Volume 4 — Queries.

ADDITIONAL QUERIES RESPECTING GENERAL JAMES WOLFE. (Vol. iv., pp. 271. 322.)

I beg to thank the six gentlemen who have so promptly and courteously responded to my Queries respecting this admirable soldier. The information they have communicated is valuable and interesting, and tends to remove much of the obscurity that had attended my researches into the earlier portion of his history; and I feel greatly obliged to your correspondents. Still, some of my Queries are unanswered, and I venture to repeat these, in the hope that the information wanted may be elicited.

1. Where was James Wolfe educated?

2. His first, and subsequent, military services?

3. How long was he stationed in Scotland; on what duty; and in what places? [He was in the North in 1749 and 1750; but I have reason to believe some years earlier.]

4. Was he at the battle of Culloden, in 1746?

As some of the gentlemen, in kindly answering my inquiries, have raised certain points on which additional information may be mutually given and received, I take leave to offer the following remarks to these respondents, seriatim.

I.—To H. G. D.

In corroboration of your statement, that the correct date of Wolfe's birth is 2nd January, 1727 (not 1726, as alleged by some), I am enabled to cite his own authority. One of his autograph letters in my possession, dated Glasgow, 2nd April, 1749, states, "I am but twenty-two and three months;" which answers precisely to your time.

You mention that his mother came from, or near, Deptford, and that her Christian name was Henrietta. I am enabled to mention that her surname was Thompson, and that her brother Edward was member of parliament for Plymouth, prior to 1759. Does this give you any clue to Wolfe's mother's family; and particularly whether his maternal grandfather was a military man?

May I further inquire—

1. Whether Wolfe's father was a native of Westerham; or merely quartered there when his illustrious son was born?

2. You allude to two houses at Westerham. Were these General Edward Wolfe's property; or if not, what had led to the family residing there so long, as they seem, from your remarks, to have done?

3. Who was Sir Jeffrey Amherst, and in what manner did he "patronise Wolfe"? Was he any relation of the General Amherst, commander-in-chief in British America, who was to have supported young Wolfe in the attack on Quebec in 1759.

4. Who is the present representative of Wolfe's family?

You mention that you are uncertain when and where James Wolfe first served. I have experienced the very same difficulty. It seems strange that his biographers have been so meagre in the details of his life. It has been said that Wolfe's first effort in arms was as a volunteer under his father, in the unlucky expedition against Carthagena, in 1740, commanded by Lord Cathcart. But I cannot find proper authority for this.

You farther state, that Wolfe was ardently attached to Colonel Barré. It is curious enough that their introduction to each other was chiefly in consequence of a letter which Barré carried to Wolfe, from the officer to whom Wolfe's letters in my possession are addressed. In one of these, dated "Portsmouth, 7th Feb. 1758," Wolfe, after speaking favourably of Barré, states—

"I did not know that Barré was your friend, nor even your acquaintance. Now that I do know it, I shall value him the more.... I trust I shall have good reason to thank the man that mentioned him. Nay, I am already overpaid, by the little that I did, by drawing out of his obscurity so worthy a gentleman. I never saw his face till very lately, nor ever spoke ten words to him before I ventured to propose him as a Major of Brigade."

And he adds:

"Barré and I have the great apartment of a three-decked ship to revel in, but, with all this space, and fresh air, I am sick to death. Time, I suppose, will deliver me from these sufferings [sea-sickness], though in former trials I never could overcome it", &c.

I cordially assent to your encomium on England's young general.

II.—To YUNAFF.

The lady to whom the affectionate and touching lines you have quoted were addressed was Miss Louther, a sister of Sir James Louther; rich, highly accomplished, and most amiable. Wolfe was to have been married to her, had he returned from Quebec. She was very averse to his accepting the command. But nothing could stay his military ardour, even though in indifferent health. Well might the epithet be applied to him—"favourite son of Minerva."

Miss Louther was an object of general sympathy, after her brave lover's fall; and some of the periodicals of the day contain beautiful verses, addressed to her, appropriate to the occasion. This lady's name is not mentioned in any of Wolfe's letters in my possession; but an allusion is made to her incidentally. She was a favourite with the old general and Mrs. Wolfe. In one of the early letters a graphic description is given by young Wolfe of another lady of rank, with whom he was much smitten. That was before he paid his addresses, however, to Miss Louther. But I do not feel at liberty to break the seal of confidence under which this information was communicated in Wolfe's letter, though at the distance of one hundred years, by mentioning farther particulars.

May I ask if the verses in your possession are signed by Wolfe; or in his autograph; and dated? It would be very interesting to have precise information, tending to identity Wolfe as the author of these lines.

III.—To W. A.

I shall be glad to know the contents of the petition, dated February, 1746, and of the six letters mentioned by you. They may throw some light on Wolfe's history. Will you allow me to communicate with you on this subject, by letter, through the Editor, as I reside at a distance from London?

IV.—To J. H. M.

The packet of Wolfe's letters in my possession was never shown to Southey. They were discovered only three years ago. I believe Southey intended to write a memoir of Wolfe, but I am not aware that he carried his intentions into effect. The letters in my care were published in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, December, 1849, under the title "Original Correspondence of General Wolfe." I shall feel obliged by any information you possess regarding the other collection of Wolfe's letters which you believe to exist. Pray, where are they to be seen?

Ȝ.

P.S.—Since expressing my acknowledgments to the other gentlemen who have kindly answered some of my inquiries respecting Wolfe, I have had the pleasure to peruse the information communicated by J. R. (Cork), and I beg to thank him for his courtesy. The sketch he has given of Wolfe's ancestors is very interesting, the more so, as J. R. mentions he is himself connected with Wolfe's family. Would J. R. be kind enough to supply information on the following additional points, viz.:

1. In which of the English counties did Captain George Wolfe, who escaped after the siege of Limerick, settle?

2. Was the son of this officer (father of General Edward Wolfe) also a military man, or a civilian; and what was his Christian name?

3. The birth-place of General Edward Wolfe, father of the hero of Quebec.

Answers to these Queries would connect some of the broken links in the history of one of the most gallant and skilful young generals that England ever entrusted with her armies.

Ȝ.

General Wolfe's executor was General Warde, of the family of Squerries, near Westerham, by whom the epitaph was written, which is now over the south door of Westerham church. General Warde's nephew and executor was General George Warde, who by that means became possessed of several very interesting objects, viz., an original portrait of Wolfe, representing him with his natural red hair. After some time the natural red was converted, by water colours, into a powdered wig; consequently a sponge and clean water would restore it to its original state. Another portrait of Wolfe painted after his death by West; he is represented sitting and consulting a plan of military operations. West has given him the same countenance in which he appears in the celebrated picture of his death. When West was offered the original portrait on which to form this picture, he declined making use of it, as he had already committed himself in the historical portrait, and it would not do for him to alter it, and send out in his name two different portraits. Gen. G. Warde also possessed Wolfe's short sword and black leather letter-case, and a collection of original letters; among which was one of much interest, where Wolfe, mentioning the flattering terms in which he was spoken of by the public and high military authorities, says, that unwarranted expectations were raised, and that to maintain his reputation he might be driven into some desperate undertaking.

I write all this from memory, but my details cannot be very far from correct.

GRIFFIN.

CHRISTIANITY, WHEN FIRST INTRODUCED INTO ORKNEY.

Christianity is believed to have been introduced into Orkney before the Norwegian conquest by King Harold Harfager, in 895; but the race who inhabited the country at that period are said to have been extirpated or driven out by the Scandinavians, who were worshippers of Odin and Thor. In the end of the tenth century, the King of Norway, Olaf Tryggveson, renounced Paganism for Christianity, which he forced both on Norway and Orkney at the point of the sword. M. Depping, in his Histoire des Expéditions Maritimes des Normands, tom. ii. p. 60. ed. 1826, states that Sigurd, the second Earl of Orkney (whose brother Ronald, Earl of Mære, the first Norwegian Earl of Orkney, was the common ancestor of the Earls of Orkney and Dukes of Normandy), drove the Christians out of Orkney. This was towards the beginning of the tenth century. It has been overlooked by Barry, the local historian, or unknown to him, who mentions (p. 123.) the introduction by King Olaf Tryggveson as either the first introduction, or at least the final establishment of the Christian religion. I have looked into Torfæus' Orcades, the Orknayinga Saga, and the Sagas of the two kings, Harold Harfager and Olaf Tryggveson, in Mr. Laing's translation of Snow's Hermskringla, and have not found the expulsion of the Christians by Sigurd mentioned in any of those works. Will some of your learned correspondents be so obliging as to point out M. Depping's authority for this fact? I have just now fallen in with a curious example of the rude Christianity of the Northmen, who worshipped both Thor and Christ, and the passage is perhaps worth quoting. Torfæus, in his Orcades, p. 15., mentions a Scandinavian chief called Helgius, who lived in Iceland about 888, and says:

"Christianis sacris quibus infans initiatus est, per totam vitam adhæsit, valde tamen in religionis articulis rudis; nam Thorem, ad ardua negotia, itineraque maritima feliciter expediunda, invocandum, cætera Christum dictitavit, tanquam cum Thore divisum imperium habentem. Simile Witichendus Monachus et Sigebertus Gemlansensis, de Danis, in primis religionis incunabulis, prodidere."

W. H. F.

THE ROMAN INDEX EXPURGATORIUS OF 1607.

This work, both in the original edition, and in the reprint of Bergomi, 1608, is reputed to be of extreme rarity. Mr. Mendham, in his Literary Policy of the Church of Rome Exhibited, in an Account of her Damnatory Catalogues or Indices, both Prohibitory and Expurgatory, &c., 2nd ed., London, 1830, calls it "perhaps the most extraordinary and scarcest of all this class of publications," p. 116., while all of the class are known to be by no means of common occurrence. Clement (Bibliothèque Curieuse, art. "Brasichellensis," v. ccvii.) designates the Roman edition as "extrêmement rare;" and (note 48., p. 211 a.) says of the other, "cette édition de Bergame est encore plus rare que celle de Rome."

Now Clement informs us that "on a copié l'édition de Rome de 1607 à Ratisbonne, vers l'an 1723, sur de beau papier;" and Mr. Mendham says that this was done by "Serpilius, a priest of Ratisbon, in 1723," and that the copy so closely resembled the original "as to admit of its being represented as the same." Accordingly, Clement says that it was furtively sold as the genuine work, until the announcement of an intended reprint by Hessel, at Altorff, in 1742, induced the owner of the remainder of the Ratisbon counterfeit to avow his fraud. Then, Mr. Mendham says, it "appeared with a new title-page, as a second edition." Of that circumstance Clement makes no mention.

"The original and counterfeit editions of this peculiar work are sufficiently alike to deceive any person who should not examine them in literal juxtaposition; but upon such examination the deception is easily apparent," says Mr. Mendham, p. 131. The natural inference from this is, that he has so examined them.

His mention of the Bodleian "copy of the original edition" may warrant the belief that he has made use of it. The fact that Dr. James, "chief keeper" of the Bodleian, used and cited the Roman edition in his Treatise of the Corruptions of Scripture, Councils and Fathers, &c. in 1612, may further warrant the belief that the copy in that library is an indubitable original, placed where it is before the counterfeit was gotten up.

If these inferences are correct, I have, what I much desire, a criterion by which to distinguish the counterfeit from the genuine Roman edition. Yet I hardly dare to trust it, because it involves a charge of carelessness against Clement, who is not often justly liable to such reproach.

He says, "J'ai eu le bonheur d'acquérir l'édition originale de Rome." He therefore either copied the title of what he thought a genuine edition, or carelessly substituted that of the counterfeit.

Now I have a copy of what purports to be the Roman edition, the title of which, agreeing exactly neither with Clement nor with the title given by Mr. Mendham (p. 116.), yet coincides with the latter in one curious particular, which seems to identify it with Mr. Mendham's genuine original, while its rare disagreements from Clement's distinguish it from that. Mr. Mendham's transcript of the title runs:

"Indicis Librorum Expurgandorum in Studiosorum gratiam confecti. Tomus Primus. In quo Quinquaginta Auctorum Libri præ cæteris desiderati emendantur, Per Fr. Jo. Mariam Brasichellen Sacri Palatii Apostolici Magistrum in unum corpus redactus, et publicæ commoditati æditus. Romæ, ex Typographia R. Cam. Apost. MDCVII. Superiorum Permissu."

In this there are two observable peculiarities: 1. The full-stop after "confecti," breaking the grammatical construction; 2. The omission of such a stop (as a sign of contraction) after the portion of a word, "Brasichellen," from which the final syllable "sem" has been dropped, as appears in the archetype, for want of room.

That Mr. Mendham faithfully copied this last peculiarity is shown by his own singular misconception of the word, which he has taken to be complete, and on p. 130. writes of "Brasichellen, or Guanzellus;" a mistake into which he has been led by Jugler, whom he is there reporting; Jugler, as quoted in the note, seeming to have been led into it by Zobelius.

The peculiarity which has thus led Mr. Mendham, and before him Zobelius and Jugler, into error, does not appear in Clement's title. It runs:

"Indicis Librorum Expurgandorum in Studiosorum gratiam confecti, Tomus Primus. In quo Quinquaginta Auctorum Libri præ cæteris desiderati emendantur. Per Fr. Jo. Mariam Brasichellen. Sacri Palatii Apostolici Magistrum in unum corpus redactus, et publicæ commoditati æditus. Romæ, ex Typographia R. Cam. Apost. M.DC.VII. Superiorum Permissu."

Both the peculiarities pointed out in Mendham's copy are wanting in this; and a third difference is, that where Mendham, after "emendantur," has a comma, this has a full-stop. All these differences are corrections, and therefore more likely to be found in a reprint, than the reverse.

My copy agrees with Mendham in the two peculiarities first remarked; but with Clement in the last. It has, beside, another peculiarity which neither has retained, but resembling those of Mendham's copy. After the word "auctorum" there is a full-stop, breaking the grammatical construction just as that after "confecti" does.

These circumstances lead me to think my copy one of the genuine edition, and to suppose that Mendham's was of the same; in which case, Clement must have either carelessly given the title of the counterfeit, while he had the genuine at hand (as he says); or, still more carelessly, miscopied the genuine; or deceived himself with the belief that he had the genuine, while he had only a counterfeit.

It is singular that there is room for a similar doubt about the Bergomi edition of this work. Of that, too, I have what purports to be a copy; but am led by Clement's description of the Altorff edition to have misgivings that it may have been made as studiously a counterfeit of the Bergomi edition, as its predecessor of Ratisbon had been of that of Rome. In all the particulars of which Clement says, "Ceux qui auront l'édition de Bergame, pourront juger sur ce détail, si la copie d'Altorff la représente exactement ou non," my copy does agree with his description; and it may be that some of the Altorff copies bear a false title, with Bergomi as the imprint.

The genuineness of this book is of no ordinary interest. It is one of the most damaging witnesses against Rome, to convict her of conscious fraud. How much its evidence is dreaded, is proved by the industrious suppression that has made it of so great rarity.

May I not hope, therefore, that some of your readers who have access to the Bodleian will inform me through your columns—

1. Whether any copy there, purporting to be of the Roman edition, can be identified as having been in the library before 1723?

2. Whether the title of such copy (if there be any) agree with Mr. Mendham's, or Clement's, or mine?

3. Whether there is in that library (or elsewhere in England) an undoubted copy of the Bergomi edition?

A copy of the titles of the Ratisbon and Altorff editions would also be desirable; and (if they could be identified) any distinguishing note of the Ratisbon counterfeit, e.g. the signature marks of its preliminary sheet.

U. U.

Baltimore, U. S. A.

Minor Queries.

313. "The Don," a Poem.

—This is an old work illustrative of the local antiquities, ancient families, castles, &c., on the banks of the Don, in Aberdeenshire. It is said to have been written during the usurpation of Oliver Cromwell by a Mr. Forbes of Brux, in the immediate neighbourhood. One of the ablest of our local antiquaries states, that he has never been able to satisfy himself of the existence of any edition of that poem earlier than that of the quarto one of 1742, which seems to have been reprinted from an edition of the year 1655; but is so thoroughly redolent of the spirit of a later age, that it is not possible to believe it to have been written in the seventeenth century. All subsequent editions (and they have been numerous) have reference to an edition of 1655. In 1655, it is said to have been originally written by a Mr. Forbes of Brux, as before stated, and published the same year, with a few historical notes, and reprinted in 1674; and again in 1742, with little or no alteration, and continued in that state until 1796; when Mr. Charles Dawson, schoolmaster of Kemnay, added a few more notes, and offered it to the public as his own composition in a small 12mo. pamphlet!!! price 4d.; which met with such encouragement, that a second edition appeared in 1798, with more copious notes, price 6d. An enlarged edition in 8vo. was published in Edinburgh in 1814. In 1819, Mr. Peter Buchan of Peterhead, the editor of Scottish Ballads, Gleanings of Scarce Old Ballads, &c. &c., published an edition, price 6d., which sold well; and in 1849, another edition was printed at the Hattonian Press, Fintray, Aberdeenshire, by John Cumming. I should be glad to hear if any of your correspondents have seen an edition of 1655 or 1674?

STONEHAVEN.

314. John Lord Frescheville.

—It is stated in the printed notices of this individual, with whom expired, in 1682, the barony of Frescheville of Stavely, co. Derb., that he was engaged, on the side of the king, at the battle of Edge Hill. I have no reason to doubt the truth of the statement: but I should like to know whether his name occurs in any of the contemporary accounts of the fight at that place, or rather Keynton; or whether he is anywhere mentioned in the royal musters. I think a correspondent of the "NOTES AND QUERIES" indicated an acquaintance with some local information relative to this affair, and the persons engaged in it.

D.

315. Meaning of "Pallant."

—While staying in the neighbourhood of a small country town in the south of England, I was requested to drive a friend to call on an acquaintance who lived in The Pallant in the said town. The word being an uncommon one, we naturally conversed on its probable derivation and meaning, but without arriving at a satisfactory conclusion. I have since seen it used in a number of Dickens' Household Words, where the scene of a ghost story is laid in an old house, or street (I forget which), called The Pallant. What is its true signification?

A DEVONIAN.

316. Rectitudines Singularum Personarum.

—This interesting Anglo-Saxon document is necessarily well known to many of your readers. Will they favor me with a Note, stating what they consider to be its date? In the mean time, I will say that it is not improbable that the date may be referrible to temp. Ethelredi II. The service of Sæ weard is insisted upon, and it is fair to suppose that such would not have been the case if the textus had been written at a period anterior to those times, when the coast was wasted by the piratical incursions of the Northmen. In the title "thegnes riht" it is mentioned in priority to "heafod weard" and "fyrdweard." It is again mentioned in the title "cotsetlan riht." This document was doubtless written by a priest, and probably by a secular one, for some of its concluding words show a habit, or at least a possibility, of migration on the part of the writer, viz.:

"Be thære theode theawe, the we thænne onwuniath."

The Latin translation, which accompanies the original, is of a date manifestly later than the Norman Conquest. The phraseology which it exhibits, and the gross mistakes which it contains, are sufficient evidence of the fact.

In the title "be thaw the beon bewitath," the words "self lædan" are translated "ipse minare." Sometimes the translator does not understand his original: in the first title he converts "bocriht" into "testamenti rectitudo;" and of the words "sceorp to frithscipe," he leaves the first word as he finds it.

H. C. C.

317. Sir Henry Tichborne's Journal.

—I should be obliged to any of your numerous correspondents or readers for any information given respecting a diurnal written by Sir Henry Tichborne, third baronet of Tichborne, co. Hants, of his Travells into France, Italy, Loretto, Rome, and other places, in the years 1675, 1676, and 1678.

Is the original in existence, or where might this MS. be found? Has any of your readers seen or heard of it?

I may here remark it is not in the possession of the family, neither have they yet been able to trace it.

THE WHITE ROSE.

Winchester.

318. Round Towers at Bhaugulpore.

—Lord Valentia (Travels to India, &c.) gives views of these towers, and the following description of them:—

"They much resemble those buildings in Ireland, which have hitherto puzzled the antiquaries of the sister kingdoms, excepting that they are more ornamented. It is singular that there is no tradition concerning them, nor are they held in any respect by the Hindoos of this country. The Rajah of Jyenagur considers them as holy, and has erected a small building to shelter the great number of his subjects, who annually come to worship here."

This is but a meagre account of them; and if any of your readers can give further information respecting them, and especially on the religion of those who go to worship at them, they will confer a great favour on your querist. Bhaugulpore seems to be about half-way between Calcutta and Patna, at some distance off the great road; and Jyenagur must be some 800 miles distant. The dominant race in the latter are Rajpoots, but there appear to be inferior races; which are the worshippers? What is the meaning of Bhaugulpore? has it any relation to Baal? Jeypoor is another name for Jyenagur.

DE CAMERA.

319. Johannes Trithemius.

—In my possession is a book entitled Liber de Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis, by the above author; the date of its publication 1494. Can any one inform me who Trithemius was, and whether the book, in point of accuracy, is to be relied on?

A. W. H.

320. Races in which Children are named after the Mothers.

—Will some correspondent favour me with a list of the races in which the children are named, or take their titles, or inherit property after their mothers, and not after their fathers; and where descent in any form is reckoned on the mother's side? I have a list of some, but I fear a very imperfect one; and all additions to it, with a memorandum of the authority on which the statement is made, will be very valuable to me. I wish the instances to be fetched as well from ancient as from modern nations.

THEOPHYLACT.

321. Foreign Ambassadors, Ministers, Envoys, and Residents from Foreign Courts.

—Will any of your readers inform me where there may be found the best, or any list of personages filling these diplomatic posts, between the 1st of King Henry VIII. and the end of the reign of King James II.?

S. E. G.

322. Critolaus and the Horatii and Curiatii.

—Has any writer on early Roman history noticed the extraordinary similarity, even in the minutest particulars, of the combat between the Horatii and Curiatii, followed by the murder of a sister of the former by her brother, for mourning for one of the opposite party, to whom she was betrothed, to the similar circumstances related of Critolaus the Tegean? The chances of two such transactions resembling each other so closely appear so very small, that there can be no doubt of one story being a copy of the other: but which was the original? I have no doubt the Roman historians adopted this tale from the Greeks, to diversify the barren pages of their early history. At all events, such a person as Critolaus undoubtedly existed, which is more than can be averred of the Roman hero. (See Encyc. Brit., art. "Critolaus.")

J. S. WARDEN.

Balica.

323. Cabal.

—I should like to know the earliest use of this word as signifying "a secret council," and, as a verb, "to plot or intrigue." Pepys applies it to the king's confidential advisers several years before the date (1672) when Burnet remarks that the word was composed of the initials of the five chief ministers; and Dryden uses the verb in the sense I have mentioned. Can any of your correspondents trace either verb or noun to an earlier period, or explain this application of it? The Hebrew verb kibbal signifies "to receive;" and the Cabbala was so called from its being "traditionary," not from its being "secret." A popular error on this point may, however, have given rise to the above-mentioned application of the word.

E. H. D. D.

324. "Thus said the Ravens black."

—In what modern poem or ballad do the following or similar lines occur?

D. B. J.

325. Symbols in Painting.

—In a painting of the Crucifixion by Guido (?) the following accessories are introduced, the meaning of which I cannot discover: the persons present are four, two of whom are evidently the Virgin and St. John; but the other two, who are both old men, are doubtful. On the ground, at the foot of the cross, is a skull and some bones; and at one side of the picture is a monster, somewhat like a gigantic toad, with his foot on a book; and at the other side lies a bell, with a twisted cord attached to it: the monster and the skull might be symbolical of sin and death, but what can the bell mean? It is a singular object for an artist to have introduced without some particular meaning; but the only instance I know of its use, is in the pictures of St. Anthony (in the fourth century), who is generally represented with a bell in his hand. Perhaps some of your correspondents may be able to explain its meaning in this painting. Can the handbell rung in Roman Catholic churches at the elevation of the host have any connexion with the subject in question?

B. N. C.

Oxford.

326. Latin Verse on Franklin.

—Can you inform me who wrote the line on Franklin:

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

327. General Moyle.

—Who was General John Moyle, who died about 1738? He resided, if he did not die, in Bury St. Edmund's, Suffolk.

BURIENSIS.

328. Musical Compositions of Matthew Dubourg.

—I am induced, while preparing for the press a new edition of my opusculum on the violin, to seek your kind mediatorial aid in behalf of an object which some one or other of your correspondents, acquainted with Irish matters of the last century, may possibly enable me to attain. I am desirous of learning whether there be extant any of the musical compositions (especially the violin solos and concertos) of my progenitor, Matthew Dubourg, who held the post of director and composer to the king's band in Ireland, from 1728 until, I believe, his death in 1767.

As I do not know that any of these compositions (which appear to have been called forth by immediate occasions) were ever printed, my hope of now tracing them out is perhaps more lively than rational. If they have existed only in a manuscript state, it is but too possible that the barbarian gripe of the butterman may long ago have suppressed what vitality was in them. I cannot, however, relinquish the idea that a dusty oblivion, and not absolute destruction, may be the amount of what they have undergone; and that they may still exist in such condition as to be, at least, more susceptible of resuscitation than disinterred mummies. I have the honour to be, Sir, yours wistfully,

G. DUBOURG.

Brighton.

329. Collodion, and its Application to Photography.

—May I ask for information as to the first discoverer of Collodion, and the origin or derivation of the name? I should also be glad to know by whom it was first applied to photogenic purposes.

A PHOTOGRAPHER.

330. Engraved Portrait.

—Will some of your correspondents who are conversant with the history of engraved English heads, oblige me by naming the original of a copper-plate print in my possession, and also with the conclusion of the verses beneath, the lower part of the plate being mutilated. The verses, as far as I have them, run thus:

The addition of the names of the painter and engraver will increase the obligation.

HENRY CAMPKIN.

331. Lines by Lord Chesterfield on Queen Caroline's supposed Refusal to forgive her Son when on her Death-bed.

—In Coxe's Life of Sir Robert Walpole (vol. i. p. 549.), we read, in the account of the death of Queen Caroline, as follows:

"The tongue of slander has even reproached her with maintaining her implacability to the hour of death, and refusing her pardon to the prince, who had humbly requested to receive her blessing. To this imputation Chesterfield alludes in a copy of verses circulated at the time:

Can any of your readers refer me to the remainder of this copy of verses?

PROEM.

Minor Queries Answered.

Kimmeroi, Cimbri, Cymry.

—There appears to be a growing belief that the Gomeridæ of the Bible, the Kimmeroi of the Greeks, the Cimbri of the Romans, and the Cymry or Kymry of Wales, belong to the same family; the few words remaining of their language are to all appearance Kymraeg; and recently there was some likelihood of having more light thrown upon this subject. Kohl, the German traveller, visited the remnant of the Cimbri defeated by Marius, and was told that "sette commune parlano Cimbro." Is the language of these Lombard Kimbri like that of the Kymry of Wales? M. Kohl states that a professor at Padua was about to publish the remains of their language; but I have not seen any subsequent notice respecting them. The inquiry is highly interesting, and will I trust be taken up by some persons who may be in position to obtain further information; and I hope soon to see a few specimens of their language in "NOTES AND QUERIES."

Ritson, in the notes to his work on the Celts, has these remarks on the language of this Cimbric remnant:

"Their language, which was thought to be a corrupt German, was found upon closer inquiry to be very pure Danish. Signor Marco Pezzo has written a very learned dissertation on this subject."—Page 288.

What is the title of this work? I am very desirous to obtain further information on this subject, and invite attention to this people and their Kimbro speech.

T. STEPHENS.

Merthyr Tydfil.

[The title of Pezzo's work is, Dei Cimbri Veronesi, e Vicentini, libri ii. Terza edizione. 8vo. Verona, 1763. This edition is in the British Museum.]

Dictionary of Musicians.

—I have now before me A Dictionary of Musicians, &c., second edition, 2 vols. 8vo., Longman and others, 1827. I should be glad to know whether there is any more recent edition, or anybody engaged in preparing one; or whether there is any more recent and complete work of the kind. This one contains much information, but might be greatly improved by omissions, corrections, and additions.

AN AMATEUR.

[The Biographical Dictionary of Musicians noticed by our correspondent is very incorrect in its details. There is another work of the same kind in preparation, but is not expected to be published for some months. The latest works on the subject are the German Lexicon der Tonkunst in several 8vo. volumes, and that by M. Fetis, which appeared about four years since at Brussels, and pronounced both comprehensive and correct.]

City of London Charter.

—What was the cause of the City charter being forfeited in the year 1683?

In a trial, The King v. The City of London, judgment was given against the City, whereby the charter was forfeited.

S. E. G.

[An information brought against the Mayor and citizens of London was "for usurping of divers franchises and liberties within the said city, and for assuming to themselves an unlawful power to levy several great sums of money, as well upon the said citizens of London as strangers; and in particular upon those which come to the markets of the said city, by colour of the laws and ordinances in their Common Council by them in fact ordained and established, without any other right or authority." The circumstance which gave occasion for this quo warranto to be brought against the City charter, was a petition the Court of Aldermen and City made to the King, upon his prorogation of Parliament, when they were going to try several noblemen concerned in the Popish plot; but especially for their printing and publishing the petition, which was considered seditious. For particulars relating to this celebrated trial, we must refer our correspondent to the following tracts:—The Case of the Charter of London Stated, fol. 1683. This is an ingenious treatise against the charter. A Defence of the Charter and Municipal Rights of the City of London, by Thomas Hunt, 4to.; The Lawyer Outlawed; or a Brief Answer to Mr. Hunt's Defence of the Charter, 4to. 1683; The Forfeitures of London's Charter, or an Impartial Account of the several Seisures of the City Charter, 4to. 1682; Reflections on the City Charter, and Writ of Quo Warranto, 4to. 1682; The City of London's Plea to the Quo Warranto, (an information) brought against their Charter in Michaelmas Term, 1681, fol. 1682. A summary account of the whole proceedings will be found in Maitland's History of London, vol. i. pp. 473-484.]

St. Alkald.

—Upon looking over a sheet of the Ordnance Map lately published, on which part of the parish of Giggleswick is laid down, I find that the patron saint, to whom the church is dedicated, is St. Alkald. No calendar that I have access to mentions any such saint. I shall be obliged by any of your correspondents giving me some account of him, or referring me to any book where I may read his history.

F. W. J.

[In The Calendar of the Anglican Church Illustrated, published by Parker of Oxford, p. 181., our querist will find

"S. Alkald or Alkilda was commemorated March 28. The church of Giggleswick, Yorkshire, is named in honour of this saint, and the Collegiate Church of Middleham in the same county in the joint names of SS. Mary and Alkald."]