_Hugh Oldham, Bishop of Exeter._--Is any pedigree extant of the family of Hugh Oldham? Baines speaks of him (_Hist. of Lanc._, vol. ii. p. 579.) as "descended from an ancient family," born, "according to Wood and Godwin, at Manchester; but, according to Dodsworth, at Oldham."
_The English Domestic Novel._--My first intention was to ask whether Defoe was the founder of this pleasing class of literature, but have just recollected, that Mrs. Aphara Behn wrote something of the kind in the time of Charles II. My first question will be, therefore, who was the earliest writer of this description? And, secondly, is not the matter of sufficient interest to ask your readers' assistance in the formation of a list, giving full titles, authors' names, and dates extending to 1730 or 1750?
_Dr. Young._--In the most authentic biographical accounts we leave of Dr. Young the poet, it is stated that he left in the hands of his housekeeper a collection of manuscript sermons, with an injunction that after his death they should be destroyed; it is also added, that this request was only complied with _in part_. Can any of your correspondents confirm the hope that these sermons may still be in existence; and if so, in what quarter information may be obtained concerning them? The housekeeper is said to have been the widow of a clergyman, and therefore was not regarded by the Doctor in the light of a servant.
_Bishop Hall's Meditations._--I have an old copy before me, the title-page of which runs as follows:
"Occasionall Meditations by Jos. Exon. Set forth by R. H. The Third Edition: with the Addition of Forty-nine Meditations not heretofore published: London, printed by M. F. for Nathaniel Butter, 1633."
It is edited by Bishop Hall's son (Robert). I should be glad to learn whether this is a scarce edition.
_Chatterton._--Dr. Gregory, in his _Life of Chatterton_, p. 100. (reprinted by Southey in the first volume of his edition of Chatterton's _Works_, p. lxx.), says: "Chatterton, as appears by the coroner's inquest, swallowed arsenick in water, on the 24th of August, 1770, and died in consequence thereof the next day."
Mr. Barrett, the historian of Bristol, one of Chatterton's best friends and patrons, who, from his profession as a surgeon, was likely to have made, and seems to have made, inquiries as to the circumstances of his death, says, in his _History of Bristol_, not published before 1789, and therefore not misled by any false first report, that Chatterton's principles impelled him to become his own executioner. He took a large dose of opium, some of which was picked out from his teeth after his death, and he was found the next morning a most horrid spectacle: with limbs and features distorted as after convulsions, a frightful and ghastly corpse" (p. 647.). I do not know whether this contradiction has ever been noticed, and shall be obliged to any correspondent who can give me information. I believe that Sir Herbert Croft's _Love and Madness_ was the authority followed by Dr. Gregory, but I have not the book.