ELIZABETH AND MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS. No character in history or fiction has excited so much sympathy as that of the beautiful young Queen of Scots, whose career began so brilliantly and ended so disastrously. By some she was considered a saint, by others regarded as a woman devoid of every feeling of natural affection and right principle. In writing her life there appears to have been a difficulty in obtaining trustworthy information from contemporary documents. Hosack, in his work 'Mary, Queen of Scots,' alludes frequently to the loss and disappearance of important papers, and those he quotes are Randolph's replies or communications to Cecil, consequently he judges Randolph more as a court spy or gossip than as an emissary, which he really was, sent to mediate between two rival queens. Queene Elizabeth.-A memorial of certaine matters committed to or servante Thomas Randolphe sente to our good Syster the Queene of Scottes the xxth of August 1563. Of fyrst ye shall declare we haue founde you agreeable to hir for the intertainment of the amitie betwixt us, wee haue presently sent you to declare our minde in a be well used by us bothe may bringe a contineuall commatter of suche weight as the importannce thereof if it fort to us bothe and an immortall weale to both our contries and beinge contrarly used must needes bringe notable discontentation to us both and irraparable damage to our countrye. The matter is the marriage of our sister wh, we wishe most fortunate to hir, and see great cause to doubt whether that which maye haue apparance to some of hir ffrindes of happiness maye not proue manifestly to the contrarie and for dischardge of our frendshippe and for satisfaction of our sisters request wee haue not only deeply thought theron, but haue thought it necessarie by you to advertise hir what wee thinke therein both meete and unmeete for her to understande and necessarie for us by waie of frendshippe to declare: and herein wee do persist for the order of our consideration in the same sorte as we partely shewed our minde to hir secretarie the L Liddington. The following instructions, given by Queen Elizabeth through her Privy Council, I have transcribed from a very curious old MS. book written in the latter part of Queen Elizabeth's reign. They are indited in Privy Council hand-greate moment in all marriages the mutuall contentawriting, and are Privy Council orders to different foreign ambassadors and others on various subjects of importance during the reigns of the last four Tudor sovereigns. I could not find at the Bodleian Library any reference to similar orders, and so far as I know they are unique, and, therefore, will be very interesting. They show how complete the instructions to Randolph were, and very far from being written in a friendly spirit. It may be plainly seen that the English queen considered her Scotch "sister" as subservient to her will and pleasure. At the time of these matrimonial intrigues Mary was only twenty-one years of age and Elizabeth was nine years her senior. The latter appears to have looked upon the Scotch queen's marriage in a business-like way, which must have been distasteful to the young warm-hearted woman, who felt keenly her desolate and defenceless posi tion. Elizabeth's character never has been and never can be understood. She seems to have been devoid of affection; she could not have offered Lord Robert Dudley in marriage to the Scotch queen had she cared for him herself, nor would motives of ambition or policy have restrained her from marrying him had she really loved him. May not motives of policy have weighed with Elizabeth in refraining from marriage, though it was so often suggested, there being so many objections to all her suitors, whether subjects or not? The whole life of the Virgin Queen is a mystery so far as regards herself; no proof can now be forthcoming to decide it; but in the matter of the Scotch queen it is certain that the evidence as it comes to light goes far to prove that Elizabeth was guilty of great heartlessness to a young, friendless, and defenceless woman. First ther is to be by hir considered which is of tion betwixte bothe the parties in respecte of their private personages that the love maye probably haue continewance before God and man. Secondly that the person maye be suche as shee maye be sure of an unfained allowance and loue of hime beinnge a Queene of a Realme and multytude of people by hir Realme hir nobilitie and Comons. Thirdly that the choise be suche as the amitie wh. is nowe so straight betwixt us not only for our owne persons but also for our nations, maye be continued and not disolued nor diminished. For the seconde we could saie muche, but that wee knowe shee hath good and faithfull counselle who can judge what is meete for the pollicie of that Realme And because we will not enter into the considerations of the conditions of the people of another prince we will forbeare only wishinge our sister to thinke no rule nor Gouernmente either easie or happie that is kepte by force or subject to, alterations, but contrary wise, that only happie that is ruled by naturall allowance of the nation. The thirde and last is the matter most properly belonginge to us to give advise in and so royally appertayninge to us bothe as the good direction there of must breede either notable contentacions or what be disquietnesse besides common profitte or damage to our Kyngdomes. The seekinge of husband for our sister is honorable and convenient for hir and a thinge we like verie well in hir althoughe hitherto we haue not founde such disposition in our selfe: remittinge never the lesse our minde and harte to be directed by the almightie God as it shall best please hime for his honor and the wealth of our realme. But here in we consider that to seeke such a hus bande as we well manie waies perceave, is sought for in the Emperor's lineage by her uncle the Cardinall of Lowrrayne of whose former practises against us wee haue hadd good experience must needes bringe a manifest danger to our privat amitye, an apparannt occasion to dissolue the concord that is presently betwixt our nations, and thirdly an Interruption of suche a course as otherwise might be taken to farther and advance suche right or title as shee might haue to succeade us in this Crowne, if we shoulde departe without issue of our bodye. of this realme and then might we more redilie and easily shew and extend the good will that we haue to the furtheraunce of our Syster And otherwise you maye saie plainly we can praise nothinge agreable to the fervent desire that wee haue to do hir good, which is of our naturall disposytion to haue hir enjoie before any creatur anye thinge that we haue next to ourselfe and to our Children, if God shall so order us to haue any And thus you maye saie we assure hir at this tyme is our desire unfainedly. E. E. THOTTS. (To be continued.) For our private amitie we cannot forbeare but frankly lett our Sister understande that by suche a manner of marriage as we take this to be intended by some of hir uncles we do well judge that no good is intended towardes us: And how we can contineu our amitie where so great cause shalbe mynistered we meane not by our Sister for we thinke so frindly of hir that for hir owne part JUDGE JEFFREYS'S HOUSE IN DUKE STREET. shee will neuer seeke to breake the amitie we must leave it to be judged by hir selfe. But althoughe we should contende for the frendshippe that is betwixte us with nature that is not disaloue that which wee know is intended against us yet our sister shall playnly understande that there be many causes whie this kinde of marriage should speedely dissolue the naturall concorde that is betwixte our nations. And to repaire that, wee must confesse that neither it shall rest in the power of hir now of us. Lastly to consider bir owne particuler which in waie of friendshippe towardes hir we do most weight we do assure hir by some present prooffe that we haue in our Realme upon some smale reporte made hereof, we well perceave that we do not intermedle and interpend our authority, it will not be longe before it shall appeare that as muche as witte can imagine wilbe used to impeache hir intention for the furtheraunce of hir title And consideringe the humours of suche as (excepte our Authoritie and the feare of us shall staie them) mynde theare owne particular what can our sister thinke more hurtfull to hir, then by this manner of proceedinge of her frindes, that be not of hir naturall nation of hir kingdome, first to indaunger the amitie betwixt us, Secondly to dyssolue the concorde betwixt toe such mightie nations, and lastly disapointe hir of more then euer they shall recouer, wherefor you shall conclude, that our advise is shee should not be thus abused under pretense of greatnes to hazarde not only the wealth of hir country, but also the expectation of mor then all hir friends can procure hir: And farther then this our meaninge is that you shall not proceede: But yf soo that shee shall thinke of this maner of advise, and shall preasse you to knowe precisely what we would haue hir do, and what manner of marriage shee should seeke then if you see no other meanes to content ye shall Baie we are content if our Sister will in hir marriage haue regarde to theese thinges and content us and this our nation in hir marriage upon assured knowledge hereof to proceede to the inquisition of that right or title to be our nexte cosen and heire and to further that which shall appear avantageouse for hir and to hinder and impeachs that which shall seeme to the contrarie usinge also therein such meanes as maye be to the contentacion of our Realme both of our nobilities and Commons. And yf shee shall preasse upon you what kinde of marriage you thinke mighte best content us and our realme you maye well saie that it must be such as maye not be apparante to us or our people that it is only sought to procure trouble to this realme, as shee sawe was done in the tym of hir marriage the Frenche Kinge. And therefore you maye saie you can but wyshe that ther might be funde some noble person of great birthe within this our Realme that might be agreeable to hir or if that shall not be yet of some other country beinge one whome neither we nor our realme should haue manifest cause to judge to be sought for the truble (Continued from p. 203.) on With regard to the exact site of Judge Jeffreys's house, we have Strype's testimony (in Stow's Survey of London,' bk. vi. p. 64) that the house stood at the south end of Duke Street, that it had "a fair pair of freestone stairs" into St. James's Park, and that passing by Jeffreys's house " the same side beginneth a short street called De la Hay Street." This was published in 1720. The house he also tells us was made use of, for a time, for the Admiralty until the office was thence removed to Wallingford House, against Whitehall, as more convenient, and built at King William's charge. drawn by Knyffe, and engraved by Kip, which is Further there is a plan of St. James's Park reproduced on a greatly reduced scale on p. 54 of vol. iv. of Cassell's Old and New London,' wherein the date of the plan is given as temp. Charles II., owing, no doubt, to the absence from the royal arms of the inescutcheon bearing King William's paternal arms of Nassau. But as the plan shows the fair pair of freestone stairs built in the reign of James II., and also the "Admiraltie " housed in Duke Street, the plan cannot be older than the reign of William and Mary. On the small scale plan in Cassell's book the double flight of stairs got smudged and looks like a counterfort on the inside of the park wall. Finally there is a plan of part of the parish of St. Margaret's, in J. T. Smith's Antiquities of Westminster' (the copy before me bears date of publication 1807), from a drawing formerly in the possession of the Westminster Bridge Commissioners. The date assigned to it by Smith is between 1734 and 1748; but it must be older than the latter date, as it shows the old George Yard and the surrounding houses as they stood before Great George Street was built. There is no scale given on the plan, but it seems to be a careful survey. Measuring at random a few distances between some well-defined points still in existence, I compute the scale to be about four feet to a mile. Viewing this plan by the light of the evidence already furnished, there is no difficulty in identifying the site of the house once inhabited by Judge Jeffreys. Pitt tells us that Storey lived at the "backside" of Princes Court. His small house and the passage referred to in Sir Henry Fane's petition are shown on the plan next to the Long Ditch (now Princes Street) and the passage is named "Storey's Gate," which name still exists though the plan of the passage has been greatly altered. The passage at the north side of Webb's house is also shown, and the distance from the back of the houses on the north side of Princes Court to Webb's passage, nearly opposite Crown Court, scales about 570 feet, which is the length given in Sir William Harbord's report. Measuring back seventy feet from Webb's passage there is a fence line which is clearly the southern boundary of Webb's house, though no buildings are shown on the slip belonging to the park. Another fifty feet brings us to the next house, clearly the one then inhabited by the Earl of Scarsdale, whose wall, we know from the Treasury Papers, was the southern boundary of Mrs. Webb's yard, devoted to the breeding and nursing of young and weak fowl. There are only five buildings standing on the "freeboard" of the park, namely, Storey's house, another house which forms the north side of his gate, two wings at the elbow of Duke Street and occupying the sites of what are to-day Nos. 1 and 2, Chapel Place, and a house at the back of the Earl of Scarsdale's, now No. 23 (late 25) Delabay Street. One of the wings, the one immediately north of the passage leading to what is now known as Chapel Place, is marked as a chapel, and on another plate, also published by Smith, namely on the plan of Duck Island, the chapel is identified by Smith (in 1807) as Judge Jeffreys's cause room, but no authority is given for the statement. The chapel is shown standing on the vacant ground behind the houses, and does not extend across the whole depth of the block into Duke Street, as shown on Stanford's 'Library Map of London,' published in 1862, and many edition of it since. There cannot be much doubt about it that the great house," originally built by Pitt, and let to Jeffreys, stood on the site of the houses numbered in Kelly's Post-Office Directory' of last year Nos. 7, 9, and 11, Delahay Street, in the elbow at the south end of Duke Street, of which only No. 11 remains. The two wings subsequently erected for the Lord Chancellor by Pitt and Mill occupied the sites of Nos. 1 and 2, Chapel Place-Chapel Place itself being the terrace mentioned by Pitt. Only one flight of the fair pair of stairs remains. the bottom of the present stairs leading down into the park at the end of Charles Street. Moses Pitt disappears from the scene in 1691. Further particulars about him will probably be found in his widow's petition to the Lords of the Treasury, dated Dec. 31, 1702. The Treasury Papers made use of in this article are those numbered 45 in vol. xiv.; 25 in vol. xxii., and 2 in vol. xxiii. The next query is whether the house demolished last year was or was not the same as the one built by Pitt and inhabited by Jeffreys. Judging by several features in the construction of the buildings disclosed during their demolition, I should feel inclined to answer the query in the negative. But probably more conclusive proof will be forthcoming. One of your correspondents quoted Leigh Hunt, according to whom only a remnant of Jefreys's mansion existed in his days, which served as a chapel of ease to St. Margaret's. Unfortunately no chapter and verse is given for this statement. Leigh Hunt was born in 1784, and died at a ripe old age in 1859, and as he was a very prolific writer, it would be like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack to try to find the passage in his works. Perhaps your correspondent could supply the reference, or, better still, the year, when the statement first appeared in print. Perhaps Mr. Walford will also let us into the secret where he got his information about the demolition of the mansion, and kindly tell us how Shepherd's view got into Cassell's book. L. L. K. PEG WOFFINGTON'S RECANTATION. (See ante, p. 205). Since writing my previous note I find that Dr. Doran has touched upon this subject in the chapter on Margaret Woffington, in his Annals of the Stage.' It is much to be regretted, however, that the somewhat feasible solution to the mystery therein afforded is largely discounted in value by the picturesque and not unpleasing vagueness which the chatty writer so much affected. In treating of the Woffington's sojourn in Dublin during the three seasons 1751-54, Dr. Doran says: "It was at this time she took a step which was sharply canvassed-that of forsaking the church in which she Protestantiem. She went a long way and in strange was born, and putting her arm, as it were, under that of companionship too, in order to take this step. She and Sheridan made a pleasant excursion, on the occasion, through Mullingar to Longford and Carrick on Shannon, and on, by Lough Allen and Drumshamboe, till they Crown Court, with its continuation, Bell Yard, stood on the verge of the Pot of the Shannon. shown on our plan was subsequently remodelled then legally wear a sword, she renounced her old faith "Murphy fancies that as Roman Catholics could not and renamed Crown Street, which, together with that she might carry one, in male characters, without the next street, Fludyer Street, existed till about offending the law! This is sheer nongense. But whatthe beginning of the sixties, when they both dis-ever took her to the little village on the mountain side, appeared and their site is now occupied by the new Foreign Office. Mrs. Webb's poultry-yard occupied the site at the one between this magnificent district, where occasionit is impossible to conceive a more striking contrast than ally an eagle may be seen sweeping between Quilca and Sliev na Eirin, with Covent Garden or Smock Alley! I do not know if at that period, as till lately, the Primate of Ireland had a little shooting-box on a platform of the mountain, but to the modest residence, still existing, of the Protestant pastor Sheridan and Margaret took their way; and there the brilliant lady enrolled herself as a member of the church by law established. The influences which moved her to this were simply that she would not lose her chance of an estate for the sake of the old religion in which she had been baptized. Her ex-admirer MacSwiney, had left her heiress to his estate of 2001. a year; and that the bequest might be legal, and the succession uncontested, the frail Margaret qualified for prospective fortune by declaring herself a Protestant, in the presence of competent witnesses." That is and I hope to find some oxlips as well." he A lady to whom I mentioned the matter writes to me: "I saw the other day a French person whom I know (not a lady), and I asked about the cowslip. She said at once, 'Oh, oui; c'est bien peigle.' So it [peigle] must be provincial." This is, no doubt, the case, as I do not find it in any of my French dictionaries. It is curious that in Essex cowslips, and in Suffolk buttercups, are One cannot but marvel at the extraordinarily called "paigles." See 'N. & Q.,' 3rd S. i. 330, periphrastic indication of the locality; quite Glad- and 4th S. vi. 155; see also a long list of flowers stonian in its linked sweetness long drawn out. in Ben Jonson's Masque Pan's Anniversary,' Can any reader of ' N. & Q.' say at what period Peg where the word-whatever it means here-is spelt first became acquainted with her hoary-headed "pagles" (Gifford's 'Ben Jonson,' ed. 1860). admirer's beneficent intentions? An occurrence In N. & Q.,' 4th S. vi. 155, it is stated, in an which Burke alluded to shortly after his arrival in editorial note, that "fleur de paralysie London as a matter of past history but dimly re- French name for the cowslip. Neither M. Gasc called to mind could not by any possibility have nor Prof. Roubaud gives this, but in Spiers "herbe taken place during the "three seasons 1751-54." | à la paralysie" is defined as common primrose.” If one could only unearth the data which justified JONATHAN BOUCHIER. Dr. Doran in giving utterance to his dogmatic assertion concerning the MacSwiney bequest, the mists surrounding this curious matter might be readily dispelled. W. J. LAWRENCE. PRIMROSE, COWSLIP, AND OXLIP IN FRENCH. -French dictionaries seem to be in somewhat of a fog with regard to the exact equivalents of these innocent-hearted flowers in French, nor does even M. Gasc's most excellent dictionary (ed. 1889), quite clear up the difficulty. Under the head of Cowslip," M. Gasc gives coucou, brayette, and primevère commune; but then in the French-English division he explains brayette as" cowslip" (that agrees with the definition in the English-French division); coucou, as "cowslip, daffodil, ragged robin, barren strawberry-plant"-a complex definition that leaves us all in the dark; primevère, M. Gasc explains as "primrose, cowslip, oxlip, polyanthus." Cowslips, oxlips, and primroses, I am told, all belong to the same genus; but surely they are different species! A member of the Primrose League would not, I imagine, consider that he had done his devoir if, on Primrose Day, he laid a garland of cowslips or oxlips on Lord Beaconsfield's statue. Spiers explains brayette as "cowslip," which agrees with M. Gasc, but Roubaud explains it as common primrose," which throws us out again. Both Spiers and Roubaud explain primevère as 66 primrose, cowslip, oxlip." An oxlip, in M. Gasc's dictionary, is primevère élevée. Why primevère at all, if primevère is really a primrose? As M. Gasc occasionally writes in 'N. & Q.,' would there be any harm in asking him (or DNARGEL) to translate the following sentence into such French as an educated French person would ordinarily use? I am going out to gather cowslips and primroses, Ropley, Alresford. is a FOLK-LORE OF HERRING FISHING.-The follow ing excerpt is from the Daily News of Dec. 3, 1892: "Some still existing superstitions among fishermen are communicated by a resident in Fraserburgh to an Aberdeen contemporary, the Daily Free Press. At the beginning of the herring season the crew all try to seize the herring first on board, to see if it be male or female. If it is a male, their fishing may be expected to be a poor one; if a female, a good one. Sometimes, however, the skipper secures it and hides it away, salting it, and laying it past for the season. The boat must not be omen must not be spoken of in the boat, and ministers turned against the sun. Certain animals considered of in this respect occupy the same place as rabbits, hares, and pigs. Fishermen do not like to lend anything to a neighbouring boat, lest their luck should go with it. If they lend a match, they will contrive-secretly if possible -to break it and keep part, hoping thereby to retain creased by the fear that the thief may have stolen their their luck. Their dislike to have anything stolen is inluck with it. To ask the question, Where are you going?' of any one who is going on board is equivalent to destroying all his chances for that time. "Persons with certain names are held to be of bad omen, the dreaded names being different in different villages." F. C. BIRKBECK TERRY. "THIRTY DAYS HATH SEPTEMBER."—A paragraph is going the round of the provincial press attributing these well-known lines to a schoolmaster at Newcastle - on - Tyne, named Springmann, who flourished there during the early years of the present century. The blunder originated in a curious way. Eight or ten years ago a biography of Springmann appeared in the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, in which note was made of a practice which the old schoolmaster adopted of turning his lessons into rhymes, like the familiar lines "Thirty days," &c. Somebody, misreading the article, assumed that Springmann composed "the familiar JAMES, SEVENTH EARL OF DERBY.-I have a copy of a French memoir of James, seventh Earl of Derby, and Charlotte de la Trémouille, his wife, a thin pamphlet of nineteen pages, which has the following title-page :— be determined as if they related to one of the five 66 WARLOCK AND WITCH.-On June 12, 1827, there died in the poorhouse of Westerland, Sylt, one of the strangest of the North Frisian islands, Johann Rex, more than ninety years old, "einst als Hexenmeister berüchtigt," and in the same month in the same island the wife of Andreas Gideon, of Kam"Précis historique de La Vie de Jacques, Septième gewöhnlich Golann pen, in the same island, Comte de Derby, et de sa femme la Comtesse de Derby; genannt, und als Hexe berüchtigt," was bitten by cette dame distinguée etait la Princesse Charlotte de la a mad dog, from whose wound she died (Hansen, Trémouille, fillle [sic] de Claude Duc de Thouars et de'Chronik der Friesischen Uthlande,' p. 256). It is, perhaps, scarcely wonderful that this book, a mine of curious lore, is not better known, as it has neither table of contents nor index, and the above curious note is embedded in a paragraph which begins with the building of a poorhouse at Keitum, and ends with the stranding at List of a dead "Finnfisch," seventy-five feet long. sa femme la Princesse Charlotte Brabantine de Nassau, fille de Guillaume premier Prince D'Orange, et de la Princesse Charlotte de Bourbon." There is no date, but the dedication is dated "Frimley ler Janvier, 1837." This dedication is addressed "à son excellence le Duc de la Trémouille," as follows: "Monseigneur, Comme la Princesse Charlotte (Claude) de la Trémouille, un des principaux personnages figurant dans le présent mémoire descendait de la même maison quevous [sic] permettez moi devous [sic] en offrir la dédicace, comme au chef actuel de cette maison illustre de la quelle la Princess de la Trémouille tire aussi son origine; et par son mariage avec le Prince Louis de la Tremouille, votre frere, un plus jeune rejeton a été enté sur le même arbre dont elle descend dans la personne de ce lui qui a l'honneur d'être, Monseigneur, avec la plus parfaite considération votre très humble et tres dévoué serviteur, Alexander Murray. Frimley, ler Janvier, 1837." I shall be glad of any information about this pamphlet or its author. It appears to me to have been printed in England and also to have been written in English and then translated into French, as there are several misprints similar to those indicated on the title-page and in the dedication. It should be noted that in size it is imperial quarto, measuring nearly sixteen inches in length by thirteen inches and a half in breadth, and there are ample margins round the text. J. P. EARWAKER. Pensarn, Abergele, N. Wales. DIGNITIES HEREDITARY CREATED, NOT MADE. -In the Times list of presentations at a recent levee I noticed that all save one of the new peerages are described as "created," while one peerage and all the baronetcies are described as "made." It might surely be expected that well-paid Court functionaries would know their business sufficiently well to give correct information to the papers. Any one with a smattering of knowledge on the subject knows that, under the letters patent of the Crown, all baronetcies, equally with peerages, are created dignities, and an attempt to make a distinction between them in this respect is an infringement of King James I.'s enactment that all questions relating to the dignity of a baronet should Glasgow. WILLIAM GEORGE BLACK. MUMMY SEEDS.-The illustrious surgeon and genial professor familiarly known as "Tommy Bryant of Guys," in his recent oration, dwells on this subject (see N. & Q.,' 8th S. ii. 55, 187, 296). He first lays down the axiom "all the water in the world would not make dead seeds grow.' Later on we read, "Mummy seeds, when watered, will spring up with renewed vigour." This gentleman must be regarded as a specialist, and he appears to credit certain reports as to the growth of wheat from a mummy seed; and we are therefore to infer that the process of embalming_preA. H. serves vitality. JAMES II.'s COACHMAN. -A tablet to the memory of this historic personage may be seen Holmby House, Forest Gate. JOHN T. PAGE. RAPID WRITING.-In an article on Mr. Marion Crawford, in the Review of Reviews for January, it is stated that : "When he gets his story into his head, he sits down at his desk, and will write 150,000 words in twenty-five |
