"Sir John Vanbrugh, an eminent dramatic writer, son of Mr. Giles Vanbrugh of London, merchant, was born in the parish of St. Stephen's, Walbrook, in 1666. The family of Vanbrugh were for many years merchants of great credit and reputation at Antwerp, and came into England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, on account of the persecution for religion." Mr. Cunningham (_Handbook of London_, p. 282.) speaks of _William_ Vanderbergh, the supposed father of Sir John, as residing in Lawrence-Poultney Lane in 1677. He refers to Strype's map of Walbrook and Dowgate wards, and _A Collection of the Names of the Merchants living in and about the City of London_, 12mo. 1677. The writer of the notice of Sir John Vanbrugh in Chambers' _Cyclopaedia of English Literature_, vol. i. p. 597., says: "Vanbrugh was the son of a successful sugar-baker, who rose to be an esquire, and comptroller of the treasury chamber, besides marrying the daughter of Sir Dudley Carlton. It is doubtful whether the dramatist was born in the French Bastile, or the parish of St. Stephen's, Walbrook. The time of his birth was about the year 1666, when Louis XIV. declared war against England. It is certain he was in France at the age of nineteen, and remained there some years." The family vault of the Vanbrughs is certainly in St. Stephen's Church, Walbrook, where Sir John was buried on the 30th of March, 1726. EDWARD F. RIMBAULT. _Greek Inscription on a Font_ (Vol. viii., p. 198.).---This Query has already been answered and illustrated in Vol. vii., pp. 178. 366. 417.; but the following passage may be of interest, as affording instances of the same inscription in France, and pointing out the probable source of its usage, viz. from the ancient Greek metropolitan church at Constantinople: "St. Memin est une abbaye celebre sous l'ancien nom de Micy, sur la riviere de Loire, proche d'Orleans. Il y a dans l'eglise de ce monastere un benetier de forme ronde, avec cette inscription grecque gravee sur le bord du bassin, [GREEK: NIPSON ANOMEMA MEMONAN OPSIN]. La meme chose est a Paris, au benetier de St. Etienne d'Egres, et aussi autrefois a celui de Sainte Sophie a Constantinople."--_Voyages liturgiques de France, par le Sieur Moleon_, p. 219., 8vo. 1718. It may be added (on Cole's authority, vol. XXXV. f. 19b.) that the same inscription is inscribed round a large silver basin used formerly at the master's table on festival days, in Trinity College Hall, Cambridge; and I have also seen it on a sliver-gilt rose-water basin, introduced at the banquets given by the master of Magdalene College in the same university. [mu]. "_Fierce_" (Vol. viii., p. 280.).--In this part of the country the words _pert_, pronounced "peart," and _pure_, bear the same meaning, of well in health and spirits. FRANCIS JOHN SCOTT. Tewkesbury. {353}