_Denmark and Slavery._--Dr. Madden, in _A Twelve Months' Residence in the West Indies_, 1834, says, in allusion to a remark of Mr. Brydges, to the effect that England was the last European power to enter into the slave trade, and the first to abandon it, "This is inaccurate: to the honour of Denmark be it spoken, the slave trade was abolished by her five years before England performed that act of tardy justice to humanity" (vol. ii. p. 128.). The object of the present communication is neither to question nor disparage the merit here claimed for Denmark, in reference to "the slave _trade_:" it concerns the abolition of _slavery_ itself by that power. I shall therefore be obliged to any reader of "N. & Q." who will inform me when freedom was granted to the negroes in the Danish island of St. Thomas, in the same manner as to those of the British West Indian colonies in 1838? And also in what work I can find any detailed account of such act of manumission? L. L. _Spontaneous Combustion._--Is there such a thing as spontaneous combustion? H. A. B. _Bucks, most ancient and honourable Society of._--A candid inquiry into the principles and practices of this society, with its history, rules, and songs, was published in 1770. It appeared that there were at that time thirteen lodges of the society in London, and a few in other places. Do any lodges of this society still exist? Did they issue any medals? Do they, or did they, wear any badges? Who wore them, officers only, or all members? How many varieties were there, and of what sizes? The book I have, and two varieties of what I suppose may have been worn as badges. EDW. HAWKINS. _Lines quoted by Charles Lamb._--There are some lines quoted by Charles Lamb in one of the _Essays of Elia_: I am very anxious to know whose they are: "Bind me, ye woodbines, in your twines, Curl me about, ye gadding vines, And oh! so close your circles lace That I may never leave this place. But, lest your fetters prove too weak, Ere I their silken bondage break, Do you, oh briars! chain me too, And courteous brambles nail me through!" L. M. M. R. _Descendants of Dr. Bill._--Are there any records extant of the family or descendants of Dr. Bill, whose name is first on the list of those who drew up the Prayer-Book, tempus Edward VI.? He was also Lord Almoner to Queen Elizabeth. Dr. Bill's only daughter and heiress, Mary Bill, was married to Sir Francis Samwell: had she any family, and did they assume the name of Bill? Did a branch of the family settle in Staffordshire, and where? A. R. M. "_The Rebellious Prayer._"--Can any of your readers inform me whether some stanzas entitled "The Rebellious Prayer" have ever yet appeared in print, and, if so, in what collection of poems they are to be met with? The opening lines are as follows: "It was a darken'd chamber, where was heard The whisper'd voice, hush'd step, and stifled sounds Which herald the deep quietness of death," &c.