Chapter C: W. B

_End of Easter_ (Vol. ii., p. 9).--Should not the end of Easter be considered its octave--Low Sunday?

J. W. H.

_First Earl of Roscommon_ (Vol. ii., p. 325.).--There was, in the burying-ground of Kilkenny-West, some thirty-five years or more ago, an old tombstone belonging to the Dillon Family, on which was traced the genealogy of the Roscommon branch from one of the sons of the first earl (if I remember right, the third or fourth), down to a Thomas, who had, I have heard my father say, a son called Garrett, who had issue two sons, Patrick and Thomas. Patrick was always, in that part of the country, _considered the heir_ to this title. Patrick and Thomas had issue, (living or dead I know not), but should imagine dead; as, had they been living, they would no doubt have come forward when the late earl claimed the title, as he claimed it as being descended from the youngest son of the first earl, whereas Patrick and Thomas were certainly the descendants of one of the elder sons of the first earl; and therefore, had the sons of either Patrick or Thomas come forward, it would no doubt have been decided in their favour. On this account, it was several years before the late earl's claim was fully confirmed, as it was thought that some of the descendants of the elder branches might come forward. This would have attracted my attention earlier had I not been abroad.

AN HIBERNIAN.

Mivart's Hotel, London.

_Dryden's "Absolom and Achitophel"_ (Vol. ii. p. 423.).--The passage in _Absolom and Achitophel_ is taken from Fuller's _Profane State_, speaking of Alva:

"He was one of a lean body and visage, as if his eager soul, biting for
anger at the clog of his body, desired to fret a passage through it;"

and from Carew, p. 71.,

"The purest soul that ere was sent
Into a clayey tenement."

C. B.

_Cabalistic Author_ (Vol. ii., p. 424.).--"W. C. or twice five hundred." The meaning is very evident. V. signifies five, and C. one hundred. W. is two V's, therefore W. C. twice five hundred.

TERRA MARTIS.

\[ [Another correspondent points out that W. C., the author, may probably be _William_ Cooper the printer.] \]

_Twickenham--Did Elizabeth visit Bacon there?_ (Vol. ii., p. 408.).--

"At Twickenham Park, either in this [1592] or the following year,
through the immediate interest of his steady patron, the Earl of Essex,
Mr. Francis Bacon had the honour of entertaining Queen Elizabeth, where
he presented her with the sonnet in honour of that generous
nobleman."--Nichols's _Progresses of Queen Eliz._, 2d ed. iii. p. 190.

J. I. D.

_Legend of a Saint and Crozier_ (Vol. ii., p. 267.)--The incident is related of St. Patrick and one of the kings of Cashel, and formed the subject of the first picture exhibited by James Barry. In the {469} _Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties_, London, 1831, (art. Barry, p. 159.) it is stated that:

"The picture was painted in his twentieth or twenty-first year, on the
baptism by St. Patrick of one of the kings of Cashel, who stands
unmoved while the ceremony is performed, amidst a crowd of wondering
spectators; although the saint, in setting down his crosier, has,
without perceiving it, struck its iron point through the royal foot."

ESTE.

_Becket_ (Vol. ii., pp. 106. 270. 364.).--It so happens that, before seeing, MR. VENABLES' communication, with his quotations from the _Monasticon_ (Vol. ii., p. 364), I had taken an opportunity of looking into a friend's copy of that work, and had there found what seems to be a key to the origin of the designation "_St. Thomas of Acon_ or _Acres_." It is stated, in a quotation from Bp. Tanner, that

"The hospital [in Cheapside] consisted of a master and several
brethren, professing the rule of St. Austin, but were of a particular
order, which was about this time instituted in the Holy Land, viz.
_Militiæ Hospitales S. Thomæ Martyris Cantuariensis de Acon_, being a
branch of the Templars."--_Monast._ vi. 646.

and the same title occurs in the charter of Edward III. (_ibid._) Now it appears to me that the words _de Acon_ here relate, not to the saint, but to the order which took its name from him; and this view is confirmed by the passage which Mr. VENABLES quotes from _Matthew of Westminster_, as to the foundation of a chapel in honour of St. Thomas, at Acre, in Syria, A. D. 1190. It is easy to suppose that in course of time, especially when the origin of the designation had been cast into the shade by the cessation of the Crusades, and the ruin of the great order to which the brethren of St. Thomas were at first attached, the patron himself may have come to be styled _de Acon_ or _of Acres_: and this seems to be the case in the Act of 23 Hen. VI. (_Monast._ vi. 247.)

Allow me to ask a question as to another point in the history of Becket. Among his preferments is said to have been the parish of "St. Mary _Littory_ or _ad Litters_," which is commonly supposed to mean St. Mary-le-Strand.[3] My friend Mr. Foss, in his elaborate work on _The Judges of England_, contradicts this, on the ground that there was then no parish of that name; and he supposes St. Mary-at-Hill to be intended. Now the words _ad Litters_ would be alike applicable as a description in either case but it appears to me that, if the city church were meant, it would be styled, as it usually is, _ad Montem_, and that _ad Litters_ is Latin for _le Strand_. Was there not then an ancient church so called, until the demolitions of Protector Somerset in that quarter? And is not the common belief as to Becket's parish correct? I ask in great ignorance, but not without having vainly searched some books from which information might have been expected.

J. C. R.

[Footnote 3: We have in the name of this church an answer to A. E. B.'s Query, Vol. ii., p. 396., as to whether the Strand was ever known as _Le Strand_,--the Church of St. Mary-le-Strand.--ED.]

_Aërostation_ (Vol. ii., pp. 199. 317. 380.).--I happen to remember a few old verses of a squib on Lunardi, which may be enough seasoned with the dust of oblivion to interest some of your readers.

"Good folks, can you believe your eyes?
Vincenzo di Lunardi
Has made a voyage to the skies,
That foreigner foolhardy!

"He went up in a round baloon
(For moon is luna, Latin),
To pay a visit to the moon;
A basket-boat he sat in.

"And side by side the moon, he cried
'How do, fair cousin moon? eh!'
Through telescopes they were espied,
Baloon--Lunardi--Luna.

* * * * *

"When weary on the wing, to perch
Once more, and air abandon,
Quite apropos he swooped in search
Of solid earth to 'Stand-on.'[4]

* * * * *

"Now after all remains to tell
How learned Mr. Baker,
Set up a _moonstone_ where he fell,
And called the field 'wise-acre.'

Perhaps some of your correspondents could supply the remaining stanzas. I fancy there were several more. As far as I can remember, they chiefly related to M. Lunardi's conversation with the moon, which, involving some political allusions, did not so much hit my youthful imagination at the time. When a boy, I have frequently heard my father repeat the lines.