William Nelson of Chuddleworth, born in 1611, had by his second wife, the daughter of John Pococke, gentleman, of Woolley, among other children, a son named William; but of whom no further mention is made.

Can any of your Norfolk or Berkshire friends state whether this son William ever settled at Dunham Parva, in Norfolk?—as, by so doing, an obligation will be conferred on your occasional correspondent

FRANCISCUS.

Letters to the Clergy.

—In the Diary of Walter Yonge (published by the Camden Society), p. 24., is the following:

"16 Dec. 1614. This day the Ministers of this Diocese (Exon) were called before the Bishop of Exon, who read letters from the Archbishop, the effects of which were, that every minister should exhort his parishioners to continue together the Sabbath Day, and not to wander to other preachers who have better gifts than their own pastors, but should content themselves with the Word of God read and Homilies. 2. That all should kneel at the receiving of the Sacrament. 3. To declare unto their parishioners that it is not necessary to have the Word preached at the Sacraments.—Dictu Magistri Knowles, Vicarii de Axminster, at that time present."

Query, Can any of your readers say to what letter, and on what occasion such orders were issued by the archbishop, and also whether they have been published in any volume on ecclesiastical matters?

H. T. E.

Margaret Burr.

—It is related in Allan Cunningham's Life of Gainsborough, that he married a young lady named Margaret Burr, of Scottish extraction; and that

"On an occasion of household festivity, when her husband was high in fame, she vindicated some little ostentation in her dress by whispering to her niece, now Mrs. Lane, 'I have some right to this, for you know, my love, I am a prince's daughter.'"

The biographer of the British Painters prefaces this by saying,

"Nor must I omit to tell that rumour conferred other attractions (besides an annuity) upon her; she was said to be the natural daughter of one of our exiled princes, nor was she, when a wife and a mother, desirous of having this circumstance forgotten."

As I just now read in Vol. iv., p. 244., some account of Berwick, and other natural children of James II., I was put in mind of the above anecdote, and should be glad of any information respecting the Miss Burr's parentage in question. Myself a collateral descendant of her husband, I know from other sources that the tradition is worthy of credit; and to the genealogist and antiquary it may be a historically interesting enquiry.

H. W. G. R.

Northern Ballads.

—Is any gentleman in possession of any old printed copies of Danish or Swedish popular ballads, or of any manuscript collection of similar remains? Are any such known to exist in any public library in Great Britain? By printed, of course I mean old fly-sheets, from the sixteenth century downward; they are generally of four, sometimes of eight, leaves small octavo. Any information, either personally, or through "N. & Q.," will much oblige

GEORGE STEPHENS.

Copenhagen.

"Blamed be the man," &c.

—Where is the following couplet to be found?