_Mineral Acids._--As it is generally supposed that these powerful solvents were not known anterior to circiter A.D. 1100, I should be glad to learn what opinion is entertained by the learned concerning {340} the death of the prophet Haken al Mokannah. This person is said to have disappeared in 785, or 163 of the Hejrah, by casting himself into a barrel of corrosive fluids, which dissolved his body. Is it not the best supposition, that this story was supposed by Khondemir and others, in more advanced ages of science, to account for the fact of his having disappeared, and of his real fate having never been ascertained? I have never seen this apparent anticipation of chemical discoveries animadverted on. A. N. _Richard Geering._--Wanted, arms, pedigree, and particulars of the family of Richard Geering, one of the six clerks in Chancery in Ireland from March 1700 to April 1735. One of his daughters, Prudence, married, in 1722, Charles Coote, Esq., M.P., and by him was mother of the last Earl of Bellamont. Another daughter, Susannah, was wife of Mr. Charles Wilson; who was, it is believed, a connexion of the family of Ward of Newport, in Shropshire. Any information about Mr. Wilson's ancestry would be very acceptable. Y. S. M. _Stipendiary Curates._--What is the earliest mention of stipendiary curates in our ecclesiastical establishment? And what other national churches have priests placed in a corresponding position? BEROSUS. _Our Lady of Rounceval._--Can you or any of your correspondents furnish me with particulars of our Lady of Rounceval? A. J. DUNKIN. _Roden's Colt._--A lady of a certain age is said in common parlance to be "Forty, save one, the age of Roden's colt." What can Nimrod tell us touching this proverbialised animal? R. C. WARDE. Kidderminster. _Sir Christopher Wren and the Young Carver._--A reader has a floating notion in his head of having once read in the _Literary Gazette_ a strange story of a country boy going to town to seek employment as a carver or sculptor; of his being accosted by Sir Christopher Wren, and offering to carve for him a sow and pigs, &c. Can any correspondent have pity on him, and tell him where to find the tale? A. H. _Vellum Cleaning._--Are there not preparations in use for cleaning the backs of old vellum-bound books without destroying the polish? How made, or where procurable? J. F. M. _Dionysia in Boeotia._--Can any of your readers refer me to a passage in any ancient author in which this supposed town is mentioned? Dumersan refers to Diodorus Siculus as his authority for its existence, but my search in that author has been vain, and I am not alone in that respect. AUGUSTUS LANGDON. Bloomsbury. _Poll Tax in 1641._--I find in Somers' _Tracts_, 2nd ed. vol. iv. p. 298.: "The copy of an order agreed upon in the House of Commons upon Friday, 18th June, wherein every man is rated according to his estate, for the king's use."