salt-mine established in England?

Erica.

Geological Query.—Can any of your geological readers inform me what is the imagined reason that there is no increase of temperature in Scandinavia (as there is everywhere else) in descending into mines?

M—a L.

Wandering Jew.—I am anxious to learn the authority on which this celebrated myth rests. I am aware of the passage in John's Gospel (xxi. 21, 22, 23.), but I cannot think that there is no other foundation for such an extraordinary belief. Perhaps on the continent some legend may exist. My object in inquiring is to discover whether Eugène Sue's Wandering Jew is purely a fictitious character, or whether he had any, and, if any, what authority or tradition on which to found it.

Tee Bee.

Frescheville Family.—In what work may be found the tradition, that the heir of the family of the House of Frescheville never dies in his bed?

F. K.

The Wednesday Club.—Can any of the readers of "N. & Q." refer me to any notice of this club, which existed about a century back in the city of London?

Charles Reed.

Paternoster Row.

Oratories.—In a parish in the county of Essex there is a pretty little brick chapel, or "oratory," as it is called there, with a priest's house attached at the west end, of about the thirteenth century; the length of both chapel and house being thirty feet, and the width fifteen. There is also a field called "Priest's Close," which was probably the endowment.

Can any of your correspondents inform me if there are many such places of worship in England, and, if so, to mention some, and where any accounts of them may be found?

It is quite clear that this oratory had no connexion with the parish church, being a mile distant, and seems more likely to have been erected and endowed for the purpose of having mass celebrated there for the repose of the founder's soul?

M. F. D.

Arms of De Turneham.—Can any of your readers inform me what were the armorial bearings of Sir Stephen de Turneham, who in the year 1192 was employed by Richard I. to escort his queen Berengaria from Acre to Naples? The writer would also be glad to obtain any particulars of the family and history of this brave knight, who seems to have possessed the entire confidence of his sovereign, the redoubtable "Cœur de Lion." Probably he belonged to the same family as Michael de Turneham, the owner of estates at Brockley, near Deptford, and at Begeham (the modern Bayham), on the borders of Sussex, in the reign of Henry II., whose nephew, Sir Robert de Turneham, appears to have been distinguished in the Crusade under Richard I. Might not Stephen and Robert be brothers? Did they leave descendants? And, if so, when did the family become extinct? Was it this Robert de Turneham whose wife was Joanna Fossard, who, about the year 1200, founded the Priory of Grosmont, near Whitby, in Yorkshire?

John Thornholme, of Gowthorpe, near York, to whom arms were granted Sept. 11, 1563, was probably not of the same family? These arms are—On a shield argent, three thorn-trees vert. Crest: On a mount vert, a tower argent. Motto: "Probitas verus honos."

Any particulars as to the early and subsequent history of this last-named family would also be valuable.

Θ.

Poisons.—What are supposed to have been the poisons used for bouquets, gloves, &c., in the time of Catherine de Medici, and her friend René?

H. A. B.

Open Seats or Pews in Churches.—Mr. Barr (Anglican Church Architecture: Oxford, Parker, 1846) gives measurements, as by experience, found most convenient for many parts of this description of church fitting; but he gives not the length of each sitting, or, in other words, the space, measured along the length of the bench, that should be allowed for each person. Neither does he give the height nor the breadth of the flat board to rest the elbows on when kneeling, or to place the books upon, which he proposes to substitute for the common sloping bookboard. Neither does he appear to have paid any attention to the disposal of the hats with which every male worshipper must, I fear, continue to be encumbered, and which I like not to see impaled on the poppy-heads, nor plied on the font, nor to feel against my knees when I sit down, nor against my feet when I kneel. If any of your correspondents could name a church in the open seats of which these things have been attended to, and well done, I should be much disposed to go and study it as a model for imitation; and if satisfied with it, I should want little persuasion for commencing the destruction of my old manor pew, and the fixing of open seats on its site.

Regedonum.

Burial of unclaimed Corpse.—In the parish of Markshall, near Norwich, is a piece of land now belonging to the adjoining village of Keswick. Tradition states that it was once a part of Markshall Heath; but, at the enclosure, the parishioners of Keswick claimed and obtained it, because some years before they had interred the body of a murdered man found there; the expenses of whose funeral the rate-payers of Markshall had inhumanly refused to defray. I think I have somewhere read a similar statement respecting a portion of Battersea Fields. Can either of these cases be authenticated; or is there any law or custom which would assign a portion of a common to a parish which paid for the burial of a corpse found on it?

E. G. R.

Minor Queries with Answers.

Sir John Powell—the judge who tried the seven bishops. Where was he buried? i.e. where is his epitaph (which is given in Heber's Life Of Jeremy Taylor) to be seen?

A. C. R.