nearly half a century, during which he has expended immense sums in objects of Christian charity and beneficence, without reference to creed or nationality. His loss is universally mourned, and by no class more than that of the indigent and destitute." The above extract has been going the rounds of the English papers during the present month, and I have the pleasure of sending it to "N. & Q.," that an unaccountable and important error which it contains may be at once corrected. The name of the gentleman lately deceased is so wrongly given that, when reading the extract, his many friends in England and other countries would never know to whom the complimentary and truthful obituary notice refers. Thirty-eight years ago, when a traveller in Asia Minor, I was fortunate in enjoying the honour and pleasure of Mr. Charlton Whittall's acquaintance; and will only add, though much might be written, that he lived like an English gentleman, and his death is deeply regretted. It is painful to note that since my visit to Smyrna all the heads of the English families whom I knew so well are now deceasedthe Werrys, Woodmass', Jacksons, Maltass', Hansons, Purdies, and Perkinses have all passed away, my much esteemed friend, the late Charlton Whittall, Esq., as the oldest English resident, having been the last to follow. W. W. Malta, July, 1867. PARONOMASIA. On the demise of the famous French tragedian Le Kain, a contest arose between three of his colleagues, Molé, Monvel, and La Rive, for the succession to his roles, when the patronymic of the last of these candidates was thus played upon: "Ah! quel affreux malheur m'arrive, A dit Melpomène à Caron; Le Kain a passé l'Acheron, Mais il n'a point laissé ses talents sur la rive." E. L. S. THE CENTRE OF THE UNITED STATES.-It may be of interest to note that the centre of the United States has been definitely fixed. It is the city of Columbus, State of Nebraska, ninety-six miles west of Omaha. W. W. DEER LEAP.-I copy the following from the Staffordshire Advertiser for August 17, 1867. I shall be glad to know whether the writer is correct in saying that there is not another "deer leap" remaining in England: "Staffordshire is the only county in England which can boast of a deer leap.' This is to be found in Wolseley, Park, the seat of Sir Charles Wolseley. The 'deer leap was an old feudal privilege, securing to certain lords of manors the right of making a high bank from which the deer out of the adjoining chase or forest would leap down into their own parks and be unable to get back again."* W. I. S. HORTON. [* Some curious notes on Deer Leaps may be found in "N. & Q.," 2nd S. iii. 47, 99, 137, 195.-ED.] ABYSSINIA. In the Sal Nameh, or Official is stated to be under Mustapha Pasha, and inAlmanac of the Sublime Porte for 1282, Habesh cludes Massoua as a Kaimakamlik or Government under Suleiman Bey, Suakin as a Kaimakamlik under Perteo Effendi, and Meubona el fer, as a command or garrison under Suleiman Bey; but in 1283 all these places are represented by the latter command only. It is understood the disthe Abyssinian coast, have been transferred as fiefs trict called Habesh, or the ports and fortresses on to the Viceroy of Egypt, but in 1283 they are Thus they constitute still both Turkish and not separately registered under the head of Misr. Egyptian territory. HYDE CLARKE. Queries. PRIVATE ACT OF PARLIAMENT. — I am anxious to obtain information at once as to the existence or non-existence of an act alleged to have been relate to the sale of estates partly or wholly in passed since 1707. The alleged act is said to Hackney, and which estates were held by a perwithout further details in a recent deed, and is son named Hammond. The act is mentioned suspected to be apocryphal, as the land is asserted Hackney, now called London Field. to have formed part of the Lammas Lands of B. H. C. THE CITY POETS.-The history of that strange, improvident, careless knot of geniuses whom we dub the Elizabethan dramatists has from various causes, often stated, become obscured. Biographers, with their scanty materials, have somehow generally omitted to notice at least one circumstance that may be obtained from the following list of some of those who held the office of Lord Mayor's laureate: dale, 1604; Anthony Munday, 1605, 1611, 1614George Peele, 1585; Decker, 1603, 1612; Dug1616; Middleton, 1613, 1619, 1621, 1626; John Squire, 1620; Webster, 1624; Heywood, 1631, 1633, 1637, 1638, 1639; Taylor, the Water-poet, Tatham, 1657, 1664; Jordan, 1671, 1684; Taub1634; Edmund Gayton, 1655; Í. B., 1656; John man, 1685, 1689; and Elkanah Settle, 1691 1716. Can any additions be made to the above? Probably some one having access to the Corporation records could furnish some information on the subject. Who is Dugdale, Squire, Gayton, or I. B. ? besides Middleton, Ben Jonson, and Quarles, held In connection with this query I would ask who the post of City Chronologer? JEPHSON HUBAND SMITH. [* There is a good notice of Edmund Gayton in Wood's Athena by Bliss, iii. 756. With Wood's list of his writings PERSIUS, WITH THE COMMENTARY OF LERISSA. I lately met with an edition of Persius with the commentary of Elius Antonius Nebrissensis, printed at Seville in 1504 by Kronberger; and, as this is considerably earlier than any edition (with this commentary) which I have found noticed by bibliographers, I send the following description of it: It is a thin folio of twenty-two leaves, without numerals or catchwords, but with signatures. The commentary, in Gothic letters, surrounds the text, which is in the Roman character. The first page is a woodcut title, with the arms and hat of the Cardinal Archbishop of Seville, to whom on the following page the work is dedicated. The colophon on the 20th page is as follows: : "Elii Antonii Nebrissensis gramatici in A. Persii flacci satyras perlucida indagatio Per eundem recognita ac lucide approbata hispali ipressa impensis pmagnis Iohannis laurentii librarii arte et ingenio Jacobi Kröberger alemani. Anno Christiane salutis мCCCCCш. xv Kal. Aprilis." Then follows, on the 21st page, a life of Persius, some remarks on satire, and an epigram by Antonius Carreon. No notice of this edition is to be found in Brunet, Panzer, Ebert, or any other books which I have the opportunity of consulting. In the new edition of Brunet the Complutensian edition of 1526 is given as (apparently) the earliest edition with this commentary, and is described as one of the rarest editions of this poet. Brunet, however, notices the edition of Ascensius of 1523, which contains with others the commentaries of Lerissa. All the books printed at Seville by Kronberger are of the greatest rarity, and I should be glad if any of your correspondents could refer me to any notice of this edition, or state anything as to its value or rarity. I should also be glad to be informed of any library where a copy may be found. R. C. C. QUOTATIONS.-I subjoin some quaint lines copied from a MS. book, and which appear to be extracted from some other book, either in MS. or print. Can any of your readers point out to whom the lines refer, or from whence they are derived? "A Solomon for wytt, a Solon for his wyll, A Cato for his publike care, a Tullie for his skyll, may be compared that given in Bohn's Lowndes. In London" he lived in a sharking condition, and wrote trite things merely to get bread to sustain him and his wife." At his death, which took place on Dec. 12, 1666, he was the Oxford university bedel. London's Triumph, 4to, 1656, by I. B. is attributed to John Bulteel in Bohn's Lowndes, and in the Catalogue of the British Museum.-ED.] A. P. A CURIOUS SEAL.-A deed, which was executed in 1697 by persons all of the family of Hartill except one, who had married a Hartill, bears the impression of a curious seal. This seal is circular, and in its centre there is a heart with the broader part upwards. The heart is pierced through with two arrows saltireways: the barbed heads of which protrude on each side of the base of the heart, whilst their other ends protrude on the right and left of the upper part of the heart. Immediately over the heart is a human eye, open, with three small lines extending downwards from it. Opposite to the middle of the heart there is a crescent, on each side of it, with the convex side towards the heart. The seal does not show any tinctures, and is by no means well cut. I shall be much obliged to any of your readers who may be able to explain this seal. I should mention that the name of the family was also spelled Harthill; and they used a seal bearing, on a mount proper, a stag lodged: and probably Harthill is the more correct spelling. I enclose a sketch of the seal. C. S. G. THE STARS IN ARABIC.-In what work shall I mology, meaning, and pronunciation so far as find the names of the stars in Arabic, their etypossible? Of course I mean the latest, most scientific, and most accurate information possible on the point. CHARLES OSBORNE. WHITSUN TRYSTE FAIR. -There was about a century ago, and is now I suppose, a fair called Whitsun Tryste, held on a hill near Woolner in Northumberland. Is there any town or village at the place where this fair is held, or is it like some few other meetings of the same nature held at a distance from human habitation? What is known of its history? Is it held by charter or prescription ? CORNUB. WEST'S PICTURE. I have a proof print of West's picture, "The Staying of the Plague on the Repentance and Sacrifice of David at the Threshing Floor of Araunah the Jebusite"; and David is prostrate before the altar, wearing his crown. I have not had an opportunity of looking at the original, but it has struck me that David ought not to have had his crown on his head. Will you be kind enough to say if it be so in the original, whether it ought to have been so represented, and what warrant is there for it? JOHN SAMUEL WRIGHT. Laburnum Villa, Leamington. Queries with Answers. "THE WAEFU' HEART." I shall be glad if any reader of "N. & Q." can supply me with additional information to what is given below, relative to the sweet and pathetic song commencing "Gin living worth could win my heart, After floating for some time anonymously, it was claimed as the production of Miss Blamire of Hackwood, the author of "And ye shall walk in Silk Attire," "The Traveller's Return," "What ails this Heart o' mine?" &c. Four things point definitely to her as the writer of it-viz. the date of its appearance, its general history, its marked style of expression, and the delicate touches of feminine feeling it contains. Its history, so far as I have been able to trace it, is as follows. Both the words and music were first published in London about the year 1788-"Sold by Joseph Dale, No. 19, Cornhill; " sung by Master Knyvett." Stenhouse conjectures that it is "an imitation of the Scottish style, and a very successful one; and Allan Cunningham, writing in 1825, remarks that "it has been some six-and-thirty years before the public, and if it be written by an English pen, it is written with a Scottish spirit." 66 Charles Mackay prints it as Miss Blamire's, and says:-"This excellent song is erroneously stated in The Garland of Scotia to be the production of one Jeanie Ferguson." For further evidence see Gilchrist, Whitelaw, John Wilson (the vocalist), Maxwell, and the British Museum Catalogue. With this mass of information before me in favour of Miss Blamire's claim, I was surprised to find that Mr. Hullah in The Song Book (1866) had revived the old heresy-innocently enough, I suppose-by printing it as Jeanie Ferguson's. Now, I would like to know some more particulars respecting this said Jeanie Ferguson from the one or two persons who have thus used her name. Those holding a different opinion have a right to ther she was a real personage or only a myth. know where she lived, what she wrote, and wheSIDNEY GILPIN. ["The Waefu' Heart" is included among The Poetical Works of Miss Susanna Blamire, Edin. 12mo, 1842, p. 207. The editor, Mr. Patrick Maxwell, in the Memoir prefixed to the volume (pp. xl. to xliii.) has gone far to settle the claim of Miss Blamire as the author of this very beautiBut who Jeanie Ferguson was must be left a ful song. query.] SNOWDON CASTLE. - This ancient royal residence is said to have been in Ross-shire; but though a native of that county, I have never been able to discover there the locality of Snowdon. In Scott's Lady of the Lake (Appendix and note 3 z) it is stated that Stirling Castle was called "Snowdoun" by William of Worcester, "who wrote about the middle of the fifteenth cen tury;" also that Sir David Lyndsay bestows the same epithet upon it in his Complaynt of the Papingo-"fair Snawdoun." "Snowdon" is the official title of one of the Scottish heralds, "whose epithets seem in all countries to have been fantastically adopted from ancient history or romance; and in Seton's excellent work on The Law and Practice of Heraldry in Scotland he alludes to the Snowdon Herald as follows (p. 37): "Snowdon is named from Snowdon Castle in the shire of Ross, another ancient residence of the Scottish monarchs." There are, therefore, good grounds for supposing that this "ancient castle" was situate in Ross-shire; and accordingly I forward my query on the subject for elucidation in the pages of "N. & Q." A. S. A. India. [We, like our correspondent, have totally failed in finding any evidence of the existence of a Snowdon Castle in Ross-shire. As to the Snowdon Herald, there seems to be no doubt that he took his title from Stirling. The designations of other officials of the Lord Lyon, such as Bute and Rothesay, show that their offices cannot date earlier than the accession of Robert II. in 1371, and that they are probably several years later, which makes them almost contemporary with William of Worcester. Sir David Lyndsay was a most competent authority, being himself Lord Lyon King-at-Arms, at a time when the earlier records of his office were still in existence. They were afterwards most seriously injured by an accidental fire.] ROBERT HOLMES.-If my memory be correct, in The Times of 1858-1859 there was an account of the death of Holmes the celebrated "father of the bar," a well-known and very eminent Irish counsel. At the time of his reported death he was said to be one hundred years of age. This account was afterwards contradicted by a Times correspondent, who stated that Holmes was still alive, but this correspondent said nothing about his age. Can you kindly furnish a short account of this celebrated Irishman, and what ultimately became of him? He was in great antagonism to the political powers of the day, and never had a silk gown, but ultimately the king's counsel, or queen's counsel, used to allow their venerable "father" to sit in the first rank, at least on dit. Ερωτηματικός. [Father Holmes of the North-east Bar died in Eaton Place, Belgrave Square, on November 30, 1859, at the patriarchal age of ninety-four. There is an excellent biographical notice, accompanied with a portrait, of this ornament of the Irish bar, in the Dublin University Magazine for January, 1848, vol. xxxi. 122-133.] CAMOENS' "LUSIAD."-Can you tell me how many English translations there are of the Lusiad by Camoens, and which is the best? J. D. O. J. [The Lusiad of Camoens, the prince of Portuguese poets, has been translated by the following Englishmen : Sir Richard Fanshaw in 1655; Wm. Julius Mickle in 1776; Thomas Moore Musgrave in 1826; E. Quillinan (Books i. to v.) in 1853; and by Sir T. Mitchell in 1854. According to Southey (Quarterly Review, xxvii. 27), Mickle's is "the most unfaithful of all translations; " yet, strange to say, his version of The Lusiad has gone through several editions, which cannot be said of the others. Of the later translations we know little or nothing. Southey, in the article just referred to, preferred that by the old royalist, although it is "pitched in a wrong key." The English reader, he adds, "who desires to see the plan and character of The Lusiad, must still have recourse to Fan shaw." A list of the editions of the works of Camoens, and of the various translations in most languages, is printed in "N. & Q." 1" S. iii. 18-20.] ENGLISH JOURNALISM.-Could you kindly inform me what works or periodicals I should consult in order to obtain sufficient information towards the compiling of a work on English journalism from its origin down to the present time? J. MORGAN. Soho Square. [The following works may be consulted: (1.) Nichols's "Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century," 7 vols. Svo. (2.) Nathan Drake's "Essays, Biographical, Critical, and Historical, illustrative of the Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian," 3 vols. 12mo, 1805. (3.) Drake's "Essays, Biographical, Critical, and Historical, illustrative of the Rambler, Adventurer, and Idler," 2 vols. 12mo, 1809. (4.) "The Fourth Estate: Contributions towards a History of Newspapers, and of the Liberty of the Press," by F. Knight Hunt, 2 vols. 8vo, 1850. (5.) "The History of British Journalism from the Foundation of the News paper Press in England to the Repeal of the Stamp Act in 1855, by Alexander Andrews, 2 vols. 8vo, 1859.] BATTLE OF HARLAW.-J. M. in his interesting note (3rd S. xii. 101) refers to two old Scottish ballads. Can you inform me if the one mentioned as being given from tradition in "N. & Q." bears the date August 4, 1759, and commences "Frae Dunideer as I came through, Down by the hill of Bannachie, Alongst the Lands of Garioch, Great pity it was to hear and see The news and noisom harmony That e'er the dreary day did daw, Crying the Coronoch on hie, Aberdeen. Alas! alas! for the Harlaw," &c.? [The original ballad of "The Battle of Harlaw," printed in "N. & Q." 3rd S. vii. 393, commences "As I cam in by Dunidier, and down by Wetherha"." But the common version, quoted by W. R. G. will be found (without any date) in The Evergreen, by Allan Ramsay, ed. 1761, i. 78, and in Aytoun's Ballads of Scotlund, i. 64, ed. 1859.] Replies. BISHOP GIFFARD. (3rd S. xi. 455-6; xii. 76.) 1. Dr. Bonaventure Giffard was born, about the year 1643, at Wolverhampton, in Staffordshire, of an old and respectable Catholic family. He was sent, at an early age, to Douay College, in France, and from thence proceeded to complete his ecclesiastical studies at the University of Paris in October, 1667. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1677 from the Sorbonne, a secular having previously been ordained as priest. Having proceeded on the English mission, he became Chaplain to King James II., and was appointed, by royal mandate of that monarch, President of Magdalen College, Oxford, on the death of Bishop Samuel Parker; he was, accordingly, installed by proxy March 31, 1688, and on June 15 following," took possession of his seat in the chappel, and lodgings belonging to him as President." (Wood's Athena Oxonienses, ii. 621, edit. 1692.) On the change of government at the Revolution shortly afterwards, he was removed from the presidentship by the Bishop of Winchester, and Hough restored, October 25, 1688. Pope Innocent XI. nominated Dr. Giffard to the episcopate by letters apostolical, dated January 30, 1688, and he was consecrated in the Banqueting Hall, at Whitehall, on Low Sunday, April 22 following, by Mgr. Ferdinando d'Adda, Archbishop of Amasia in partibus infidelium, and Nuncio Apostolic in England, with the title of ("Richard et Giraud," Bibliothèque Sacrée, vol. xxviii. p. 277, edit. 1827.) These replies will afford all the information regarding the three altar-stones asked for by MR. C. PARFITT, Cottles. A. Š. A. Allahabad, E. I. Bishop of Madaurus, or Madaura-"Episcopus still living in 1827. that "He was much esteemed by men of different religions, and especially by those who were most intimately acquainted with his character. It is certain that he died at Hammersmith, in the reign of George the Second, aged about ninety. The dates of his age assigned by Dod and others at the time of his death differ considerably from the era on his print, which is very probably right. See Noble's Continuation." 2. The Bishop of Montpellier-Mons Pessulanus, not "Montepessutanus " on Nov. 22, 1792, was Mgr. Joseph-François de Malide, born July 12, 1712, at Paris, nominated Bishop of Avranches, in Normandy August 6, 1766, and consecrated on the 31st of same month; translated to see of Montpellier May 9, 1774; a deputy to the States General of France in 1789; refused to resign his bishopric at the Concordat of 1801, and died in exile in London, in 180-, an "anticoncordataire"; probably also interred at St. Pancras. 3. The Bishop of Dijon, on February 11, 1793, was Mgr. René de Montiers de Mérinville, born in 1742, in diocese of Limoges; nominated to see of Dijon-"Divionensis"- April 23, 1787, and consecrated May 13 following. In obedience to the Concordat of 1801, he resigned his bishopric, and was administrator of the diocese of Lyons until the nomination of Cardinal Fesch to that archbishopric, August 4, 1802. He also appears to have been bishop designate of Chambery, in Savoy, then, as now, part of the French empire; but, as another appointment was made in 1806, Mgr. de Mérinville was probably not confirmed in that see, and he became a Canon of the Imperial Chapter of Saint-Denis, where he was apparently The Giffards have a splendid place in the parish from which I write, with a fine modern house (one of Sir John Soane's), elegant grounds, and a sheet of artificial water which I believe has not its parallel in England. Their pedigree is one of the most perfect in England, and is traceable, without one failure of heirs male, to two generations before the Conquest. Mr. Planchè and Sir Bernard Burke will verify my assertion, having had extensive correspondence with me on the subject. I printed in 1858, for private distribution, a short account of the history of this parish; and in that little volume is a sheet pedigree of the Giffards, which includes a record of upwards of 200 persons. I will make a brief extract from this. Every entry I made between the twelfth and eighteenth centuries was confirmed by original charters, still in my possession: Andrew, the father of the bishop, was killed in a skirmish near Wolverhampton early in the Civil War. Bonaventure was born in Wolverhampton in 1642. (Giffard House still stands in Wolverhampton, and the wealthy manor of Stowheath, which covers many square miles of the "Black Country," and was the inheritance of the Levesons, is to this day the joint property of the Giffards and the Dukes of Sutherland.) Bishop Giffard was a perfect man. He was not only made a portion of the Romish hierarchy under James II., but that insane king nominated the bishop to be president of Magdalen (Oxon). There is a fine portrait of the bishop at Chillington - a life-size half-length. He died in London, was buried in St. Pancras (together with his brother Andrew), and though his tomb has disappeared, I send you the copy of the inscription once upon it, which I obtained from Chillington. Devonshire has not the faintest claim to be the nativity-place of Bonaventure Giffard. |