which his studies were scandalized." Dr. CROWNS IN TOWER OR SPIRE OF CHURCH A. R. BAYLEY. [R. B-R mentions the spires at Newcastle and Aberdeen.] and declared his warrant to be from the See P. Hume Brown's BEADNELL (9th S. xii. 469).-I suggest that CHAS. F. FORSHAW, LL.D., F.R Hist.S. Beadnell, John, Esq. 2 Lombard St; Tottenham, Middx.; Castel-y-Dale, near Newtown, Montgomeryshire." "Beadnell, George, Esq. 2 Lombard St; Myfod, Montgomeryshire. "GOD'S SILLY VASSAL" (9th S. xii. 447).--In September, 1593, when, after the Reforma tion, things were unsettled, the Provincial Assembly of the Church of Scotland met at St. Andrews and excommunicated the Catholic lords, who a year afterwards fled from Scotland, but were recalled in 1596. The General Assembly, suspecting that James VI. favoured the lords, resolved to learn the truth from himself, and in September commissioned Andrew Melville (Rector of the University of St. Andrews) and others to appear before his Majesty at Falkland Palace. The king received them, but plainly showed he was in no mood to brook interference, and declared their coming to be without warrant and seditious. This was more than the redoubtable Andrew could submit to. James Melville, who was present, I remember a Mr. Henry Beadnell, a proofsays in his Autobiography and Diary reader in the office of Messrs. Cox & Wyman, (Edinburgh, 1842) that thereupon Mr. Great Queen Street, printers to the East Andrew brak out upon the king in sa India Company. He was a man of some zealus and unresistible a maner, that, how-culture, and published some works on typobeit the king used his authority in a most colerik maner, Mr. Andrew bore him down," เ In the 'Royal Blue Books' for 1843 and 1844 George Beadnell appears as above, but John Beadnell's only address is Tottenham. In 1845 neither name occurs. JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT. graphy, and a small volume of original verse and translations. There is a Mr. H. J. Llewellyn Beadnell in the Ministry of push or press one's own claims forward, it EPIGRAM ON MADAME DE POMPADOUR (9th S. xii. 447). It has been suggested that a line of Frederic the Great against the Abbé de Bernis caused France to go against Prussia. If an epigram on Madame de Pompadour cannot be found, it may be worth while to quote the following; for it is possible that Carlyle made a mistake, and confounded Madame de Pompadour with her ally, the Abbé de Bernis : "Frédéric, à la fin d'une Épître au comte Gotter, où il décrit les détails infinis du travail et de l'industrie humaine, avait dit : Je n'ai pas tout dépeint, la matière est immense, On a supposé que Bernis connaissait cette Epitre, : Et les mépris d'un roi pour vos petites rimes Bernis.' possible progenitors of English boost, the Cas PROF. W. W. SKEAT connects Gothic Dutch hop (A Maso-Gothic Glossary,' Lonhwōpan-to boast with English whoop_and don, 1868). This strengthens the tendency to take boast for a derivative of vox. The word for boust in Romans xi. 18, 1 Cor. iv. 7, 2 Cor. v. 12, which are quoted by PROF. SKEAT under hwōpan, is gloria in the Baskish version of 1571. In 1 Cor. xiii. 3 Leiçarraga did not, like Ulfilas, read kavɣýσwμai, but κavýσwμaι. E. S. DODGSON. BIRCH-SAP WINE (9th S. xi. 467; xii. 50, BANNS OF MARRIAGE (9th S. xii. 107, 215, 296).-John Evelyn in his 'Sylva' (book i. 375). It is also allowable, though by no chap. xviii. § 8) gives a receipt for birch-sap means a general custom, to publish the banns wine, to which he attributes valuable mediof marriage after the Nicene Creed, and on cinal properties. It is interesting to observe my last visit to Oxford I heard the publica- that in the same work he recommends sycation in this place at the church of St. Peter-more-sap for brewing (chap. xiii. § 2), and, in-the-East. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge. "PAPERS (9th S. xii. 387).-Here are examples of the use of the word "papers,' the extracts being made from Newton Forster,' by Marryat, published in Paris, Baudry's European Library, 1834, though the edition is not given : "I will just speak a word or two to my father. and be on board in less than half an hour.' 'I will meet you there,' said Hilton, and bring your papers."-Chap. vii. p. 50. Newton......made all haste to obtain his clearance and other papers from the custom-house...... With his papers carefully buttoned in his coat, he was proceeding to the boat at the jetty."Chap. ix. p. 63. There are my papers, sir, my clearance from the custom-house, and my bill of lading....... I observe,' replied the captain, examining the papers, they appear to be all correct.'"--Chap. xi. p. 73. MAUD CALLWELL. "BOAST": ITS ETYMOLOGY (9th S. x. 444). – As to boast is to some extent to "boss it," to writing of the mountain-ash (chap. xvi. §2). remarks: "Some highly commend the juice of the berries, which, fermenting of itself, if well preserved, makes an excellent drink against the spleen or scurvy: Ale and beer brewed with them, being ripe, is an incomparable drink familiar in Wales.' JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT. Miscellaneous. NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. London in the Time of the Stuarts. By Sir Walter THIS handsome volume is a companion to the phesied - from the personal interference of the case, to cover the reign of the Tudors, with the close of the Wars of the Roses, the suppression of the monasteries, the Pilgrimage of Grace, the alternate persecutions of Lutherans and Catholics, the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and the intellectual and social upheaval under the reign of Elizabeth, we shall be content and thankful. Of this we hear nothing, however, at present, our immediate duty not extending beyond a welcome to the volume before us. Sufficiently varied and stimulating is the period dealt with to satisfy the most exorbitant appetite. Beginning with the Gunpowder Plot, the record includes the deaths, among others, of Walter Raleigh, Buckingham, Strafford, Laud, Monmouth, Lord Russell, and Algernon Sidney; the growth of difficulties between Charles I. and the civic authorities; the defeat, trial, and death of the king; the Commonwealth; the Protectorate, with all its attendant troubles; the Restoration; the great visitation of the plague; the Fire of London; the Titus Oates plot the persecutions of Jeffreys; the trial of the bishops; the flight of James II.; and the accession of William and Mary, ending with the rule, outwardly placid, of Queen Anne. Here alone, without descending to events of secondary importance, is "ample space and verge enough." It would obviously be impossible, but for the limitations Sir Walter had imposed on his scheme, to comprehend within a single volume any summary, even the most condensed, of all the matters opened out by these things. The limitations in question include, however, the enforced avoidance of all historical treatment and the omission of all literary record. Such mention, accordingly, as is made of Milton is in connexion with religion, and not with literature, while names such as Donne, Cowley, Cleveland, Vanbrugh, and Farquhar are not to be found in the index. Differing in some respects from those in the volume on the eighteenth century, the divisions in the present book begin with the Stuart sovereigns, of each of whom-with, in the majority of instances, their consorts, mistresses, descendants, favourites, or counsellors-portraits are supplied." A second division includes religion, government, &c., and a third. manners and customs. Between the second and third divisions is intercalated an account of the great Plague and Fire, which is likely to prove the most generally interesting portion of the volume; and at the close comes a series of valuable appen dixes. In what is virtually the seventeenth century Sir Walter finds the City of London at the height of its political importance, and he advances the opinion that not even "when London deposed Richard II. and set up Henry IV. was the City so closely involved in all the events of the time as in the seventeenth century." It is also obvious that between the beginning of the century and its close THERE is no subject on which the opinions of is a vast breach, in which are included the Civil men have changed more than family history War, the Commonwealth, the Restoration, the and pedigree lore. In the eighteenth and earlier Fire, and the final rejection of James II. and abso- part of the nineteenth century such studies lute rule, which events cover half the entire period. were held to form about the lowest stratum of It is to a great extent true that the first half of the useless knowledge. Sneers at them are met with century is a continuation of the sixteenth, while, in continually in the literature of those days, and are a sense, the second half is a preparation for the generally pointless and stupid. A notable Welsheighteenth. These things only bear out what we man once said, and was admired for the sentiment, have affirmed in connexion with the volume pre- that " family pedigrees were but a web woven by viously issued, that divisions such as are ordinarily nature in which the spider of pride lurked"; and used are purely arbitrary. In favour of the seven- Sir Walter Scott was sometimes made fun of, and teenth century Sir Walter claims that it secured at others denounced, because his verse and prose the country for two hundred years - and for an alike had a tendency to direct the thoughts of his indefinite period beyond, so far as can be pro-readers to family history, heraldry, and allied sub The Blood Royal of Britain. Being a Roll of the Living Descendants of Edward IV. and Henry VII., Kings of England, and James III. of Scotland. By the Marquis of Ruvigny and Raineval. (T. C. & E. C. Jack.) royalty itself. The Marquis mentions a butcher, a gamekeeper, a glass-cutter, an exciseman, a tollbar-keeper, a baker, and a tailor who are descendants, through the Seymours, of Mary, the younger daughter of King Henry VII. jects. In its early days the Surtees Society was dream-figures-is as unimpeachable as that of ridiculed in influential quarters for publishing ancient wills, which were regarded as quite useless for those who possessed even a little common sense; and the reverence shown for illustrious descent by Sir Francis Palgrave in more than one passage in his History of Normandy and England' was said, at the time of publication, to have injured the sale of the work. A happy change has, however, taken place, and in some degree, at least, we ought to thank our American cousins for the improvement. The educated classes of that great democracy were always free from some of those prejudices which overshadowed us, and were therefore anxious to connect themselves, not only in imagination, but in fact, with the families of the old land; so a large number of race-histories have been produced-some, at is true, executed on wrong lines, but others based on the soundest principles of modern research. We may safely say that no work of the nature of the one before us could possibly have come into exist ence half a century ago. The times were not ripe for it, nor was there a fitting architect to plan nor workmen to execute. It is the first book we have ever encountered wherein even an endeavour has been made to carry out on an extended and systematic scale the royal descents of the British people. The Marquis of Ruvigny does not go back beyond Edward IV. and Henry VII. He thus gives the families dependent from the Houses of York and Lancaster in the female lines, so far as unwearied research and hard work have enabled him to collect and arrange them. A like course has been pursued with regard to the descendants of James III. of Scotland Many families inherit the blood of the Plantagenets and Stuarts without being aware of the fact; but the Marquis's labours will be of special advantage to those who, while aware of their royal ancestry, do not know the intervening links between themselves and their distinguished progenitors. We wish it had been possible for the author to begin his work at an earlier period-say with Henry II. Human life and energy have, however, their limitations; we therefore dare not complain. We are too glad that so large an instalment has been carried out and done so well. The author tells us in the preface some facts which we are sure are unrecognized by many who have a special interest in knowing them. He enumerates, for example, some of the worldrenowned heroes, with all of whom the descendants of Henry VII. count kinship. He might have added others; but as it stands the catalogue is highly instructive. Among them occur Alfred the Great, St. Louis of France, Roderigo Diaz de Bivar (commonly known in England as the Cid), the Emperors of the East (Isaac II. and Alexius I.), and, by far the greatest of all, Charlemagne, to whom we owe the redemption of the greater part of the European continent from barbarism, and its return to such civilization as has been found attainable. It has been commonly assumed by those who have never given attention to such subjects that royal descent is very uncommon, and that when it does occur it is found almost solely in the families of our older aristocracy, whose existence is well-nigh hidden in the crowded pages of the modern peerage. This is a strange mistake. We have personally known men and women in a very humble class of life whose descent from Alfred-and, indeed, from Odin and Arthur, if these latter be anything beyond In almost every direction care has been taken to make the work as complete as possible. Thus we have a little shield put against those persons who have a right to quarter the royal arms of the Plantagenets. It has often been assumed that all who inherit the blood have a right to the arms also; but this is a mistake, in order to guard against which we wish the author had explained what are the principles by which this right is protected. There is but one family-that of the Duke of Athol and his cousin Miss Caroline F. Murray-who have a right to this "unique distinction" three times over. This great compilation is well worthy of an extended commentary. We hope it will excite others to imitate it in directions which might be indicated. It must become a necessity for every one studying the history, and especially the local history, of the last four centuries. MESSRS. ARROWSMITH, of Bristol, publish A Patience Pocket-Book, compiled by Mrs. Theodore Bent. Notices to Correspondents. We must call special attention to the following notices:— ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately. To secure insertion of communications correspondents must observe the following rules. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. When answering queries, or making notes with regard to previous entries in the paper, contributors are requested to put in parentheses, immediately after the exact heading, the series, volume, and page or pages to which they refer. Correspondents who repeat queries are requested to head the second communication "Duplicate." SIR E. T. BEWLEY.-" Heardlome" shall appear next week. P. P. A. ("The sa. Quhat sa the? Lat them sa").--In its familiar form, "They say," &c., it is the motto of Aberdeen University. S. PEARCE. The death of "Henry Seton Merriman" was noticed in the Athena um of 28 November last. J. ELIOT HODGKIN.-Please forward new address. A proof sent was returned through the Dead Letter Office. NOTICE. Editorial communications should be addressed to "The Editor of Notes and Queries'"-Advertisements and Business Letters to "The Publisher"-at the Office, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, E.C. We beg leave to state that we decline to return communications which, for any reason, we do not print; and to this rule we can make no exception. |