title="{235}"/>directories, I am anxious to learn whether that degree was conferred upon him by any English university on his consecration in 1846?

A. S. A.

Wuzzeerabad.

Crescent.—The article under this head in the Encyclopædia Metropolitana, asserts that the crescent was first adopted by the Ottomans as a symbol after the taking of Constantinople in 1446. If so, the device must have been unknown to the Saracens at the time of the Crusades. Can any of your readers inform me whether this statement is correct?

Ficulnus.

"Quod fuit esse."—I should be glad to know the sense of the following epitaph, copied at Lavenham Church, Norfolk, many years since; it has long lain in my note-book, waiting for such a publication as "N. & Q.," through which to inquire its meaning:

A. B. R.

Belmont.

"Coming home to men's business."—Where does the phrase "coming home to men's business and bosoms" first occur? I find it said of Bacon's Essays in Baconiana, 1st edit. 1679?

J. P.

Birmingham.

Thomas Gibbes of Fenton.—Can any of your genealogical readers tell me what other issue (if any) there was of the marriage of Thomas Gibbes of Fenton, in the parish of Dartington, in the county of Devon, and Anne, daughter of Sir William Courtenay of Powderham, besides their son William Gibbes, who died in London A.D. 1570?

Also whether John Gibbes of Fenton, father of the above-named Thomas Gibbes, who married the heiress of William May or Mey, had any other issue?

Henry H. Gibbs.

Frognal, Hampstead.

"The Whipping Toms" at Leicester.—A singular annual custom, under the above designation, formerly prevailed in this town, from time immemorial, on Shrove Tuesday. It is unnecessary to take up your valuable space with a detailed account of it, as it is fully described in Throsby's History of Leicester, p. 356., and in Hone's Year-Book, p. 538.

My object is to inquire if any custom at all analogous to it is known to have existed elsewhere, and, if so, what is the supposed origin of it?

Nothing whatever is known of the origin of the custom in this town, beyond a vague popular tradition that it was instituted (like several other curious customs) by John of Gaunt, during his lengthened residence in the castle within what was then termed "The New-Works" of which (now called "The Newarke") the gathering was held.

However venerable from its antiquity, it was, like too many of the sports of the Middle Ages, a custom "more honoured in the breach than the observance," and, as such, was put down in the year 1847 by a local act of parliament; not, however, without a serious affray between the police and the people.

Leicestriensis.

The Trial of Our Lord.—I have lately seen an old picture of the Trial of Our Lord before Pilate, who sits in the midst of the Jewish Sanhedrim, each member of which has a scroll over his head, giving his name and the sentence he is said to have uttered on that occasion. I have been told there is a large coarse engraving of this picture sometimes to be found in cottages, but I have not been able to procure one. The names and sentiments are of course fictitious; is anything known of their origin?

P. P.

Olney.—Can any correspondent state what is the signification of this name? The ancient spelling is Olnei or Olney, not Oulney, as it has sometimes been spelled of late years. The difficulty is not as to the termination ey, but as to the first syllable.

The parish church, which stands at the southern extremity of the town, on the banks of the Ouse, is entirely (modern alterations excepted) of the fourteenth century. There is not a trace of any earlier work. Tradition says that the church was formerly at the other, or northern end of the town, where there is a place which is, as I am informed, described in the deeds of some of the adjoining premises as the old churchyard, though it has been desecrated time out of mind. Closely adjacent is a clear spring, still called "Christenwell," and also the trunk of a very ancient elm. Human bones are stated to have been occasionally dug up within the enclosure.

There is a vague tradition that the town as well as the church has been removed southward, i. e. nearer the river. Readers of "N. & Q." who can supply any information respecting the removal of the church and town, or any other particulars (in addition to those contained in Dr. Lipscomb's History of Bucks) concerning the parish of Olney, including the hamlet and manor of Warrington, and the now district parish of Weston-Underwood, will greatly oblige

W. P. Storer.

Olney, Bucks.

Album.—What was the origin, and where do we find the earliest notice of the kind of friendly

memorial book so well known among us as an album? Was it not first used by the learned men of Germany as a repository for the complimentary tributes of their foreign visitors? Is there any mention of it in any English author earlier than Izaak Walton, who tells us that Sir Henry Wotton, when ambassador at Venice, wrote in the album of Christopher Flecamore a Latin sentence to the effect that "an ambassador is an honest man, sent to lie abroad for the good of his country?" Where is the earliest specimen of an English album, according to the modern form and use of the scrapbook so called?

D.

The Lisle Family.—Can any of the readers of "N. & Q." give me some fuller information than is to be found in Lyttleton's History of England, or refer me to any authorities for such, concerning the family and connexions of the following personages?

There was a Lady Lisle, who, temp. Jac. II., was tried at Winchester by the notorious Judge Jeffries, and afterwards executed, for harbouring two rebels after the battle of Sedgemoor. I believe she was beheaded as a favour, instead of being burnt. She was the widow of one of the judges who consented to the death of that ill-fated monarch Charles I.

I observe the barony of Lisle has been extinct, or in abeyance, on four or five different occasions; was either about this time? The present peerage appears to have been created circa 1758. Are these descendants of that family?

I possess portraits of Lord and Lady Lisle (size six feet by four), and much wish to learn the above, together with any other particulars relating to the family.

John Garland.

Dorchester.

Wards of the Crown.—I find the origin of this ancient prerogative of royalty thus quaintly explained at p. 132. of King's Vale Royall of England, 1656. Hugh Lupus, first Norman Earl of Chester, and nephew of the Conqueror, at his death in 1101, left his son

"Richard, then an infant of seven years of age, entituled then to his Earldome of Chester, and married to Matilda, daughter to Stephen, Earl of Blois. And this Matilda was niece to King Henry I., by reason whereof the said king took into his tuition and custody the said young earl; from whence, they say, this of a custome grew to be a law, that young heirs in their nonage became pupils, or wards, unto the king. A very tender care had this king over this princely