Notes and Queries, Number 179, April 2, 1853.. Various

      Minor Queries

      Cann Family.—Can any of your correspondents enlighten me as to the origin of this family name; and if of foreign extraction, as I suspect, in what county of England they first settled? There is a village in Dorsetshire called Cann St. Rumbold. Possibly this may afford some clue. Burke informs us that William Cann, Esq., was Mayor of Bristol in 1648, and that his son, Sir Robert Cann, also Mayor, and afterwards M.P. for that city, was knighted by Charles II. in 1662, and created a Baronet, September 13th in the same year. The title became extinct in 1765, by the death of Sir Robert Cann, the sixth Baronet. The first Baronet had several brothers, some of whom most probably left issue, as I find a respectable family of that name now, and for many years past, located in Devonshire; but I am not aware if they are descended from the same stock.

      Canada.

      Landholders in Lonsdale South of the Sands.—In his History of Lancashire, Baines states (vol. i. chap. iv.) that a return of the principal landholders in Lonsdale South of the Sands, in the time of James I., has been kept; but he does not state where the return is registered, nor whether it was in a private or public form. In fact, it is impossible to make any reference to the return, from the brief mention made of it by Baines.

      Perhaps some one of your Lancashire correspondents may be acquainted with the sources of the learned historian's information. If so, it would much oblige your correspondent to be directed to them, as also to any of the Lancashire genealogical authorities referring to the district of Lonsdale South of the Sands.

      Rotation of the Earth.—Has the experiment which about two years ago was much talked of, for demonstrating the rotation of the earth by means of a pendulum, been satisfactorily carried out and proved? And if so, where is the best place for finding an account of it? The diagram by Mr. Little in the Illustrated London News does not seem to explain the matter very fully.

      Nelson and Wellington.—The following statement has been going the round of the American newspapers since the death of the Duke of Wellington. Is it true?—"Lord Nelson was the eighteenth in descent from King Edward I., and the Duke of Wellington was descended from the same monarch."

      Are White Cats deaf?—White cats are reputed to be "hard of hearing." I have known many instances, and in all stupidity seemed to accompany the deafness. Can any instances be given of white cats possessing the function of hearing in anything like perfection?

      Arms in Dugdale's "Warwickshire," &c.—In Dugdale's Warwickshire (1656), p. 733. fig. 21., is a coat of arms from the Prior's Lodgings at Maxstoke, viz. Or, fretty of ten pieces sa. with a canton gu. And in Shaw's Hist. of Staffordshire, vol. i. p. *210., is the notice of a similar coat from Armitage Church, near Rugeley, extracted out of Church Notes, by Wyrley the herald, taken about 1597: viz. "Rugeley as before, impaling O. fretty of … S. with a canton G. Query if …"

      Dugdale gives another coat, p. 111. fig. 12., from the windows of Trinity Church, Coventry; viz. Arg. on a chev. sa. three stars of the first. There is a mitre over this coat.

      Can any of the correspondents of "N. & Q." assign the family names to these arms? Does the mitre necessarily imply a bishop or mitred abbot; and, if not, does it belong to John de Ruggeley, who was Abbot of Merevale (not far from Coventry) temp. Hen. VI., one branch of whose family bore—Arg. on a chev. sa. three mullets of the first. I may observe that this John was perhaps otherwise connected with Coventry; for Edith, widow of Nicholas de Ruggeley, his brother, left a legacy, says Dugd., p. 129., to an anchorite mured up at Stivichall Church, a member of St. Michael's Church, Coventry.

      The same coat (i. e. with the mullets) is assigned by Dugd., p. 661. fig. 12., to the name of Knell.

      Tombstone in Churchyard.—Does any one know of a legible inscription older than 1601?

      Argot and Slang.—I shall be much obliged by learning from any correspondent the etymons of argot (French) and slang, as applied to language; and when did the latter term first come into use?

      Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

      Priests' Surplices.—Will some of the readers of "N. & Q." favour me with a decision or authority on the following point? Does a priest's surplice differ from that worn by a lay vicar, or vicar choral? I have been an old choir-boy; and some few years since, as a boy, used to remark that the priests' surplices worn at St. Paul's, the Chapel Royal, and Westminster Abbey, were, as a sempstress would term it, gaged, or stitched down in rows over the shoulders some seven or eight times at the distance of about half an inch from each other. In the cathedral churches of Durham, York, Hereford, Worcester, Gloucester, and Oxford, I have remarked their almost universal adoption; but, to the best of my belief, I have never seen such a description of vestment in use among parochial clergymen, above half-a-dozen times, and I am desirous of knowing if the gaged surplice is peculiar to cathedrals and collegiate churches (I have even seen canons residentiary in them, habited in the lay vicar's surplice), or is the surplice used by choristers, undergraduates, and vicars choral, which, according to my early experience, is one without needlework, the correct officiating garment; the latter is almost universally used at funerals, where the officiating priest seldom wears either his scarf or hood, and presents anything but a dignified appearance when he crowns this négligée with one of our grotesque chimney-pot hats, to the exclusion of the more appropriate college cap.

      John, Brother German to David II.—Can any of your readers solve the problem in Scotch history, who was John, brother german to King David II., son of Robert Bruce? David II., in a charter to the Priory of Rostinoth, uses these words: "Pro salute animæ nostræ, etc., ac ob benevolentiam et affectionem specialem quam erga dictum prioratum devote gerimus eo quod ossa celebris memoriæ Johannis fratris nostri germani ibidem (the Priory) humata quiescunt dedimus, etc., viginti marcas sterlingorum, etc." Dated at Scone, "in pleno parliamento nostro tento ibidem decimo die Junii anno regni sexto decimo."