Bank [ 480 ] METEOROLOGICAL DIARY, BY W. CARY, STRAND, Fahrenheit's Therm. Fahrenheit's Therm. New South Sea Ann. Nov. 6, 91†.—17, 914.—18, 92.—19, 92§.—26, 921. J. B. NICHOLS AND SON, 95, PARLIAMENT-STREET. MINOR CORRESPONDENCE. P. 172, for Deri-nane read Derrinane. P. 175. Lady Eleanor Butler and her sisters assumed the rank of Earl's daughters on their brother's being acknowledged as Earl of Ormonde by the House of Lords in 1791. His Lordship claimed the title on the principle that the attainder of the great Duke of Ormonde did not affect the Irish honors. This being admitted, it followed that the father of Lady Eleanor was entitled to the Earldom, though not aware of his right. The attainted Duke, for the attainder of course was valid as to the English dignities, was thus Duke of Ormonde, &c. in Ireland, at his death; and his next brother, the Earl of Arran, though also not aware of his legal right, was third Duke. On his decease, the Dukedom and Marquisate became extinct, but the Earldom vested in the male heir, John Butler, esq. of Kilcash, as fifteenth Earl; he died in 1766, without issue; when the representation of the family devolved on Walter Butler of Garryricken (sixteenth Earl), father of John Butler, admitted in 1791, as the seventeenth Earl of Ormonde, &c. on which occasion his mother assumed the title of Countess dowager, and his sisters the rank of Earl's daughters, to which they were clearly entitled, though their father was known only as Walter Butler, esq. all his life-time. P. 174. Lord Clermont's descent from Earl Fortescue's family was not a mere presumption. It was an undoubted fact. See Lodge. The Viscount bequeathed his chief estates to his nephew, Sir Henry Goodricke, Bart, of Ribstan in Yorkshire. P. 362. Read Major-Gen. Hon. Sir R. W. O'Callaghan. Same page, for Col. Mahon read Col. Mac Mahon. P. M. reinarks, that Lady Head (p. 368) was the daughter of Chief Justice Holt, and sister to Rowland Holt, esq. of Redgrave, M.P. for Suffolk, and to Mary (not Jane) Countess of Haddington. Sir Thomas Head had a brother, the Rev. Richard Head, Vicar of Chevely in Berkshire. He had issue Harriet-James Head, who married the Rev. Morgan Graves, late Rector of Redgrave cum Botesdale, and of Hinderclay in Suffolk, to which preferment he succeeded through the interest of the Head family.Sir Thomas Head had also a sister, Jane Head, who married Edward Horne, esq. of Bevis Mount, Southampton, by whom she had issue Jane, who married her first cousin Edward Horne, esq. of Bevis Mount. She died lately at an advanced age.—It may also be remarked, that Rowland Holt, esq. had another sister besides the two before mentioned. She married to George Wilson, esq. barrister at law, by whom she had issue Admiral George Wilson of Redgrave Hall, who died in 1826, and has a memoir in vol. XCVI. i. 273. The Admiral left four sons, of whom the eldest is the proprietor of that magnificent mansion, and two daughters." W. B. is referred to Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. I. p. 189, for some account of the preferments and publications of Dr. Francis Hutchinson, Bishop of Down and Connor, and author of the well-known "Essay concerning Witchcraft." In our memoir of the late John Reeves, esq. (p. 468), his History of the English Law was stated to be 4 vols. 8vo, but a 5th volume, with an Index to the work, was published last year, containing the reign of Elizabeth, which was, at his request, printed from his own manuscript. AN ETYMOLOGIST inquires the origin and meaning of the word Lee or Lea, as it is occasionally spelt in the well-known ancient popular ballad, London Bridge is broken down, Whether, as seems to be the opinion of X. Y. Z. and other inquirers after the history of unimportant private families, are referred to the College of Arms. Our SUPPLEMENTARY NUMBER, to be published Feb. 1, 1880, will be embellished with Views of St. Anne's Church, Wandsworth, and Stepney Chapel, with descriptions; and will contain, among a variety of other articles, a dissertation on the Rise and Progress of Witchcraft; Altarpiece at Romsey described; Stray Thoughts on Language and Literature; account of Whaplode, co. Lincoln, with Engravings ; Col. Macdonald on the North-west Magnetic Variation, with Engravings, &c.—Reviews of Oliver's Conventual Church of St. James, Great Grimsby; King Alfred's Boethius; Colls on Infant Baptism; the conclusion of the interesting Memoir of Dr. Gaskin, &c. &c. THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. DECEMBER, 1829. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. HISTORICAL ERRORS IN SIR WALTER SCOTT'S NOVELS. Mr. URBAN, PERMIT Paris, Dec. 3. me to solicit from some of your erudite Correspondents, a definition of the latitude which in a work of fiction is allowed to the author to depart from historical accuracy; in other words, to describe the limits of the Poetic License. The subject has become of some importance on account of the great and justly merited popularity of the Waverley Novels; many of which, however, contain anachronisms and other historical errors. Although I am a decided admirer of Sir Walter Scott's writings, the following remarks would almost imply the contrary; but as that author is now revising the whole of his truly interesting narratives, the indication of a few blemishes will assist him in his corrections. Before I proceed to point out some mistakes which are unnecessarily wide of the mark, it may not be amiss to notice the great difference between the novels of the old and those of the new school. The works of Le Sage, Fielding, De Foe, and Smollett, are well known, and widely circulated; nobody reads them without pleasure; and they all contain so true a representation of nature, that scarce an incident is to be found in them which has not really occurred; while in concentrating the events into the experience of an individual, the illusion is not exposed to detection, as the names are fictitious. At the same time, the satisfaction with which we read the Arabian Nights, the Old English Baron, and other decided romances, is a proof that bare undisguised fiction is allowable; and if more evidence were requisite, we need only refer to the popularity of the Pilgrim's Progress. Why then, it may be asked, is the author of Waverley to be censured for a few anachronisms? For the same reason, which has contributed so much to his popularity, his novels are descriptions of the manners of given periods, and fanciful accounts of particular events; which events being, in general, so well known to have taken place, afford the means of detecting any mis-statement respecting them. The novels of the old school are for entertainment (almost exclusively) with the multitude, while they afford instruction to the few, who, like the student in the preface to Gil Blas, know how to look beyond the surface for hidden treasure. On the other hand, the Waverley novels, and those following that model, are historical in their nature, and become of public importance from the feelings they excite. The ancestors of many existing families figure in some of them, and there are few persons who can read unmoved the description of scenes in which their forefathers were concerned. And this observation extends to all classes, for our lines of ancestry are all equally long, although all may not equally be able to trace the pedigree. The most humble Englishman, whose name implies a Saxon origin, must feel indignant at the hauteur of the Normans, on reading Ivanhoe; and a native of Wales will certainly experience strong emotions while perusing the tale of The Betrothed. The writings of Sir Walter Scott abound with most beautiful descriptions of the passions of the personages, and with unrivalled landscape-like accounts of the places where the events have occurred; they require no eulogy from my humble pen; but as they are the lure to entice the thoughtless reader to the study of past times, it seems the more necessary that the historical observations, which are inter 484 Historical Errors in Sir Walter Scott's Novels. In the Talisman, King Richard, when speaking of Philip Augustus, is made to call him Philip of France and Navarre and, on another occasion, he swears by St. Louis; a reference to the list of the kings of France would have shewn the author, that St. Louis was the grandson of Philip Augustus and that Henry IV. was the first King of France and Navarre. In the Fair Maid of Perth, the old glover and his daughter prepare to attend evening service at the Blackfriars church; we soon after find they enter the Dominican church where High Mass is performed; and in the next ehapter we learn that Catherine's confessor is Father Francis, the Dominican. It has escaped Sir Walter's notice, first, that High Mass is never performed in the evening; it is a positive regulation of the Church of Rome, to which there is but one exception, the midnight mass of Christmas eve; secondly, that the Dominican monks were called White Friars; and third, that the Dominicans and Franciscans being always at variance with each other, it would have been better to have given the confessor any other name than Francis. It is scarcely necessary to mention here, that on joining a convent the neophyte assumes a new name, and that it is -improbable that any Dominican would place himself under the protection of St. Francis. In Ivanhoe (chapter 7) there is an error so glaring that it renders refutation almost superfluous: Robin Hood comes in contact with Prince John, and while they are speaking, a bystander calls out that he (Robin Hood) could hit Wat Tyrrell's mark at 100 yards: upon which Sir Walter remarks, this allusion to the death of William Rufus, his grandfather, at once incensed and alarmed Prince John." Further on (chap. 13) when that prince receives a letter from the King of France, announcing King Richard's enlargement, the seal is described as bearing three fleurs-de-lis. An antiquary, like Sir Walter, ought to have been aware that the arms of France were then seme, and it was not [Dec. till Edward III. had quartered them Mr. URBAN, W. S. B. Staffordshire Moorlands, Dec. 1. S your article on the New Post tirely to its modern economy, and has scarcely an allusion to that important branch the Twopenny Post, a few brief additions, with some notices of its early state, gleaned from various quarters, may not be uninteresting. The utility of the Post Office at the outset, seems to have been so little appreciated, that, even so long as thirteen years after the Restoration, we find, from Blome's "Britannia," many people were almost ignorant of its existence. He says: "For the better information of all such as have occasion of conveyance of letters into any part of England, which before made use of that tedious way by wagon, carrier, or stagecoach, as not fully knowing this great conveniency, this is to inform them that the inhabitants of this nation have of late years, by a general Post-Office, an exceeding great conveniency in the conveyance of letters to most parts of the kingdom; and that at such easie rates, and with such quick dispatch, that in five dayes an answer may be received, though 250 miles; and, if but a letter of a single sheet of paper, for the expence of 3d.; but if of a greater bulk, then after the rate of 8d. per ounce; and if under 80 miles, then 2d. for a single letter. And if to Scotland 5d., and to Ireland 6d. for single letters. "The profits of this great Office, by Act of Parliament, is granted unto H.R.H. the Duke of York, under whom are abundance of officers, who continually give their attendance, under a yearly (and some a weekly) salary, each being appointed to, and knowing, his respective imployment. And, upon the grand Post Office, which is kept in London, there depends 182 deputy Postmasters in England and Scotland, most of which keep their offices in their stages, and have sub-postmasters in their branches out to Market-towns, not seated in the high roads so that there is scarce any markettown of note, but hath the benefit of the conveyance of letters to and fro. "The answers that are received, are delivered (if in London) to the letter-porters, who speedily carry them, according to the directions, and ought to demand no more. |