464
NOTES AND QUERIES. in s. iv. DEO. 9, 1911.
ELEANOR 01 BRETAGNE. (See 7 S. iv.
238.) Among the many lamented corre-
spondents of ' N. & Q.' who have passed
away is one who in former years enriched
its pages under the sobriquet of " Hermen-
trude." In answer to queries respecting the
above, she wrote as follows :
" In 1241 she had been removed to Bristol, where she was slowly starved to death, 100?. being paid to John FitzGeoffrey, Constable of Bristol Castle, on March 15, ' ad executioriem Alienorse corisanguinese Domini Regis facienda ' (Rot. Exit., Michs., 25-6 Hen. III.)."
These words of HERMENTRUDE'S appear in ' N. & Q.' of 17 September, 1887.
Having always found the writer most dependable and painstaking, I assumed the quotation from the Issue Rolls to be perfectly correct. In my work on the ' Royal Daughters of England,' vol. i. p. 95, I wrote :
"There is reason to suppose she was slowly starved to death or otherwise made away with, as the sum of one hundred pounds was paid to John FitzGeoffrey, Constable of the Castle, on 15 March, 1241, ad execationem Alianorte consaiu/uinece Domini Reyis facienda. The manner of her death, as far as I am aware, has never yet been touched upon by historians."
For nearly a quarter of a century this grave aspersion on the character of Henry III. has never, to my knowledge, been challenged.
It is fortunate indeed that the Liberate Roll wisely consulted by Mr. Hilary Jenkin- son (vide his letter to The Athenccum, 2 Sep- tember, 1911) has cleared Henry III. by giving the word " testamenti " after " execu- tionem," thereby proving FitzGeoffrey to have been an executor, and not an execu- tioner in the ordinary sense ! I had been entirely misled by HERMENTRUDE'S asser- tion, which has passed current for twenty- four years. H. MURRAY LANE,
Chester Herald
MRS. CAUDLE'S CURTAIN LECTURES. Any of your readers interested in super- cheries litteraires might find a curious in- stance of involuntary substitution in an old number of the Belfast Northern Whig. Mrs. Caudle's lectures appeared, by arrange- ment, simultaneously in Punch and in The Northern Whig. On one occasion the post broke down or miscarried, and in order not to disappoint Irish readers, a member of the proprietor's family furnished The Northern Whig with a " Curtain lecture," of which the authenticity was ever doubted. It would be interesting if, by a collation of the files of the newspaper with the authorized version of Douglas Jerrold's text, the sub- stituted " lecture " could be brought to light.
The writer subsequently became the wife of
the editor of one of the principal London
organs of the Liberal party, and for many
years was a contributor of literary articles
to The Saturday Review. L. G. R.
TIMOTHY BRIGHT' s ' TREATISE ON ENG- LISH MEDICINES.' W. J, Carlton, in his ' Timothe Bright,' 1911, is at some pains to prove that the ' Treatise on the Suffi- ciency of English Medicines,' by T. B., 1580, was written by Timothy Bright, and not by Thomas Bedford, as stated by Watt. The name of the author was known at or soon after the time of publication, for in a list of the books of Dr. John Hatcher of Cam- bridge, who died in 1587, occurs this item : " Dr. Bright' s ' Treatise on English Medi- cines.' ' W. M. PALMER, M.D. Linton, Cambs.
VANISHING LANDMARKS or LONDON. To the long list of effacements from our streets must now, it would seem, be added " The Swiss Cottage," at the corner of Finchley and Upper Avenue Roads, which is earmarked for demolition. This pic- turesque old tavern has contrived to retain an almost rural appearance amidst the many changes of a progressive neighbourhood. With the withdrawal of the horse omnibuses "The Swiss Cottage " has lost much of its characteristic bustle ; for its yard was always made lively with the arrival and departure of the familiar green " Atlases." The site has been acquired for building pur- poses. Preserve us from more " Flats " or "Mansions"! CECIL CLARKE.
Junior Athenaeum Club.
NAVAL EPITAPHS IN ST. NICHOLAS'S, DEPT- FORD. In this church several mariners of note are commemorated, among them Peter Pett, " a master shipwright in the King Yard," and inventor of the frigate, who died in 1652. There is a monument to Capt. Edward Fenton, who accompanied Sir Martin Frobisher in his second and third oyages, and afterwards was in command of an expedition for the discovery of the North-West Passage. Another records the exploits of Capt. George Shelvocke, who was 3red to the sea service under Admiral Benbow, and who, " in the years of our Lord 1719-20-21- and 22, performed a voyage round the globe of the world, which most wonderfully, and to the great loss of the Spaniards, compleated, though in the nidst of it he had the misfortune to suffer shipwreck upon the island of Juan Fernandez, upon the coast of the kingdom of Chili."
