Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/15

 10 s. x. JULY 4, 1908.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

4 Dialogus inter Academicum et Rusticum,' recited in the Theatre at this inauguration. In it, as in many other classical productions of that date, the penultimate vowel of Academia is made short. This year 1759 was styled from the great victories of the British arms " Annus Mirabilis."

JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

" FAIR-COPY." The earliest illustrative quotation for fair-copy in * H.E.D.' is of 1840 as a verb and 1873 as a noun ; but the combination would seem to be of a decidedly anterior date to either. Mr. George Bernard Shaw, in the preface to his published play Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga, says :
 * The Devil's Disciple,' referring to General

" The explanation of his defeat given in the play is founded on a passage quoted by De Fonblanque from Fitzmaurice's Life of Lord Shelburne as follows : ' Lord George Germain, having among other peculiarities a particular dislike to be put out of his way on any occasion, had arranged to call at his office on his way to the country to sign the dispatches ; but as those addressed to Howe had not been fair-copied, and he was not disposed to be balked of his projected visit to Kent, they were not signed then, and were forgotten on his return home.' "

Sir George Trevelyan, in his lately pub- lished volume on 'The American Revolu- tion/ in doubting the truth of the story, employs the same word fair-copied :

"It is stated that a letter, giving Sir William Howe positive and explicit orders to co-operate with Burgoyne, had been drafted in the English War Office at the end of March ; but that Germain went out of town before it was fair-copied, and forgot to sign and send it. To any one who has had charge of a public department with Permanent Secretaries, and Private Secretaries, to keep him in mind of his duties the story is unbelievable. It has its origin in a private memoir by Lord Shel- burne ; but Lord Shelburne, when jotting down reminiscences in the seclusion of his study, was no safe authority for anecdotes reflecting ' upon the public men of his own time."

There should be no difficulty, therefore, in tracing the word beyond 1840.

ALFRED F. ROBBINS.

FIRST DUKE OF GORDON'S BIRTH. In the absence of a definite date it is usually said that the first Duke was " about ten years of age" when he succeeded his father in 1653. As a matter of fact, his father and mother were married in October, 1644. But a much better test is afforded by the letter the Duke wrote to Lauderdale on 4 July, 1664 (Add. MS. 23, 122, f. 80): " Now, my Lord, having allmost attined to the 14 year of my agge complit, I ame resolved to chose my curators for the better

managing of my esteat." That would make 1650 his birth-year.

J. M. BULLOCH. 118, Pall Mall.

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.

WOTTON HOUSE. The death of Mr. Evelyn of Wotton reminds me to revive a query which he could not answer. Who built Wotton ? D.

PRIOR AND HIS CHLOE. Most people, I imagine, take their view of Prior and of his Chloe from Spence's ' Anecdotes ' and Johnson's * Lives.' I have, however, lately met with the following paragraph on the subject, in which a very different colour is given to the commonly-received opinion :

" It was not Pope, however, that, of all the Queen Anne men, Wesley admired most, but rather Prior. He quotes him repeatedly in the ' Journal ' ; and when Samuel Johnson, in the newly issued * Lives of the Poets,' spoke in terms of depreciation both of Prior's character and of his verse, Wesley, then in his eightieth year, came to the defence of his favourite poet in a most spirited paper. Prior, he asserts, was not half so bad a man as his critics have painted him ; while, as to the Chloe of the charming lyrics, who had been represented as no better than she should be, Wesley declares, on the authority of his brother Samuel, who knew her well, that she was an estimable Miss Taylor of West- minster, who refused the advances of the poet while he was living, and spent hours weeping at his tomb after he was dead." From C. T. Win- chester's 'Life of Wesley.'

One would be glad to have this account confirmed, especially as regards " Chloe." Surely such charming verses as Prior's were not inspired by a worthless woman.

T. M. W.

DAVIDSON CLAN. I should be greatly obliged to any of your readers who would give me information on the following points connected with the clan Davidson :

1. The ancestry of Pillichattan Mor, the ancestor of Clann Dhai, Clann Mhurich, &c.

2. Any information concerning the dis- putes between the Davidsons and MacPher- sons, particularly as to which son of Pilli- chattan Mor, Dai Dubh was.

3. Any information, or the names of any books or articles, about the Davidsons since 1386.