'
S. III. MAY 6, '99.]
NOTES AND QUERIES.
357
I enis Bingham, in his interesting 'Recollec-
t Dns of Paris' (Chapman & Hall, 1896), refers
t Massena as one of the sixteen marshals
o France who were Italians (vide vol. ii.
p 281) ; and in his allusion to the Jews who
h ive formed alliances with the aristocracy
o the First Empire, Capt. Bingham does not
e r en hint that the Duke de Rivoli was of
tl e Hebrew race :
"I read the other day in the Figaro that the Duchess of Rivoli, nee Heine-Furtado, has been sa fely delivered of a son. This event has a great family importance, since the Duchess had up to the
E resent given birth to daughters only. The male eir who has now been born will therefore save from extinction the titles of Prince of Essling and Duke of Rivoli [bestowed by the great Napoleon on Massena]. A curious detail with regard to this birth. The daughter of Madame Heine-Furtado, now Duchess of Rivoli, had two sons by her first marriage, one of whom will be Prince de la Mos- kowa, and the other Due d'Elchingen. Thus through her will be perpetuated four of the most brilliant titles of the Empire." Vol. ii. p. 286.
With reference to the subject of Italians in La Belle France, it may be remarked that the author of 'The Marriages of the i Bonapartes' (Longmans, Green & Co., 1881) on investigation found that Charlemagne, who ! paid three visits to Rome, on each occasion | returned to France bringing with him Italian ] professors. Charles VIII. followed in the footsteps of Charlemagne. Francis I. en- couraged Italians in his Court, and among them Benvenuto Cellini. With Catherine ide Medicis, who built the Tuileries, and with Mary de Medicis, crowds of Italians flocked into France foremost among them Julius Mazarin.
In every branch of art they were promi- jnent. Lulli founded the French opera, and Goldoni taught the French how to act. Bellini, Piccini, and Rossini all lived in France. Louis XIV. not only attached .talian artists to France, but gave pensions x> some who remained in their own country. Many other great names might be mentioned, iuch as those of Mirabeau and the Bonapartes n recent times. HENRY GERALD HOPE. Clapham, S.W.
Mr. J. K. Hosmer, in his work ' The Jews ' 1889, p. 236), says :
'The most distinguished soldier of Hebrew de- scent \yas probably Marshal Massenah, whose real name is said to have been Manasseh, the warrior whom Napoleon called ' the favourite child of act or y.' "
JAMES HOOPER.
Norwich.
" STOOK" (9 th S. iii. 206). MR. BAYNE does not seem to be aware that stook is an English as well as a Scottish word. I never heard its
equivalent shock, used in Lincolnshire except
by a few persons who had acquired the bad
habit of "talking fine." I believe it is the
usual word throughout a great part of the
north of England. Mr. Cordeaux, in his
' Birds of the Humber,' uses it. He says of
the whinchats :
" They may be seen in small family parties, half a dozen together, perched onstooks of corn." P. 30.
EDWARD PEACOCK. Dunstan House, Kirton-in-Lindsey.
MR. BAYNE says this is " what is called in England a ' shock.' " In the Midlands, how- ever, and I think I may say in the north of England, stook is much more common than shock. The Midland pronunciation is stouk, which perhaps indicates the origin of the word, for I see Nuttall connects it with Ger. Stauch. Prof. Blackie ought to have remembered Hood's 'Ruth' :
Thus she stood amid the stocks, Praising God with sweetest looks.
C. C. B.
The word stac is used with a similar meaning in Welsh in the Tanad Valley, in the counties of Montgomery and Denbigh. Stac, pi. staciau, pronounced sfockia, stacio = to stack. It means, as in MR. BAYNE'S note, a cluster of four, sometimes six, sheaves of wheat or oats set up against each other to dry in the field. It is undoubtedly an English word, introduced into the Welsh of the district by its proximity to Shropshire, or rather to the English part of the province of Powis. The spoken Welsh of Montgomery- shire is full of such words. They are evidently not of Welsh origin, and are found with a similar meaning in the English spoken in the neighbouring districts. O. B. JONES.
Called by Devonshire peasantry stitch, which word seems as if derived from a common source with those named by MR. BAYNE. FRED. C. FROST, F.S.I.
Teignmouth.
HUMPHREY, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER (9 th S. iii. 264). Mediae val poisons appear to have had very curious and mysterious properties. That employed by Maude Carew in this case is an instance in point. However graphical^ the poisoning of the duke is de- scribed, I venture to say that the story, as told, cannot possibly be true. MR. ELLISTON, to be sure, does not profess any belief in it.
C. C. B.
ARLINGTON (9 th S. iii. 269). Canon Isaac Taylor, in his ' Words and Places,' says that the family of the Harlings (whose deeds are chronicled in 'The Traveller's Song' along
