458
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. x. DEO. 6, 1902,
IRISH AND SCOTCH OLD HOUSES (9 th S. x.
408). H. B. R.'s query is a little ambiguous.
Does he mean, by "seeking the owners" of
the houses he names, that he wants to know
to whom they belong? Kylemore, I think,
is still in the possession of its creator,
Mr. Mitchell Henry, though it is for sale ;
Clifden Castle (formerly owned by the
D'Arcys) belongs to Mr. J. J. Eyre; Rowallan
Castle, Ayrshire, was sold a year ago by Lord
Loudoun to Mr. Cameron-Corbett, M.P. ;
Craufurdland (not Craufordland) Castle is
Col. Houison- Crawford's ; Culzean (not Gul-
zean) Castle the Marquis of Ailsa's ; and
Kilkerran House Sir James Fergusson's.
Some of these houses, I may add, are not old
at all certainly not old enough to have any
history, striking or otherwise.
D. OSWALD HUNTER-BLAIR, O.S.B.
Fort Augustus, N.B.
ADMIRAL EDWARDS (9 th S. x. 387). Accord- ing to Haydn (' Book of Dignities,' 1894) Capt. Richard Edwards was Governor of Newfound- land 1757-60; was promoted rear-admiral in 1779 ; and died in 1794. C. S. WARD.
Wootton St. Lawrence, Basingstoke.
NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.
Paris in 1789-94 ' Farewell Letters of Victims of the Guillotine. By John Gold worth Alger. (Allen.) NOT the first contribution to a knowledge of the French Revolution is this by Mr. Alger. It is, however, in all respects the most valuable he has yet given us. English students of the most troublous period in French history are under a great obliga- tion to a writer who has simplified for them many matters concerning which precise information is not easily obtainable, though a full comprehension of them is indispensable to exact knowledge, and has almost for the first time revealed to what extent English and American subjects participated in the dreams or the excesses of the revolutionaries. There are few Englishmen, indeed, who will not rise from a perusal of Mr. Alger's work with a more intelligent appreciation of the aspirations and efforts of the dreamers and visionaries by whom schemes of human perfection were advocated, and even with modified ideas concerning all participants in the movement whose motives were not abject and interested or bloodthirsty and animal. The second part of Mr. Alger's title is to some extent to be regretted, since it sends the reader off on a false quest. Farewell letters of victims of the guillotine constitute but a portion, and that not the most interesting or valuable, of the book. None the less, the prominence assigned them is answer- able for the fact that most, if not all, the notices of the book that have appeared are occupied prin- cipally with them. Other matter, however, even if less dramatic, is more helpful. The first chapter, in some respects the most useful of all, gives a description of Paris at the immediately pre-Revo-
lutionary epoch. This is illustrated by a plan, the
direct purpose of which is to show the Paris
Sections, which are dealt with in chap. iv. The
intermediate chapters describe the various deputa-
tions to the Assemblies, and the growth, proceed-
ings, and extinction of the Commune, the separate
functions of which are not generally understood.
Chaps, v. and vi. describe, from journalistic ex-
tracts and other sources, life in Paris during and
immediately subsequent to the Terror. Two chap-
ters out of twelve are assigned to prison documents,
and one only of these is occupied with the farewell
letters of the guillotined. Among the deputations
to the Assembly the place of honour belongs to that
on 19 June, signed by thirty-five commissaries of all
nations, wherein Englishmen, Americans, Germans,
Russians, Italians, Spaniards, Swiss, Orientals of
various sorts, &c. " free men," as they called
themselves, "whose country is in chains" ask
leave to take part in the great national celebration,
and to post themselves within the Champ de Mars,
when they will raise the cap of liberty "with
transports [which] will be a pledge of the early
deliverance of their unhappy fellow-citizens." The
first signature to this document is that of Ana-
charsis Clootz. Another name appended to it is
that of Casanova, presumably a brother of the self-
styled Chevalier de Seingalt. The English signers
are Price, Procter, Page, and Townsend, concerning
whom information, partly conjectural, is supplied.
The cloven hoof had not then been shown, and the
proceedings which were to convert admiration into
loathing and contempt were yet remote. The first
signature to an American address is that of the
well-known Paul Jones. Paoli, the liberator,
headed a deputation of Corsicans. On 15 July,
1793, Bellay (a negro), Mills (a mulatto), and Dupay
(a white), deputies from Martinique, were " kissed
by the President of the Convention, which next day
decreed the abolition of slavery." On 17 Novem-
ber, 1793, Gobel. constitutional Bishop of Paris,
and his vicars-general renounced their ecclesiastical
status. The Commune was, of course, a rival of,
and on some occasions superior to, the Convention.
By its orders the names Roi, Heine, and others were
abolished at cards and chess. Its most notorious
function was the custody of the royal family in the
Temple. At one time the allowance to these and
to other prisoners was fairly liberal, and the charge
was brought that people, from interested motives,
aspired to confinement. It is satisfactory bo see
the Committee of the Paris Section refusing to
intercede for the release of the infamous Marquis
de Sade. It is amusing to find how bent were the
journalists upon an invasion of England, animated
by the belief that the people would rise to welcome
the invaders. After describing a " fraternal dinner '
of sixty people at Villette, an ebullient journalist
named Bacon declares " the dinner is calculated to
make MM. Pitt and Coburg tremble with fear. :>
Another journalist, signing " Pourvoyeur," sees no
need for an invasion. Before it can be carried out,
" George and his minister Pitt," with some lords,
will have their heads cut off. A third, more en-
lightened, sees that, if the Convention fell into the
trap of invading England, the Republic would be
ruined. We could give innumerable illustrations
of the value and interest of the book, but considera-
tions of space prohibit. We have not even reached
the prison documents. The book is one which the
general reader should peruse and the student should
place on his shelves.
