson came to Chota Nagpur as Political Agent in 1832, and subsequently was made Agent to the Governor-General for the South-West Frontier Agency, which included Chota Nagpur. In 1839 Capt. (then Major, I think) Wilkinson was transferred to Burra Nagpur, and for several years filled the post of Resident at the Court of the local chief. Subsequently he was knighted. such exists) to hang up in the Court Room I want to procure a copy of his portrait (if of the Commissioner at Ranchi. I have failed to trace any portrait in India, though I have been informed that one exists, and therefore I venture to write and ask you if you would be so good as to help me to ascertain whether any portrait of Sir T. Wilkinson exists in the British Isles. F. A. SLACKE, Mr. Hodge n'a pu me dire quel était ce Durand, et m'adresse à vous. Je serais très désireux de savoir ce que sont devenus ces volumes, et je voudrais trouver quelqu'un qui fit des recherches à mon compte afin de les retrouver. Pouvez-vous m'aider en cela? J. ECORCHEVILLE. Paris, 2, Rue Jean Bologne. CHAUCER AND THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES ABOUT 1590.—I should be much obliged if any of your readers could give me information which would enable me to trace the two following allusions. In the letter of Francis Beaumont (the judge, father of the dramatist) to his very loving friend" Thomas Speght, which is prefixed to the latter's edition (1598) of Chaucer's works, occur the following words: 46 : "And here I cannot forget to remember unto you those auncient learned men of our time in Cambridge, whose diligence in reading of his workes themselves, and commending them to others of the younger sorte, did first bring you and mee in love with him: and one of them at that time was and now is (as you knowe) one of the rarest schollers of the worlde. The same may bee saide of that worthy man for learning, your good friend in Oxford, who with many other of like excellent iudgement have ever had Chaucer in most high reputation....From Leicester the last of Iune......1597."-Sign. a iv. b and a v. In the edition (1602) of Chaucer's works (sign. a vj.) the words are slightly different: "And one of them at that time, and all his life after, was (as you know) one of the rarest men for learning in the whole world." The latter reading seems to suggest that the scholar referred to was then dead. Beaumont himself died in 1598, so the alteration was probably made before that date. Both he and Speght were at Peterhouse between 1564 and 1570-Beaumont as a fellow-commoner of his college in 1564, Speght as a sizar in 1566. The Cambridge scholar might mean Archbishop Whitgift, at that time a rising man in the university, or possibly William Whitaker, though he must have been rather young to be a scholar in the sixties. I have no idea who "your good friend in Oxford may have been. EVELYN Fox. IZARD.-Ralph Izard, son of Ralph Izard, of Charlestown, South Carolina, was admitted to Westminster School 17 September, 1764, and to Trinity College, Cambridge, as а fellow commoner, 28 May, 1770. Walter Izard was admitted to Westminster School 15 September, 1766. Can American or other correspondents of N. & Q' give me any details of the careers of these Izards? G. F. R. B. 'EDWARD AND ELLEN.'-Who wrote 'Edward and Ellen, a Tale, and other Poems'? Dedicated by permission to H.R.H. the Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Cobourg. Published by Walker & Edwards, London, 1817. F. JESSEL. JENNINGS OF SODDYLT HALL.-I wish to find the pedigree of John Jennings, who lived with Jane his wife, about 1690, at Soddylt Hall, Duddleston, Ellesmere, Salop. (Miss) SARAH WALTON. 34, Strand Street, Liverpool. GASTRELL AND SHAKESPEARE'S HOME. Who was the Rev. Francis Gastrell, known as the Shakespeare iconoclast? He may, perhaps, be numbered among the remarkable omissions of the 'D.N.B.' Owing to friction with the Stratford Corporation, he demolished in 1759 what was erroneously thought to be Shakespeare's last dwelling-house, but in reality the house built by Sir John Clopton in 1700 upon the site of the real homestead of the poet. Gastrell thus unwittingly revealed remains of the earlier and more sacred erection which Sir John Clopton had ruthlessly destroyed. Ann Skrimshire, sole heiress of Sir Hugh Clopton, conveyed in May, 1756, the property, New Place, to Gastrell, who is said to have been a Cheshire rector. Possibly he was a son of Dr. Francis Gastrell, Bishop of Chester, author of 'The Christian Institutes,' who died in 1725. WM. JAGGARD. There is a common impression that General ENGLISH ANCESTRY OF GENERAL GRANT.U. S. Grant was of Scotch descent, but he himself gave no countenance to this belief. In his Personal Memoirs' he states his descent in the eighth generation from Matthew Grant, one of a band of 140 Puritans who emigrated from Dorsetshire in 1630, and founded the town of Dorchester in Massachusetts. This Puritan movement was inspired and organized by the Rev. John White (1575-1648), who was rector of Holy Trinity Church, Dorchester, England, for forty years, and became known as patriarch of Dorchester." He advocated "the |