7 lh S.LX. JAN. 18,'90.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
opium-eater"), a man of whom his countrymen are justly proud. The siege had already lasted three weeks when the news of the loss of Alba Regalis reached the camp of the beleaguering army. In order to intimidate the garrison, the heads of the unfortunate Pasha of Buda and the Kiaya Mohammed, which had been sent by Archduke Matthias to Ferdinand,[1] were stuck on spears and displayed in front of the trenches in full view of the defenders. But Hassan assembled his soldiers, and in a powerful harangue endeavoured to persuade them that the heads were not those of the two pashas. He informed them, also, that it was his firm resolution to defend the place to the bitter last. "Ibrahim," said he, "had not been able to take Kanizsa until he had made a solemn vow to devote its revenues to the holy city of Medina; and the Prophet would never allow a town which belonged to his holy tomb to fall into the hands of infidels." "Besides," he added, "the enemies commenced the siege on the very day on which all true believers celebrated the anniversary of the birth of the Prophet," a circumstance, in his opinion, which alone made the success of the Giaours utterly impossible. The speech had the desired effect. The garrison held out until the arrival of the army brought to their relief by the Grand Vizier, but more so a tempest of snow of unusual violence, accompanied by intense cold, compelled the archduke to raise the siege on Nov. 18, and decamp.[2] Thus far as regards Kanizsa. What sort of journey "the Earl of Meldritch" had we are unable to verify.
( To be continued.)
In Ashton's preface to his ' Works ' he states:—
"Americans are utterly astonished at the apathy shown by the English to the memory of a veritable 'worthy,' Capt. John Smith. On the other aide of the Atlantic they would fain claim him as their own, if they could, and they cannot comprehend the indifference to, and ignorance of, the details of his life. It cannot be from lack of interesting particulars, for his life was one peculiarly adventurous, bordering almost on the romantic, and his adventures were related by himself, and others, with a terse and rugged brevity that is very charming. In all Biographies he is styled 'an Adventurer,' and in all probability would never have received a notice at all, had it not been for the peculiarly romantic connexion between him and Pocahontas. Modern scepticism has, of course, endeavoured to throw doubts as to the reality of Smith's story, but a moment's reflection will show that it was put to the severest test, and it was never once contemporaneously questioned. When Pocahontas came over here in 1616, Smith wrote a latter to Queen Anne (consort of James I.) commending her to Her Majesty, and detailing her various services to himself and the Colony at large. Of her saving his life he writes thus: 'After some six weeks fatting among those "Salvage Courtiers," at the minute of my execution she hazarded the beating out of her own brains to save mine, and not only that, but BO prevailed with her father that I was safely conducted to James Towne.' Can any one seriously think that if it were a fabrication he would so write the Queen, well knowing that Pocahontas was here in the country, would be sure to be questioned on the matter by every one that came in contact with her, and that either she, or her husband, John Rolfe, could at once explicitly deny it, and thus cause instant discovery, if it were a falsehood?"
St. John's Wood.
Mr. Lewis L. Kropf, in his note on Capt. John Smith, says of our Lincolnshire worthy, "One feels inclined to suspect that he has not been at all to the south-east of Europe." Does not MR. KROPF here overlook the fact, so strongly insisted on by Prof. Arber in proof of Smith's veracity, that in 1614 he named several places in Virginia (Cape Tragbigzauld was one) after persons who had befriended or things that had happened to him during his travels? These designations were published by him in his 'Description of New England' many years before he had any thought of writing his 'True Travels and Adventures,' and when, apparently, he could have had no motive for deception.
Mr. L. L. Kropf has chosen an excellent motto. But a reference to its source will enable him to make it more exact. It comes originally from Cicero:
"Nam quis nescit, primam esse historiæ legem, ne quid falsi dicere audeat? Deinde ne quid veri non audeat? Ne qua suspicio gratia sit in scribendo? Ne quid simultatis?" 'De Oratore,' ii. xv. 62.
QUEEN ANNE BOLEYN.
On Jan. 1, 1890, a Tudor Exhibition was opened in London, containing many portraits and relics of this family, which for more than a century ruled England, and amongst them a portrait or portraits painted in oils of this unfortunate queen will be found. Perhaps it may be remembered that some time ago in 'N. & Q.' attention was drawn by me to the fact that the colour of hair, complexion, and eyes in old oil paintings cannot now be received as evidence, as age tends very much to darken and dim the colouring.
There is a portrait of Anne Boleyn by Holbein at Warwick Castle, which no doubt was painted about 1534, during her short reign of prosperity as Queen of England. One engraving of this picture represents her as dark in complexion, and another as singularly fair; but both these examples of engraving are of modern date. In both she is represented as wearing a hood stiffened and a dress cut square in front. It would be really interesting to know what her personal appearance was. Shakespere, in 'Henry VIII.,' Act IV. sc. L, much extols her beauty, and gives a graphic description of
