484
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. XL JUNE 20, im
niece of the Duke of Buckingham. She
married Robert Douglas, Lord Dalkeith, who,
on the death of his father in 1648, became
eighth Earl of Morton. Lady Dalkeith was
governess to the Princess Henrietta, who,
on her birth at Exeter on 16 June, 1644, was
committed to her care. Her romantic rescue
of her royal charge, in the summer of 1646,
when, under the disguise of a beggar, "she
dressed the child in rags, and walked with it
[from Oatlands] to Dover, crossed the Straits
in safety, and delivered her to her mother," is
matter of history. Fuller, in 1645, dedicated
to Lady Dalkeith his * Good Thoughts in Bad
Times.' The Earl of Morton died in 1649,
and his wife in 1654. "Anne, Countess of
Morton," has had ascribed to her the com-
pilation of a small book of devotions, first
published in 1665 by " M. G., a lady of her
acquaintance, to whom she had recommended
it." Between 1665 and 1689 it went through
no fewer than fourteen editions. This quaint,
if not ludicrous expression occurs in it, " O
Lord, wilt thou humble thyself to hunt after
a neaT' She may, however, have been
familiar with the saying of St. Augustine
that " God disposes of gnats and fleas."
Mrs. Kirk. Granger states that a "Mrs [Anne] Kirk was one of the dressers to queen Henrietta Maria. She stood for this place in competition with Mrs. Neville, to whom she was preferred " (* Biog. Hist, of Eng.,' 1775, vol. ii. p. 391). Bishop King has ' An Elegy vpon Mrs. Kirk, unfortunately drowned in Thames ' (' Poems,' 1843, pp. 103-205). This lady was no doubt sufficiently well known at the time to merit such a tribute. Bishop King's poems were first published in 1657.
Mrs. Howard. Not identified ; but the author of * The Progress ' devotes a verse to a lady of this name :
Howard dared not a Servant own ; Her love she keeps from being known : Although she thinks the world too blind, Yet always cat will after kind.
Mrs. Beaumont. Probably a member of the family of Beaumont of Coleorton, in Leicestershire. The mother of the Duke of Buckingham, according to Sir Henry Wotton, was " daughter of Anthony Beaumont, of Coleorton, Esquire."
Mrs. Seamer. Perhaps an old form of spelling Seymour. I cannot identify this lady ; but one of the latter name has a place in ' The Progress':
Seymour, they say, did love too much, And did the given saddle grutch ; 'Twas her own fault : had she been wise, Both saddle and horse had been her prize.
My Lady Ann Feilding. Sister to "my
Lady Marquess," and second daughter of the
first Earl of Denbigh. She married Baptist
Noel, third Viscount Campden, but there was
no issue of the marriage. She died on
24 March, 1636. This peerage is now extinct.
The Mother of the Maydes. Most likely
Bridget, Lady Sanderson, daughter of Sir
Edward Tyrrell, Knt., and wife of Sir William
Sanderson, Gentleman of the Privy Chamber
of Charles II. She was mother of the maids
of honour to both Henrietta Maria and
Catherine of Braganza. She was born in
1592, and died on 17 January, 1681. When
' The Shepheard's Paradise ' was performed
assuming 1633 to have been the date of its
first representation she would be forty-one
years of age, sufficiently old to fill the posi-
tion assigned to her at Court. Her name was
evidently unknown to the author of 'The
Progress':
The Mother o' th' Maids almost forgot : Why? she 's obscure, I know her not: She came to court, 'cause she was poor ; Yet got her living easily before.
It must be borne in mind that the invari- able practice at this period was to give to all unmarried ladies, not coming within peerage rank, the courtesy title of "Mrs." A. S.
LATIN DIMINUTIVES. In 1896 there was a
correspondence in ' N. & Q.' on the ' Force
of Diminutives in Silver Latinity ' (see 8 th S.
ix. 487 ; x. 123, 319, 439). Notwithstanding
the heading, the discussion was not confined
to Latin of the Silver Age.
The following epitaph is an example of the use of diminutives in Late Latin. I take it from p. 304 of ' Monuments Sepulcralia, et In- scriptiones Publicse Privatseque Ducatus Bra- bantise,' collected by Franciscus Sweertius (Sweerts), Antuerpise, 1613. My copy has lost its title-page, but probably p. 304 is correct as a reference.
In obitum GVILLELMI VAN GRAMB,* Genere, Forma, ^Etate nobilis, egregii, Pueruli.
GVILLELMVLVS pulohellulus, lunone pulchra pulchrior, Genis Diones mollior, Collumbilique plumula
Nunc occidit,
dolor ! dolor !
Heu ! dulcior puellulus Qukm mel sit hyble aut saccarum, Nitore vincens candidos, Candore vincens cygnulos.
Sic occidit ?
dolor ! dolor !
- The last letter is blurred. The name may be
Grame or Gramp.