12 S V. FEB., 1919.1
NOTES AND QUERIES.
Shorter of Staines, Middlesex, was born at
" Sunning." So also was John Kent of
St. Michael's Bassishaw, London, merchant,
whose will dated Sept. 19, 1693 ; proved
P.C.C. Feb., 1694 (Box 35) refers to his
cousin Clement Kent of Goring (see no. 8).
A London marriage licence, dated Sept. 9,
1662, records a Thomas Kent of " Sunning,"
Berks, brewer, widower, 50, and Elizabeth
Latham of the same place, spinster, 50.
They were buried at Sonning, respectively
Dec. 14, 1673, and May 20, 1680. A deed
dated April 19, 1721, bore the signatures of
Clement Kent of Thatcham, Berks (see
no. 9), and of John Kent of Sonning, Berks,
Esq. It referred to a deed-poll dated
July 13, 1630, enrolled in Chancery 18th
idem, executed by Clement Kent of Goring,
deceased (see no. 8).
One would much like to have a reference to a pedigree setting out the above in their due order and relationship.
P. RAMSEY-KENT.
82 Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W.I.
MRS. LEGH OF LYME, CHESHIRE (12 S. iv. 48, 82, 141). I do not think it is possible that Lady Margaret Legh, to whom a monument is erected in Fulham Church, can be the person MR. LEONARD C. PRICE desires information about.
In ' Fulham Old and New,' vol. i. pp. 222-3, a lengthy description of her monu- ment is given, followed by a few bio- graphical details. She is said to have been the daughter of Sir Gilbert Gerard, Master of the Rolls, by his wife Anne, daughter and heiress of Thomas Radcliffe of Wilmerly. She was born in 1570. When only 16 she was married to Peter Legh, grandson and heir of Sir Peter Legh, of Lyme and Bradley. Peter Legh succeeded his grandfather in 1590, inheriting from him artistic tastes and much sound business capacity. He was knighted in 1598.
Lady Margaret Legh died on July 23, 1603, at the early age of 33. At Lyme Park, Disley, Cheshire, there is preserved a good contemporary portrait of her in the style of Jansen. L. H. CHAMBERS.
FRENCH REVOLUTION: "EAT CAKE" (12 S. iv. 272). Though this saying is often attributed to Marie Antoinette, it is older than the period of the French Revolution. Mr. Edward Latham in his * Famous Sayings and their Authors ' (Sonnenschein, 1904) quotes a sentence proving this from partie i. livre vi. of Rousseau's ' Confessions ' ; but Rousseau's description of the incident which
caused him to record the phrase is so-
interesting that it is worth giving pretty
fully :
" [Madame Warens) avoit a Grenoble une amie appel^e madame Deybens, dont le marf etoit ami de M. de Mably, grand-prevot a Lyon. M. Deybens me proposa 1'edncauon des enfans de M. de Mably : j'acceptai, et je partis pour Lyon ....
" J'avois tout-a-fait perdu chez maman le
tout des petites friponneries, parce que, tout tant a moi, je n'avois rien a voler. . . .mais. . . . j'aurois grand'peur de voler comme dans mon enfance si j'6tois sujet aux memes d6sirs. J'eua la preuve de cela chez M. de Mably. Environne" de petites choses volables que je ne regardois me"me pas, je m'avisai de convpiter un certain petit vin blanc d'Arbois tres-joli, dont quelques verres que par-ci par-la je buvois a table m'avoient fort affriande\ . . .11 resta toujours agr^able a boire, et 1'occasion fit que je m'en accommodai de temps en temps de quelques bouteilles pour boire a mon aise en mon parfciculier. Malheureusement je n'ai jamais pu boire sans manger. Comment faire pour avoir du pain ? II m'^toit impossible d'en mettre en reserve. En faire acheter par les laquais, c'6toit me d^celer, et presque insulter le maitre de la maison. En acheter moi-me'me,. je n'osai jamais. Un beau monsieur, I'6p6e au c6t4, aller chez un boulanger acheter un morceau de pain, cela se pouvoit-il ? Enfin je me rappelai le pis-aller d'une grande princesse a qui Ton disoit que le paysans n'avoient pas de pain, et qui r^pondit ; Qu'ils rrangent de la brioche."
Mr. Latham also states that Alphonse Karr (Les Guepes, April, 1843) alludes to a work dated 1760, where a Duchess of Tuscany is credited with the same remark. Karr's words are :
" Ce qui me paralt prouver a peu pres que le mot n'a pas t<I dit par Marie Antoinette, mais retrouv^ et mis en circulation contre elle."
Latham misquotes Karr as saying " Et mis en circulation par elle."
The * Confessions ' were written c. 1766, but the incident referred to by Rousseau occurred c. 1740. E. G. C.
ST. TRUNNION : HIS IDENTITY (12 S. v. 7). There can be little doubt, I think, that this name is a variant of Ninian, further disguised by the adhesion of the final consonant in " Saint." Ringan is a common variant of Ninian in our place-names ; e g., Killantrin- gan in Wigtownshire and Ayrshire. North Ronaldshay is a corruption of Rinan's Ey or Ninian' s Island. Ringan is still in use as a baptismal name in the south-west of" Scotland. The change of sound from n to r seems natural to the Goidhelic Celt. For example, cnoc, a hill, though it may appear as Knock in the Ordnance Survey maps, is now sounded crock or crochd, with a strong guttural, in the West Highlands.
