because they may furnish a clue to the time the spoon was manufactured. I presume that the spoon originally belonged to the mess of the Royal New England Regiment, and was perhaps transferred to some other British regiment; and I send this Query in hope that some of your readers may furnish information upon the subject. There were several regiments raised in the American colonies before the revolutionary war. In 1744 Massachusetts and the New England colonies raised a regiment which was commanded by Col. Wm. Pepperell, an American, and the troops under his direction succeeded in capturing Louis burgh or Cape Breton in 1745. After the pence negotiated at Aix-la-Chapelle, Cape Breton was surrendered to the French, and in 1758 again captured by forces of which New England troops were a part. Regiments from the same colonies assisted in taking Carthagena, in the attack upon Havanna, and in the capture of Canada, Notices and references to the "King's American Regiment" are frequently to be met with during this war, but I have seen none bearing the name concerning which this Query is made. In Sabine's History of the American Loyalists, the titles of the various provincial regiments and companies which took the part of the mother-country during the revolution are given: there is none bearing the title in question. I conjecture that the "Royal New England Regiment" was that of Colonel Pepperell raised in 1744, because subsequently each colony raised its own regiment; and in hopes that some of your readers may be able to throw light on the subject, I ask for information of its history, and should like to know to what modern British regiment the mess service of the N. E. Regiment was transferred.

Philadelphia, U. S. A., June 5, 1852..

T. WESTCOTT.

WILTON CASTLE AND THE BRIDGES FAMILY.

In Rees' Cyclopædia, article "Ross," is the following passage:

"The ruins of Wilton Castle above mentioned stand on the Western bank of the Wye. ... Its present ruinous condition is to be attributed to the royalist governors of Hereford, by whose orders the whole of the interior was destroyed by fire."

If it be true that this castle was destroyed by the royalists, it would seem probable that it was burnt during the siege of Hereford in 1645, and that the then inhabitants of the castle were Parliamentarians.

George, sixth lord Chandos of Sudeley, the head of the noble family of Bridges during the great rebellion, was an active royalist. He was buried at Sudeley in the year 1654. His uncle, Sir Giles Bridges, in his will dated 1624, mentions his

own brother William Bridges, of London, Esq., and that the said William had then two sons living. Another Sir Giles Bridges, of Wilton Castle, Bart., to whom the above-mentioned William was first cousin once removed, mentions, in his will dated 1634, Robert and William Bridges, of Wilton, gentlemen, brothers.

The late Mr. Beltz, Lancaster Herald, in his Review of the Chandos Peerage Case, states these genealogical facts, and inquires

"Who were these Robert and William, and what becaine of them? Were they the two sons of William of London mentioned in 1624?". I would inquire further.

--

1. Is anything known respecting William Bridges, who was a lieutenant in the Lord Brook's regiment in the army under the Earl of Essex in

1642 ?

2. What were the political opinions of Sir John Brydges, of Wilton Castle, Bart., who died in Brydges Street, Covent Garden, in February, 1651-2?

3. Whence is the statement in Rees derived, and where may be found a full account of the circumstances which led to the destruction of Wilton Castle?

An old chair, said to have been saved from the fire at Wilton Castle, was in the possession of the housekeeper at Thornbury Castle, in Gloucestershire, five-and-twenty years since. Is this chair still in existence, and is any tradition preserved respecting it at Thornbury ?

J. LEWELYN CURTIS.

WHY WAS THE DODO CALLED A DRONTE ? Naturalists must all be much indebted to Messrs. Strickland and Melville's excellent (I might almost say, perfect) monograph on The Dodo and its Kindred. In that charming and scientific volume the authors have given us almost all the information that could be collected relative to that curious extinct bird. I had the pleasure, however, subsequent to its publication, of communicating to Mr. Strickland a passage from Randle Holme's Academie of Armory (p. 289., Chester, 1688), which he had overlooked. Strickland published this as a Supplementary Note in the Annals of Natural History (Second Series, No. 16., for April, 1849). Holme says: beareth sable a Dodo or Dronte, proper, by the name of Dronte," and then gives an account of the bird.

Mr.

"He

Now it has always puzzled naturalists why the Dodo was called a Dronte. MR. STRICKLAND asks in an early Number of your publication whether any family of this name was known to exist; and, if so, where; and what were their arms: as much light might be thrown upon the subject in this way. I am afraid that it only existed in Holme's

brain; but still further research may bring curious matter forward. It is not probable, I think, that any English family of that name existed. Perhaps some of your foreign heraldic readers may clear up the question. In the meanwhile, allow me to make the following conjecture: It is by no means clear why the bird was called a "Dodo." Most people think from his dull stupid look and behaviour. Hence he was styled Dodo or fool, and Dodaers, an epithet which would seem to imply he was one of those Christians to whom old Richard Baxter would have applied a "Shove." However, be this as it may, it is clear there were several persons who bore this name. The witty writer of a review of MR. STRICKLAND'S work in Blackwood (January, 1849) mentions two; a third founded Tewkesbury Abbey; a fourth was Bishop of Angers in 837. From these it is evident the Dodos were decidedly a church family. I find a fifth gentleman of this name: "Athelstan Dodo, fils du Comte Dodo, fut au temps de la Conqueste Comte d'Ardene et de Someril, et Sieur de Dudley, où il fut inhumé-porte or 2 lions passans, azur, (Add. MSS. 17,455. British Museum.) A sixth worthy Dodo I made acquaintance with in Moreri's great Dictionary, and it is to this excellent gentleman (also ecclesiastical) I would call the attention of your readers. "Dodo (Augustin), natif de la province de Frise, dans les Pays Bas, et Chanoine de S. Leonard à Basle." He was the first collector of St. Augustine's works. He was carried off par une maladie contagieuse" in 1501; and thus perished the last human Dodo I have been able to trace. Whether his cranium and legs are preserved anywhere, I cannot say. Now, what were Mr. Augustin Dodo's armorial be rings I know not. He was a native, however, of Friesland. On the east of this country is the small province of Drenthe. Was Drenthe ever included in Friesland; or, at all events, would not all come perhaps under the denomination "Frisia?" Here, then, at the commencement of the sixteenth century, was living a family of the name of Dodo. Were they Dolos of Drenthe? When the Dutch discovered Mauritius, might they not have named the new bird in honour, or otherwise, of Mr. Dodo of Drenthe, to whom perhaps some of the discoverers might have been related? Has Dronte any affinity to Drenthe? Perhaps the herald painters, in blazoning the arms of Dodo, had figured a queer-looking bird, and the Dutch Voyagers named their unwieldy, unpalatable, walgh-vogels after him, for want of a better description. Heraldry might throw some light upon the subject. My own family, in contradistinction to other Hoopers, have for some generations borne a Hooper, or wild swan, for their crest; and verily upon some of the more ancient family spoons he looketh more like a Dodo than a Hooper; and some future Randle Holme may describe him as a

"Perhaps people may fancy the likeness of a toad in the stone, as they do that of an eagle in the stalk of a brake or fern."— Sir Roger L'Estrange's Trans., 1725. Or, as an older translation gives it:

"Peradventure they ymagyne the symylytude of a tode to be there even as we suppose when we cutte the fearne stalke there to be an egle."

What is the earliest mention of this idea of resemblance to an eagle? I have not a Pliny by me, but, as well as I remember, he does not mention it. The resemblance to an ouk is very striking; to an eagle, very fanciful. I never could hit on the latter in any fern I ever cut. MARICONDA,

Dictionnaire Bibliographique.

Who is the

author of Dictionnaire Bibliographique, ou, Nouveau Manuel du Libraire et de l'Amateur de Livres, par M. P*** **** printed at Paris in 1824? Is it by W. J. B. M. Peignot? Continental Writers on Popular Antiquities, Are there any works in German, Italian, French, Spanish, or Portuguese, which treat of popular superstitious agricultural customs in the several countries of Europe; like Brande's Popular Antiquities, and a book by Wright in two vols, ?

F. O. W.

66

Sir Roger de Coverley (Vol. v., p. 467.).When did this dance first receive the name of Sir Roger de Coverley ? My Aunt Margery" is the name under which it is performed in Virginia, U.S. Which is the earlier name?

J. LEWELYN CURTIS. The Names and Numbers of British Regiments. Under the above title I made some inquiries through the "N. & Q." so far back as November last (Vol. iv., p. 368), with the view of eliciting certain information; but I regret the questions then put have not been responded to. Hoping that some of your military, or other readers, may yet be able to supply answers, I beg again to inquire

i. When did the present mode of numbering regiments begin; and by whom and under what circumstances was it introduced; the former practice having been to distinguish regiments by particular names, such as Barrell's, Howard's, Ligonier's, &c., without any number?

2. What is the guide now in identifying a named with a numbered regiment; and is there any particular book where this information may be had?

Glasgow.

Z.

title-page introduces six more in these words, Divertimente da Camera á due Violini Violoncello o Cembalo. Parte Seconda. T. Cross sculpsit. AN AMATEUR.

Admiral Sir Richard I. Strachan, K. C.B. — Being a kinsman of this excellent and ill-used officer, and being engaged in collecting information regarding his life, may I request the assistance of any of the numerous readers of the "N. & Q." that can give any information on the subject? Beyond the parliamentary papers, the meagre and unsatisfactory notice in Marshall's Naval Biography, and Allan's Battles of the British Navy, I have been disappointed in my search ; procure a portrait nor an engraving of one so distinguished, and who so lately passed away.

and can neither

Edinburgh.

T. W.

The Ogden and Westcott Families (Vol.ii., pp. 73. 105, 106.).-TwYFORD says that a member of the Ogden family settled in America about the year 1790. I am a lineal descendant of an Ogden of New Jersey, who settled there about the year mentioned. If TwYFORD can give any particulars concerning the Ogden who emigrated to America, he would oblige me much.

Can any of your readers give me any information as to the family history of Stukely Westcott, who settled in Salem, New Jersey, in 1639, and afterwards went to Rhode Island? There are many Westcotts now about Providence, Rhode Island and the southern part of New Jersey abounds with them. There is a legend that the Jersey Westcotts are all descendants of three brothers. Stukely Westcott may have been one of the three: but it would be a matter of interest to their descendants to know from what English stock they are descended.

Philadelphia, U. S. A., June, 1852. Licenser of the Press. Where will be found any list of persons filling this office? When did it commence, and when did it cease?

Replies.

G.

the Senate at the University of Copenhagen, to be made a student, notwithstanding his belonging to the Church of England. He declared his intention to study especially history, antiquities, philo- | sophy, and mathematics. In 1748, he petitioned the King of Denmark for permission to give public lectures upon the English language; he had at that time been ten years in Denmark, and had indirectly been called to this country by King Christian VI. He died the 8th of January, 1765. In the years 1749-1753, he published some papers on the subject of the English grammar. In the last of these, Grundig Anvisning tit det engelshe Sprogs Kundskab, 1753 (True directions for a perfect knowledge of the English language), he gives several favorable opinions of the professors Holberg, Mollmann, Anchersen, &c., as well of this work as of his literary essays in general.

"Of his English Scriptores no manuscript exists at the Royal Library of Copenhagen. Neither are any testamentary dispositions as to his manuscripts known. But at the said Royal Library is preserved an English MS. containing critical notes and observations to the history of Canute the Great, taken from Old English and Icelandic writings. This fragment must have been copied by some one who did not know English. The Catalogue, however, supposes that it originally has been written by Mr. Bertram.

wrong person at Peterculter's, the Tower Hill shopkeeper, instead of the “Dominie." The "Dominie Deposed" I have in a variety of forms, but it is uniformly ascribed on the title to “ Willm. Forbes, M.A., late schoolmaster at Peterculter;" while "Ajax His Speech," also often printed, is as distinctly assigned, on similar authority, to "R. F. Gent.!" extended in the "Shop-bill," which forms part of the book, to “Robert Forbes.”

Campbell, in his History of Scottish Poetry, a work both of limited impression and information, speaks of Win. Forbes as a man of ingenuity and learning, whose story is told in his loose production, namely, that a love for illicit amours, and the "wee drap drink," had brought to the condition significantly described in the “sequel:"

"Which makes me now wear redlish wool
Instead of b'ack."

Narrating as it does, not very decently, the "intrigues," "drouthy habits," and their consequence to the hero, the "Dominie Deposed" had a good circulation as a kind of Scot's Chap until a better species of literature for the million sprang up.

Copenhagen.

ROBERT FORBES.

(Vol. v., p. 510.)

The Query of HYPADIDASCULUS reminds me of one of my own, viz.: What had become of the Bib. Scot. Poetica of Chalmers and Ritson? When Ritson's MS. fell into the hands of the former, there were great hopes that a work worthy the fame of both these eminent bibliographers would be the result but whatever were the plans entertained by either, they did not live to carry them out. If it however be true, that these precious MSS. have got into the good hands of a gentleman on the other side the Tweed, remarkable for his enthusiasm for all that appertains to the Antient Popular Poetry of his country, we may probably yet look for a standard work of reference upon all subjects connected with the poetical or dramatie literature of Scotland.

With respect to Robert Forbes, it appears to me that your correspondent has asked for the

hear what ecclesiastical censure the minister of

Deer was subjected to for such improprieties as the following extract from "Nae Dominies for me Laddie" exhibits:

"But for your sake [sings the Rev. John] I'll fleece the flock,

Grow rich as I grow auld, lassie; If I be spared. I'll be a laird,

And thou be Madan called, lassie."

I ought, however, to note that these were the sentiments of the minister before he took orders;

and, although one would think the Presbytery should have paused before entrusting "the flock" Deer turned out a very worthy character. to a shepherd with such antecedents, the

THE "HEAVY SHOve." (Vol. v., pp. 416. 594.)

pastor

of

J. O.

I possess the copy of the above work mentioned at p. 416., purchased at Rodd's sale. The title is as follows:

"An Effectual Shove to the Heavy-arse Christian Prepare to meet thy God... by Willian Bunyan, Minister of the Gospel in South Wales. London: printed for the Author, and sold by J. Roson, St. Martin's-le-Grand, 1768."