Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/304

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NOTES AND QUERIES. m s. vm. OCT. 11, 1913.


The ' D.N.B.' has apparently overlooked this.

Again, F. Godwin, ' [De Praesulibus Angl.] inter Episcop. Dunelm.,' p. 156, "speaking of William 'Sever,' Bp. of Durham, in 1502, mistakes him to be our Henry Sever, Warden of Merton College and Provost of Eton."

And I think the ' DJST.B.' is right in dis- crediting his relationship with Henry Sever, and in placing him among the Cumberland family of Senhouse (Senews or Senuz), " a later member of which, Richard Senhouse, became, like William, bishop of Carlisle."

' The Diocesan History of Durham ' (S.P.C.K., p. 204), quoted by your corre- spondent J. T. F., is certainly wrong in attributing to him the three great offices formerly held by Henry Sever. The mistake doubtless arises out of the old confusion between the two names. " Sever " was not Bishop William's true surname. What arms he bore I do not know, but am grateful to J. T. F. for his suggestion of looking for them in Surtees's ' History ' among the plates of episcopal seals. I have not the book by me ; perhaps some other reader has.

-The question remains, Who was Dr. Henry Sever (d. 1471), Chancellor of Oxford University, first Provost of Eton, Warden and " Second Founder " of Merton, and Prebendary of St. Paul's, &c. ?

GEOBGE SEAVEB.

Thurnby Vicarage, Leicester.

OCTAGONAL MEETING-HOUSES (11 S. vii. 27, 72, 173, 238, 417). One such exists in this city, the Octagon Congregational Chapel in Stockport Road, a structure of solid masonry and attractive appearance, and so called from its peculiar form, which certainly ensures better visual and acoustic facilities to worshippers than obtain in pillar- lined churches. J. B. McGovEBN.

St. Stephen's Rectory, C.-on-M., Manchester.

"FAIRY-TALES" (11 S. viii. 249). When Madame d'Aulnoy's ' Contes des Fees ' were translated into English, they were called

  • Tales of the Fairies.' But this formula

was rather cumbrous, and before long it was converted into the shorter and neater

  • Fairy Tales.' If Lowndes is consulted,

it will be seen that in 1750 there was pub- lished in two volumes " A New Collection of Fairy Tales, none of which were ever before printed," the authorship of which was attributed to Mr. Henry Brooke, who first issued it in Dublin under the title of ' A !S"ew System of Fairery.' Since then a vast number of collected fairy - tales have been published, the bibliography of which


would be both ciirious and interesting, but my present object is to show that the term was in use long before the time of Lockhart or Tennyson.

If an earlier quotation than that from ' Aylmer's Field ' is required, it may be found in Ritson's ' Fairy Tales,' which was published posthumously in 1831. In a note on Bishop Corbet's poem, ' The Fairys Farewell,' Ritson, who died in 1803, wrote :

" Posterity would have been much more indebted to this witty prelate for a few of gaffer Churnes fairy-tales than for all the sermons his lordship- ever wrote."

W. F. PBIDEAUX.

In 1817 two small volumes were pub- lished entitled "Fairy Tales, translated from the French of the Countess d'Anois."

JOHN B. WAINEWBIGHT.

The 'N.E.D.' mentions " Faerie -tale " under the archaic form ' Faerie,' but sup- plies no quotation. The British Museum Catalogue gives the following book-titles and their dates : " Robin Goodfellow, a Fairy Tale written by a Fairy, &c. London,. 1770." Another edition, 1815. "Fairy Tales, containing the Stories of Cinderella., Little Red Riding Hood, &c." (Edinburgh, 1810 ?) Another edition, 1817.

TOM JONES.

AUTHORS WANTED (11 S. viii. 247). In Charles Mackay's ' Thousand and One Gems of English Poetry,' at p. 76, is a poem of eight verses entitled ' The Fairy Queen/ dated 1635, and described as anonymous,, the first verse of which is there given as follows :

Come follow, follow me, You fairy elves that be : Which circle on the greene, Come follow Mab your queene. Hand in hand let 's dance around, For this place is fairye ground.

JOHN B. WAINEWBIGHT,

The lines commencing

To do him any wrong was to beget A kindness from him

are attributed to Tennyson in Wood's 'Dic- tionary of Quotations ' (London, Warne & Co., 1906).

ARCHIBALD SPABKE, F.R.S.L. Bolton.

THE SMALLEST SQUABE IN LONDON (US. viii. 126, 174). I was answerable for one of these, with its enclosed green in front of the crescent, when erecting Egerton Place- in 1902. HABOLD MALET, Colonel.