W.T.M.

O. and C. Club

D’Oyly and Barry Families.—­Any authentic information, original or not in the usual depositories, concerning the two great Norman races of D’OYLY and BARRY, or De Barry (both of which settled in England at the Conquest, and, singularly, both connected themselves with mistresses of King Henry I.), will be thankfully received if sent to WM. D’OYLY BAYLEY (Barry), F.S.A., whose histories of both races are still unfinished.

Coatham, near Redcar, Yorkshire.

Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham.—­A collector of scraps and anecdotes relating to Nathaniel Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham, would be glad to know whether, in the various MS. collections of our public libraries, there are extant any letters either written by that prelate or addressed to him?

E.H.A.

Epigram on the Synod of Dort.—­In the Biographie Universelle, art.  GROTIUS, it is stated that the following singular distich against the Synod of Dort was made in England:—­

  “Dordrechti synodus, nodus; chorus integer, aeger;
  Conventus, ventus; sessio, stramen.  Amen!”

Query, By whom was it made?

L.

Private Memoirs of Queen Elizabeth.—­Several years ago I met with a book bearing this, or a similar title, upon one of the tables of the reading room of the British Museum.  A passing glance made me anxious to refer to it at a future opportunity.  But, although I have again and again searched through the Catalogues, and made anxious inquiries of the attendants in the reading-room, I have never yet been able to catch a glimpse of it.  Can any of your correspondents furnish me with the correct title, and state whether it is still preserved in this national library?

J.E.C.

Invention of Steam Power.—­The following doggerel is the burden of a common street-ditty, among the boys of Campden, in Gloucestershire.

    “Jonathan Hulls,
    With his paper skulls,
  Invented a machine
  To go against wind and stream;
    But he, being an ass,
    Couldn’t bring it to pass,
  And so was asham’d to be seen.”

Now this Jonathan Hulls was the great grandfather of a man of the same name, now residing in Campden; so that if there be any truth in the tradition, the application of steam power to the propulsion of hulls must be long prior to the time of Watts his name!

Can any reader of NOTES AND QUERIES throw any light on the inventions of this man Hulls?

NOCAB.

Mythology of the Stars.—­I want (in perfect {24} ignorance whether there is such a book) a “Mythology of the Stars.”  Considering how often persons of sound mind express an enthusiasm for the celestial bodies, and exclaim, of clear night, that the stars are the poetry of Heaven, it is wonderful how little most of us know about them.  Nine out of ten educated persons would be quite unable to do more than point out the Great Bear and North Star.