Notes and Queries, No. 181, April 16, 1853 | Page 9

with an independent instrument which would produce a sound sufficiently loud to catch the ear of the engineman. Suppose, for instance, that the mouth-piece of a clarionet, or the windpipe of a duck, or a metallic imitation, were affixed to the muzzle of an air-gun, and the condensed air discharged through the confined aperture; a shrill sound would be emitted. Surely, then, a small instrument might be contrived upon this principle, powerful enough to arrest the attention of the engineer, if not equal to the familiar shriek of the present whistle.
It is hoped that this hint will be followed up; that your publication will sustain its character by thus providing a medium of intercommunication for these worthies, who can respectively lay claim to the titles of men of science and men of letters, and that some experimenter "when found will make a note"--a stunning one.
T. C.
A Centenarian Trading Vessel.--There is a small smack now trading in the Bristol Channel, in excellent condition and repair, and likely to last for many years, called the "Fanny," which was built in 1753. This vessel belongs to Porlock, in the port of Bridgewater, and was originally built at Aberthaw in South Wales. Can any of your readers refer to any other trading vessel so old as this?
ANON.
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QUERIES.
BISHOP KEN.
At what place, and by what bishop, was he ordained, in 1661? His ordination probably took place in the diocese of Oxford, London, Winchester, or Worcester. The discovery of it has hitherto baffled much research.
Jon Ken, an elder brother of the Bishop, was Treasurer of the East India Company in 1683. Where can anything be learned of him? Is there any mention of him in the books of the East India Company? Was he the Ken mentioned in Roger North's Lives of the Norths, as one of the court-rakes? When did he die, and where was he buried? This Jon Ken married Rose, the daughter of Sir Thomas Vernon, of Coleman Street, and by her is said (by Hawkins) to have had a daughter, married to the Honorable Christopher Frederick Kreienberg, Hanoverian Resident in London. Did M. Kreienberg die in this country, or can anything be ascertained of him or his wife?
The Bishop wrote to James II. a letter of intercession on behalf of the rebels in 1685. Can this letter be found in the State-Paper Office, or elsewhere?
In answer to a sermon preached by Bishop Ken, on 5th May, 1687, one F. I. R., designating himself "a most loyal Irish subject of the Company of Jesuits," wrote some "Animadversions." Could this be the "fath. Jo. Reed," a Benedictine, mentioned in the Life of A. Wood, under date of July 21, 1671? Father Reed was author of Votiva Tabula. Can any one throw any light on this?
J. J. J.
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MINOR QUERIES.
Canute's Reproof to his Courtiers.--Opposite the Southampton Docks, in the Canute Road, is the Canute Hotel, with this inscription in front: "Near this spot, A.D. 1028, Canute reproved his courtiers." The building is of very recent date.
Query, Is there any and what authority for the statement?
SALOPIAN.
The Sign of the Cross in the Greek Church.--The members of the Greek Church sign themselves with the sign of the cross in a different manner from those of the Western Church. What is the difference?
J. C. B.
Reverend Richard Midgley, Vicar of Rochdale, temp. Eliz.--Dr. T. D. Whitaker mentions, in a note in his Life of Sir George Radcliffe, Knt., p. 4., 4to. 1810, that at an obscure inn in North Wales he once met with a very interesting account of Midgley in a collection of lives of pious persons, {381} made about the time of Charles I.; but adds, that he had forgotten the title, and had never since been able to obtain the book. Can any reader of "N. & Q." identify this "collection," or furnish any particulars of Midgley not recorded by Brook, Calamy, or Hunter?
F. R. R.
Huet's Navigations of Solomon.--Can you or any of your readers inform me if the treatise referred to in the accompanying extract was ever published? and, if so, what was the result as to the assertions there made?
The History of the Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients. Written in French by Monsieur Huet, Bishop of Avranches. Made English from the Paris Edition. London: Printed for B. Lintot, between the Temple Gates, in Fleet Street, and Mears, at the Lamb, without Temple Bar. 1717.
"2dly. It is here we must lay down the most important remark, in point of commerce; and I shall undeniably establish the truth of it in a treatise which I have begun concerning the navigations of Solomon, that the Cape of Good Hope was known, often frequented, and doubled in Solomon's time, and so it was likewise for many years after; and that the