ton's _Optics_ to which
Flamsteed refers, in his account of the altercation between them, as having
given occasion to some of the enemies of the former to tax him with
Atheism? and is there any evidence, besides what this passage may afford,
in favour of Dr. Johnson's assertion, that Newton _set out_ as an infidel?
(Boswell, July 28, 1763.) The _Optics_ were not published till 1704, but
had been composed many years previously.

J. S. WARDEN.

_Limerick, Dublin, and Cork._--Can any of your Irish or other
correspondents inform me to whom we are indebted for the lines--

"Limerick was, Dublin is, and Cork shall be,
The finest city of the three"?

Also, in what respect Limerick was formerly superior to Dublin?

N.

Dublin.

_Praying to the West._--A friend of mine told me that a Highland woman in
Strathconan, wishing to say that her mother-in-law prayed for my friend
daily, said: "She holds up her hands to the _West_ for you every day." If
to the _East_ it would have been more intelligible; but why to the West?

L. M. M. R.

_Mulciber._--Who was Mulciber, immortalised (!) in Garth's _Dispensary_
(ed. 1699, p. 65.) as "the Mayor Bromicham?" My copy contains on the
fly-leaf a MS. key to all the names save this.

R. C. WARDE.

Kidderminster.

_Captain Booth of Stockport_ (Vol. vi., p. 340.).--As yet, no reply to this
Query has been elicited; but as it is a subject of some interest to both
Lancashire and Cheshire men, I should like to ascertain from JAYTEE in what
collection he met with the MS. copy of Captain Booth's _Ordinary of Arms_?
Its existence does not appear to have been known to any of our Cheshire or
Lancashire historians; for in none of their works do I find any mention of
such an individual as Capt. Booth of Stockport. Sir Peter Leycester, in his
_Antiquities of Bucklow Hundred_, Cheshire, repeatedly acknowledges the
assistance rendered him by John Booth of Twanbow's _Book of Pedigrees_; but
this gentleman appears merely to have collected for Cheshire, and not for
Lancashire. Sir George Booth, afterwards Lord Delamere, is the only
_Captain_ Booth I have met with in my limited sphere of historical
research; and I am not aware that he ever indulged much in genealogical
study.

T. HUGHES.

Chester.

"_A saint in crape._"--

"A saint in crepe is twice a saint in lawn."

Whence this line?

W. T. M.

Hong Kong.

_French Abbes._--What was the precise ecclesiastical and social _status_ of