212
NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. i. MAR. n, me.
Soon after his return from India in June*
1785, Hastings took a furnished house in
St. James's Place, whence he removed to
Wimpole Street. He subsequently pur-
chased Beaumont Lodge, Old Windsor. In
the second year of his trial he sold the
Windsor estate, and purchased the lease of
1 Park Lane, where he remained until 1797,
when he retired to Daylesford. The Park
Lane house, which was afterwards known as
No. 40, was pulled down in September, 1915.
G. F. R. B.
Purley Hall, Berks ; Beaumont Lodge* Windsor ; see ' Royal Berks Militia,' by E. E. Cope. E. E. COPE.
' THE TOMMIAD ' (12 S. i. 128, 175). H.'s letter at the latter reference would seem to convey the impression that the lines he quotes about " the Wicked Earl," in Rotten Row emanated from the pen of Lord Winchilsea. As a matter of fact they come from the ' Chaunt of Achilles ' which ap- peared originally in The New Sporting Magazine of September, 1838, and was written by the late Ralph Bernal Osborne. I quote the full stanza :
Whilst on his switch-tail'd bay, with wandering eye,
Attenuated W canters by ;
His character how difficult to know, A compound of psalm tunes and Tally-ho ! A forward rider, half inclined to preach, Tho' not dispos'd to practice as to teach, An amorous lover with the saintly twist, And now a sportsman, now an organist.
There was a lively controversy for many years as to who was the author of this clever lampoon on leading people of that day, and had it been known it would probably have been a case of " coffee and pistols for two.' 1 However, the vexed question was finally solved after Bernal Osborne's death, when a note in his handwriting on a copy of the magazine was found as follows : " Re- ceived from Editor for ' Chaunt of Achilles,'
15Z." WlLLOUGHBY MAYCOCK.
OTHELLO : GABRIEL CHAPUYS (II S. xii. 460 ; 12 S. i. 16). LIEUT. JAGGARD, in answer- ing my query concerning the original source of * Othello,' refers me to his invaluable Shakesperean bibliography. Although I carefully read through each item, and like- wise consulted the index, I failed to trace s,ny mention of Gabriel Chapuys's translation of Cinthio's tale of Othello. I am most desirous of reading this French version, and shall be grateful to any one who can direct me where a copy can be found.
MAURICE JONAS.
SIR DONALD STEWART'S AFGHAN ADVEN-
TURE (12 S. i. 149). I do not know what is
meant by a " good military authority," but
I can give some account of Donald Stewart's
march from Kandahar, as I took part in it
for some of the way. The difference between
the two marches lay in the conditions.
Stewart started from Kandahar in the depth
of a very cold mountain winter, with an
army that had marched without ceasing
from the Indus, 400 miles, through a country
without supplies in the ordinary sense. He
took with him just what troops came to
hand and a more or less exhausted animal
transport. He followed on the heels of the
Afghan forces, whose notion of commissariat
was indiscriminate pillage of the peasantry
en route. The result of the conditions was
that there was no food or fodder on the
ground at all, and the villagers were not only
afraid to offer supplies to an army of any
kind, but carefully hid everything they
possessed. Commissariat was therefore very
difficult, and it took time to get the peasants
to see that we paid for all supplies in cash.
Meanwhile, Stewart went on ahead at that
breakneck speed which broke down so
successfully all opposition on his route,
although he had the additional disadvantage
that the country was brand-new to every one
concerned in the march.
On the other hand, Roberts came down from Kabul with well-rested picked troops in the spring, when food and fodder were abundant on the ground, when the people en route had learnt to trade eagerly with a British - led army, and when the way was well known to the staff. The conditions were infinitely easier for Roberts than for Stewart. And it must not be forgotten that it was Stewart who sent him, though he might have gone himself and gained all the kudos. Roberts never pretended to forget the obligation.
When both marches were well over, and one could get at the facts, I remember comparing the marches Roberts made down the hill with those that Stewart had made up the hill for the distance I knew personally* and I found that they practically coincided. In the conditions, many an old soldier has long thought Stewart's march by far the finer achievement.
The reason that all the honours went to Roberts's force was purely political. A change of Government at home made it- desirable for the party in power to belittle all the armjr's actions in Afghanistan after Stewart's exploit, and later on to belaud everything that Roberts did as the result of
