Chapter C: A. P

(Great Yarmouth.)

As your pages have lately contained several communications on the subject of General Wolfe, I send you the following story, which I heard from a lady now deceased. Some time after Wolfe's death his family wished to give some memorial of him to the lady who had been engaged to him, and they consulted her as to the form which it should take. Her answer was, "A diamond necklace;" and her reason, because she was going to be married to another person, and such an ornament would be useful. My informant, whose birth, according to the _Peerage_, was in 1766, had, in her earlier days, often met this lady, and described her as showing remains of beauty, but as no wiser than this anecdote would lead us to suppose her.

J. C. R.

_Johannes Trithemius_ (Vol. iv., p. 442.).--This noted historian and divine was born at Trittenheim, in the electorate of Treves, in 1462. He became abbot of Spanheim about 1482, where he made a rich collection of manuscript and printed books. In 1506 he was appointed abbot of St. James at Wurtzbourg. His writings are numerous, and there is an ample collection of them in the British Museum. In his _Nepiachus_ he gives an account of his life and studies. He died at Wurtzbourg in 1516. The learned and judicious Daunou thus characterises the volume _De scriptoribus ecclesiasticis_: "Malgre beaucoup d'omissions et d'erreurs, ce livre a ete fort utile a ceux qui ont depuis mieux traite la meme matiere; on le consulte encore aujourd'hui."

Leland, Bale, Pits, and Wharton, have recorded their obligations to Trithemius. The venerable Leland quotes him frequently, under the name of Trittemius, and styles him "homo diligentiae plane maximae nec minoris lectionis."

BOLTON CORNEY.

"John Trytheme was a German Benedictine, and Abbot of Hirsauge, A.D.
1484. He was the author of _A Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers_,
several _Letters_, Treatises of _Piety_, of _Doctrine_, and
_Morality_, other historical works, and _The Chronicle of
Hirsauge_."--(See Dufresnoy's _Chronological Tables_.)

It would appear that the work _Trithemii Collectanea de Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis_ has gone through several editions; and Walch tells us that "inter omnes ea eminet, quam Jo. Alberto Fabricio debemus." The following remarks also respecting Trithemius appear in Walch's _Bibliotheca_ (tom. iii. p. 389.):

"Incipit Trithemius a Clemente Romano; recenset scriptores 970; ac
testatur, se in opere hoc conficiendo per septem fere annorum spatium
elaborasse. Possevinus, Labbeus, atque alii, varios ejus errores
chronologicos ac historicos notarunt. Quodsi autem rationem temporis
reputamus, quo Trithemius vixit scripsitque, causa omnino est, cur eum
ob errata non reprehendamus, sed excusemus atque industriam illius
laudemus."

Cave, also, in his _Historia Literaria_ (part ii. p. 569.), gives us a brief account of Trithemius, and of his literary productions.

E. C. HARRINGTON.

The Close, Exeter.

The work of John Trittenheim, _De Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis_, is held in high and deserved repute. (See Fabricius, _Biblioth. Latin. Med. AEtat._, iv. 451.) He died abbot of Wuertzburg, in 1518. The copy of A. W. H. is the first edition, which was published at Mainz (Moguntia) in 1494.

C. H.

_Sir William Herschel_ (Vol. ii., p. 391.).--Your correspondent gives the quotation about the star observed in Virgo, which he supposes identical with Neptune, quite correctly, except in one very material point--the observer's name. The passage in question will be found in Captain W. H. Smyth's _Cycle of Celestial Objects_, vol. ii. p. 264., and is extracted from a letter addressed to him by M. Cacciatore of Palermo, in 1835, many years after the death of Sir William. H. C. K. is not the first person who has suggested the identity of the objects; but, as pointed out by Captain Smyth in a paper on Neptune, in the _United Service Journal_ for 1847, Part II., Neptune must, in 1835, have been fully 120[degrees] from the position assigned by Cacciatore to the star observed by him.

J. S. WARDEN.

Balica, Oct. 1851.

_Dr. Wm. Wall_ (Vol. iv., p. 347.).--Your decision to exclude any further contributions upon the question of the "Marriage of Ecclesiastics" is most judicious. But ought the portion of Mr. HENRY WALTER'S reply respecting Dr. Wall to pass unnoticed? Had the writer referred to any of the biographical dictionaries in ordinary use, he would have discovered that the "well-known Mr. Wall who wrote on baptism" had conferred on him by the University of Oxford the degree of D.D., to testify their high opinion of his writings.

In addition to the Doctor's works on the baptismal controversy, two books, which are not often met with now, were published after his death, bearing the following titles:--

"Brief Critical Notes, especially on the various readings of the New
Testament Books. With a Preface concerning the Texts cited therein
from the Old Testament, as also concerning the Use of the Septuagint
Translation. By W. Wall, S.T.P., author of the History of Infant
Baptism, London, 1730." 8vo., pp. lxiv. 415.

"Critical Notes on the Old Testament, wherein the present Hebrew Text
is explained, and in many places amended, from the ancient Versions,
more particularly from that of the LXXII. Drawn up in the order the
several Books were written, or may most conveniently be read. To which
is prefixed a large Introduction, adjusting the Authority of the
Masoretic Bible, and vindicating it from the objections of Mr.
Whiston, and the Author of the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian
Religion. By the late learned William Wall, D.D., Author of the
History of Infant Baptism. Now first published from his Original
Manuscript. London, 1734." 2 vols. 8vo. pp. lxi. 307. 354. v.

These are valuable works, explaining many difficult expressions.

JOHN I. DREDGE.

_Parish Registers_ (Vol. iv., p. 232.).--J. B. is referred for the acts of parliament relating to "Parish Registers," to Burn's _History of Parish Registers_, 1829. This work has been out of print fifteen or sixteen years, but may be seen in many public libraries.

J. S. B.

_Compositions during the Protectorate_ (Vol. iv., p. 406.).--W. H. L. will probably find what he wants in a small volume, easily met with, entitled _A Catalogue of the Lords, Knights, and Gentlemen that have compounded for their Estates_, London, 1655, 12mo.; or another edition, enlarged, Chester, 1733, 8vo. (See _Lowndes_, vol. i. p. 363.)

H. F.

_General Moyle_ (Vol. iv., p. 443.).--Major General John Moyle, who died in 1738, and was buried at Rushbrooke, near Bury St. Edmund's, was the son of the Rev. John Moyle, of Wimborne Minster, co. Dorset, by Mary his wife, daughter and coheir of Sir Giles Eyre, Kt., one of the Judges of the Common Pleas. General Moyle, by his wife, who was Isabella daughter of Sir Robert Davers, of Rushbrooke, Bart., had a family of five sons and one daughter; the latter married Samuel Horsey, Bath king-at-arms.

G. A. C.

_Descendants of John of Gaunt_ (Vol. iv., p. 343.).--A. B. may be right as to there being "some little confusion in Burke's excellent work." There certainly is no "_little_ confusion" in A. B.'s communication.

Margaret Beaufort, successively Countess of Richmond and Derby, the mother of King Henry VII., was the only child of John Beaufort, the first Duke of Somerset.

What can A. B. mean by "Henry, Edmund, and John, successively dukes of Somerset," to whom he conjectures Margaret Beaufort might have been sister? There were not three brothers Beaufort successively _dukes_ of Somerset; nor were there ever three successive dukes of Somerset named Henry, Edmund and John; though there certainly was a succession of John, Edmund, and Henry, they being respectively father, uncle, and cousin of Margaret.

John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, who had been created Marquis of Somerset and Dorset, was, on his death (1410), succeeded in the earldom of Somerset by his eldest son, Henry Beaufort, who dying without issue (1418), the second son, John Beaufort, succeeded to this earldom. He was created _Duke_ of Somerset (1443), and on his death without male issue (1444), the dukedom became extinct; but the earldom of Somerset descended to his brother, Edmund Beaufort, Marquis of Dorset (the third son of John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset), who was afterwards (1448) created Duke of Somerset. He was slain at the battle of St. Alban's (1455), and was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry Beaufort, who was beheaded in 1463. He is said to have been succeeded by his next brother, Edmund Beaufort; but it is doubtful if the fact were so, and the better opinion seems to be that the dukedom became extinct by the attainder of Duke Henry in 1463.

"The second and last Duke John," alluded to by A. B., is altogether a myth: the last Beaufort Duke of Somerset was either Henry or Edmund; and there was but one Duke John, and he was not the "second and last," but the _first_ duke.