the spy spent some years of her life in Java never come across a member of it whose In the Calendar of Canterbury Wills,' 1396-1558, issued in 1920 by the British Record Society, are some nine wills of a IS PROFESSOR PITOLLET's informant correct family named Menys, Mens, Mense, Menesse, in stating that Mata Hari is Hindustani Mennysse, Menewes, or Mynys, principally and means morning bird"? I am aware of Deal and Sandwich. These wills range of ten woras in that language signifying in date from 1416 to 1558, and it is probable morn. morning, dawr," and nearly double the number used for bird," but neither mata nor hari appears in the list. 66 to express 66 66 sunrise and sunset," re in the Paris the origin of the name Minnes may be found from this source, especially as Sir John was of a Sandwich family. One newspaper pronounced the sobriquet to be Japanese. The real source must be Minnes in the 'D.N.B.' and, as Mr. Hulburd There is a long account of Sir John looked for in Malay. That lingua franca of the East is sometimes delightfully poetic. points out, Pepys makes many references Witness the use of the words in question (38 Duke), mentions lands in Loughton, to him. His will, proved 1671 in P.C.C. spectively mata hari nai and mata hari Kent; his nephew, Francis Hammon, and Essex; the rectory of Woodnesborough, turun-literally "the eye of the day niece, Elizabeth Hammon, son and daughter coming up" and the eye of the day of his late sister Mary; his nieces, Jane, going down." As stated ante, there has been a mass of wife of Anthony Moyle, Esq., and Lady contradictions published Heath; Lady Heath's daughter, Margaret, journals about Truda Zelle, but if it be Woodnesborough. There is also a bequest and his cousin, Captain John Cason of true that she was once the wife of a Dutch of £50 for the repairs of Sandwich church. officer and afterwards the mistress of other Dutchmen she may have lived for a time in one or more of the eastern possessions of Holland, which would explain her choice of a Malay nom de guerre. Cora Laparcerie has, I read, produced at the Renaissance Theatre a play called 'La Danseuse Rouge,' which is written round the spy's life. a bond. Ad my As to the Mynge and Hamon connexion, 1592, for the marriage of John Mynge of a licence was issued at Canterbury, Feb. 6, New Romney, g., and Judith Hamon, of Awkridge (Acrise), v., Daniel Mynge of New Romney, yeoman, being ministration of the estate of John Minge of New Romney was granted at the Interest in this amazing woman, who is Consistory Court, Canterbury, on Jan. 23, said to have been of Jewish origin, seems 1605, to Judith, relict. The will of Judith to have revived lately, and many would Mynge of Canterbury, widow, already alluded join Professor Pitollet in welcoming auto, makes references to my brothers, thentic details of her youth. These, how- Ralph Hamon, Sir Thomas Hamon, Knt., ever, are at present not forthcoming, though and William Hamon of Canterbury; Colonel Boucabeille, an ex-military attaché sisters, Martha Brewer, Jane Gibbons, and at The Hague, is stated to have had a Bennett Hamon," this latter being really complete dossier of "Mata Hari." her sister-in-law. These brothers and sisters are all mentioned in the Visitation of Kent Church Fields, Salisbury. for 1619 in the Hamon pedigree, in which, however, Judith Mynge does not appear, VICE-ADMIRAL SIR CHRISTOPHER MINGS doubtless because she was then dead. I (12 S. ix. 461, 513; x. 13).—The note on have not so far been able to trace any this subject by MR. PERCY HULBURD connexion between the Hamon family opens up an interesting topic as to a possible of Acrise and the T. Hammond who, family connexion between Vice-Admirals according to the Minnes pedigree in Boys' Sir John Minnes and Sir Christopher Mings, History of Sandwich,' married Maria, having regard to the somewhat similarity sister of Sir John Minnes, about 1631. in the names. There may be such There is no pedigree of the Acrise family in connexion at present undiscovered, but I the 1663-1668 Visitation, so no help can am disposed to think the names are distinct be derived from that source. and not variants. At any rate, among my many notes of the Minge family I have CHARLES GILLMAN. a The real point I wish to clear up is whether John Myngs, in 1623 of the parish of St. What is meant by the inscription, by the the influences of masterful minds in the letters round the head, and by the inter- enemy's service. Born in Leeuwarden, the lacing of the fingers? T. PERCY ARMSTRONG. The Authors' Club, Whitehall, S.W. the date and origin of the words "East or West, hame's best I possess a very fine old oak sideboard, which has the date 1646 inscribed upon it, and I am anxious to learn whether the above quotation, which also appears in carved letters on the furniture, ante-dates or post-dates that year. A. HOPEWELL-SMITH. [A correspondence on this proverb will be found at 7 S. iv. 329; v. 158, 278. At the last reference a contributor mentions that it is to be found in Ray's Collection of Proverbs (1670), and expresses the opinion that it is one of those ¿déσTOтa of which it is in vain to seek the authorship. A second writer quotes the German Ost und West, daheim das Best.' But is that form correct?] MATTHEW ARNOLD: REFERENCE SOUGHT.Where does Matthew Arnold call history “ vast Mississippi of falsehood." A. SCOTT. the capital of the province of Friesland, intended to become a teacher, but married to and later divorced by an officer in the Dutch East Indian Army, then introduced to the gay world of Paris by an operatic star of international fame, she adopted for her performances of quasi-Oriental dances, some of them more or less modelled on the terpsichorean art of Java, the stage name of Mata Hari, Eye (of the) Day, equivalent of sun in the Malay language. Apart from the absolutely fantastic in the literature that has sprung up around her tragic death, there is a book written or inspired by her father and published in Holland. The most dispassionately authentic data concerning her youth and subsequent career are, however, to be found, as far as the present writer's knowledge of the subject goes, in an article which appeared on May 3, 1918, in Variety, a New York weekly. See also, with regard to her relations with Scotland Yard and the courage she displayed in face of the firing squad, Sir Basil Thomson's Memories,' The Times, Nov. 14, 1921. S. The "mysterious English novel which PROFESSOR C. PITOLLET is anxious to discover is possibly The Life Story of Madame Zelle, the World's Most Beautiful Spy,' told by Henry de Halsalle, published by Messrs. Skeffington and Sons, Ltd., London, at 1s. 9d. (n.d., ? 1917). The coloured wrapper in which this book was issued gives the author's name as Henry Dubois. Mata Hari is referred to on pp. 90-93 in Sidney Theodore Felstead's German Spies Et Bey,' published by Messrs. Hutchinson and Co., London, at 8s. 6d., 1920. I have copies of both these books in my Spy Library,' and shall be happy to lend both, or either, to Professor Pitollet if he will send me his address. HUGH S. GLADSTONE. Capenoch, Thornhill, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. NOTWITHSTANDING the wildly extravagant stories of journalists and novelists who found and still find their profit in catering to the morbid taste of a public eager for sensational stuff, the facts of the origin PROFESSOR C. PITOLLET, in his interesting and youth of Mata Hari, the Dutch dancer, note regarding the famous spy, mentions shot as a spy at Vincennes, Oct. 15, 1917, that her name is said to be of Hindustani ought to be well known by this time. origin and to mean morning bird." This There is nothing obscure or mysterious in is not Hindustani, neither is it Hindi nor "infamous woman,' the early life of this Urdu. The name appears to be Sanscritic, as PROFESSOR PITOLLET calls her, whose fate in which language Hari is one of the can be directly traced to a high-strung, names of God. It may again be Cingalese, hysterical temperament, unable to resist but I seem to remember having seen that 66 the spy spent some years of her life in Java never come across a member of it whose name is spelled without a g." In the Calendar of Canterbury Wills,' 1396-1558, issued in 1920 by the British Record Society, are some nine wills of a IS PROFESSOR PITOLLET'S informant correct family named Menys, Mens, Mense, Menesse, in stating that Mata Hari is Hindustani Mennysse, Menewes, or Mynys, principally and means "morning bird"? I am aware of Deal and Sandwich. These wills range of ten woras in that language signifying in date from 1416 to 1558, and it is probable morn. morning, dawr." and nearly double the origin of the name Minnes may be found the number used for "bird," but neither from this source, especially as Sir John mata nor hari appears in the list. was of a Sandwich family. 66 One newspaper pronounced the sobriquet to be Japanese. The real source must be looked for in Malay. That lingua franca of the East is sometimes delightfully poetic. Witness the use of the words in question to express sunrise and sunset," respectively mata hari nai and mata hari turun-literally 66 66 Minnes in the 'D.N.B.' and, as Mr. Hulburd There is a long account of Sir John points out, Pepys makes many references to him. (38 Duke), mentions lands in Loughton, His will, proved 1671 in P.C.C. Essex; the rectory of Woodnesborough, Kent; his nephew, Francis Hammon, and the eye of the day niece, Elizabeth Hammon, son and daughter coming up" and "the eye of the day of his late sister Mary; his nieces, Jane, going down." wife of Anthony Moyle, Esq., and Lady As stated ante, there has been a mass of Heath; Lady Heath's daughter, Margaret, contradictions published in the Paris journals about Truda Zelle, but if it be and his cousin, Captain John Cason of true that she was once the wife of a Dutch of £50 for the repairs of Sandwich church. Woodnesborough. There is also a bequest officer and afterwards the mistress of Interest in this amazing woman, who is said to have been of Jewish origin, seems to have revived lately, and many would join Professor Pitollet in welcoming authentic details of her youth. These, how. ever, are at present not forthcoming, though Colonel Boucabeille, an ex-military attaché at The Hague, is stated to have had a complete dossier of "Mata Hari." CHARLES GILLMAN. Church Fields, Salisbury. VICE-ADMIRAL SIR CHRISTOPHER MINGS (12 S. ix. 461, 513; x. 13). The note on this subject by MR. PERCY HULBURD opens up an interesting topic as to a possible family connexion between Vice-Admirals Sir John Minnes and Sir Christopher Mings, having regard to the somewhat similarity in the names. There may be such connexion at present undiscovered, but am disposed to think the names are distinct and not variants. At any rate, among my many notes of the Minge family I have a As to the Mynge and Hamon connexion, 1592, for the marriage of John Mynge of a licence was issued at Canterbury, Feb. 6, New Romney, g., and Judith Hamon, of Awkridge (Acrise), v., Daniel Mynge of New Romney, yeoman, being a ministration of the estate of John Minge of New Romney was granted at the Consistory Court, Canterbury, on Jan. 23. 1605, to Judith, relict. The will of Judith to, makes references to 66 bond. Ad Mynge of Canterbury, widow, already alluded my brothers, Ralph Hamon, Sir Thomas Hamon, Knt., sisters, Martha Brewer, Jane Gibbons, and and William Hamon of Canterbury; my Bennett Hamon,' this latter being really her sister-in-law. These brothers and sisters are all mentioned in the Visitation of Kent for 1619 in the Hamon pedigree, in which, however, Judith Mynge does not appear, doubtless because she was then dead. have not so far been able to trace any connexion between the Hamon family 6 I of Acrise and the T. Hammond who, according to the Minnes pedigree in Boys' History of Sandwich,' married Maria, sister of Sir John Minnes, about 1631. There is no pedigree of the Acrise family in the 1663-1668 Visitation, so no help can be derived from that source. The real point I wish to clear up is whether John Myngs, in 1623 of the parish of St. Königlich gross SIR RICHARD WOOLFE (12 S. ix. 528).— Katharine in the City of London (father of entirely from the annual Sir Christopher Mings), said to have been a britannisch-hannoverscher Staatskalendar,' shoemaker, is identical with John Minge, known later in 1622 of the Precincts of St. Katharine, Handbuch für das Königreich Hannover. as the Hof-und Staats citizen and cordwainer of London, 1626, 1631, 1640. Would the parish register of ROBERT PIERPOINT. St. Katharine's help, and would the Acting Master of St. Katharine's in the Regent's In The Present State of Great Britain,' Park and Warden of the Royal Chapel 1755, published under the name of John kindly give us the benefit of any informa- Chamberlayne, who died in 1723, p. 281 of tion on the subject which may be at his the General List, Number C, gives "The disposal? GEORGE S. FRY. Names of the Officers in the Court of the Dutchy-Chamber of Lancaster." I extract Mr. Richard Wolfe, Deputy Clerk and Register Lancaster. Richard Wolfe, Esq: Secretary to the Chancellor.] the Chancellor. [Richard, Lord Edgcumbe was 15, Walsingham Road, Hove. TITLE OF "K.H." (12 S. ix. 529).-The of his Majesty's Court of the Dutchy-Chamber of following extract from the Introduction (p. xxxvi.) to Dr. Wm. A. Shaw's Knights of England,' answers the query :— Wolfe and Richard Wolfe, Esq: were one There can be little doubt that Mr. Richard and the same person. Re- caster,' says: 6 The question as to whether the membership of this Order [Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order] entitled the holder thereof to the title of Sir and to the rank of a knight bachelor of Great Britain is concisely stated by Nicolas in his the nearest which I have to 1755, p. 173, gives The Court and City Kalendar for 1759, general remarks on the Order. Neither George IV. in its list of the nor William IV. supposed that such title or Dutchy Court of Lanprecedence would attach to the members. garding the Order as strictly a foreign one, both Wolfe." Dep. and Sec. to Council, R. those kings always knighted those members of Earl of Kinnoul.) "Dep." evidently means (The Chancellor then was the the Order whom they meant to make knights Deputy-Clerk of the Council. bachelors of Great Britain. Further than this, book (ibid., p. 286) in the list of Offices The former William IV. expressly intimated his opinion to that effect after having taken the advice of the Lord, belonging to the Court of Exchequer,' Chancellor on the subject. A paper having been laid before the King in October, 1831, containing reasons for the contention that all the knights of the Order of the Guelphs became ipso facto knights bachelors, the King saw so much objection to the principle (that the acceptance of any foreign Örder should confer on the individuali the honour of knighthood without his being knighted by the Sovereign) that he asked it to be referred to the lord chancellor. chancellor's opinion was understood to be deThe lord cidedly against any such right, and the king afterwards appointed several hundred British subjects to the Order, being assured that they would not thereby become knights bachelors of England. The members of the Order occupy over thirty pages, dating 1815-1837. There were three classes, viz., Knights Grand Cross (G.C.H.); Knights Commanders (K.C.H.), and Knights (K.H.). By the statutes, which though issued from Carlton House were only published in German, the Grand-Mastership of the Order was to be for ever annexed to the Crown of Hanover. (Ibid. p. xxxv.) It is remarkable that there is no complete list of the Order extant, an order instituted in 1815. Dr. Shaw tells us (Preface, p. vii.) that he has been unable to find one, and that the lists which he gives "have been drawn near the lower Exchequer, in Westminster-Hall. The Court of the Dutchy of Lancaster is kept The Offices belonging to that Court are kept in the old Buildings, in the first Court in Gray's-Inn. 66 'The Court and City Kalendar' has Dutchy Court of Lancaster (Gray's Inn)." In neither of these books does the name Wolfe or Woolfe appear in the list of officers of the Dutchy of Cornwall. There is no R. or Richard Wolfe or Woolfe in the Index of Shaw's Knights of England,' but this does not prove the negative, as the lists are imperfect. See Dr. Shaw's Introduction, especially p. xlix. et seq. ROBERT PIERPOINT. COTTON FAMILY OF WARBLETON (WARBLINGTON), HANTS (12 S. ix. 488).—The Cotton family were of Warblington, near Havant, Co. Hants. Warblington Castle is supposed to have been Warbleton is in Sussex. erected by, and for some years the residence of, the ill-fated Magaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, who was executed in 1541. manor was granted to Sir Richard Cotton in 1551. The Castle was practically destroyed during the Civil War, but the manor remained in possession of the family until the death of William Cotton in 1736. The of Sir Berkeley Lucy, Bart. ; Jane and Mary. Col. John Hutchinson, the regicide, was brother of Isabel Cotton. Sir George Cotton, a younger grandson of Dean of Canterbury, and died in June, Sir Richard, was a coronation knight-- 1707; Catherine (d. June, 1740), the wife one of the 400 persons in 1603 who, being possessed of a rental of £40 per annum were compelled to be dubbed knights or to pay a fine at the coronation of James I. At the coronation of Charles I. some 200 persons preferred to be fined-the fines ranging from £10 to £40. The poet's second wife was Mary, daughter of Sir William Russell, widow of Wingfield Cromwell, Earl of Ardglass, by whom he had no issue. ALFRED T. EVERITT. Admiralty Road, Portsmouth. Sir George Cotton married Cassandra, the youngest but one of the five sisters of Henry Mackwilliam, of Stambourne, Co. THE HOUSE OF HARCOURT (12 S. ix. 409, Essex, who was killed in a duel in 1599. 453, 495, 514; x. 15).—I am greatly obliged The eldest sister, Margaret, married Sir John to your correspondent, MR. G. H. WHITE, Stanhope, Lord Harrington; the third for the trouble he has taken in answering sister, Ambrosia, was the wife of Sir William my queries, but it leaves me with the Kingswell of Shalden, Hants, in whose impression that I ought to regard the will, dated 1613, reference is made to Cas- works of Burke, Cleveland, Freeman and sandra, daughter of Sir George and Dame others as composed largely of fiction. Cassandra Cotton; and the youngest sister, However, I am not competent to judge Cicely, sometime maid of honour to Queen in the matter, as I haven't access to any Elizabeth, married Sir Thomas Ridgway, original sources of information, so am comTreasurer of Ireland, afterwards Earl of pelled to use my own judgment what to Londonderry. de Harcourt' (Paris, 1907). accept and what to reject in regard to the Sir George Cotton was first cousin to early history of this family. I should much Henry, Earl of Kent, his aunt Susan having like to know, however, what Dan le Noir married Charles Grey, who succeeded to says about it in his work, Preuves the earldom on the death of his brother généalogiques et historiques de la Maison in 1615. John Selden was steward and legal adviser to the Earl of Kent, and is said to have married the Countess after the Earl's death in 1639. Possibly the Cottons became friendly with Sir Edward Hyde, afterwards Lord Clarendon, and other notable people of the period, through Selden. In Wotton's Baronetage' (i. 300) it is stated that Charles Cotton (the poet) was son and heir of Charles, son of Sir George Cotton, knight"; and in Staffordshire Pedigrees (Harl. Soc., p. 59) he is called Charles Cotton of Beresford esquire (grandson of Sir George, of Mr. White says that Wace is the only authority for a Harcourt being present at the Battle of Hastings. How about M. Léopold Delisle, stated to be the greatest antiquarian authority in France,' who was responsible for the insertion of Robert de Harcourt in the "Dives Roll" ? He professed to give no name that is not vouched for by some deed or document of the period. What was his authority? Mr. White also states that the family “has become extinct in the male line" (in England), whereas Burke's Landed Gentry,' vol. i., 1898, states that the Harcourts of Ankerwyke are lineal descendants in the male line. Which is correct? The Charles Cotton the elder married Olive, numerous Harcourts who are descended only d. and h. of Sir John Stanhope of from Edward Vernon, Archbishop of York, Elvaston, Co. Derby. Anne Stanhope, sister of Sir John, married Thomas Cokayne, line from this family. are, of course, only descended in the female a younger son Cotton of Warblinton and Bedhampton in and was mother of Sir Aston Cokayne, Is there a record of any grant of land the poet. Another sister, Catherine Stan- to hope, married Sir Thomas Hutchinson, out to the companions of William the any Harcourt when it was parcelled and their daughter Isabel was the first wife of Charles Cotton the younger. Conqueror; the presence of a Harcourt By in the Pipe Roll as early as 1130 is in support her he had issue: Beresford, b. 1657/6 of this supposition? (in 1694 Captain in Sir Richard Atkins's Regiment of Foot); Wingfield and Charles, who both died young; Olive, who married, WILLIAM HARCOURT-BATH. Is it quite certain that MR. WHITE is right in January, 1690, Dr. George Stanhope, in stating that this family is extinct in the |