have access to ancient ordinaries of arms, whether in
print or in manuscript, favour me by saying whether he has ever met with
the following coat: Per _pale_, argent and sable, a fess embattled, between
three falcons counterchanged, belled or? It has been attributed to the
family of Thompson of Lancashire, by Captain Booth of Stockport, and an
heraldic writer named Saunders; but what authority attaches to either I am
not aware. Is it mentioned in Corry's _Lancashire_?

HERALDICUS.

_Osborn filius Herfasti._--Were Osborn, son of Herfast, abbot of S.
Evroult, and Osborn de Crepon (filius Herfasti patris Gunnoris comitissae),
_brothers_? or were there two Herfasts?

J. SANSOM.

_Jews in China._--A colony of Jews is known to exist in the centre of
China, who worship God according to the belief of their forefathers; and
the aborigines of the northern portion of Australia exercise the rite of
circumcision. Can these colonists and aborigines be traced to any of the
nations of the lost tribes?

HISTORICUS.

_Derivation of "Mammet."_--The Rev. B. Chenevix Trench, in his book on the
_Study of Words_, 4th edition, p. 79., gives the derivation of the old
English word _mammet_ from "Mammetry or Mahometry," and cites, in proof of
this, Capulet calling his daughter "a whining _mammet_." Now Johnson, {516}
in his _Dictionary_, the folio edition, derives _mammet_ from the word
_maman_, and also from the word _man_; and mentions Shakspeare's

"This is no world to play with _mammets_, or to tilt with
lips."--_Henry IV._ (First Part), Act II. Sc. 3.

As both Dr. Johnson, the Rev. Ch. Trench, and many others, agree that
_mammet_ means "puppet," why not derive this word from the French _marmot_,
which means a puppet.--Can any of the readers of the "N. & Q." give me a
few examples to strengthen my supposition?

HENRI VAN LAUN.

King William's College, Isle of Man.

_Non-recurring Diseases._--Among the many diseases to which humanity is
subject, there are some which we are all supposed to have once, and but
once, in our lifetime. Is this an unquestioned fact? and if so, has
anything like a satisfactory explanation of it been offered?

[Hebrew: P].

_Warville._--There being no _w_ in the French language, whence did Brissot
de Warville derive the latter word of his name?

UNEDA.

Philadelphia.

_Dr. Doddridge._--A poem entitled "To my Wife's Bosom," and beginning

"Open, open, lovely breast,
Let me languish int