368
NOTES AND QUERIES.
[9 th S. II. Nov. 5, '98.
of his murder on 12 Oct., 1678. Are any
of these still preserved in any public
museums or in the private collections of
English antiquaries ? If so, detailed accounts
of them should be put on record in ' N. & Q.'
T. CANN HJJGHES, M.A. Lancaster.
FELIBRE. What is the etymology of this word ; and how does it come to mean a Proven- yal poet ? In ' Nerto,' a few lines from the end, Mistral calls himself " le felibre de Maillane," his native place, in the Bouches-du-Rh6ne. The word is in M. Gasc's ' Dictionary,' editions 1889 and 1897, as well as " Felibrige, m. asso- ciation of the Provengal poets." It is not in Spiers^ 1869, nor in Ptoubaud, 1881. In Mis- tral's original Provengal the word is not accented, but it is so in the French translation "en regard." From the fact of its being in M. Gasc's ' Dictionary ' it would seem to be a Proven9al word which has been annexed by the French. Is this so ?
JONATHAN BOUCHIEE.
[Littr, ' Supplement,' says, under "Etymologic," " On raconte que Mistral recitant une poesie popu- laire oil felibre se trouve au sens de docteur, ce mot plut aux convives, qui 1'adopterent."]
BANDELLO. In "A Dictionary of General Biography, by William L. K. Gates, fourth edition, London, Longmans, 1885," it is said that Matteo Bandello, the Italian novelist, "was born at Gastelnuovo in 1480," and that he "died 1561." In "The Novels of Matteo Bandello, Bishop of Agen, now first done into English Prose and Verse by John Payne, London, 1890, printed for theVillon Society,' it is said (' Biographical Note,' p. vii) that ht was "born at Castelnuovo (di Scrivia) in Piedmont, then a part of Lombardy, a smal town situate near Torona, at the junction o the Scrivia (called by him Schirmia) anc the Po," but that " the date of his birth is no known, but, from various circumstances, i is probable that he must have been born in the penultimate decade of the fifteenth cen tury." At p. xi Mr. Payne says :
"The date of Bandello's death is unknown, th general opinion being that he died in 1561, but it i probable that he lived until shortly before (if no till after) the appearance, in 1573, of 'the fourth par of his novels, and we find prefixed thereto a lette of his composition to the reader, in which (as als in the dedication of the first story) he gives som explanation of the circumstances of its publication
Query, Which is right ?
J. B. MONTGOMERIE-FLEMING. Kelvinside House, Glasgow.
BEKESBOURNE, KENT. At a short distanc from the railway station at Bekesbourne is
uined chapel. I should be glad of any in-
ormation concerning the same.
W. SHARP. Exeter.
SWAKELEYS, NEAR UXBRIDGE. In the
Builder for 23 July last there is an interesting account of a visit paid by some of the nembers of the Architectural Association to his old house. According to Lysons, the existing house Avas built by Sir Edmund Wright in 1638, became the property of Sir Tames Harrington by his marriage with the laughter of Sir Edmund Wright, and was old by him* to Sir Robert Vyner, sometime jord Mayor of London, in 1665. Pepys was sntertained there by Sir B. Vyner on 7 Sep- tember, 1665. But an older house existed pre- viously to the date of the re-erection of the Duilding by Sir E. Wright. Norden, in his Speculum Britannise,' ed. 1723, p. 39, says that Swakeleys was "sometime a house of the Brockeyes, nowe Sir Thomas Sherleyes." I am anxious to know if any vestiges of this older louse are still in existence, and particularly whether any remains of a moat are visible. I should also be glad to learn in what manor Swakeleys was situated. The Sherley family formerly held large possessions in Middlesex.
W. F. PRIDEAUX. 45, Pall Mall, S.W.
ANGELO BENEDETTO VENTURA exhibited his invention, the "Harp Ventura," at the National Repository, Royal Mews, Charing Cross, where he played upon it in public. What is the date of the performance ; what notice is there of it ; and what music did Ventura play ? The patent for the invention was obtained in 1828. There are three songs in the British Museum with accompaniments for the instrument. What other music was published for it ; and where is it possible to obtain one or more solos, printed or MS. ? Ventura wrote for the harp, lute, and Spanish guitar. When and where was he born, and when and where did he die 1
R. B. ARMSTRONG.
FAMILY OP FURLY, ESSEX. I am anxious to trace the descendants of Benjamin Furly, the author and well - known Quaker in his day (though later on he renounced Quakerism), and friend of Locke and Shaf tes- bury. His life is given in the ' Dictionary of National Biography,' born 1636, died 1714. He resided much in Rotterdam, but came from Colchester, Essex, and his sons Ben- johan (born 1681) and John, merchants, also
- According to Pepys, the house was sold by Sir
J. Harrington's lady to Sir R. Vyner.
