Fardingale and her Red Cloak, Birmingham, 1868, one of the best tracts I ever read. If any correspondent of "N. & Q." can refer me to the book from which it is taken, I shall be much obliged; as he who could write so well, must have written other things worth reading. The matter is so much in advance of the spelling, that I fear the works of the "Old English Divine" are to be found only in the library which contained Sir Walter Scott's "Old Play." FITZHOPKINS. Garrick Club. FRENCH RETREAT FROM Moscow.-There is a small publication named Campagne de Moscou en 1812, par R. J. Durdant (Paris, 1814), of which I have the fifth edition. After noticing in the text that the French soldiers, "après avoir cherché à soutenir leur misérable existence en se nourissant de la chair de leurs chevaux," it adds in a foot-note "Ce n'est qu'en fremissant que je conte ici ce que plusieurs feuilles étrangères attestent comme des faits positifs. Elles prétendent que quand le froid redoubla, les soldats, sans bottes et sans souliers et les pieds seulement enveloppés de chiffons ou de morceaux de draps et de havresacs, eurent encore à combattre la faim dans toute son horreur. Plusieurs de ces spectres à demi-morts de froid, et couverts de haillons, se virent contraints de dévorer leurs propres membres ou même les cadavres de leurs compagnons! On a déjà vu que j'avois saisi cherché même les occasions de parler à quelques-uns de ceux qui ont survécu à ce grand désastre. Un jour j'en interrogeai un sur ces assertions horribles. 'Attestez-moi,' lui dis-je qu'il y a là de l'exagération et je vous crois. Sa physionomic prit un aspect convulsif, des larmes de sang bordèrent ses paupières. Croyez ' (me répondit-il en me pressant la main avec violence), tout ce que l'extrême désespoir peut suggérer de plus effroyable.' D'après cette réponse trop significative, j'ai écrit ce que l'on vient de lire."-p. 83. 6 The author says at the beginning of this passage that the fact which it states is attested by several foreign journals. Has it ever been mentioned before in any English or French account of the retreat, or can any journals be referred to, of whatever nations, which confirm it ? G. Edinburgh. THE GORDON RIOTS, 1780.-In Knight's Pictorial History of England (book 1. chap. i. p. 415) it is stated that "Lord and Lady Mansfield made their escape through a back door a few minutes before the rioters broke in, and they were conducted by a gentleman to a house in Lincoln's Inn Fields." This account differs slightly from various particulars given in the newspapers of 1780 which describe the riots and the sack of Lord Mansfield's house. I am anxious to ascertain the name of the gentleman who so conducted the aged judge and his wife to a place of safety, or to get a reference to the source whence Mr. Knight drew his description. I have been informed that he was Dr. Charles Combe, a man of some celebrity as a numismatist, and a personal friend of the well-known Dr. Hunter? Will your readers assist me to this information? W. C. J. HEART OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD Stuart. Jesse mentions in his account of Prince Charles ፡፡ Edward Stuart, that an urn containing the heart of Charles Edward was deposited in the cathedral church of Frescati, with some lines inscribed on it from the pen of the Abbate Felice." What are these lines? Will some one give them with a translation ? W. H. C. HERALDIC.-1. Whether are the male descendants of an eldest daughter's daughter or a second daughter's son the nearest of kin, as regards the transmission of the heraldic honours of the last heir male of a family? 2. Has there ever been an instance of an individual, who receives a grant of coat-armour as a novus homo, quartering the arms of his mother, grandmother, &.? 3. A lady is described in a sheet pedigree as ❝eventual coheiress" of so-and-so, all her brothers having subsequently died unmarried. Is the expression a correct genealogical one? I shall be greatly obliged to any of your correspondents, particularly to those who are versed in the "law and practice of heraldry in Scotland," who will give me satisfactory replies to these queries. F. M. S. MUSGRAVE HEIGHINGTON, Doctor of Music, composed at some period in the former half of the last century the vocal music for The Enchanter, or Harlequin Merlin, which was published (together with the instrumental music by an anonymous composer) in Dublin. Heighington was a member of the Gentleman's Society at Spalding, to which (being then organist of Yarmouth) he was admitted August 12, 1738, when he presented the society's library with an Oriental MS. At the anniversary meeting of the society in the same year he, his wife, and son (a boy), performed in a miscellaneous concert. At the anniversary of 1739 he composed, and, assisted by his wife and son and gentlemen of the concert at Leicester (at which place he was then organist), performed an ode written for the occasion. He composed music for some of the odes of Anacreon, which was published about 1745. He someOxford. Can anyone furnish further particulars where described himself as of Queen's College, of him? W. H. HUSK. THOMAS PERCY, BISHOP OF DROMORE.-It is within the bounds of probability that "N. & Q." may fall into the hands of some one who may be able to give really reliable information as to the occupation of the good bishop's father. The late Mr. Hartshorne, a most eminent antiquary, told me that he was a grocer in the Cartway at Bridgenorth, and this is also stated in memoirs prefixed to some editions of his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, but to them perhaps not much weight ought to be attached. Mr. Hartshorne was, however, a Salopian by birth and education, and no doubt had grounds for his assertion. The representatives of Percy are sceptical on this point, and an investigation of the archives at Bridgenorth has not thrown any light on the matter. It is strange in how many different ways the name is spelt. In the register of St. Leonard's parish at Bridgenorth occurs the following entry: Patching Rectory, Arundel, Sussex. SUNDRY QUERIES.-1. When and by whom were "cuckoo clocks" invented ? 2. Have the Essays of Elia ever been translated into any foreign language? If so, the translation must assuredly be a "curiosity of literature greater than any which Isaac Disraeli has chronicled in his interesting work. 3. Where do the following lines occur? "The minstrel of old chivalry In the cold grave must come to be, In the collective mind, and never can depart." BISHOP ROBINSON.-Who was the ambassador to Sweden towards the close of Charles II.'s reign, in attendance upon whom as secretary or chaplain, Robinson, afterwards Bishop of London, went to Stockholm? And what was the name of the gentleman whom his sister married, to whom he was indebted for being sent to Oxford ? E. H. A. ANCIENT SCOTTISH SEALS.-Three ancient lead seals, all of the Baird family, were lost from a house in Edinburgh some years ago, and may have found their way into the cabinets of some of your readers. I am most anxious to obtain impressions of them, and shall be much obliged to any one who can give me any information about them. They are rudely figured in the History of the Sirname of Baird. F. M. S. Waltham Abbey. "STRADELLA.”. Would some one kindly inform me who was the author of the opera Stradella? I do not mean Flotow's, but another brought out, I believe, previous to it. H. L. THE TWELVE HOLY APOSTLES: THEIR EMBLEMS AND EVES.-Most of the emblems given in the middle ages to the members of the Apostolic College are appropriate at first sight, but I am at a loss to perceive the origin of one or two: e.g. why should St. James the Great, martyred by Herod Agrippa (Acts xii. 2), be usually represented as. a pilgrim, with the staff, shell, &c. P And why should St. Judas Jacobi Thaddeus Lebbæus have Queries with Auswers. REFORMADO, ETC. On January 14, 1675, a squadron of English ships, comprising the Harwich, Henrietta, and Portsmouth, men-of-war, and the Anne and Christopher, and Holmes, fire-readers, ships, and Guiney and Martin, merchantmen, destroyed by means of their boats four men-of-war that were lying in Tripoli harbour, close under the guns of the town forts. There were 157 men employed in this affair, under Lieutenant Cloudesley Shovel. The admiral of the Mediterranean fleet, Sir John Narbrough, was on board the Harwich; and his despatch, describing the exploit, which he dates from "Maltha" (sic), and which was published by authority in 1676, closes with the statement: What was a "Reformado," or a "" Gent. Reformado"? —which latter I take to be short for "Gentleman Reformado." The numbers on the left are the numbers of each man on the ship's books; those on the right, the numbers of pieces of eight paid to him. Was it the custom in former times for an admiral to reward seamen with gifts of money after they had performed a service? Were such gratuities allowed for in the navy estimates? And when was such custom discontinued? Lieutenant Shovel received as his share of the gratuity eighty-two pieces of eight. H. A. ST. J. M. in 10', [A Reformado, or Reformed Officer, is an officer whose company or troop is disbanded, and yet he continues in whole or half pay; still being in the way of preferment, and keeping his right of seniority. Also, a gentleman who serves as a volunteer in a man-of-war in order to learn experience, and succeed the principal officers. Vide "N. & Q." 3rd S. vii. 282.] RED UNIFORM OF THE BRITISH ARMY.-Can any of your correspondents inform me when red first became the established uniform of the British army? I always thought it was during the protectorate of Cromwell. Motley, however, in his History of the United Netherlands (vol. iv. p. 69), speaks of the English uniforms being red: "But they had all red uniforms," &c. This was in the year 1601. I was not aware that, in the reign of Elizabeth, red was then the established colour for the uniform. H. D. M. [In Sir Sibbald Scott's very interesting book, The British Army, its Origin, Progress, and Equipment, to which we have recently called the attention of our we find (at p. 449 of vol. ii.) the following pas 6 sage: 'Albany, May 19th, 1851. • Dear Mahon, 'The Duke is certainly right. The army of the Commonwealth was clothed in red." " [The original saying is to be found in Hall's and Holinshed's Chronicles, and is also quoted in Shakspeare's King Henry V. Hall gives it at the conclusion of the Earl of Westmoreland's speech, as "the old auncient proverb used by our forefathers, which saieth He that will Fraunce wynne, The earliest reading of the modern version known to us occurs in Fynes Moryson's Itinerary, 1617, fol. Part II. p. 3, where, under the year 1577, he tells us that "religion rather than liberty first began to be made the cloke of ambition, and the Roman locusts, to maintain the pope's usurped power, breathed everywhere fire and sword, and were not ashamed to proclaim and promise Heaven for a reward to such cut-throats as should lay violent hands on the sacred persons of such princes as opposed their tyranny. Amongst which, this famous Queen [Elizabeth] being of greatest power, and most happy in success against them, they not only left nothing unattempted against her sacred person and her crown of England, but whether encouraged by the blind zeal of the ignorant Irish to popery, or animated by an old prophecy, "He that will England win, Must with Ireland first begin,'" &c.] "DE LONDRES ET DE SES ENVIRONS," Amsterdam, 1789, pp. 121. By whom was this written? The author says that he left Paris, Aug. 17, and that he returned Sept. 17, in the year, I before the pamphlet was published. The author seems to be one who would join in the exultations with which the commencement of the French revolution was hailed. He professes intense admiration for the English institutions in general; though he opposes capital punishment, and indeed as to all criminal jurisprudence he seems to have been a French philosopher. LÆLIUS. 2nd, Secret. Sir, I sincerely hope that the circumstance will not be productive of any public inconvenience, but I am concerned to state that I do not possess your Despatch of the 31st of last month, which I any cypher by which I am enabled to decypher received this morning, the only cypher belonging to this Embassy is letter S. I take the liberty of suggesting that it might be convenient at the present moment that I should be furnished with the cypher given to His Majesty's Ambassador at St. Petersburg, or at least with that of which his Majesty's Minister at Berlin may be in possession. The Hague, Feb. 3rd, 1826. "6 I have the honor to be, with the highest moving a muscle; or, to this hour, discovering respect, that it was not prose; and returned it to me, declaring that it was oddly worded, but he had always had a feeling that the despatch must relate to discriminating duties." C. BAGOT. Sir, Your most obedient humble servant, (Signed) CHARLES BAGOT. The Rt Hon. Lord Canning. 3rd, Secret and Separate. Foreign Office, Febry 6th, 1826. Sir, I regret the circumstance of your Excellency's not having been furnished with the proper cyphers, as I was anxious that your Excellency should receive with as little delay as possible the impression which has been made upon His Majesty's Government by the very opposite feelings and conduct which have been demonstrated by the Governments of the Netherlands and France, in the late commercial negociations with Great Britain. I am, &c. (Signed) GEORGE CANNING. In consequence of your Despatch marked Secret of the 3rd Instant, I send your Excellency the cyphers and the decyphers I and U, both of SIR WALTER SCOTT'S HEAD, PORTRAITS, ETC. (4th S. i. 286.) which are in the possession of His Majesty's Ambassador at St Petersburg and His Majesty's Minister at Berlin. His Excellency the Rt Hon. Sir C. Bagot. The Hague, 4. Private. My dear Canning, You have fretted me to fiddlestrings, and I have a great mind not to give you the satisfaction of ever knowing how completely your mystification of me has succeeded. It was more than you had a right to expect when you drew from me that solemn and official lamentation which I sent you of my inability to decypher His Majesty's Commands; but as the Devil would have it, your success did not end here; the Post which brought me the decyphers, arrived at eleven o'clock at night, when I had only time before I sent off the other messenger to read your grave regret at what had occurred, and to acknowledge the receipt of the mail. The next morning Tierney and I were up by cock crow to make out "la maudite dépêche," and it was not till after an hour of most indescribable anxiety that we were put "out of our fear" by finding what it really was, and that "you Pyramus" were not Pyramus, but only "Bottom the weaver." I could have slain you! but I got some fun myself, for I afterwards put the fair de-cypher into Douglas's hands, who read it twice without * Then Secretary to the Embassy. * The Right Hon. The Foreign Secretary. [Our valued correspondent at Amsterdam, PROFESSOR TIEDEMAN, will find his suggestion anticipated by this interesting communication.-ED. " N. & Q."] * There is such slight difference of opinion between me and MR. G. V. IRVING in your paper of April 4, on the subject of Scott's frontal development, that I should not have thought of reverting to the subject if MR. IRVING had given you the whole of the "Parliament House Stove" joke. It is curious enough that I was reminded of this witticism before MR. IRVING's note appeared, by the highest living authority on the subject of Sir Walter. It emanated from Peter, afterwards Lord. Robertson, privately called by Lockhart, with his usual pungent jocularity, "the peerless paperlord, Lord Peter -famous during the last generation for his drollery and humour, and eke for his knowledge of Scotch law. When it was reported to Scott that Robertson, in conversation with Lockhart, had called him "Peveril of the Peak," the illustrious novelist seems thoroughly to have understood "the reason why," as he promptly rejoined "Well! he is Peter of the Paunch." Peter was, as Lockhart facetiously said, a man cast in Nature's amplest mould," especially in the paunch. "" eyes, When I spoke of the forehead, I was not thinking of the definition given by Johnson, Webster, &c. as the part extending from the hair to the but of the explanation by Dr. Richardson in his excellent dictionary: "frons, anterior pars. capitis, i. e. the front, or anterior part of the head; above the eyes." Chantrey could not have told where the hair That is the sculptor's forehead. began in Shakspeare's bust, which is nearly quite denuded. My old friend W. Laidlaw was a very * Any one who wishes to see the perfect image of this memorable bon-vivant, should look, not at the portrait at South Kensington, but at the wood-cut in the first volume of Mrs. Gordon's memoirs of her father, Christopher Edward Forbes. I have seen him in all his phases,-at North, from an admirable sketch by the late Professor Abbotsford, in all his glory, and at poor Maginn's — "who" (Lockhart wrote) — "Had genius, wit, learning, Life's trophies to win"; but alas! imprudence killed him. 66 Many worse, better few, than bright, broken Maginn." |
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