Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/138

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NOTES AND QUERIES, [ii s. vm. AUG. 16, 1913.

bk. i.), we read that Leicester, when Chancellor of the University, heard in 1584 a disputation

"between John and Edmund Rainolds, the one a zealous Protestant, the other a moderate Romanist, but not as 'tis reported to the conversion of each other. They both so quitted themselves, like able Disputants, that it was difficult to judge which of them carried the bell away."

See the 'History of C.C.C.,' by Thomas Fowler (Oxf. Hist, Soc.), and his Life of John Rainolds in the ' D.N.B.'

President Fowler remarks:—

" There is a certain confirmation of the story of the mutual conversion in the mere existence of the verses, but it has a very apocryphal ring." The verses, by William Alabaster, show some indebtedness to an epigram of Martial,

  • Spect. Lib.,' xxix.

Compare the latter's

Pugnavere pares, succubuere pares, with the imitation,

Concurrere pares & cecidere pares.

EDWARD BENSLY.

FIRST DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND : NATURAL ISSUE (11 S. vii. 486; viii. 72). I think that MR. A. R. BAYLEY (ante, p. 72) is mistaken as to the part of Westminster Abbey in which the two natural daughters of the Duke were buried.

The following are extracts from Joseph Lemuel Chester's * Westminster Abbey Regis- ters,' 1876:

" 1791, Nov. 24. Philadelphia Percy ; died November 6th, aged 21 : in the South Cross.

"1794, Nov. 24. Dorothy Percy; died the 2nd : in the South Cross."

A few lines above the latter entry is : "June 23. Lord Henry Percy, 2nd son of Hugh, Duke of Northumberland ; died June [Hank], 1794 : in the Northumberland vault in St. Nicholas's Chapel."

There were some sixteen Percys buried in the Northumberland or Percy vault in St. Nicholas's Chapel, which is at a consider- able distance from the South Cross or Transept.

Concerning Philadelphia Percy a foot- note says :

" Illegitimate daughter of Hugh, first Duke of Northumberland (see his burial 21 June, 1786). The journals of the day say that she died on her way to Southampton, whence she was to embark for the South of France, in the hope of regaining her health."

As to Dorothy Percy, a foot-note referring to The Gentleman's Magazine (1794, p. 1060) says that she died at Brompton in conse- quence of grief for the loss of her elder sister


(i.e., Philadelphia), and speaks very warmly of the character of the two sisters, and the devotion of their father to their interests. They were not, however, named in his will. Dorothy's will, as of St. Marylebone, Middle- sex, dated 1 April, with a codicil 22 Oct., 1794, was proved 8 December following by Mar- garet Marriott, of Baker Street, Portman Square, to whom she left all her possessions. After the death of her executrix, sums of 1,OOOZ. each were to be paid to two French ladies, and 3,000?. to her "half- brother James Macie, Esq., natural son of the late Duke of Northumberland," which appears to indicate that they were not children of the same mother.

The half-brother was known in early life as James-Lewis Macie, and later as James Smithson, founder of the Smithsonian In- stitution, Washington. It is interesting to note that Philadelphia was the name of the Duke's mother, and Dorothy that of his sister. See Debrett's ' Peerage,' 1820, i. 60. ROBERT PIEBPOINT.

MBS. HEMANS AND " THE DISTINGUISHED UNGUIST' 2 (11 S. viii. 88). It is, of course, merely a guess, but I am inclined to think that Mrs. Hemans's visitor was Lord Francis Leveson - Gower, better known as Lord Francis Egerton,a surname which he assumed in 1833 on succeeding to the reversion of the vast Bridgewater property. No man was ever more greatly favoured by fortune. He was of distinguished birth, being the second son of the first Duke of Sutherland ; he enjoyed a princely income, and being a good Tory, though a Free Trader, was created Earl of Ellesmere by Sir Robert Peel when that statesman went out of power in 1846. He was an excellent linguist, and translated Goethe's ' Faust,' Schiller's ' Song of the Bell,' Hugo's ' Hernani,' and Amari's ' History of the War of the Sicilian Vespers.' He was also a great traveller, and wrote ' Mediterranean Sketches ' and ' A Guide to Northern Archaeology.' He was a many- sided man, and, besides being President of the British Association in 1842, was also the first President of the Camden Society. In addition to all this, he was one of the handsomest men of his day ; he had charm- ing manners, and possessed a cook who was considered second only to Ude. Beloved of the gods, he died at the comparatively early age of 57.

Notwithstanding his rank and wealth, Lord Francis had no " side," and being him- self a poet and lover of poetry, he was a likely person to visit Mrs. Hemans. In fact he