Notes and Queries, Number 50, October 12, 1850 | Page 4

perhaps furnishes a clue to the Queen's pleasantry, though Shakspeare
has omitted the particular incident relating to Sir Henry Nevill. The old
chronicler, after giving an account of Wolsey's banquet, and the
entrance of a noble troop of strangers in masks, amongst whom he
suspected that the king made one, proceeds as follows:--
"Then the Lord Chamberlain said to the Cardinal, Sir, they confesse
that among them there is such a noble personage whom, if your Grace
can appointe out 'from the rest, he is content to disclose himself and to
accept your place.' Whereupon the Cardinal, taking good advisement
among them, at the last quoth he, 'Me seemeth the gentleman in the
black beard should be even he.' And with that he arose out of his chaire
and offered the same to the gentleman in the black beard, with his cap
in his hand. The person to whom he offered the chaire was Sir Edward
Nevill, a comelie knight, that much more resembled the king's person
in that mask than anie other. The King perceiving the Cardinal so
deceived, could not forbear laughing, and pulled down his visor and
Maister Nevill's too."
Sir Edward Nevill of Aldington, in Kent, was the second surviving son
of George Nevill, Lord Abergavenny, and the father of Sir Henry
Nevill above mentioned, who laid the foundation-stone and built the
body and one wing of Billingbear House, which still belongs to his
descendant. Sir Edward Nevill was beheaded for high treason in 1538,
his likeness to Henry VIII. not saving him from the fate which befell so
many of that king's unhappy favourites.
BRATHBROOKE.
Audley End.
* * * * *

MINOR NOTES.
_Whales._--Tychsen thinks the stories of whales mistaken for islands
originated in the perplexities of inexperienced sailors when first
venturing from {308} the Mediterranean into a sea exposed to the tides.
I think Dr. Whewell mentions that in particular situations the turn of
the current occurs at a sufficient interval from the time of high or low
water to perplex even the most experienced sailors.
F.Q.
_Bookbinding._--While the mischief of mildew on the inside of books
has engaged some correspondents to seek for a remedy (Vol. ii., 103.
173.), a word may be put in on behalf of the _outside_, the binding.
The present material used in binding is so soft, flabby, and unsound,
that it will not endure a week's service. I have seen a bound volume
lately, with a name of repute attached to it; and certainly the
workmanship is creditable enough, but the leather is just as miserable
as any from the commonest workshop. The volume cannot have been
bound many months, and yet even now, though in good hands, it is
beginning to rub _smooth_, and to look, what best expresses it
emphatically, _shabby_, contrasting most grievously with the leather of
another volume, just then in use, bound some fifty or seventy years ago,
and as sound and firm as a drum's head--common binding too, be it
observed--as the modern cover is flabby and washy. Pray, sir, raise a
voice against this wretched _material_, for that is the thing in fault, not
the workmanship; and if more must be paid for undoctored outsides, let
it be so.
NOVUS.
_Scott's Waverley._--Some years ago, a gentleman of my acquaintance,
now residing in foreign parts, told me the following story:--
"Once upon a time," the great unknown being engaged in a
shooting-match near his dwelling, it came to pass that all the
gun-wadding was spent, so that he was obliged to fetch paper instead.
After Sir Walter had come back, his fellow-shooter chanced to look at
the succedaneum, and was not a little astonished to see it formed part of
a tale written by his entertainer's hand. By his friend's urgent inquiries,
the Scotch romancer was compelled to acknowledge himself the author,
and to save the well nigh destroyed manuscript of Waverley.
I do not know whether Sir Walter Scott was induced by this incident to

publish the first of his tales or not; perhaps it occurred after several of
his novels had been printed. Now, if any body acquainted with the
anecdote I relate should perchance hit upon my endeavour to give it an
English garb, he would do me a pleasure by noting down the particulars
I might have omitted or mis-stated. I never saw the fact recorded.
JANUS DOUSA.
_Satyavrata._--Mr. Kemble, _Salomon and Saturn_, p. 129., does not
seem to be aware that the Satyavrata in question was one of the
forgeries imposed on, and afterwards detected, by Wilford.
F.Q.
* * * * *
QUERIES.
BLACK ROOD OF SCOTLAND.
Can any of your correspondents give me any information on the
following points connected with "the Black Rood of Scotland?"
1. What was the history of this cross before it