ID-s. iv. AUG. 19, loos.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 149 memory on my subject was the heroic conduct of a maid at an inn. The late MR. E. WALFORD suggested ('N-&QV 8th S. ii. 519) that it appeared in Once a Yeek. I think in this he was probably correct The only fragment that clings to my memory is And Capel and Hirst ; Charles drank lo her first. Capel may be an error of part for " Wogan." If any one can identify these verses I shall be very grateful if he will lend me the num- ber containing them, so that I may make a transcript. It is much to be desired that a collected edition of Thorn bury's poems should be issued. EDWARD PEACOCK. Wickentree House, Kirton-in-Lindsey. DE GOURBILLON.—Can any of your readers very kindly give me information as to this family ? Members of it held important posts under Louis XVI. and Louis XVIII. One •was administrator of the royal lottery ; on secretary to the queen; another directo "des postes" at Lille, 1787; another was a writer; while Madame de Gourbillon wa. maid of honour and lectrice to Mary o Savoy, queen of Louis XVIII., and assistec her and the Comte de Provence to escape from Paris, 1791. What was the origin o the family? What happened to these members ? REVOLUTIONIST. ELIZABETH MILTON, the daughter of Richard Milton, was baptized in 1608 in the parisl church of Upton, Bucks, which is about foui miles from Horton, where the poet's parents came to reside some years afterwards. Was Elizabeth Milton related to the poet? E. L. R. FORRESTER, OF GARDEN. — I should be obliged to any of your readers who would tell me the name of the wife of Alexander Forrester, of Garden, or direct me to a pedi- gree of his family. The said Alexander Forrester was dead by 1604. W. M. GRAHAM EASTON. COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON AT HIGHGATE. —Is there any authority for the statement tha_t Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, once resided at Highgate ? HENRY JOHNSON. EASTER WOODS.—In the Rev. John Mac- kinnon's 'Account of Messingham, in the County of Lincoln,' which was written in 1825, and printed, with notes by Mr. Edward Peacock, in 1881, a terrier of the vicarage un.K in 1686 is quoted. Among the places mentioned in this terrier is Easter Woods. Can any one explain what the name means? Is it likely that rites connected with the great spring festival were anciently prac- tised on the spot? Is the word '"Easter" of frequent occurrence in place-names "! Accord- ing to Maekinnon the people of Messinghain "frisked it away upon the Hall Garth" at Easter, "and from thence they adjourned to dance before the public house." E. T. OFFICERS OF STATE IN IRELAND.—Can you tell me where an authoritative list of the principal officers of State in Ireland before the Union may be consulted, especially the following three : (1) Lord Keeper of the Seal or Signet, (2) Principal Secretary of State in Ireland or Principal Secretary to the Council, (3) Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant; also a list of any articles or books on the subject ? R. V. HALL. ABSTEMIUS IN ^Esop's TABLES.'—In an old edition of ./Esop's ' Fables' I have come across some fables written by a man called Abstemius. Can any of your readers tell me who this Abstemius was ? CLIFTON ROBBINS. [Laurentius Abstemius, real name Bevilaqua, librarian to the Duke of Urbino, was born at Maeerata, near Aucona, towards the close of the fifteenth century. Among his works are ' Heca- tomythium sou Centum Fabulte,' Venice, 1499. His fables are included in the edition of ^Eaop, Frank- fort, 1580, and in other collections.] JANE WENHAM, THE WITCH OF WALKERN. —Does any portrait exist of this greatly maligned woman 1 It seems improbable that a trial for witchcraft which caused great excitement in Hertfordshire, and resulted in the publication of at least five pamphlets, should not have produced any pictorial illus- tration of the so-called witch or her abode. Apart from the pamphlets, what con- temporary accounts are there of the trial? The poor creature is stated to have been iven a home by Col. Plumer, of Gilston, and presumably died there. Any references to
- his instance of eighteenth-century super-
stition would be welcome. W. B. GERISH. Bishop's Stortford. DAVID COLVILLE, SCOTCH SCHOLAR. — To .n edition of St. Cyril's ' Homilies on Jere- miah,' edited by Balthazar Corderius, and published at the Plantin Press, Antwerp, 648, there is added a catalogue of the prin- ipal unpublished MSS. at the library of he Escorial, by Alexander Barvoetius, who ecompanied Corderius on his expedition to ipain. Barvoetius explains that shelf-marks are not placed on all, because he to whom I had ranted it, did not return my catalogue together
