Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/288

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io- s. v. MABCB 24, igoq.


and Murray's ' Handbook for Yorkshire,' 1874, pp. 367-9. Bowes is a dreary village some six miles from Barnard Castle, on the road between that town and Brough, and has a population of 737. Many years ago I walked over in order to see the original of " Dotheboys Hall." In the churchyard is the grave of Rodger Wrightson and Martha Railton, who died in 1715, and are celebrated in David Mallet's ballad * Henry and Emma,' written in 1760. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

PRINCESS ROYAL'S DAUGHTERS (10 th S. v. 190). Here are the reasons which induced me to describe the young ladies as Princesses of Fife. They are not Princesses of the United Kingdom, but "in" that country. As they were created princesses, I looked for precedents, and found them in the children of the Dukes of York, Connaught, Cumber- land, &c., and the Princes of Wales and Battenberg. "Princess " is here (as usually) in the nature of a "courtesy" description, and riot a substantive dignity, the appellation which follows it being no more than dis^ tinctive, being always derived in other cases from the substantive peerage title of the father. If in cases of Princesses of Great Britain the peerage title was used as the descriptive adjunct, it seemed to me a safer precedent to follow than to describe them as Princesses Duff. I admit I hesitated, but my opinion was clinched by another fact, hardly arguable or in the nature of precedent, but one which led me to take what I considered the most probably correct course.

THE EDITOR OF 'Doo's PEERAGE.' ADELPHI NAMES (10 fch S. v. 186). The in- formation cited by MR. ALECK ABRAHAMS relative to the renaming of James Street William Street, and Durham Street, Adelphi. will be found in an article on London Street Nomenclature' which appeared in The Pall Mall Gazette of 1 March. A letter, in which [ ventured to disagree with some of the statements contained in that article, was

Printed in the issue of that paper for 3 March did not, however, refer to the change o nomenclature in the Adelphi.

I may add that I agree with MR ABRAHAMS in deprecating any change ii street nomenclature, except in absolutel 1 necessary instances. In the case of th* Adelphi, James and William Adam were no architects, and, as Mr. Wheatley remarks were only associated with their brother Robert and John in the business part of th project. The loss of their names does not therefore, seriously interfere with the his


orical associations of the locality. MR. ABRAHAMS is doubtless topographically right i suggesting the substitution of Durham- ard for Durham House Street. Mr. Vheatley, in his paper on 'The Adelphi and }S Site,' tells us (p. 3) that Durham House- ccupied the whole site of the Adelphi ; but t p. 8 he imagines that "Durham House* ccupied what is now the middle of the outh side of John Street, and extended to he river on the south." Mr. Wheatley at he first passage evidently includes in the erm " Durham House " the gardens and 'Utbuildings. The residence known as Dur- lam Place or Durham House actually butted on the river, as we know from several Id plans ; but I doubt if it extended as far lorth as John Street. In Strype's map, 720, the site of the present John Street is ailed "Durham Yard " ; but the Yard, which insisted really of buildings covering the old gardens of the House, also extended east- wards of the latter, and then took a turn /owards the river. The best authority on his subject is Dr. T. N. Brushfield's ex- laustive 'History of Durham House,' which

the reprint of a paper read before the Devonshire Association at Sidmouth in July, .903. This is one of the most valuable con- .ributions to our knowledge of the historical topography of London that have appeared within recent years.

Personally I cannot say that I am very favourable to the revival of the old name of Durham Yard, as the term "yard" has a connotation of its own. If the Adelphi streets must have new names, I should prefer Durham Place, which is less cumbrous and unwieldy than Durham House Street, and carries with it a flavour of antiquity.

The patronage which the brothers Adam- received from the king gave them a good right to add the epithet " royal" to their terrace. It was probably indifferently known as "Royal Terrace" and "^ Adelphi Terrace" for several years after it was built. In- Horwood's map, 1794-9, it is called " Royal Adelphi Terrace " ; but the first epithet must have been dropped about the end of the eighteenth century. The architects seem themselves to have given the title of "Adelphi" to the buildings when they were first erected about 1770 ; but when the name "Adelphi" was used tout court, l\\Q "Terrace" was usually understood. Boswell, for in- stance, speaks of Mrs. Garrick's "house in the Adelphi," where on 20 April, 1781, he- dined in the company of Johnson, Reynolds, and " a select party," at the first entertain- ment given by the widow since her husband's