458
NOTES AND QUERIES. m s. iv. DEC. 2, 1911.
NOBLE FAMILIES IN SHAKESPEABE (11 S.
iv. 248, 296, 398). To COL. PRIDE AUX'S
list of peers descended in the male line from
characters in Shakespeare may be added
the Earl of Stamford, from the Marquess of
Dorset (' Richard III.'), and Lord Middleton,
from Lord Willoughby (' Richard II.') ; and
the Blounts of Maple Durham have a male
descent from Sir Walter Blunt (' 1 Henry
IV.').
It may be pertinent to add that the Earl of Berkeley is descended in the male line from a brother of " Earl " (recte Lord) Berkeley (' Richard II.'), and the Scropes of Danby from a brother of Sir Stephen Scroop ('Richard II.'), who was also cousin to Scroop, Archbishop of York (' 1 and 2 Henry IV.'), and to Lord Scroop ('Henry V.'). " G. H. WHITE.
St. Cross, Harleston, Norfolk.
" BROKEN COUNSELLOR " (11 S. iv. 368). I suggest that the rector thus stigmatized was a failure at the Bar before transferring his abilities to the Church. " Broken limb of the law " was a term of derision used bv the Rev. W. Cole (see Cole MS. 5836, f. 118) about a troublesome parishioner.
W. BRADBROOK.
MR. WILLIAM WEARE : THURTELL (US. iv. 244, 394). May I point out to W. B. H. that he has made a slip in referring to Sir Spencer Ponsonby-Fane as " the late " ?
J. J. H.
" FENT " : TRADE TERM (11 S. iv. 410). It seems necessary to repeat once more that there are two dictionaries which explain these things, viz., the ' E.D.D.' and the
- N.E.D.' Both give the etymology of the
term. Cf. vent (1) in both my Etymological Dictionaries. WALTER W. SKEAT.
" Fents " is a technical term denoting the ends of calicoes of various descriptions, tacked together. The name is likewise given to ends of imperfectly printed cambrics, which are sold by weight, and used for patch- work quilts. Originally the meaning was an opening or slit in a garment ; "slit" was afterwards applied to a piece of material slit off ; hence to ends, and so to remnants. Cotgrave gives Fr. Fente, a clift, rift, slit, &c. The ' New English Dictionary ' at sense 5 quotes its use as an attribute in
" Mr. M started in business as a fent
and general merchant " ; also " Fent-Dealer, a piece broker, a retailer of remnants of cloth." TOM JONES.
JOHN DOWNMAN, A.R.A. : MISSES CLARKE :
BARNARD (11 S. iv. 328). The following
marriage announcement in The Lady's
Magazine for August, 1775, may possibly
assist MR. H. C. BARNARD in procuring the
information he seeks : " Aug. 19. The Rev.
Mr. Barnard, fellow of Eton College, to
Miss Frances Clarke, youngest daughter of
the late James Clarke, Esq., of the six
clerks office." T. H. BARROW.
John Graham Clarke of Fen ham Hall, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, had five daughters : Mary, who married E. M. Barrett, and be- came the mother of Elizabeth Barrett Browning ; Frances, who was united to Sir Thomas Butler, Bart., of Garry hundon, co. Carlow, on 30 Jan., 1812, and died 30 Aug., 1868, leaving issue ; Charlotte, who became the wife of Richard Butler, brother of the foregoing, on 13 June, 1822, and died in 1835, leaving an only daughter ; who married Robert Hedley of Bedlington, Northumberland, and had issue ; and Anne, who died unmarried. Which of these ladies Downman painted I cannot say, but prob- ably inquiry among members of the Butler family might elucidate the point.
RICHD. WELFORD.
Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
BEARDED SOLDIERS (11 S. iv. 386). That a whole regiment should have worn beards is worth noting. This was the case in the 19th Lancers in 1820-21 ; my friend the late Col. Freeman of the 18th Hussars, who saw them, told me that " they wore them neatly cut alike, with their stable scissors." HAROLD MALET, Colonel.
I do not wish to be too precise or " split hairs," but speak of the regulations affecting soldiers at the present day. By soldier I mean a military individual below the rank of a commissioned officer. It was a medical reason for which Chevalier Zavertal was allowed to wear his beard. The last time I saw Sir Evelyn Wood he did not have a beard, though he previously had worn one. I can remember the soldiers coming home from the Crimea ; many wore beards, but there has been more than one regulation since then. A. RHODES.
MILITARY EXECUTIONS (11 S. iv. 8, 57, 98, 157, 193, 237, 295, 354, 413). There were at least two cases during the South African War in which the death penalty, passed on British soldiers at a court-martial, was carried out. In February, 1902, five Aus- tralian subalterns were tried for having
