ii s. vi. AU. 10, loiij
NOTES AND QUERIES.
115
descent from about 1550, and probably
much earlier.
But why in these days should we trace out only our male line of descent ? If we take the female line, no doubt we are all, somehow or other, descendants of William the Conqueror and King Alfred the Great, and of all the other great men and women of old. RONALD DIXON.
10, MarlborougJi Avenue, Hull.
In The Gentleman's Magazine for 1733, p. 663, I find among the deaths :
" Dec. 25. Richard Whithed, Esq.. at Norman's Court in Hampshire, which has lineally descended in that family ever since the Conquest."
I think, however, there can be no foundation for the latter part of this statement, as there is no trace of the Whiteheads having been in possession of this property before 1433, when Robert Whitehead appears to have acquired it, and I ^cannot understand how the statement about lineal descent since the Conquest came to be made. It is to be presumed that some member of the family inserted the obituary notice. How- over, 300 years' descent in the male line is a long time. BENJAMIN WHITEHEAD.
Temple.
It seems strange that none of your corre- spondents has mentioned the case of Lord Scarsdale, Curzon of Kedleston, co. Derby. This family has never failed in the male line since Giraline de Curzon, who came into England with the Conqueror.
R. USSHER.
SHIPS LOST IN THE GREAT STORM, 1703
(US. v. 348; vi. 11). MR. HUMPHREYS will probably like to hear that in ' An Impartial History of Queen Anne's Reign,' by Conyers Harrison, Esq. (London, 1744), on p. 138 et seq., there is an interesting account of this storm and the damage done by it on land and sea. The author mentions fourteen of H.M. ships which were destroyed, with the numbers of men on each, and the names of the captains.
There is also an account in Berkley's ' Naval History of Britain,' 1756 ; but the list of ships destroyed is not so complete as in the book just mentioned.
WM. NORMAN.
Will MR. A- L. HUMPHREYS add to the value of his article by giving us as full and accurate an account of the churches whose steeples, &c., were blown down, a subject on which I have long been anxious to get information ? P. MONTFORT.
BALLAD OF LORD LOVEL (11 S. v. 330:
vi. 37). For the edification of G. J., I send
you the complete words of this ballad :
1.
Lord Lovel, he stood at his castle gate
Combing his milk-white steed, When up came Lady Nancy Bell
To wish her lovier good speed, speed, speed, To wish her lovier good speed.
2.
" O ! where are you going, Lord Lovel ? " she said, " O ! where are you going ? " said she ;
- I 'm going, my Lady Nancy Bell,
Foreign countries for to see-e-e,
Foreign countries," &c.
3. " When will you come back, Lord Lovel ? " she
said ;
" When will you come back ? " said she. " In a year or two, or three, or four,
I '11 come back to my Lady Nancee-e-e, I '11 come back," &c.
4. He 'd only been gone twelve months and a day
Foreign countries for to see,
When languishing thoughts came into his head : Lady Nancy Bell he would go see-e-e, Lady Nancy, &c.
5. So he rode, and he rode, on his milk-white steed
Till he came to London town ; And there he heard Saint Pancridge bells, And the people all mourning around, And the people, &c.
6. " O ! what is the matter ? " Lord Lovel he said,
" O ! what is the matter ? " said he. " A Lord's lady is dead," the people all said, " And some call her Lady Nancee-e-e, And some call her," &c.
7. Then he order'd the grave to be open'd wide,
And the shroud to be turned down ; And then he kiss'd her clay-cold lips, Whilst the tears came trickling down, Whilst the tears, &c.
8. Then he flung his self down by the side of the
corpse
W T ith a shivering gulp and a guggle, Gave two hops, three kicks, heav d a sigh, blew
his nose,
Sung a song, and then died in the struggle, Sung a song, &c.
9. Lady Nancy, she died as it might be to-day ;
Lord Lovel, he died as to-morrow ; Lady Nancy, she died out of pure, pure grief ; And Lord Lovel, he died out-of sorrow, And Lord Lovel, &c. 10. Lady Nancy was laid in Saint Pancridge's church,
Lord Lovel was laid in the choir ; \nd out of her buzzum there grew a red rose, And out of her lovier's a brier, And out of her, &c.
