150
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. VIL FEB. 23, 1907.
ago a collection of over 400 books relating
to John Law of Lauriston, the famous
financier, was sold by auction in London.
I shall be greatly obliged if any one will
kindly inform me when the sale took place
and in whose rooms. JOHN A. FAIRLEY.
3, Barnton Gardens, Davidson's Mains, Midlothian.
N. F. ZABA. This Polish exile was living in Great Britain during part of the last century. Some of his writings are named in the British Museum Catalogue. I have, however, a work entitled ' N. F. Zaba's Method,' which is not in that Catalogue. It consists of a sheet of linen on which are printed a large number of black squares, on some of which are coloured marks ; and the whole is folded, and enclosed in a stiff pocket. The ' Method ' is quite unintelli- gible to me, and I should be glad to hear from any reader who has a copy and can explain the meaning. M.
CHAVASSE FAMILY. I desire to find out if one Claude Chavasse came to England with Lord Derwentwater in the seventeenth century, and how to trace him afterwards.
Also I want to find out if there is or was a cottage at Lichfield called the Frenchman's Cottage where a prisoner named Chavasse is said to have been kept.
EMMA DURHAM.
TRISTAN AND ISOLDE.
(10 S. vii. 50.)
I CANNOT vouch for the veracity of the story as told by Sir Thomas Malory, of which L. E. is probably aware, but doubt- less there is a substratum of truth, and some scintilla of evidence in favour of such is, I think, to be found in some place-names of early Dublin, Phoenix Park, and Chapel- izod. Isolde was an Irish princess, and certainly gave her name to the last-named place.
My first contention is that the story either originally emanated from Dublin, or was publicly accepted by its inhabitants as a well-authenticated fact. The following is from the 'Liber Albus,' the White Book of the City of Dublin : _
f a " d . commonalty of the city of
p f f thei , r - bel ^ ed and faithful c lerk Picot, for his praiseworthy service* thp tower which is called Buoyant, situated upon the bank near Isolda's gate, together with all the land adjacent between the street, through which the passage is from the aforesaid Isolda's to wlr towards
the church of St. Olave's, and extending from the
street as far as the new wall towards the water of
Auenlyf (Liffey)."
Now the inference which one draws from this extract is that, though Butavant was an older tower, Isolda's was better known as a well-defined and popular landmark. These river towers, which formed part of the city walls, must have been one or two centuries old when this was written (1261), and they certainly carried their original names. Now not only have we an Isolda's Tower and Gate, but there was also Isoud's Lane. Further, Ysorde and Ysolt were used as female Christian names in early Dublin. These names would suggest that no story had such passionate interest for the citizens of Dublin in the eleventh and twelfth centuries as the great love romance of Isolde. That this hot interest is solely due to close local association is definitely proved by the fact that Tristan, who plays the major part in all the literature on the subject, is never once mentioned. Local traditions, possibly historic facts, are per- petuated in these place - names. Passing westwards to what is now the Phcenix Park, we find in ' The Record of the Riding of the Franchises of Dublin ' in 1603 :
" They past over the water of the Canimocke, and went betwixte the arrable land called now the Leis of Kilmainham, and the meddowe under that, and soe directly westward to that parte of the meddowe that Iveth opposite upppn that parte of the hill called Kilmahennockes hill, and nowe the hill of Isold's font, which is a bowshot of the west syde of Isold's font, and west of Ellen Hoare's meddowe, over which font is a great hathorn tre
and then tooke horse and rode east\yard over
and by north Isold's font, and to the font itself e."
Notice must be taken of the important fact that both hill and font were viewed as distinctive landmarks, and recognized as such by the city fathers, for they were used to mark the boundary of their civic juris- diction. This in itself goes to show that these were notable places of resort, and the rill or font or well was certainly regarded as the trysting-place of Isolde and Tristan.
I have sought to locate the hill and font. From the various accounts they were north of the Liffey, and near Ellen Hoare's meadow, which was evidently between the hill and the highway. From the descriptions rather minutely detailed, the hill can be none other than what to-day is known as the Magazine Hill in the Phoenix Park, and the little rill at its base which, alas ! dribbles through thick mud and rotten vegetation had some connexion with the historic font. Traces of a good-sized pool are still to be noted,
