Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 6.djvu/57

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12 S. VI. FEB., 1920.]


NOTES AND QUERIES.


45


E<s3x, but at present I cannot furnish the correct dates. His will, dated April 1, 1433, and proved June 12, 1433, is at Lambeth, and in it he desires burial in the Church of .'St. Mary, Somerset, where he was Rector. Brady in his ' Episcopal Succession ' says that there was no John Bishop of Dromore

  • t this time. Is any reader aware of any

Up-to-date published work, or MSS. which deals with these matters ? or the name of any liting person who is an authority on such ? It is quite possible that Dromorens may be a foreign bishopric. If so, where is it ?

J. W. FAWCETT. Consett, co. Durham.


OF SWANSEA (12 S. v. 322). This lady was Ann Kemble (Mrs. Curtis), a sister of Mrg. Siddons. A brief and unpleasing account of her is given in the ' Diet. Nat. Biog.' in the article on Mrs. Siddons. Further details may be found on p. 193 of

  • Mrs. Siddons ' (" Eminent Women Series ")

by Mrs. Arthur Kennard. C. S. C.

Mrs. Anne Hatton wrote about a dozen novels between 1810 and 1831, under the name of Anne of Swansea. She was the sister of Kemble the actor and of Mrs. Siddons. C. B. WHEELER.

Percy Fitzgerald's ' The Kembles ' devotes several pages to her.

ARCHIBALD SPARKE.

CAPT. ROBERT BOYLE : BRITISH PRIVA- TEER (12 S. v. 294, 329). This rubbish has been attributed to William Rufns Chetwood (fl. 1766) and to Benjamin Victor (fl. 1778), the first a dramatist and prompter, the other an ex-barber and poet laureate for Ireland. Chetwood seems to be the more popular claimant. The lives of both in the 'D.N.B.' are sufficiently depressing. See Lowndes' ' Bibliographer's Manual of English Litera- ture ' and Halkett and Laing's ' Dictionary of Anonymous and Pseudonymous Literature of Great Britain.' Lowndes, who has been followed by the late Mr. Joseph Knight, gives 1728 as the date of the first edition. It should be 1726 : there is a copy of it in the British Museum. The one claim to notice -of ' The Voyages and Adventures of Captain Robert Boyle ' is that the book is mentioned in the Essays of Elia.

" We had classics of our own, without being beholden to ' insolent Greece or haughty Rome,' that passed current among us ' Peter Wilkins,' ' The Adventures of the Hon. Capt. Robert Boyle,' The Fortunate Blue-coat Boy,' and the like." -* Christ's Hospital Five-and-Thirty Years Ago.'


Can there have been a confusion be- tween this passage and the ' Father of Chemistry and uncle to the Earl of Cork ' ? Mr. E. V. Lucas, in his edition of the Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, justly charac- terises the book as "a blend of unconvincing travel and some rather free narrative : a piece of sheer hackwork to meet a certain market." EDWARD BENSLY.

The authorship of the ' Adventures ' of . the above was dealt with at 10 S. xii, 417, and 11 S. i, 73, with references to earlier volumes of ' N. & Q.' W. B. H.

Allebone, in his ' Dictionary of Authors," states, " This fictitious narrative was written by Benjamin Victor."

However, some years ago I ran across an item which states that the author was R. Chetwood, which was so conclusive that I so entered it in the catalogue of my library.

I cannot recall at this date the full parti- culars which led to the above entry.

GEORGE MERRYWEATHEB.

Illinois.

CISTERCIAN ORDER (12 S. v. 320). May I call the attention of the REV. H. P. HART to the following work, if he is not already acquainted with it, viz., ' Contributions to a History of the Cistercian Houses of Devon,' by J. Brooking Rowe, F.S.A., &c. It consists of 198 quarto pages and was printed by Brendon & Son in 1878.

I saw a copy recently in the window of a secondhand bookseller. W. S. B. H.

NORTH OF ENGLAND (12 S. v. 317). If there is any part of this country which may be technically described as the North of England, it is probably that portion which lies within the jurisdiction of the Norroy King-of-Arms. His territory is the area lying north of the Trent. A. T. W.

LEPER'S WINDOWS : Low SIDE WINDOW (12 S. vi. 14). Where a window of this kind exists it is generally to be found in the lower part of one of the side walls of a chancel. The lower half, or the whole of it being usually closed with a shutter. Its ritualistic or other use is still uncertain. A good deal has been written about the subject of these windows during the last fifty years. The chief theories concerning these windows are these : (a) They may be leper's windows, but this is highly unlikely. The idea that English mediaeval lepers were communicated through them, or through them watched the priest celebrate Mass,