138
NOTES AND QUERIES. p* s. x. AUG. ie, 1902.
Daily Mail that there are descendants living of
De Foe's daughter Sophia, who in 1729 married
Henry Baker, F.R.S. and F.S.A. There are omis-
sions and mistakes in Mr. C. E. Baker's letter, as
to which I need not trouble you ; but perhaps
B>u will allow me to say that I am not yet the late e Foe Baker." Daily Mail, 7 July.
JOHN T. PAGE. West Haddon, Northamptonshire.
LEGEND OF LADY ALICE LEA (9 th S. x. 68). Under the general heading 'Folk-Lore,' and with the more extended title, 'The First Mole in Cornwall ; a Morality from the Stowe of Morwenna, in the Rocky Land,' a correspondent signing himself H., and obviously Hawker of Morwenstowe, con- tributed to a very early number (1 st S. ii. 225) a detailed and characteristic sketch of the legend of Lady Alice Lea and her ill-starred love for Sir Beville Grenville, of Stowe.
ALFRED F. BOBBINS.
D. K. T. may find this told, and probably by Mr. Hawker, in 1 st S. ii. 225, or in ' Choice Notes from " Notes and Queries " : Folk- Lore,' pp. 48-51. ST. SWITHIN.
THACKERAY'S RESIDENCES IN LONDON (9 th S. ix. 508). The best authority on matters concerning W. M. Thackeray (his daughter) knows nothing of this supposed residence of her father, nor the reason of the tablet being placed on 28, Clerkenwell Road. She says : "My father was eleven and thirteen in 1822-24, and at school. I don't know what it means. Please write and say so."
HENRIETTA COLE.
96, Philbeach Gardens, S.W.
"UPWARDS OF " (9 th S. ix. 446, 516 ; x. 38). I must demur to the assertion that in the West the above phrase is commonly used in the sense of "almost." "I've agot up a score " in my experience would mean " close upon a score " = a score more or less gener- ally in the sense of rather less. But " upwards of a score" would not be used by dialect speakers, or any other class, unless at least some excess of number over twenty was intended to be understood.
JAMES R. BRAMBLE, F.S.A.
Weston-super-Mare.
NOTES ON BOOKS, Ac.
Sohrab and Rustem : the Epic Theme of a Combat between Father and Son. By Murray Anthony Potter, A.M. (Nutt.)
To the "Grimm Library" of Mr. Nutt, of which it forms No. 14, has been added a study of the genesis and use in literature and popular tradition of the
,heme of combat between father and son, the most
amiliar aspect of which is the story of Sohrab and
rlustem. Originally accepted at Harvard Univer-
sity in 1899 as a doctorate thesis, this essay easily
inks itself with ' The Legend of Perseus ' of Mr.
Sartland, the studies in Arthurian romance of Miss
Jessie L. Weston, and similar works with which it
s now conjoined. That combats of this or a similar
nature were so common in literature few who have
not looked closely into the question can have sur-
mised. In his opening chapter Mr. Potter points
to its occurrence in Tasso's ' Jerusalem Delivered,'
Shakespeare s ' King Henry VI.,' Voltaire's ' Hen-
riade,' Lillo's ' Fatal Curiosity,' Miiller's ' Der
neun und zwanzigste Februar,' 'Lucrece Borgia,'
&c., by Victor Hugo, and in other works. To the
classical scholar the story of Odysseus and Tele-
gonus, his son by Circe, at once occurs, as fulfilling
all the requirements of the legend. The most
characteristic forms are found in the famous ' Hilde-
brandslied' and the Persian 'Shah Numeh' episode
of Sohrab and Rustem. Mr. Potter does not confine
himself to the fight between father and son, but deals
with the combats generally, which would have been
avoided by the proclamation of a name. Briefly
summarized, the points of the tale are : a man
embraces, generally at her request, a woman whom
his beauty or bravery has attracted, and rides
away, leaving her to give birth to a child of heroic
mould. Branded as a bastard by his fellows, the
youth obtains from his mother the secret of his
parentage, takes arms, and starts in search of his
Father. The pair meet, generally in ignorance of
the relationship between them, and fight, because
each thinks it unworthy to give up his name. The
result of the combat is different in different cases.
What strikes our author as most suggestive in the
story, innumerable variants of which he gives, are
the "uncertainty of paternity connected with the
man's marriage from home, the callous neglect by
the hero of his wife or mistress and child, the
prominent role played by the woman in seduction
or other matters, and the departure of the son in
search of his father. An explanation of these things
he seeks in exogamy and matriarchy. Very inge-
nious, if not always conclusive, are his arguments,
and the chapters in which he deals with these
points are the most interesting in his volume. It
is only in recent years that Australasian folk-lore has
been scientifically studied, and a vast mass of
matter available for his purpose has come under
Mr. Potter's observation ana been diligently em-
ployed. The book cannot, indeed, be neglected by
the folk-lorist, the anthropologist, or the student
of comparative mythology, and its decisions, even
when they fail to carry conviction, will command
respect.
History of the Parish of Buxhall, in the County of Suffolk. By W. A. Copinger, LL.LX, F.S.A., &c. (Sotheran & Co.)
SELDOM can a parish so small have had accorded it honours such as those of which Buxhall is the recipient. According to the latest authority to which we have access, Buxhall, which is situated some three miles west of Stowmarket, contains 2,560 acres and a population of 401 souls. To it is dedicated a handsome quarto volume of over three hundred and twenty pages, with twenty-four full- page illustrations and a large parish map, contain- ing all the field-names, which bring the average to not far short of a page per inhabitant. This is not
