50
NOTES AJtfD QUEEIES. [9* s. vm. JULY 13, 1901.
Henry Sanson, late executioner of the Court
of Justice of Paris, who was a grandson of
Charles Henri Sanson, the executioner of the
king. This book was translated, and an
edition (two volumes in one) was published
by Messrs. Chatto & Windus in 1876. The
account of the execution is given exactly as
written by Charles Henri Sanson in his
diary, and forms chap. xxvi. of vol. i. pp. 272-
285. The extracts given below refer to the
subjects mentioned by ME. LINDSAY, and I
take it that the letter sold at Sotheby's was
the original or a copy of the one sent to the
Thermometre du Jour. When Martin Sanson,
a Brother, told the king that he must take
his coat off,
There is no necessity,' answered he; 'despatch me as I am now. 3 My brother insisted, and added that it was indispensably necessary to bind his hands. This last observation moved him greatly. He reddened, and exclaimed, ' What ! would you dare to touch me? Here is my coat, but do not lay a finger on me ! ' After saying this he took off his coat.
According to these memoirs, it does not appear that the king was prevented by those on the scaffold from speaking to the people. The noise made by the drums, on purpose to prevent any speech being heard, evidently troubled him, for he asked when he ascended the steps of the scaffold, "Are these drums going to sound for ever 1 "
"On reaching the platform, he advanced to the side where the crowd was the thickest, and made such an imperative sign that the drummers stopped for a moment. 'Frenchmen!' he exclaimed, in a strong voice, ' you see your king ready to die for you. May my blood cement your happiness ! I die innocent of what I am charged with ! ' He was about to continue when Santerre, who was at the head of his staff, ordered the drummers to beat, and nothing more could be heard."
It is probable that the executioner and his brothers were quite prepared to help any plan of rescue; they were all well armed under their coats, and had their pockets ful of bullets.
Thus died the unfortunate prince, who might have been saved by a thousand well-armed men and really I am at a loss to understand the notice which I received the day before the execution that some attempt at rescue was to be made Ihe slightest signal would have been sufficient to cause a diversion in his favour ; for if when Gros my assistant, showed the king's head to the multi tude some cries of triumph were uttered, the greater part of the crowd turned away with profound horror, buch is the account which my grandfathe" left us of the death of Louis XVI. It is in con formity with the letter which he had the coura^ to write to the Thermometre du Jour, to correc some erroneous allegations contained in that paper Ihenarratiye I have just given essentially differ irom that of M. de Lamartine in his 'Histoire de
Jirondins '; but, however great may be the authority
f the eminent historian, his account cannot, for
ccuracy, be compared with my grandfather's."
HERBERT SOUTHAM.
Shrewsbury.
IVEAGH, co. DOWN (9 th S. vii. 428). The )arony of Iveagh in the county of Down is )ronounced similarly to the word ivy, with he latter syllable not quite so short. Per- laps the form i-vay would best convey the proper sound. J. S. McTEAR.
I have heard this place-name pronounced v'-g, iv'-e, and Iv'-e-agh, the third syllable pronounced very softly. The last is, I believe, }he most correct. The present written form s evidently an attempt at writing Uibh- Eachach as pronounced. ALBERT GOUGH.
Glandore Gardens, Antrim Road, Belfast.
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER IN LATIN 8 th S. xi. 101, 289 ; 9 th S. vii. 474). The Latin tines on the Prayer Book at the last reference were written about 1850 by the Rev. Francis Kilvert, of Bath, and were published in a small volume of poems issued after his death. They were translated by his friend the Rev. W. L. Nichols, and the two were printed together and given to friends. The transla- tion is as follows :
To THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. Blest Book ! My Fathers' safeguard and their pride, In joy and grief alike a cherished guide ; My careless childhood's monitor ; the stay That marked to froward youth the better way ; Still may thy dear consolatory page Prove the best manual in declining age : With old familiar prayers my voice command, The hallowed volume trembling in my hand ; Soothe my last pang, receive my dying kiss, And my last tears, Faith's antepast of bliss.
HENRY N. ELLACOMBE.
The graceful Latin lines on the Book of Common Prayer were composed, with an English translation appended, by the Rev. W. L. Nichols, of Woodlands, near Nether Stowey, author of ' The Quantocks and their Associations.' The first line appeared origin- ally as MR. DEEDES quotes it, but some one having questioned the quantity of Pdtrum improperly, since Virgil in one place makes it long Mr. Nichols altered it to
Qui fueras nostrum decus et tutela Parentum.
W. T.
CROSIER AND PASTORAL STAFF (9 th S. vii. 387, 495). I have shown again and again by historical evidence that to call an arch- bishop's cross-staff a "crosier" is a nineteenth- century blunder which all at once acquired an extraordinary vitality, as indeed is shown
