Insert said before "Queen" (1. 14) and cross out this in full; but it is to be found in Bonney's thus." For "to" (1. 15) read unto and insert and 'Fotheringhay,' together with the original Latin, before "did." Instead of "wise" (1. 19) read and has frequently been quoted,-by the Rev. wayes. Instead of "on" (1. 21) read upon. Insert W. D. Sweeting, in his pamphlet on Mary, said before "Queen" (1. 23). For " speravi " (1. 26) Queen of Scots, in Northamptonshire"; by myover her back" (1. 25) | self, in 'Fotheringhay' (p. 160); and by many read confido. Instead of " read upon the blocke. I had been puzzled with this others. It was written by Mr. Blackwood, whose sentence when I quoted it in my 'Fotheringhay' account of the embalming of the queen's body I (p. 129), and saw it so quoted in other books. Why have also quoted (p. 220). Bonney says that the should she have held her hands behind her back? "tablet was soon taken down, by whose order is But the words " upon the blocke" completely not known" (p. 126). I agree with Sir Duncan some brass or other memorial be change her last attitude. She evidently held the Campbell that " chain (with the crucifix) clasped in both her hands affixed to mark the spot" where Mary, Queen of under her chin; so that "her hands, which hold- Scots, was first buried; and this will probably be ing there still, had been cut off had they not been done with the result of the "Mary" subscription now being raised by ladies of the name of Mary, espied." This clears up a difficulty. Marie, Maria, &c., under the presidency of (Mary) Dowager Marchioness of Huntly; but I do not agree with Sir Duncan in hoping that the English translation of Mr. Blackwood's inscription will be engraved on the memorial brass. P. 112. In place of "At last "(1.1) read And at the last." Instead of "the" (1. 3) read an. P. 113. Insert an before "end" (1. 2). In place of "pulling off part of her dress" (1. 4) read pluckinge off her garters, an action that led to the discovery of her little Skye terrier. Insert crept before "under" (1. 5). Insert and before "which" (1. 6), for "could" read would, and for "by" read with. For "laid" (1. 8) read lay. Insert same before "dog" (1. 9). For "with" (1. 10) read in. For "which" (1. 12) read that. For "to" (1. 14) read unto. Insert such before "actions" (1. 20). Instead of "do" (1. 22) read dare unto. For "am" (1. 24) read have, and for "matter" read matters. In place of "thing" (1. 25) read whitt. Although some of these corrections and emendations may seem to be trivial, yet, taken as a whole, they will be found to greatly improve Mr. Wingand feld's narrative as it is printed by Bonney; this notice of them is justified by the world-wide interest taken in "R. W.'s" official report to Lord Burleigh. In the article to which I have referred, Mr. King alludes to this report in the following passage : "Such a place is Fotheringhay, where was enacted the closing scene of the most memorable drama witnessed by the sixteenth century; a drama of which the interest is still undiminished, since the characters of its main actors can still provoke a warmer partisanship than those of almost any other historical period; and of which the most striking passages have been preserved for us with the most life-like vigour and reality.' We now know that the "R. W." to whom we are indebted for that graphic narrative was R. Wingfield. Before the Marian Exhibition was closed a letter was addressed to the Globe newspaper by Sir Duncan Campbell, Bart., F.S. A. Scot., F.R.G.S., who stated that in "an old antiquarian work" he had found the translation of a Latin inscription formerly placed on the tomb of Mary, Queen of He quotes Scots, in Peterborough Cathedral. *Mr. Froude had retired from the editorship of Fraser the month before this article appeared, It is intended to form a permanent collection of Mary Stuart relics, &c., at the Peterborough CUTHBERT BEDE. Museum, and suitable donations will be welcomed. The account of the dress of Mary, Queen of Scots, at her execution, sent to you by the REV. JOHN PICKFORD, is interesting; but it is most surprising that your correspondent should say that "it tallies well with the description of the dress of Mary on the morning of her execution, graphically recorded by J. A. Froude in his History of England."" Mr. Froude has chosen to represent the last "brilliant acting moments of Mary's life as throughout"; and he even goes so far as to say that she was deprived of the assistance of her chaplain Camille du Préau for "fear of some religious melodrame." As to her dress, he says: "She stood on the black scaffold with the black figures all around her, bloodred from head to foot. Her reasons for adopting so extraordinary a costume must be left to conjecture. It is only certain that it must have been carefully studied, and that the pictorial effect must 'History,' vol, xii. p. 245, have been appalling.". As a matter of fact, Mary was not dressed in any one colour "from head to foot," nor did she wear anything "bloodred" at all. That which was the nearest to it in colour was a petticoat of dark red-brown. The passage from Hearne's 'Remains' says that her gown was of black satin, with short sleeves of satin, cut with a pair of sleeves of purple velvet, her kirtle of figured black satin, her pettiupper bodice with red satin and nether coat skirts of crimson velvet; and an inner waistcoat of white fustian." 66 The crimson velvet skirts were not bloodred, for Blackwood says that she wore "une juppe de vellours de cramoisi brun"; and the narrative called 'La Mort de la Royne d'Escosse' says the same. In the inventory of her things taken in the preceding June it is entered as "Une juppe de velloux cramoisy brun, bandée de passement noir, doublée de taffetas de couleur brune." In the inventory taken after her death it is not mentioned; and this because Sir Amias Poulet caused all that she wore at the execution to be burnt, lest the headsman should sell them as relics. If she had wanted to be "bloodred," she might have been so, for in the wardrobe there was "satin figuré incarnat," "escarlate," and "satin incarnate," which appear both in the June and February inventories. See 'The Letter-Books of Sir Amias Poulet,' p. 368. Blackwood says that when she was dressed "le plus proprement qu'elle put et mieux que de coutume," she said to her maids of honour, Jane Kennedy and Elspeth Curll, "Mes amies, je vous eusse laissé plustost cet accoustrement que celui d'hier, sinon qu'il faut que j'aille à la mort un peu honnorablement, et que j'aye quelque chose plus que le commun." Queen Mary was moved in this by the same feeling that induced Sir Thomas More,* * 66 as one that had bene inuited to a sollemne bankett, to change himselfe into his best apparrell, and put on his silke Chamlett gowne, which his intire friend Mr. Antonie Bonuise gaue him whilst he was in Tower." It is Mr. J. A. Froude, not Queen Mary, that has aimed at "pictorial effect." It is to be hoped that no painter, desiring to produce an historical picture, may be misled by him. JOHN MORRIS, S.J. The life and death of this queen calls forth, I believe, more genuine sympathy than that of any Sovereign who lived and died in England and Scotland. As every little particular of Mary's most sad death and its surroundings has a deep interest for students of her history, MR. PICKFORD's notes must have been read with that feeling which tends to bring moisture into most eyes. The last reference, however, contains such a startling statement that I feel more than diffidence in calling attention to it; first, because it appears to be such a glaring blunder; and, secondly, if it was so I suppose MR. PICKFORD would have referred to it. The passage I refer to is the date on which Mary was beheaded. It reads, "the 8 of February, 1586"! Now I thought the Queen of Scots was beheaded on Feb. 8, 1587. That there are differences of opinions upon many important parts of Mary's life we are all aware; but I never thought there existed any trustworthy authority for fixing the year of Mary's death as 1586. There are many little differences between the quotation given by MR. PICKFORD and 'The History of the Life and More's 'Life of More,' ch. xi. p. 351. Death of Mary Stuart' in my possession, printed RECENT DISCOVERIES AT THE MUSEUM IN at the museum founded by the late Sir Joseph Sir All that is known of the museum of Sir Joseph Banks goes to show that it contained a valuable library of books and an important herbarium, which the late President of the Royal Society ultimately bequeathed to the nation after the decease of his librarian, Robert Brown, who also held during his life the curatorship of the testator's herbarium in Soho Square. Brown was the recipient of an annuity of 200l. per annum ; but beyond these gifts Sir Joseph Banks made no other charitable bequests, which, considering his great wealth, is notable. The reason that no claim has hitherto been made to these relics, whether or not they were presents of Capt. Cook or were the special collection of their owner, is possibly attributable to their not having been mentioned by the testator in his will when he disposed of his library and herbarium. Another curious omission occurs in the will of Sir Joseph Banks: the name of the Royal Society, with which the testator was for over forty years intimately connected, he having filled the office of president of that society for that period, is altogether omitted. It is understood that arrangements have been made with the Agent-General for the Colonies, who has agreed to purchase the relics on behalf of the trustees of the Sydney Museum, New South Wales. If this account is correct, the trustees of the British Museum have nothing to regret, I venture to think, in having missed such an unimportant addition to their Ethnological Department, as from a scientific point of view the hoard is not believed to be of any peculiar value. But if upon inspection the collection proves to have more importance than is anticipated, the Ethnological Department of the Sydney Museum (naturally anxious to secure some mementoes of Capt. Cook) will be able to congratulate itself upon having secured its end without much expense or trouble being incurred. And a mere technicality of the English law favours such a purchase, the objects in question not answering the description of "treasure trove," so as to be claimable by the British Crown, not being gold, silver, plate, or bullion. In this respect the codes of several continental nations, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Spain, are at variance with the English law. These nations include discoveries such as the present in the category of treasure trove," and vest the exclusive right of possession in the sovereign of the country where the discovery happens to be made. H. A. H. GOODRIDGE, B.A. 93, Euston Road, W. ST. MILDRED MILD. In her able novel 'The Queen's House' Miss Lizzie Alldridge describes her charming heroine Alison Bayliss as proceeding on foot from Tower Hill to Cheapside to match some floss silk. The young lady is rather dévote, and enters, and at some length expatiates upon, sundry old City churches she is induced to examine during her outward walk. Returning, and naturally taking her homeward way through Lombard Street, her attention is called to the fact that divine service (on a weekday at noon) is being celebrated in the church of St. Edmund the King and Martyr in that thoroughfare, about half-way down on her left hand as she journeys from west to east. Alison enters to join in the devotions, which she, dévote as she is, regards as rather too pronounced in the ritualistic direction for her taste, she having contracted her tone of religious thought in the Lowlands of Scotland. The date assigned is important, and the internal evidence (with one-a doubtful-exception, to which it is the object of this query to call attention) chronologically consistent. Thus, it is well known that for the last six or seven years the service at St. Edmund's has been what is slangily termed ornate in its external characteristics, and in fact at so recent a date as August, 1887, a correspondence, remonstrative and defensive, on the subject was carried on with much vigour in the columns of the City Press. Now Miss Alldridge's work was published last year, 1886. Her scene is laid during the construction of the Inner Circle District Railway works, i. e., 1883-1885; thoroughly in accord this with the well-known character of the Lombard Street services then and now. So far so good. Miss Bayliss, as I said, finding the ceremonial too "high" for her, leaves the sacred edifice for another where the incumbent observes the opposite extreme of the Established Church service, and finds - apparently without deviating from her homeward route from Lombard Street to Trinity Square, Tower Hill-an old Georgian "threedecker" parochial place of worship, where the reverend rector, parson (in a Genevan gown), and clerk go through the now almost obsolete traditional duet. This church is obviously as much intended to be regarded as an actual building as St. Edmund's or St. Mary's Aldermary. The writer denominates it "Mildred Mild." Where was this church situate? Where did Miss Alldridge intend to represent it as situate? Let us examine by the logical process of exhaustion. There are (were) but two churches dedicated to Mildreda, the Saxon abbess and virgin; but two St. Mildreds in the whole City of London-one in Friday Street, the other in the Poultry. We may dismiss the first. Alison does not appear to have retraced her steps at least so far to the west as her original destination. Is she to be supposed to have diverged to the north and found the place of worship congenial to her taste in the Poultry? But then St. Mildred's, Poultry, had been demolished at least fifteen years at the date assigned to the action of the novel, and Miss Aldridge can nowhere else be convicted of anachronism. In short, which of the two St. Mildreds was known as Mildred Mild? Was either of them qualified by the gentle adjective? It is no use referring to Thornbury's Old and New London,' an exasperating book, which informs one amply on every subject but that on which one desires to acquire information. For instance, I have searched it in vain to ascertain when St. Mildred's in the Poultry was removed -a demolition which certainly occurred within a very few years after the triumphant entry of the Prince of Wales with his betrothed into London in the spring of 1863, long before Mr. Thornbury completed his work. That he or his continuator takes no notice of the destruction of the other St. Mildred's is not so much a matter of surprise, as this is an affair of, I believe, only the last two or three years. Was there in the City of London ever a church popularly referred to as "Mildred Mild"? If so, what historian of London thus alludes to it? NEMO. Temple. BEN JONSON: 'THE ALCHEMIST,' I. i. version which was a favourite with English children a hundred and fifty years ago. In a bookseller's catalogue, dated November 12, 1739, I find the following advertisement of the book: for the Innocent Entertainment of Children, and yet are "Mother Goose's Stories of Past Times, writ purposely so contrived by the Author, that not only Children, but those of Maturity have found in them uncommon Pleasure and Delight: As an Instance of which, the famous Perault [sic] was so taken with them that he made the Morals to them himself, knowing they tended to the Incouragement of Virtue, and the Depression of Vice; the former of which is ever rewarded in them, and the latter ever punished. "N.B.-This Book has met with such uncommon Encouragement in the French Tongue, that Ten Thousand could hardly satisfy the Call there has been for them; nor has the English Bookseller Reason to complain, the Second Edition being almost sold. It is likewise to be had in French and English, at 2s. 6d., and in This advertisement confirms the remarks I made in English only for 1s. 6d., adorned with Cuts." a former note (7th S. iv. 163) regarding the popuif any, copies of this little book, which was once larity of Perrault's tales. It is probable that few, selling by thousands, are in existence. I trust Mr. Lang has been fortunate enough to acquire one. Sub. You were once......the good Honest, plain livery-three-pound-thrum, that kept Your master's worship's house, here in the Friers. Neither Gifford nor, I believe, any other has explained the compound phrase here used, nor done more than give the technical sense of thrum in this taunting speech of Subtle to his accomplice Face. Thrum is the waste end or roughly fringed edging of a piece of woven cloth, and silk thrum the same in silks. But 31. would have been far too great a price for such a blue-coat livery as would befit the servant of a Love-wit, of one 66 now busy at his hop-yards." Again, if it represented his yearly wage, it was smaller than that usually given, which In the same volume of catalogues as that from was, if I remember rightly, 4l. Hence one is, I which I have taken the preceding extract, is an think, compelled to take thrum in a figurative and advertisement of Robert Chester's Love's Martyr; depreciatory sense, and to explain the sentence or, Rosalins Complaint,' 1601, priced at five shilthus:-You were, before you knew me, not a captive ancestors upon a book which ranks in the lings. Such was the value set by our unappreciatain with a sword at your side and money to spend, but a plain livery-suited man, one who had been offered and had joyfully accepted a less wage than usual, because you were, and were known to be, one of the waifs or dregs of humanity, a fag-dusty sheves of Mr. Samuel Baker's shop at end, the waste and refuse of the woven web of Chaucer's Head in Russell Street, Covent Garden, Society. BR. NICHOLSON. for he might find many a pearl of price there. W. F. PRIDEAUX. 'MOTHER GOOSE'S TALES.'-I learn from a newspaper paragraph that Mr. Andrew Lang has undertaken to edit for the Clarendon Press Perrault's 'Contes de ma Mère l'Oye.' This is good news for students of folk-lore. No serious attempt has yet been made by English scholars to subject these stories to the test of scientific treatment, although suggestive essays on the topic have been produced by M. Charles Deulin and other French folk-lorists-not always in the right direction. What we may expect from Mr. Lang is a careful examination of the thesis, which, to borrow the language of a recent writer in the Antiquary (xvi. 102), "declares that primitive ideas of life and primitive custom are, in truth, the origin of the chief incidents in folk-tales." What we may not expect is the projection of the poetic imagination of the nineteenth century into the mists that enshroud the genesis of popular fiction. If it is the intention of Mr. Lang to add an English translation of the Contes,' I may press the hope that he will employ the quaint old eyes of latter-day collectors with the Sonnets' or himself. Happy the man who fished among the "Venus and Adonis' of the great Shakespeare Calcutta. SAGE FROM THE SEA.-Is not this paragraph THE FLIGHT OF THE ALBATROSS: A MESfrom the Daily Telegraph of October 18 worthy of preservation in' N. & Q.' ?— The Office has information from the Governor of West Aus"By the usual official channels the French Foreign tralia relative to the wreck of a French vessel on Crozet Island. The news of the shipwreck reached Australia in a peculiar manner. A dead albatross was found on the tied around its neck, on which were inscribed the words, coast of Freemantle some months ago with a tin plate written in French, Thirteen shipwrecked persons have taken refuge on Crozet Island, Aug. 4, 1887.' governor, to whom the bird was brought, telegraphed immediately to the admiral at Sydney. It is believed masted vessel Tamaris, of Bordeaux, belonging to Bordes that the shipwrecked persons are the crew of the three& Son. She left that port last December for Noumea, and has not since been heard of. Her crew were thirteen in number. The Crozet and Marion Islands are situated to the south-east of the Cape of Good Hope in fortyex-abound with game, and fish are plentiful on the coasts, eight degrees of longitude and forty-six of latitude. They so that the sailors will scarcely have much suffering to undergo from hunger. The poor albatross had winged its flight over 2,000 miles of ocean in order to deliver its message at Freemantle." EDWARD DAKIN. Kingstanley, Glos. "THE GREAT ANTONIO."-Sir Thomas Browne, at the beginning of his 'Letter to a Friend,' has the following passage, "Since we find in that famous Story that Spirits themselves were fain to tell their Fellows at a distance, that the great Antonio was dead." Dr. Greenhill, in his note, suggests that Antonio is an error for Pan, because the wellknown story of the mysterious voice which was heard by the Egyptian pilot, as recorded by Plutarch, is undoubtedly referred to in the Vulgar Errors' (vii. 12). But "Antonio" is correct, and Sir Thomas Browne had in mind the narrative of George Sandys, the traveller, in his relation of a journey begun A.D. 1610. The following quotation is from the second edition, 1621, pp. 248-9: "It was told me at Naples by a countreyman of ours, and an old pentioner of the Popes, who was a youth in the dayes of King Henry, that it was then generally bruited throughout England, that master Gresham, a merchant, setting saile from Palermo, (where there then dwelt one Anthonio called the Rich, who at one time had two kingdomes morgaged vnto him by the King of Spaine), being crossed by contrary winds, was constrained to anchor vnder the lee of this Iland. Now about mid-day, when for certaine houres it accustomedly forbeareth to flame, he ascended the mountaine with eight of the sailers: and, approching as neare the vent as they durst; amongst other noises they heard a voice crie aloud. Dispatch, dispatch, the rich Antonio is a coming. Terrified herewith they descended and anon the mountaine againe euaporated fire. But from 80 dismall a place they made all the haste that they could: when the winds still thwarting their course, and desiring much to know more of this matter, they returned to Palermo. And forthwith enquiring of Antonio, it was told them that he was dead; and computing the time, did finde it to agree with the very instant that the voyce was heard by them. Gresham reported this at his returne, to the King: and the marriners being called before him, confirmed by oath the narration. In Gresham himselfe, as this Gentleman said, (for I no otherwise report it) it wrought so deepe an impression, that he gave ouer all traffique: distributing his goods, a part to his kinsfolke, and the rest to good vses; retaining onely a competency for himselfe and so spent the rest of his life in a solitary deuotion." WILLIAM ALDIS WRIGHT. WHAT WEIGHT CAN A MAN CARRY-In that generally excellent novel 'Ready-Money Mortiboy' occurs (vol. i. p. 270) the following passage:— "If his sacks had really been full of sovereigns, they must have contained 400,000l.-for they would have held 20,000l. apiece. And who could have carried the sacks there? I can carry 4,000 sovereigns. Dick Mortiboy could manage, at the outside, 7,000-he was almost a giant in strength. Hercules himself might walk off with 10,000 on his back." Now what did Mr. Besant (or Mr. Rice) mean by this estimate? I find that 3 sovereigns weigh about 1 oz. Therefore 56 sovereigns weigh about feat. 1 lb., and 4,000 sovereigns weigh about 71 lb. Is that all that an ordinary man can carry? Why, we hear of firemen, not supposed to have the strength of Hercules, carrying off people who weigh from 100 to 200 lb. on their shoulders, like sacks, every day, and thinking nothing of the A person who weighs 200 lb., if worth his weight in gold, would represent nearly 11,200 sovereigns; and yet no one can doubt that, if need were, a 14-stone man could be carried by another of fair strength, though no Hercules, from one room to another. Without inquiring what weight Topham could have carried, who once lifted his horse over a turnpike-gate, I cannot but think that Mr. Besant (or Mr. Rice) made a little mistake here. There would have been no great difficulty in the way of a couple of clerks carrying or wheeling sacks containing 20,000 sovereigns each into the room behind Mortiboy's counter at a pinch. JULIAN MARSHALL. "THE FOOL IN THE MIDDLE."-At a tennis party, the other day, a gentleman and lady were sitting on a garden-seat watching the players. When a very charming young lady had finished her game, the gentleman called to her, "Come and sit here; there's room for you." She replied, "I'll sit between you. You know the old saying, "The fool in the middle.'" I overheard the remark. The saying is new to me, and I cannot light upon it in the indexes to the various series of N. & Q.' nor in such books as Kelly's 'Proverbs of all Nations.' Therefore I here make a note of it. CUTHBERT Bede. [In the West Riding the rhyme was current Heigh diddle diddle, The fool in the middle. Loud wind roar'd, the rain fell fast, The white man yielded to the blast. He sat him down beneath our tree, For weary, sad, and faint was he. And, ah! no wife or mother's care For him the milk or corn prepare. The storm is o'er, the tempest past, And Mercy's voice has hush'd the blast. The wind is heard in whispers low; The white man far away must go; But ever in his heart will bear Remembrance of the negro's care. The name of the composer is not given. Maybe some correspondent can furnish it. St. John's Wood. GEORGE ELLIS. "A CROW'S AGE."-I heard this morning an apparently proverbial phrase that is new to me : |