Notes and Queries, Number 52, October 26, 1850 | Page 7

able to afford.
J. H. K.
Tristan d'Acunha.--COSMOPOLITE will be glad to have references to any authentic sources of information respecting the island of Tristan d'Acunha.
Production of Fire by Friction.--In most of the accounts written by persons who have visited the South Sea Islands, we meet with descriptions of the method adopted by the natives to produce fire by the rapid attrition of two bits of wood. Now I wish to ask whether any person has ever seen the same effect produced in this country by similar means? If not, to what cause is the difficulty--if such difficulty really exists--attributable?
{359} Does it depend upon the nature of the wood used, the condition of the atmosphere, or the dexterity of the operator? I have not quoted any particular passages, as they are sufficiently familiar to readers of voyages and travels in the South Sea hemisphere; and although they exhibit some diversity in the modus operandi, the principle involved is essentially the same in each mode. I need scarcely add, that I am of course well aware of the means by which, whether by accident or design, heat is ordinarily generated by friction in this country.
D.
Rotherfield.
Murderer hanged when pardoned.--I have a copy of the Protestant's Almanack for 1680, full of MS. notes of the period, written by one of the Crew family. Among other matter it states:
"A man was hung for a murder in Southwark (I think), notwithstanding the king's pardon had been obtained for him, and he actually had it in his pocket at the time."
Will some kind friend oblige me with further information of this case, or tell me where I may obtain it?
GILBERT.
Burke, Passage from.--The following passage is quoted as a motto from Burke:--
"The swarthy daughters of Cadmus may hang their trophies on high, for when all the pride of the chisel and the pomp of heraldry yield to the silent touches of time, a single line, a half worn-out inscription, remain faithful to their trust."
In what composition of Burke's is it to be found?
Q.(2.)
Licensing of Books.--Can any of your readers inform me what was the law in 1665 relative to the licensing of books? also when it was introduced (or revived), and when modified? I find in a manual of devotion printed in that year the following page, after the preface:--
"I have perused this book, and finding nothing in it but what may tend to the increase of private devotion and piety, I recommend it to my Lord the Bishop of London for his licence to have it printed."
JO. DURESME.
"Imprimatur: Tho. Grigg, R. P. D. Hamff. Ep. Lond. a Sac. Dom. Ex ?dibus, Lond. Mart. 28. 1665."
R. N.
Captain John Stevens.--I should be glad to learn some account of Capt. John Stevens, the continuator of Dugdale's Monasticon in 1722. He is generally considered to have edited the English abridgment of the Monasticon, in one vol. 1718, though a passage in Thoresby's Diary mentions that it contained "some reflections upon the Reformation, which the Spanish Priest, who is said to be translator and abridger of the three Latin volumes, would not omit."
A note by the editor of Thoresby's Diary says that--
"Mr. Gough was uncertain by whom this Translation and Abridgment was prepared. He supposed that it was done by Captain Stevens, the author, or rather compiler of a valuable, Supplement to the Monasticon, in which he was assisted by Thoresby."
J. T. A.
Le Bon Gendarme.--Close to the boundary stone which separates the parishes of Fulham and Hammersmith, and facing the lane which leads to Brook Green, on the Hammersmith Road, is a way-side public-house, known as "The Black Bull." So late as three months ago, in addition to the sign of the Black Bull, there was painted over the door, but somewhat high up, a worn-out inscription, "Le Bon Gendarme," as if that had originally been the name of the inn. These words have been lately effaced altogether: but as they no doubt relate to some circumstance or adventure which had happened in or near to the place, perhaps some reader of the "NOTES AND QUERIES" will have the goodness to satisfy the curiosity of one who has asked at the inn in vain for a solution.
U. U. C.
University Club.
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REPLIES.
TASSO TRANSLATED BY FAIRFAX.
The variation in the first stanza of Fairfax's Godfrey of Bulloigne has been long known to bibliographers, and was pointed out in The Critical Review more than thirty years ago. I cannot fix on the particular number, but it contained a long notice of the version of Tasso by Fairfax, and the very stanzas extracted by T. N. The translator could not please himself with the outset of his undertaking, and hence the recorded substitution; but it is not known that he carried his fastidiousness so far as to furnish a third version of the first stanza,