Notes and Queries, Number 185, May 14, 1853 | Page 9

constitution, having
been left the option between extinction and secularisation, or union
with another order, accepted the latter alternative, and selected that of
St. John of Jerusalem."
Among the moveable effects which came to the Knights of Malta by
this arrangement, was a small and well-selected library, and in it this
edition of Walton's Bible.
Without, therefore, writing more at length on this subject, which might
take up too much space in "N. & Q.," I would simply add, that my
attention was called to this work by the Rev. Mr. Howe, chaplain of
H.B.M. ship "Britannia," and for the purpose of asking, At what time,
by whom, and in what manner, were these volumes removed from St.
John's College at Oxford, and transferred to the library of the Order of
St. Antonio de Vienna in France?
W. W.
La Valetta, Malta.
* * * * *
Minor Queries.
Was Andrew Marvell poisoned?--I have just been reading the three
ponderous quarto volumes comprising The Works of Andrew Marvell,
as collected and edited by his townsman, Capt. Edward Thompson of
Hull. In the "Life," near the end of vol. iii., we are told that the patriot
died on Aug. 16, 1678, "and by poison for he was healthful and
vigorous to the moment he was seized with the premeditated ruin." And
again, in a summary of his merits, we are told that "all these patriot
virtues were insufficient to guard him against the jesuitical
machinations of the state; for what vice and bribery could not influence,
was perpetrated by poison." This heinous crime, so formally averred

against the enemies of Marvell, may have been committed by "some
person or persons unknown;" but, as not a tittle of evidence is adduced
or indicated by the zealous biographer in support of the charge--Query,
had it any foundation in fact? In the court, and out of the court, the
anti-popish, anti-prelatical Puritan had enemies numerous and bitter
enough; but is there really any other ground for the abominable
imputation of foul play alluded to, beyond his actually sudden death? Is
the hypothesis of poison coeval with the date of Marvell's demise? If so,
was there any official inquiry--any "crowner's quest?" Surely his
admiring compatriots on the banks of the Humber did not at once
quietly sit down with the conviction, that thus "fell one of the first
characters of this kingdom or of any other."
H.
Anonymous Pamphlet by Dr. Wallis (Vol. vii., p. 403.).--Will MR.
CROSSLEY have the kindness to give the title of the anonymous
pamphlet which, he informs us, was published by Dr. John Wallis {477}
in defence of the Oxford decree of 1695, on the subject of the Trinity?
TYRO.
Dublin.
Mrs. Cobb's Diary.--Can any of your readers give me any information
as to the following book, Extracts from the Diary and Letters of Mrs.
Mary Cobb: London, printed by C. and R. Baldwin, 1805, 8vo., pp.
324.; said to be privately printed?
JOHN MARTIN.
Roxfield, Bedfordshire.
Compass Flower.--
"Look at this delicate flower that lifts its head from the meadow-- See
how its leaves all point to the north, as true as the magnet; It is the
compass flower, that the finger of God has suspended Here on its

fragile stalk, to direct the traveller's journey Over the sea-like, pathless,
limitless waste of the desert." Evangeline,
Part II. IV. line 140., &c.
Where can I find a description of this flower, and what is its scientific
name?
In Abercrombie's Intellectual Powers, p. 49. edit. 1846, I find the
following passage:
"The American hunter finds his way in the trackless forests by attention
to minute appearances in the trees, which indicate to him the points of
the compass."
Can any one tell me what these "minute appearances" are?
A. H. BATTIER.
East Sheen, Surrey.
Nuns of the Hotel Dieu.--What is the religions habit of the nuns at the
hospital of the Hotel Dieu in Paris at the present day?
M. L.
Purlieu.--Some of your correspondents seem afraid that an attempt to
repair the deficiencies of our English dictionaries, by research into
disputed etymologies in "N. & Q.," would tend to produce too much
and too tedious discussion, and fill its space too much. Could this, at
least, not be done without much objection? Could we not co-operate in
finding the earliest known mention of words, and thus perhaps trace the
occasion and manner of their introduction?
At any rate, this word purlieu is certainly in want of some examination.
Johnson has adopted the wretched etymology of pur, Fr. for pure, and
lieu, Fr. for place; and he defines it as a place on the outskirts of a
forest free of wood.

The earliest record in which this word occurs, so far as I have seen, is
in an act of Edward III., quoted