Chapter C: J. Armistead

Springfield Mount, Leeds.

* * * * *

A COUNTESS OF SOUTHAMPTON.

I have just been reading, in the _Revue des deux Mondes_, an interesting article upon the recently-published _Memoirs of Mademoiselle de Koenigsmark_, in which I meet with the following passage:

"Ce fut à Venise que Charles-Jean de Koenigsmark rencontra la belle
Comtesse de Southampton, cette vaillante amoureuse qui, plantant la
fortune et famille, le suivit désormais par le monde déguisée en page:
romanesque anecdote que la princesse Palatine a consignée dans ses
mémoires avec cette brusque rondeur de style qui ne marchande pas les
expressions. 'Il doit être assez dans le caractère de quelques dames
anglaises de suivre leurs amans. J'ai connu un Comte de Koenigsmark
qu'une dame anglaise avait suivi en habit de page. Elle était avec lui
à Chambord, et comme, faute de place, il ne pouvait loger au Château,
il avait fait dresser dans la forêt une tente où il logeât. Il me
raconta son aventure à la Masse; j'eu la curiosité de voir le
soi-disant page. Je n'ai jamais rien vu de plus beau que cette figure:
les plus beaux yeux du monde, une bouche charmante, une prodigieuse
quantité de cheveux du plus beau brun, qui tombèrent en grosses boucles
sur ses épaules. Elle sourit en me voyant, se doutant bien que je
savais son secret. {65} Lorsqu'il partit de Chambord pour l'Italie, le
Comte Koenigsmark se trouva dans une auberge, et en sortit le matin
pour faire un tour de promenade. L'hotesse de cette maison courut après
lui et lui cria: 'Montez vite là-haut, Monsieur, votre page accouche!'
Le page accoucha en effet d'une fille: on mit la mère et l'enfant dans
un couvent à Paris."

He afterwards went to England, where--

"Les frères, cousins, et petits cousins de lady Southampton
l'attendaient, et les duels se mirent à lui pleuvoir dessus. Comme son
épée aimait assez à luire au soleil, il la tira volontiers, et avec une
chance telle que ses ennemis, ne pouvant le vaincre par le fer,
jugèrent à propos d'essayer du poison. Dégouté de perdre son temps à de
pareilles misères, &c. &c. Tant que le comte a vecu il en a eu grand
soin; mais il mourut en Morée, et le page fidèle ne lui survécut pas
long-temps. Elle est morte comme une sainte."

Can you, or any of your correspondents, say _who_ this interesting _Countess of Southampton_ was? She lived at the end of the seventeenth century. In addition to these particulars, which are so nicely told that I would not venture to alter them, as Orsino asks Viola, "What was her history?"

W. R.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_Hardening Steel Bars._--Can any of your readers inform me how thin, flat, steel bars (say three feet long) can be prevented from "running" crooked when hardened in water?

J. H. A.

_Pierrepont._--Who was John Pierrepont of Wadworth, near Doncaster, who died July, 1653, aged 75.

A. F. B.

Diss.

_Ceylon._--I should be much obliged to SIR JAMES TENNENT, if he would kindly inform me where the best map of Ceylon is to be got? such as are to be found in the atlases within my reach are only good enough to try a man's temper, and no more.

May I also take the liberty of asking how soon we may expect the appearance of SIR JAMES TENNENT'S book on the history, &c. of Ceylon? a work which will be a great work indeed, if we have at all a fair specimen of its author's learning and powers in the _Christianity in Ceylon_.

AJAX.

_Flemish and Dutch Schools of Painting._--Would any of your correspondents direct me to some work giving me some information about the painters of the Dutch and Flemish schools, their biographers, their peculiarities, chefs-d'oeuvre, &c.?

AJAX.

"_To talk like a Dutch Uncle._"--In some parts of America, when a person has determined to give another a regular lecture, he will often be heard to say, "I will talk to him like a Dutch uncle;" that is, he shall not escape this time.

As the emigrants to America from different countries have brought their national sayings with them, and as the one I am now writing about was doubtless introduced by the Knickerbockers, may I ask if a similar expression is now known or used in Holland?

W. W.

Malta.

_Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Belgium_.--I want some work on this subject: can any one tell me of one?

N.B.--A big book does not frighten me.

AJAX.

_Charter of Waterford._--I have a copy of the English translation of this charter, published in Kilkenny, with the following note, written in an old hand, on the title-page:

"This was first translated by William Cunningham Cunningham (_sic_), a
native of Carrick-on-Suir, born on Ballyrichard Road: his father and
brother were blacksmiths; his grand-nephew Cunningham lives now a
cowper (_sic_) in New Street in do. town."

I wish to know if this note is worth anything, and if the statement contained in it is true?

R. H.

_Inscription on Penny of George III._--On an old penny of George III., on the reverse, I find the following inscription:

"STABIT QVOCVNQVE IECERIS."

What does this precisely mean; or why and when was it adopted?

J. M. A.

_"Shob," or "Shub," a Kentish Word._--Your correspondent on the Kentish word _sheets_ (Vol. vi., p. 338.) may possibly be able to give some account of another Kentish word, which I have met with in the country about Horton-Kirby, Dartford, Crayford, &c., and the which I cannot find in Halliwell, or any other dictionary in my possession,--viz. to _shob_ or _shub_. It is applied to the trimming up elm-trees in the hedge-rows, by cutting away all the branches except at the head: "to shob the trees" is the expression. Now, in German we have _schaben_, v. r. to shave; but in the Anglo-Saxon I find nothing nearer than _scaf_, part. _scof_, to shave.

A. C. M.

Exeter.

_Bishop Pursglove (Suffragan) of Hull._--This prelate is buried in Tideswell Church, Devonshire, and a copy of his monumental brass is given in _Illustrations of Monumental Brasses_, published in 1842 by the Cambridge Camden Society. Perhaps some reader of "N. & Q." who has access to that work will send the inscription for insertion in your columns. Any information also as {66} to his consecration, character, and period of decease, would be acceptable. What is the best work on English Suffragan bishops? I believe Wharton's _Suffragans_ (which, however, I do not possess to refer to) is far from being complete or correct. It would be interesting to have a complete list of such bishops, with the names of their sees, and dates of consecration and demise. I find no Suffragan bishop after Bishop John Sterne, consecrated for Colchester 12th November, 1592, and this from the valuable list in Percival's _Apol. for Ap. Suc._

A. S. A.

Punjaub.

_Stewarts of Holland._--In the year 1739 there lived in Holland a Lieutenant Dougal Stewart, of the Dutch service, who was married to Susan, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Fairfowl, of Bracindam. He was descended from the ancient Scottish family of Stewarts of Appin, in Argyleshire; and this Query is to inquire whether anything is known regarding him or his descendants, if he had such? This might find a reply in _De Navorscher_ perhaps.

A. S. A.

Punjaub.

_Robert Wauchope, Archbishop of Armagh, 1543._--Is there any detailed account of this prelate extant? The few particulars I have been able to glean respecting him are merely that he was a native of Scotland, and Doctor in Divinity of the University of Paris, where he probably studied theology, as was common with Scottish ecclesiastics of that day. He arrived in Ireland about the year 1541, and is memorable for the glory, or shame, of being the first who introduced the Jesuit order into that country. Pope Paul III. nominated him to the primatial see of Armagh, after the death of Archbishop Cromer in 1543, and during the lifetime of Archbishop Dowdal, who was a Catholic also, but being appointed Archbishop of Armagh in November 1543, by King Henry VIII., was not acknowledged at Rome as such. _Waucup_, as his name is also spelt, and Latinized "Venantius," never appears, however, to have been able to obtain regular possession of the see of Armagh and primacy of Ireland, being merely titular archbishop. Some accounts state that he was blind from his childhood, but others say, and probably more correctly, that he was only short-sighted. He was present at the Council of Trent in 1545-47, being one of the four Irish prelates who attended there; and, in _Hist. del Concil. Trid._, l. ii. p. 144., he is alluded to as having been esteemed the _best at riding post in the world!_--"Huomo di brevissima vista era commendato di questa, di correr alla posta meglio d'huomo del mondo." I should like much to ascertain the date and place of his birth, consecration, and death.

A. S. A.

_Plum-pudding._--Can any of your readers inform me of the origin of the following custom, and whether the ceremony is still continued? I can find no mention of it in any topographical dictionary or history of Devon, but it was copied from an old newspaper, bearing date June 7, 1809:

"At Paignton Fair, near Exeter, the ancient custom of drawing through
the town a plum-pudding of an immense size, and afterwards distributing
it to the populace, _was revived_ on Tuesday last. The ingredients
which composed this enormous pudding were as follows: 400 lbs. of
flour, 170 lbs. of beef suet, 140 lbs. of raisins, and 240 eggs. It was
kept constantly boiling in a brewer's copper from Saturday morning to
the Tuesday following, when it was placed on a car decorated with
ribbons, evergreens, &c., and drawn along the street by eight oxen."

EVERARD HORNE COLEMAN.

"_Whene'er I asked._"--I shall be very glad to know the author and the exact whereabouts of the following lines, which I find quoted in a MS. letter written from London to America, and dated 22nd October, 1767:

"Whene'er I ask'd for blessings on your head,
Nothing was cold or formal that I said;
My warmest vows to Heaven were made for thee,
And love still mingled with my piety."

W. B. R.

Philadelphia, U. S.

_Immoral Works._--What ought to be done with works of this class? It is easy to answer, "destroy them:" but you and I know, and Mr. Macaulay has acknowledged, that it is often necessary to rake into the filthiest channels for historical and biographical evidence. I, personally, doubt whether we are justified in destroying _any_ evidence, however loathsome and offensive it may be. What, then, are we to do with it? It is impossible to keep such works in a private library, even under lock and key, for death opens locks more certainly than Mr. Hobbs himself. I think such ought to be preserved in the British Museum, entered in its catalogue, but only permitted to be seen on good reasons formally assigned in writing, and not then allowed to pass into the reading-room. What is the rule at the Museum?

I ask these questions because I have, by accident, become possessed of a poem (about 1500 lines) which professes to be written by Lord Byron, is addressed to Thomas Moore, and was printed abroad many years since. It begins,--

"Thou ermin'd judge, pull off that sable cap."

More specific reference will not be necessary for those who have seen the work. Is the writer known? I am somewhat surprised that not one of Byron's friends has, so far as I know, hinted a denial of the authorship; for, scarce as {67} the work may be, I suppose some of them must have seen it; and, under existing circumstances, it is possible that a copy might get into the hands of a desperate creature who would hope to make a profit, by republishing it with Byron's and Moore's names in the title-page.

I. W.

_Arms at Bristol._--In a window now repairing in Bristol Cathedral is this coat:--Arg. on a chevron or (_false heraldry_), three stags' heads caboshed. Whose coat is this? It is engraved in Lysons' _Gloucestershire Antiquities_ without name.

E. D.

_Passage in Thomson._--In Thomson's "Hymn to the Seasons," line 28, occurs the following passage:

"But wandering oft, with brute, unconscious gaze,
Man marks not Thee; marks not the mighty hand
That, ever busy, wheels the silent spheres;
Works in the secret deep; shoots, _steaming_, thence
The fair profusion that o'erspreads the spring," &c.

Can any of your readers oblige by saying whether the word _steaming_, in the fourth line of the quotation, is the correct reading? If so, in what sense it can be understood? if not, whether _teeming_ is not probably the correct word?

W. M. P.

"_For God will be your King to-day._"--

"For God will be your King to-day,
And I'll be general under."

My grandmother, who was a native of Somersetshire, and born in 1750, used to recite a ballad to my mother, when a child, of which the above lines are the only ones remembered.

Do they refer to the rising under the Duke of Monmouth? And where can the whole of the ballad be found?