Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 10.djvu/69

12 S. X.JAN. 21, 1922.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 51 FlELDINGlANA (12 S. X. 7). W. E. Henley's observations on Taine's bon buffle are relevant, but they are not cited as controverting MB. ARMSTRONG'S criticism : Of all the definitions that ever were defined Taine's definition of Fielding as "a good buffalo " strikes one as one of the most absurd. But Taine, man of genius as he was born, and savant as he made himself, was at all times the prey of any theory that happened to commend itself to his imaginative yet very logical mind ; and either this, his theory of Harry Fielding, was one of the unluckiest he ever developed, or you can pay no man a higher compliment than to call him a Good Buffalo. For consider what, in Fielding's case, is comprehended in the term. . . . If to be a Good Buffalo be all that, why, then, I can't help wishing that the breed "were more prolific ; and even that M. Henri Taine had himself belonged to it. J. PAUL DE CASTRO. GERVASE DE CORNHTLL (12 S. viii. 229). Owing to above query, I have received so much information and direction that 1 be- lieve this complicated conundrum to be partly solved. Query A. Roger "nepos Huberti," whom Dr. Round showed us to be the father of Gervase de Cornhill, will prove, I think, to have been Roger de Villers, brother of that Hamo c e St. Clair who succeeded his uncle, Eudo Dapifer, in the lordship of Colchester. I must not cumber your columns with re- ferences or citations, but pp. 42 and 120 o f the Chartulary of St. John the Baptist ci Colchester (Roxburghe Club) give the basis of the proof. We find there that Roger de Villers (not to be confounded with Roger de Valognes, another " nepos Eudonis ") was brother of Hamo, and that the Hamo in ques- tion was undoubtedly Hamo de St. Clair. Further, just as the Manor of Chalk in Kent was granted to Gervase de Cornhill at the death of his father Roger (who had held it after Adam FitzHubert and Eudo Dapifer, his brother), so we here find Hamo, Roger's brother, making a grant of tithes in that same Chalk. Both Hamo and Roger were thus proprietors in Chalk, both " nepotes Eudonis/' " nepotes " also of Eudo's brother Hubert, Castellan of Norwich and " nepotes " (grandsons, not nephews in this case) of Hubert de Rie, which was to be demonstrated and which brings the De Cornhills of Kent into direct descent from that great forefather. Query B. As to Herbert, Chamberlain to Henry I., and Hubert, Chamberlain to King Stephen, Hasted makes these two father and .son. With due hesitation, I submit that Hasted is in error, and that if he founded his assertion on the entry in ' Magnus Rotulus I Scaccarii,' 31 Hen. I. (p. 37, Hunter's ed., 1833), where Herbert " fil. Herberti Camer : " renders his dues for " terra patris sui," he had not necessarily found the right Cham- berlains, all Chamberlains not being " Ca- merarii Regis." The ' Catalogue of Ancient Deeds ' (Record Office), shows that Richard de Anesty was the son of Stephen's Hubertus Camerarius. The Chartulary of St. John confirms this indirectly, but certainly shows Hubertus himself to be what was to be anticipated from his close association W T ith Gervase de Cornhill the son of the afore- named Hamo de St. Clair. As Gervase was son of Hamo's brother Roger, he is tlms first cousin to Hubert, and they both are great- grandsons of Hubert de Rie (pp. 153, 154, 158, 160, 164, compared with pp. 146 and j 163 of the Chartu 1 *ry as above, outline the i evidence). This ascendance cuts out Herbert, Cham- ! berlain to Henry I., from several pleasing | pedigrees, unless he was a collateral, and we [ are still in want of evidence as to w r hether ! Hamo a A Roger, " nepotes Eudonis et ! Huberti," were sons of a brother or of a ! sister of those great men. Since writing above I have re-read the ! recently issued ' History of Norwich Castle,' j by Mr. Walter Rye. On p. 52 he appears to ! hesitate as to accepting Hamo de St. Clair as Eudo's nephew, but does not contest the | weight of Mr. R. W. St. Clair of Chicago's i evidence that Roger de Villers was " nepos ! Eudonis." As I owe to these two authorities i much kind guidance and valuable suggestion, I 1 am glad to see that, so long as either Hamo I or Roger, whom the Chartulary proves to be j brothers, can claim Eudo as uncle, my pedi- I gree, as above, stands. PERCY HULBURD. 124, Inverness Terrace, W. ' NOT So BAD As WE SEEM ' : CHARLES I KNIGHT (12 S. x. 10). This was Charles I Knight, the author and publisher (1791- 1873), a close friend of Dickens, and one of the " splendid strollers." He was originally asked to play the part of Hodge in the i Guild of Literature and Art performances of ' Not So Bad As We Seem,' and in reference to that wrote : For myself, I should have been well contented ! with " Hodge the merry servant." But my pro- | fessional tastes and consequent histrionic capacity for playing the part of a scheming publisher of the days of Sir Robert Walpole were considered, and I had to rehearse the part of Jacob Tonson, the bookseller.