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"This Raphe Fitz-Hubert, adhering to King Stephen in his wars against Maude the Empress, was a fierce man, and a great plunderer (Math. West. an. 1140); and having surprised the Castle of Devizes was at length taken prisoner, and because he refused to deliver up Devizes to the Empress, hanged as a thief.”

Banks, at p. 83 of vol. i. of his Extinct and Dormant Baronages, copies this statement. Sir F. Madden, in his Frecheville pedigree (pp. 1 et seq. of vol. iv. of the Collect. Topogr. et Geneal.), also adopts it.

A little examination of this point will, I think, clear the stain of the crimes attributed to him from his name.

In the first place, it seems tolerably certain that the malefactor's name was not Ralph, but Robert Fitz-Hubert. William of Malmesbury so styles him in the two places where he mentions him; and the author of the Gesta Stephani also in several places calls him Robert.

Secondly, that whilst Ralph Fitz-Hubert was of undoubted Norman ancestry, at p. 66 of the Gesta Stephani (published by the Eng. Hist. Society), it is stated that Robert Fitz-Ralph was of Flemish extraction, and a stipendiary of Count

Robert:

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"Prope hoc tempus Robertus filius Huberti, vir genere Flandrensis, animo et actu fraudulentus, qui, ut de Evangelico judice dicitur, nec Deum nec homines reverebatur, ex Roberti comitis militiâ furtivè proficiscens, erat enim illius stipendiarius," &c.

As Ralph Fitz-Hubert, temp. Domesday, held thirty-nine manors in Derbyshire, as well as lands in capite in Leicester, Stafford, Notts, and Lincoln, and was at the same time Governor of Nottingham, it is hardly probable he ever served as stipendiarius" to any one but William the Con

queror.

Thirdly, Ralph Fitz-Hubert was the eldest son of Hubert de Rye, who, in 1044, saved the life of William Duke of Normandy, as he was flying from Bayeux to Falaise pursued by conspirators. As three of Hubert de Rye's sons were then old enough to escort William across country from Rye to Falaise (Roscoe's Life of William the Conqueror, p. 51: Chron. de Normandie, Nouv. Hist., M. de Bras, Walsingham, &c.), Ralph, the eldest, must have been aged at least twenty-four, which would give the date of his birth as 1020-a hundred and twenty years before the time when he is presumed to have committed the atrocities justly censured by Matthew of Westminster.

If any further proof of his innocence were necessary, it would be that his son Ralph succeeded to his estates in the reign of Henry I., and that the events above referred to did not take place till that of Stephen. WALTER RYE.

King's Road, Chelsea.

DOCTOR SLOP.

In Mr. Fitzgerald's recently published Life of Sterne it is stated, that Dr. Burton of York was generally supposed to be the original of Dr. Slop, and certain political reasons are adduced which caused Dr. Burton to become obnoxious to the witty satire of the author of Tristram Shandy. In such a case, one would not expect a satirist to be very discriminating in his attacks; but really, Dr. Burton seems to have been treated with poor

singular unfairness: for, so far from being a blind advocate for the use of instruments in midwifery, one of the charges he brings against Dr. Smellie, the most celebrated accoucheur of that day, is, his too great fondness for using instruments when the efforts of Nature were adequate to effect delivery; and, at p. xi. of Dr. Burton's Table of Contents, prefixed to his Letter to William Smellie, M.D., eight references are given to passages proving "that Smellie uses instruments, when delivery may be safely performed without." It is true that, in Dr. Burton's own work (An Essay, &c., 1751, Postscript), figures are given of the author's forceps; but it was no newly-invented instrument, merely a modification invented by the author as being safer and better than the forceps then in use by all practitioners of midwifery.

The Letter to Dr. Smellie (1753) is an octavo of 250 pages, and consists of a thorough dissection of Dr. Smellie's celebrated work. Burton

was evidently a good Greek and Latin scholar, and had read the original works of the most celebrated obstetric writers; whereas, he proves that Smellie, while making a great parade of learning, had really got all his knowledge of these writers at second hand. Among other criticisms, Burton unmercifully ridicules Smellie for what was certainly an absurd blunder. He had found, in a compendium published by Spachius in 1597, an engraving with this title, "Lithopædii Senonensis Icon." It is the figure of a so-called "petrified child," taken from its mother; and Smellie, misunderstanding the inscription, forthwith enrolled "Lithopædus Senonensis" among his obstetric authorities!

Sterne must have read the work of Smellie ("Adrianus Smelvogt," he calls him), and had copied into the text of Tristram Shandy this ludicrous mistake. I have not at hand any edition of Tristram published in the author's life-time; and, therefore, do not know whether the foot-note to chap. xliv. (vol. i.) was added by Sterne himself. If it were, it is evident that he had also been reading Burton's Letter, &c.; for Smellie's mistake is corrected in the very words of Burton, but with some mis-spelling, and a wrongly copied date.

"The account of it," says Burton, "as published by Albosius, in 1582, in octavo, may be seen at the end of Cordæus's works in Spachius."-See note to chap. xliv. vol. i. of Tristram Shandy.

Smellie's Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Midwifery was published in 1752; Burton's Letter to William Smellie, M.D., in 1753; and the first volume of Tristram Shandy in 1759.

As an "illustration of Sterne," I may here quote an instance in which, having got hold of a dry fact, he has given it a ludicrous turn by means of a new simile. Smellie had said (Treatise, &c., p. 90):

"And in all laborious cases, the vertex comes down,

and is lengthened in form of a sugar-loaf, nine-and-forty times in fifty instances.”

"My father," says Tristram (vol. i. chap. xliv.), "who dipped into all kinds of books, upon looking into Lithopædus Senonensis de l'artu Difficili, published by Adrianus Smelvogt, had found out that... it so happened that, in 49 instances out of 50, the said head was compressed, and moulded into the shape of an oblong conical piece of dough, such as a pastrycook generally rolls up in order to make a pye of."

Mr. Fitzgerald says, that Dr. Burton "went to Oxford, but took a degree at a foreign university." Is this the case? On the title-page of his Treatise on the Non-Naturals, he figures as "M. B. Cantab. and M.D. Rhem." And in the preface to the same work, he says:

"I have not wholly misemployed the time spent by me at Leyden and at Cambridge."

The following works, by Burton, are now be

fore me :

1. "A Treatise on the Non-Naturals, in which the great Influence they have on Human Bodies is set forth, and mechanically accounted for, &c. By John Burton, M.B. Cantab. and M.D. Rhem. York, 1738. 8vo."

This is not, as Mr. Fitzgerald calls it (p. 273), "a singular metaphysical work," but is wholly physiological in its character-describing the effects on the human body of what in those days were called the "Non-Naturals."

2. "An Essay towards a complete New System of Midwifry [sic], Theoretical and Practical, &c., &c. By John Burton, M.D. London, 1751. 8vo."

that

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Mr. Fitzgerald states that this volume is "ushered in by complimentary letters from various learned societies." This is a mistake; there is not one such letter. The volume begins with a dedication-"To the President and Members of the Royal Society at London, and of the Medical Society of Edinburgh :" and the writer states, some of the improvements and new discoveries in the practice of midwifery, therein mentioned, have already been laid before your respective Societies." The passage next quoted by Mr. Fitzgerald (p. 269), beginning-"But for those people"-is from the preface to the Essay; and from the body of that work (p. 231), Mr. Fitzgerald's last quotation is taken: "As I have always professed myself an advocate," &c.

3. "Letter to William Smellie, M.D.; containing Critical and Practical Remarks upon his Treatise on the

Theory and Practice of Midwifery. By John Burton, M.D. London, 1753. 8vo."

It is at page 21 of this letter, that Burton exposes Smellie's ludicrous mistake about Lithopædus. JAYDEE.

THE SERAGLIO LIBRARY.-It is to be regretted that no learned European has been able to obtain admission to the library of the seraglio at Constantinople. By the aid of a firman and buckshish, I found no difficulty, with other English travellers, in entering the precincts of the palace, through the gateway called the Sublime Porte, and visiting therein the convent of Sta Irene, now the Sultan's armoury, his majesty's bath, the room containing his pedigree, from the portraits on which Prince Demetrius Cantemir obtained the illustrations for his History of the Othman Empire. I am certain that no difficulty would be possessed of sufficient courage to make a pilgrimopposed to the explorations of any fair savante literary treasures in the library. It is believed to age to Stamboul for the purpose of examining the contain, among other precious works, one hundred and twenty of Constantine's MSS. in folio, the original gospel of St. Matthew in Hebrew, the lost decads of Livy, and, according to Constantine Lascaris, the missing books of Diodorus Siculus.

"Abbate Toderini procured a copy of the catalogue of the Seraglio Library, which was taken in forty days by a page of the court with the utmost secresy. He gives it with a translation in his treatise Della Letteratura Turchesca, t. ii. p. 53.

"De la Valle, who visited Constantinople two centuries ago, remarks that the decads of Livy were then said to be in the library. The Grand Duke of Florence offered 5000 piastres for the MS., and the Bailo of Venice doubled the offer, but it could not be found."- Viaggi, p. 267, 4to. H. C.

ARCHBISHOP JOHN AND BISHOP JAMES SPOTTISWOOD.-The following extract from the advertisement prefixed to Sir Alexander Boswell's Breefe Spottiswood, Bishop of Clogher in Ireland, &c. Memoriall of the Lyfe and Death of Doctor James (4to, Edinburgh, 1811), is, I think, worthy of ob

servation :

"James Spottiswood, Bishop of Clogher, the Memorial of whose life is now given to the public, was the second son of Mr. John Spottiswood, a prominent character at the time of the Reformation in Scotland, and one of the first provincial Superintendants. In the Life of the Archbishop of St. Andrew's, prefixed to his History, it is

remarkable that there is no mention made of his brother, the Bishop of Clogher; there is, however, reason to surmise that, in some particulars, his biographer was perplexed by the story of the two brothers, and has ascribed to the elder what peculiarly belonged to the younger. There was, indeed, a singular coincidence in their fordistinguished for early and uncommon acquirements; tunes. At the University of Glasgow they both were

both afterwards became favourites at court, and were raised to high ecclesiastical preferments; both, harassed by the prevailing spirit of the times, were driven, at the

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DOR.-In his sermon, Mystical Bedlam, Thomas Adams speaks of "a practical frenzy; a roving, wandering, vagrant, extravagant course, which knows not which way to fly nor where to light, except like a dor in dunghill." Of dor, the editor of Nichol's edition of the works of Puritan divines, says that he supposes it is a dormouse. Had he consulted Bailey, he would not have further confused the preacher's imagery by turning an insect into quadruped, as we are told that Dor is a drone bee. ST. SWITHIN.

EXTRAORDINARY EPITAPH.-The following epitaph is still to be seen in the graveyard of the Covenanting Meeting House at Bailie's Mill, in the parish of Drumbeg, county of Down. It may tend to show the feeling respecting the Solemn League and Covenant which still lingers in some parts of the north of Ireland:

"Underneath lies the body of WILLIAM GRAHAM, of Creevy, who died in Feb, 1828, in the 63rd year of his

age.

"The following sentences, written by himself, are inscribed at his own request:

"First. I leave my testimony against all the errors of Popery which constitute the Man of Sin and Son of Perdition. Whom my Lord shall destroy by the brightness of his coming.

"Secondly. Against Prelacy now set on the throne of Britain, which shall shortly fall like Dagon by the sword of Him who sits on the white horse. For this end, Oh thou Mighty God, gird thy sword upon thy thigh, and thy right-hand shall teach Thee terrible things.

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Thirdly. I testify against all who deal falsely in the cause of Christ; all who own the Covenant National and Solemn League, and yet sware allegiance to the support of Prelacy. Oh Lord, take to Thee and rule the Nations, and destroy these two great Idols, Popery and Prelacy, with that rod of Iron Thou hast received from Thy Father.

"Lastly. I testify against all opposers of the Covenanted cause, all who have departed from Reformation, and I die giving my full approbation of that cause, for which the Martyrs suffered, and which they sealed with their blood.

"Arise, Oh Lord, and plead thy own cause."

D. S. E.

BARONY OF MORDAUNT. - I have fallen in at different times with more than one person

not

in high life that claimed to be entitled to the ancient Barony of Mordaunt. The last person that bore the title was the late Duke of Gordon, on whom the right descended from the daughter of Charles, third Earl of Peterborough. Any claimant that now appears must evidently have to trace his descent from some more remote ancestor. John, the first Earl of Peterborough, who died in 1642, had two sons - 1. Henry, second Earl; 2. John, created Viscount Mordaunt of Avalon, whose eldest son Charles became (on the death of his uncle) third Earl of Peterborough; and one daughter, Elizabeth, who married the second Lord Howard of Escrick.

John, Viscount Mordaunt, had, besides his The male line is extinct, but if there are any eldest son Charles, three sons and four daughters. descendants through females, I conceive that the barony must now be vested in them. In default of descendants from John Viscount Mordaunt, we must turn next to his sister, who married the second Lord Howard of Escrick. Here, too, the male line has become extinct, in the person of Charles, fourth Lord Howard, who died in 1714.

It thus appears that any claimants descended from John, first Earl of Peterborough, must trace their descent through females. Supposing there to be none such, we must carry our inquiry a generation higher up, and ascend from the first Earl of Peterborough to his father Henry, fourth Lord Mordaunt, who died in 1608. What sons or daughters he may have had I know not, but it is clear that any claimants of the name of Mordaunt must trace their descent either from him, or from one of his three predecessors in the barony. I believe that the ancestor of the present baronet, Sir Charles Mordaunt, was only collaterally related to the first baron. P. S. C.

SHAKSPEARE'S PORTRAITS. It is customary with most critics and good judges to reject all portraits of Shakspeare which do not represent him as bald, and as he appears in Droeshout's print, on the plea that if he were bald when comparatively a young man, it is not likely he would have a thick head of hair in later life. A passage in Granger's Hist. of England, quoted from Hentzner (a cotemporary writer), seems however to smooth the difficulty. It states "that the English, in the reign of Elizabeth, cut the hair close on the middle of the head, but suffered it to grow on either side." Might not Shakspeare have followed the Elizabethan fashion as long as it lasted, and afterwards, as he lived during thirteen years of the reign of James I., have adopted the style of hair subsequently introduced? In support of this theory, it is remarkable that all the so-called por

traits of Shakspeare having a full head of hair, represent a much older man than those which, for the sake of distinction, may be denominated the "bald portraits;" thus both may be genuine though not alike. FENTONIA.

Queries.

LETTER TO THE KNIGHT OF KERRY.

The Knight of Kerry presents his compliments to the Editor of "N. & Q.," and would feel much obliged if he or any of his correspondents would help him to discover the writer of the letter, of which he begs to enclose a copy. This letter was addressed to his father, the late "Right Hon. M. Fitzgerald, Knight of Kerry," Feb. 20, 1812, and was endorsed by him "A. T." or "A. I." It immediately followed one of the previous day from Lord Moira (afterwards Marquis of Hastings) on the same subject. The points established as to the person whose name I seek, are these. His initials are either "A. T." or "A. I." (more like the former). He must have been an intimate of the Prince Regent, or of those immediately about him, a personal friend of Lord Moira's, a strong Whig, and a strenuous advocate of the R. C. Question. These indications, imperfect as they are, may possibly enable some of the survivors of that period to identify the writer.

8, Leinster Street, Dublin.

"London, 20 Feb. 1812.

"My dear Sir,"Before this reaches you, you will have heard that the game is up! I saw a copy of the letter addressed to you yesterday.* I like every part of it but that which includes the word sincere; from any other person it would convey an insult from him, much as he is mortified, disappointed, and his feelings lacerated by such conduct as he has witnessed, yet he believes the expression. You will have difficulty in making others think with him on that point. The noble part the writer of the letter to you has taken—the honest, the friendly, the disinterested part he has actedis the theme of everybody's conversation; it has all, however, failed in making any impression in the quarter where so much was expected. The most gloomy prospect opens itself in every point of view. God send you may continue quiet on your side of the water. Everything here is disgusting, and nothing arising from weak heads and worse hearts is likely to be wanting to fill up the measure. The conduct of the real friends of the Constitution is firm, united, and hitherto without a single instance of desertion; and we may still be allowed to hope that such a union of talents and virtue will succeed in their well-meant endeavours to save the country from utter destruction. I had • By Lord Moira. The Prince Regent.

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ANONYMOUS.-Can you inform me who is the author of

"The Revelation of S. John considered as alluding to certain services of the Jewish Temple; according to which the visions are stated, as well in respect to the objects represented, as to the order in which they appeared"? The Dedication is "To the Right Hon. Lady -," and is signed "Jno M-D." London, 1787. NEWINGTONENSIS.

BASSETS OF NORTH MORTON. I should feel obliged if anyone can inform me whether the monuments in North Morton church, in Berkshire, of the Stapilton family are in existence.

The Bassets were formerly lords of the soil. Jordan Basset, living 1st of Rich. I., had three sons-1. Miles, 2. Jordan, 3. Henry. Miles, the eldest son, living 36th of Henry III., the 48th of Henry III., was Lord of North Morton, Berks, and Hathalsey, co. York. His daughter and heir married Nicholas Stapleton, living in the 52nd of Henry III. died between the 18th and 21st of Edw. I.

Miles Stapleton, his son and heir, ob. 8th of Edw. II. He married Sibel, daughter and coheir of John de Bellew, and had two sons, Nicholas and Gilbert. Nicholas's son and heir, ob. 17th of Edw. III. Issue now extinct in the male line. Gilbert, second son, Lord of North Morton, married Agnes, daughter and coheir of Brian Fitzalan, Lord of Bedale, and had issue.

What are the arms of Basset of North Morton? If any of the readers of "N. & Q." would send me the inscriptions, arms, &c. of the Stapleton and Basset families in the Stapleton chantry, in North Morton church, I shall feel much indebted. JULIA R. BOCKETT.

Bradney, Burghfield, Reading.

HENRY BUDD, the king's receiver of Guernsey, and more than thirty years a resident in that island, made collections from which was compiled The History of the Island of Guernsey, by William Berry, Lond. 4to, 1815. The date of Mr. Budd's death will oblige S. Y. R.

CALTON. Everyone acquainted with Glasgow knows the district of it that bears the name of Calton. There is in Edinburgh an equally well known Calton, from which the Calton Hill derives

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This is the title:

"Vida y Virtudes de la Venerable Virgen, Doña Luisa de Carvajal y Mendoza; su Jornada á Inglaterra y Successos en aquel Reyno." Por el Licenciado Luis Muñoz. Madrid, 1632."

Southey, in his Letters written during a Journey in Spain, and a Short Residence in Portugal (vol. i. p. 259, ed. London, 1808), gives a very interesting epitome of the work.. It is now exceedingly scarce even in Spain. A gentleman wishes to translate it into English. J. DALTON.

St. John's, Norwich.

THE CUCKOO SONG. Are the two notes of the

cuckoo always of the same pitch? I heard them, for the first time this year, on the 1st instant, and ascertained them by my pianoforte to be E natural and C sharp. R. W. D.

HEIRS WANTED. Has there ever been an instance in Scotland, within the last fifty years, of a large estate falling to the Crown for want of heirs to inherit. I remember, when in the Highlands ten or twelve years ago, hearing of some estates, somewhere, for which no heir could be found. SIGMA-THETA.

FOREIGN POSTAGE STAMPS.-Being a collector of foreign and old stamps for a literary purpose, may I, through your medium, ask some of the readers of "N. & Q." if any of them feel inclined to do any exchange with me, as I am anxious to make a rare collection, and thereby have many duplicates to dispose of? If I could find any one to exchange with me, or if they would collect stamps for me, I would give any information, heraldic or historic, or aught else they may require in return for it at the British Museum. If anybody, wishing to enter into my offer will answer me in " N. & Q." firstly, I will give them my address and name afterwards. STEMPEL.

HOGARTH.-The origin of this name is a puzzle worthy of solution by "N. & Q." I find no less than four different origins assigned to it. Thus Drs. Nicholson and Burn (History and Antiquities of Westmoreland and Cumberland) in their account of the parish of Kirkby-Thore, state that the name originated in the parish, and was merely the Saxon Hog-herd. Again, Mr. C. Innes (Concerning some Scotch Surnames, p. 47), makes it equivalent to Hagart; and says it is a name derived from a Scotch place. Arthews, an American writer on family names, says it comes from the

Dutch, and I think Mr. Lower agrees with him. And, lastly," N. & Q." itself (2nd S. x. 417) states that there are many names where art or arth are from the O. G., hart, fortis, as Hogarth-very thoughtful, careful, or prudent!! Is the name Saxon or Scotch, Gothic or Dutch, or what? Is not Hogard a common, or at least tolerably common, French surname ?

(see Acta Dom. Concilii et Auditorum) spelt Hogert; and in the parishes of Hutton and Fishwick, Berwickshire (see "N. & Q." 2nd S. viii. 325), it is spelt Hogard invariably at the beginning of the eighteenth century.

I find the name in Scotland as early as 1494

I am anxious to connect John Hogarth at Greenknowe, parish of Gordon, Berwickshire (born 1648), with the Hutton family. Some of his descendants appear in the latter neighbourhood about the middle of the eighteenth century. SIGMA-THETA.

MR. JAMESON.-Wanted some biographical particulars regarding Mr. Jameson of the legal profession, who was author of two or three comedies, A Touch at the Times; Students of Salamanca, &c. The latter was acted at Covent Garden in Jan. 1813; the epilogue being written by James Smith, one of the authors of the Rejected Addresses. IOTA.

SIR JAMES JAy, Knt., M.D., was author of— 1. "A Letter to the Governors of the College of New York, respecting the collection that was made in this kingdom, in 1762 and 3, for the Colleges of Philadelphia and New York. To which are added, Explanatory Notes and an Appendix, containing the Letters which passed between Mr. Alderman Trecothick and the Author. Lond. 8vo, 1771."

2. "Reflections and Observations on the Gout. Lond. 8vo, 1772."

3. "A Letter to the Universities of Oxford and Cam

bridge, &c. in respect to the Collection that was made for the Colleges of New York and Philadelphia; being a Vindication of the Author, occasioned by the groundless insinuations and very illiberal behaviour of Mr. Alderman Trecothick: with authentic evidences. Lond. 8vo, 1773."

Where was Sir James Joy knighted? Where did he procure his degree of M.D.? When and where did he die?

S. Y. R.

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