In truth, the regency of Albany was very much after the fashion of a later period, when, as Wordsworth says ·

66

[this was] the simple plan, That those should take who had the power, And those should keep who can." Acting on this principle, Albany's son, the Earl of Buchan, kept the earldom of Ross until he was slain at the battle of Verneuil in France, 1424; when James I.—who, in pursuance of his resolution to humble the magnates of Scotland, was far from scrupulous-seized the earldom as next male under the nun's resignation. Coming north, in 1427, the king induced Alexander, the son of Donald, and his mother, the ejected Countess of Ross, and several Highland chieftains, to place themselves in his power. He confined the countess in prison, dismissed her son, and put many of the chieftains to death.

Alexander took his revenge for the incarceration of his mother and death of his adherents, by burning Inverness; but James, in 1429, effectually forced the earl to submission, by routing his army, composed of Islanders and Ross-shire men. Donald of the Isles is stated, in the genealogical account of the clan or family of Macdonald,* to have died in France in the year 1427; and the countess had, in all probability, predeceased him, as Alexander took the title of earl about that period.

In 1431, Alexander obtained a pardon from the crown, and his earldom was restored to him. He died in 1448 or 1449, according to the genealogical account of the family, leaving three sons: John, Hugh, and Celestine. John retained the earldom until forfeited in 1475, when it was perpetually annexed to the crown. In 1476 he was restored to a small part of his lands. "From the ruins of his family that of Mackenzie sprung, now one of the most powerful clans in the Eastern Highlands," so says the genealogist of the family.

The case of Ross has a parallel in that of Mar; where a like injustice was perpetrated, by the crown taking advantage of a resignation by a life-renter in favour of a bastard of the Albany breed; who, by a series of extraordinary outrages, possessed himself of the person and estates of Isobel Countess of Mar, and then endeavoured to put the earldom past the heir of line, the legitimate successor an injustice that was not remedied until more than a century afterwards, when Queen Mary, moved by the gross justice" of her predecessor, placed the heir of line in the precise place of his ancestress. J. M.

❝ in

AN OLD NEWSPAPER: A ROYAL MARRIAGE CUSTOM: HABERDASHER.

In a recent issue of the Peterborough Advertiser was an article containing many extracts from an early number of The Stamford Mercury, one of the oldest of the provincial newspapers. Some of these extracts possess more than local interest, and may, perhaps, be allowed a niche in "N. & Q." The paper is of the date March, 1733-4 "and the Foreign Affairs' posts, show us that Russia and Poland were at war, as were Germany and France. The latter is curiously enough described as having a then, as of late, Great Britain offers her intervention to plan whereby to become masters of Luxemburg,' and preserve peace. In such way does History repeat itself. The great event at home was a royal wedding. The Irish, or at least the Peers, had a grievance,' for not having places assigned them equal to the English Peers, they resolved not to attend the wedding, and to keep their wives away. This must have been dreadful for the ladies. George II. occupied the throne, and the wedding, that of the Princess Royal to the Prince of Orange, came off notwithstanding the disgust of the Irish Peers. There is a long description of the doings at the wedding, one of the formalities sounding curiously to the present generation. The scribe says:

"About Twelve the Royal Family supp'd in publick placed at the Upper End of the Table under a Canopy; in the great State Ball-Room; their Majesties were on the Right hand sat the Prince of Wales, the Duke, and the Prince of Orange, and on the Left the Princess of Orange, and the Princesses, Amelia, Caroline, and Mary: the Countess of Hertford carv'd. About two the Bride and Bridegroom retir'd, and were afterwards seen by the Nobility, &c., sitting up in their Bed-Chamber in rich Undresses. The Counterpane to the Bed was Lace of an exceeding great Value."

"The fashions at Court on the occasion were these:"The Ladies mostly had fine laced Heads, dress'd English; their Hair curl'd down on the Sides, powder'd behind and before; with treble Ruffles, one tack'd up to their Shifts in quil'd Pleats and two hanging down; the newest fashion'd Silks were Paduasoys, with large Flowers of Tulips, Pionies, Emmonies, Carnations, &c., in their proper Colours, some wove in the silk and some embroider'd."

"The assizes are on, and at Northampton one man was cast for breaking open a house, but respited before the judge left the town.' Parliament was engaged in discussing Triennial Parliaments, and the question was negatived by 247 against 184.”

The court costume has been mentioned; but here is the costume of a lady who had broken out of the House of Correction at Peterborough, and for whose recovery the sum of half-a-guinea was offered. The date is March 19, 1733-4: :

"Note.-The said Sarah Smith is a thickish Person, of a middle Stature, with a darkish Complection, black EyeBrows somewhat arch'd, with Pimples appearing in her Face had on, when she broke out, Irons of [sic] both Legs and Tammy Gown strip'd with Green."

A Mr. Taylor advertises himself as "Haberdasher of Hats": thus giving a peculiar meaning to a singular word, whose origin has afforded

much discussion in these pages; and, in the following paragraph, we find an old use of a proverb that is yet vigorous:—

"We hear from Thorney Fenn, in the Isle of Ely, that Mr. Jeremiah Ris of that Place, lately sent up a Score of Hogs to London, which he sold there for 20 Pounds, which Money he put in the present Lottery, in which he has already had a Prize of a thousand Pounds. Of this Gentleman it may very properly le said, He brought his Hogs to a fine Market.”

CUTHBERT Bede.

GOETHE'S SENSIBILITY.

Goethe is usually represented as unimpassioned. It is probable, however, that he was naturally under the influence of a delicate nervous system, like his mother, but which he succeeded in controlling. The following will show that he was capable of strong emotions. After the battle of Jena, in 1806, the Emperor Napoleon I., sensibly irritated, permitted the Grand Duke CharlesAugustus of Saxe-Weimar to return to his estates, but not without evincing a lively mistrust. From that time the noble and generous German was surrounded by spies, who approached almost to his table.

"At this time,” says Falk, "my own affairs called me frequently to Berlin or Erfurth, and as I knew in these places many of the superior authorities, I discovered certain remarks in the registers of the secret police which were placed every evening before the emperor, and which I hastened to commit to paper with the intention of making it known to our sovereign. Goethe, on this occasion, gave me so strong a proof of his personal attachment to the grand duke, that I regard it as a duty to exhibit to the German public this bright page in the life of their great poet. On my return to Erfurth, I called on Goethe, and found him in his garden; we spoke of the domination of the French, and I reported precisely all that I was about to communicate to his highness. It is stated in the writing, that the Grand Duke of Weimar was convicted of having advanced four thousand thalers to General Blücher, our enemy, after the defeat of Lubeck; that every one besides knew that a Prussian officer, Captain de Ende, had come to be placed near her Royal Highness the Grand Duchess, in the capacity of grand maître de la cour; that it could not be denied that the installation of so many Prussian officers was in itself something offensive to France; that the emperor would not allow such a conspiracy to plot against him in the dark, in the centre of the German confederation; that the grand duke appeared to omit nothing calculated to awaken the anger of Napoleon, who nevertheless had many things to forget respecting Weimar,; that thus it was that Charles-Augustus had been seen, accompanied by Baron Müffling, in passing through his estates, visiting the Duke of Brunswick, the mortal enemy of France... Enough,' exclaimed Goethe, his eye inflamed with anger; enough, I need no more; what do they want then, these Frenchmen? Are they men who require more than humanity can perform? How long, then, has it been a crime to remain faithful to his friends, to his oid companions in arms, in misfortune? Is it so small a matter for a brave gentleman that it is denied that our sovereign should efface from the most happy memories of his life the seven years' war, the memory of Frederick the Great,

6

who was his uncle-in fine, all the glorious affairs of our old German confederation, in which he has himself taken so lively a part, and for which he has risked his crown and sceptre? Is your empire of yesterday, then, so solidly established that you have nothing to fear for it in the future vicissitudes of human destiny? Assuredly, my nature brings me to the peaceable contemplation of affairs, but I cannot see without irritation that impossibilities are required from men. The Duke of Weimar maintains at his own cost the Prussian officers out of pay, advances 4,000 thalers to Blücher after the defeat of Lübeck, and you call this a conspiracy! and you make it a crime! Suppose that to-day or to-morrow a disaster should reach your grand army, what merit would it not be, in the eyes of the emperor, in the general or field-marshal who should act in like circumstances as our sovereign has acted? I say, the grand duke does what he ought; he would be wanting to himself if he did otherwise. Yes, and when he shall, at this game, lose his estates, his people, his crown, and his sceptre, like his predecessor the unfortunate John, he should hold to what is good, and not wander from the generous sentiments prescribed to him by his duties as a man and a prince. Misfortune! What is misfortune? It is misfortune when a sovereign receives favourably strangers who are installed in his house. And of John, well! we, even we, will perform our duty, we if his fall should occur, if the future bring him the fate will follow our sovereign in his misfortunes as Lucas Kranach followed his, and we will not quit him a moment. The women and children, in seeing us pass through their villages will open their tearful eyes and cry, See the old Goethe and the Grand Duke of Weimar that the French emperor has despoiled of his throne because he would remain faithful to his friends in adversity, because he visited the Duke of Brunswick, his uncle, on his deathbed; because he would not allow his companions of the bivouac to die of famine.' At these words he stopped, choking, large tears rolling down his cheeks; then, after a moment's silence, I would sing for my bread, I would put our disasters in rhyme. In the villages, in the schools, wherever the name of Goethe is known, I would sing the shame of the German people, and their children should learn my complaints by heart, and when they became men, sing these in honour of my master, and restore him to his throne. See, my hands and feet tremble; I have not been so moved for a long while. Give me this report, or rather take it yourself; throw it in the fire, let it burn, let it be consumed; gather the ashes of it, plunge them into the water, let it boil, I will bring the wood; let it boil till it is destroyed; that the last letter, the last comma, the last point, may vanish in the smoke, and that nothing may remain of this shameful manifesto on the soil of Germany.'

In this narrative the following points are noteworthy: 1. Goethe, thrown off his guard, discloses, besides his tenderness, egoism and pococurantism, and reminds us of ego et rex meus. He has a special spite against a bit of paper that no one else would have wreaked his vengeance upon. 2. Blücher, glad enough then to obtain a plate of meat and the sovereign loan of 6007., was, nine years afterwards, the god of the Londoners, who nearly wrung his hands off, and to whom, and not to the Duke of Wellington, they attributed the success at Waterloo. Certainly Blücher was the right man in the right place, but not exactly at

* John Frederick, deprived of his electorate of Saxony by the emperor in 1547.

the right time. One remark of his-the only one I have heard-was in reply to the simple question, What do you think of London? "I think it is a capital city to sack." It is not unlikely indeed that France and Prussia also have this in petto. 3. The kind feelings of the Duke of Saxe-Weimar towards the Prussians are likely to be returned in a different way by Prussia to the duke's successor who holds the key to Austria. 4. Fouché's system of espionage and reports to Napoleon; these were prepared on the expansion and contraction principle. The first paper the emperor looked at was little more than a table of contents; if he wished to know a trifle more, he looked at No. 2 report of the same transaction; and if very much interested, he looked at the amplest report, No. 3 or 4, as the case might be. Napoleon was a great economist of time. 5. Falk thought he had surreptitiously got sight of this report, but there can be no reasonable doubt that it was designedly put in his way for the purpose of his carrying the news directly or indirectly to the ears of CharlesAugustus. T. J. BUCKTON.

Streatham Place, S.

PICTURES BY WEST.

It may be of interest to some of the correspondents of "N. & Q." to know that two paintings by Sir Benjamin West are at this time to be found in the county of Wilts, of which I beg to offer a few particulars; respecting each of them, any additional information, or confirmation of the traditions I mention, will be very acceptable. The first is a copy in oils of the larger picture of the death of General Wolfe, painted for the engraving made by Woolcott in 1776. It once belonged to an ancestor of mine, and was given by him to the father of the lady in whose possession it now is. I have reason to believe that it was won in a raffle, after the engraver had finished his plate. Probably some person conversant with the history of the larger picture may be able to give some information on this point. The other is a copy given by West himself as a parting present to an old servant, in whose family it has been handed down to the present owner, with a careful tradition of its acknowledged value, and the history of which I now wish to perpetuate in "N. & Q."

James Dyer, a native of Westbury Leigh, in Wiltshire, was a private in the Life Guards. At a review in Hyde Park before George III., Dyer by some accident was thrown from his charger; he regained his footing, and stood by the side of his horse, resting his hand on the pommel of the saddle. West was struck with the fine figure and the very handsome face of this stalwart Wiltshireman, and the expression with which his noble horse seemed to regard the unfortunate ac

cident: he made a sketch on the spot, and afterwards a finished painting, which was kept by West, and after his death is said to have been exhibited with other works of that distinguished painter. Dyer obtained his discharge in the course of a few years, and was taken into West's service. He often sat for his face and figure, in several of West's historical paintings, and lived with Sir Benjamin some years. When he left, to settle in his native village, Sir Benjamin copied, and presented to him, his likeness and that of his horse, from the picture painted some years before, and it has been handed down in the family in an undoubted succession; whilst the painting itself carries with it unmistakeable evidence of its genuineness. It is very possible that West's biography and the catalogue of his paintings may have some reference to each of these productions, which it would be very satisfactory to add to the facts I have here stated. I leave my address with the Publisher of "N. & Q."; most willing to reply to any particulars wherein your readers may desire additional evidence. I have authority, in reference to the second picture, to say it can be purchased when its real value is fully ascertained. The first I presume would not be parted with. E. W.

FLY-LEAVES: IZAAK WALTON.-On the fly-leaf

of

"The Free-holder's Grand Inquest touching our Sovereign Lord the King and the Parliament, &c. &c. By the learned Sir Robert Filmer, Knight. London, 1679, Švo,” there is this inscription, "J. K. Don um] Magistri Isaaci Walton." The initials evidently mean John Ken, Walton's brother-in-law, to whom in his will he bequeathed a mourning ring.

The doctrines of the ultra-Tory Filmer were probably in unison with those of John Ken and his brother, the ejected bishop, which would make the book a very acceptable present. How and when the volume itself came north is unknown, but it was for many years in the singularly curious library at Whitehaugh, in the county of Aberdeen, which some few years since was sold by piecemeal in the sale-rooms of the late Mr. Nisbet, and is now possessed by Mr. T. Chapman.

Ken got his bishopric, as the story goes, in a somewhat unusual way. Mrs. Eleanor Gwynn had been refused a lodging by this clergyman, who was too upright a man to trade upon the vices of his master, and Charles had been told what had occurred. Thus the court had no doubt that Ken's future preferment was barred. Upon a vacancy occurring of the bishopric of Bath and Wells, and there being many applicants, Charles settled the claims by nominating" the little man who had refused Nell a lodging," stating that so stern a monitor would make an excellent bishop.

Two CHURCHES UNDER ONE ROOF.-Instances of two churches in one churchyard have been mentioned in your columns, but the following example of two churches under one roof must be unique. Two distinct churches are under one roof at Pakefield, near Lowestoft - All Saints' and St. Margaret's-forming a double aisle of similar architecture and dimensions, divided by seven pointed arches on octagonal pillars. It was evidently erected for two distinct congregations, and each had their own altar with raised steps. There is a square tower at the west end, the lower compartment of a richly painted rood screen, and the silver chalice is dated 1337. This instance is mentioned in Mr. Nall's Handbook to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft, from which book a great deal of valuable matter may be derived. JOHN PIGGOT, JUN.

NAVAL REVIEW AT PORTSMOUTH, 1778.—
"There should he see, as other folks have seen,
That ships have anchors, and that seas are green;
Should own the tackling trim, the streamers fine,
With Sandwich prattle, and with Bradshaw dine;
And then sail back, amid the cannons' roar,
As safe, as safe, as when he left the shore."

Heroic Postscript, N. F. H. for Wit, ii. 19. Such was the spirit in which a review at Portsmouth, in the presence of royalty, was spoken of in the days of George III. The satirist had previously discharged an arrow at his Majesty on account of his alleged excessive seclusion of himself:

Our sons some slave of greatness may behold,
Cast in the genuine Asiatic mould;
Who of three realms shall condescend to know
No more than he can spy from Windsor's brow."
Heroic Epistle,

Then, because the naval review at Spithead was ordered about two months after, the poet took credit to himself for producing the display by his animadversions. See note, p. 19.

An account of George III.'s visit to the navy at Spithead, &c., will be found in the Annual Register for 1778, p. 232. (Appendix to the Chronicle.) Information had lately been received of the treaty between France and the revolted American colonies of Great Britain. W. D.

SALMON FISHING.-Doubtless many of the readers of "N. & Q." are anglers: here is good news for them, and worth making a note of. Mr.

Walpole, in his report for last year as Inspector of Salmon Fisheries, states that there is considerable improvement and increase in the take of fish. In North Devon, for instance, at the Taw and Torridge, salmon were sold at 8d. per pound; on the Exe, 4000 salmon were caught last season against 400 in previous years; on the Usk, 3000 freshrun fish were taken by anglers alone; on the Dee 47 net licences were taken out, the average daily take of each net being 17 salmon; and 400 fish were taken by the rod, as against 100, the greatest number caught in any previous year. On the Wear there were more fish than had been seen in the last fifty years; whilst the conservators of the Ribble and Hodder report that in one fishery, where only 90 salmon were taken in 1859, 9000 were taken last summer! This is indeed satisfactory intelligence, and shows the beneficial effects of the Salmon Fishery Acts. PHILIP S. KING.

MR. BRIGHT'S EPIGRAMMATIC SAYING. - Mr. Bright, in a speech at Birmingham the other day, quoted from some doggrel verse, I rather think about St. Patrick, a clever though coarse saying, to the effect that" the beasts (meaning the Conservatives) had committed suicide to save themselves from slaughter." For the original source of this idea, we must mount up two thousand years and more to Antiphanes, one of the earliest and most celebrated Athenian poets of the middle comedy, whose first exhibition was about B.C. 383. I refer to the lines (Fragm. Comicorum Græcorum, p. 567, ed. Meineke):

Τίς δ ̓ οὐχὶ θανάτου μισθοφόρος, ὦ φιλτάτη,
Ὃς ἑνέκα τοῦ ζῆν ἔρχετ ̓ ἀποθανούμενος ;
And at a much later period we find Martial
(Book II. Epigr. 80) adopting the same idea:

"Hoc rogo, non furor est ne moriare, mori."
"When Fannius from his foe did fly,
Himself with his own hands he slew;
Who e'er a greater madness knew?
Life to destroy for fear to die."

Anon. 1695. C. T. RAMAGE.

SALE OF OLD MANUSCRIPTS AND BOOKS.

"In a collection of interesting manuscripts sold in London last week at the rooms of Sotheby, Wilkinson, & Hodge, the following lot was included:-Robert Burns' ode, Bruce's Address to his Troops at Bannockburn' tune, Lewie Gordon. The autograph manuscript of this poem is written on two sides of a letter addressed to Captain Millar, Dalswinton. The letter commences:

"DEAR SIR,-The following ode is on a subject which I know you by no means regard with indifference: "O Liberty

Thou mak'st the gloomy face of nature gay, Giv'st beauty to the sun, and pleasure to the day." It does me so much good to meet with a man whose honest bosom glows with the generous enthusiasm, the heroic daring, of liberty, that I could not forbear sending