ave not the ingenuity
with that son of the Prophet to confesse, Alasse! it was
borrowed."

A.B.R.

* * * * *

QUERIES UPON CUNNINGHAM'S HANDBOOK OF LONDON.

We promised to make a few QUERIES on this amusing volume, and thus
redeem our promise.

Mr. Cunningham has been the first to point out the precise situation of
a spot often mentioned by our old dramatists, which had baffled the
ingenuity of Gifford, Dyce, and in fact of all the commentators,--the
notorious Picthatch. He thus describes it:--

"_Picthatch_, or _Pickehatch_.--A famous receptacle for
prostitutes and pickpockets, generally supposed to have been in
_Turnmill Street_, near Clerkenwell Green, but its position is
determined by a grant of the 33rd of Queen Elizabeth, and a
survey of 1649. What _was_ Picthatch is a street at the back of
a narrow turning called Middle Row (formerly Rotten Row)
opposite the Charter-house wall in Goswell Street. The name is
still preserved in 'Pickax Yard' adjoining Middle Row."

Why then, among the curious illustrations which he has brought to bear
upon the subject, has Mr. Cunningham omitted that of the origin of the
name from the "picks upon the hatch?" which is clearly established both
by Malone and Steevens, in their notes upon "'twere not amiss to keep
our door hatch'd," in Pericles.

The following is an excellent suggestion as to the origin of the--

"_Goat and Compasses._--At Cologne, in the church of Santa Maria
in Capitolio, is a flat stone on the floor professing to be the
Grabstein der Brueder und Schwester eines ehrbaren Wein-und
Fass-Ampts, Anno 1693; that is, as I suppose, a vault belonging
to the Wine Coopers' Company. The arms exhibit a shield with a
pair of compasses, an axe, and a dray, or truck, with goats for
supporters. In a country like England, dealing so much at one
time in Rhenish wine, a more likely origin for such a sign could
hardly be imagined. For this information I am indebted to the
courtesy of Sir Edmund Head."

Can Mr. Cunningham, Sir E. Head, or any of our correspondents point out
any German "Randle Holme" whose work may be consulted for the purpose of
ascertaining the arms, &c. of the various professions, trades, &c. of
that country?

Why has not Mr. Cunningham, in his description of _St. James' Street_,
mentioned what certainly existed long after the commencement of th