Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/553

 10 s. xi.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

457

desert island. One of the little griffins, wishing to reserve this delicate morsel for its own delecta- tion, caught the boy up in its talons and flew away to a neighbouring tree. The branch upon which it perched was too weak to support a double load, however, and as it broke the frightened griffin dropped Hagen into a thicket. Undismayed by the sharp thorns, Hagen quickly crept out of the griffin's reach and took refuge in a cave, where he found three little girls who had escaped from the griffins in the same way."

Other literary illustrations could be given to show that the griffin was not always a peaceful, treasure-guarding creature.

T. F.

Brooklyn, N.Y.

" KATS AND KITTLINGS ON PALM SUN-

DAY" (10 S. xi. 326). In the Catholic Church, where Palm Sunday is more ob- served than by any other portion of the community, the distribution of palms is of comparatively recent date, at least in many of the churches, where branchlets of fir and shoots bearing catkins were formerly substituted. This use of catkins may have procured for them the name of palms given to them by many people.

B. D. MOSELEY. Burslem.

MRS. CHARLOTTE ATKYNS : WALPOLES or ATHLONE (10 S. ix. 343). When I wrote my note I was not aware of M. Frederic Barbey's ' Madame Atkyns,' published in Paris in 1906, a translation of which appeared in London in 1906 under the title ' A Friend of Marie Antoinette.' It is full of informa- tion about the lady which cannot be sum- marized here ; but it is disfigured by various inaccuracies.

M. Barbey calls Edward Atkyns a baronet (M. Sardou in the Preface calls him a peer), and regards his wife as a native of Norfolk. It is clear that she was the youngest of the three daughters of Robert Walpole of Athlone J.P. for Westmeath, and afterwards for Roscommon, who died in Dublin in 1803, soon after making his will, dated 14 March, 1803 the Robert Walpole mentioned in my note. In the translation Madame Atkyns is very naturally (though erroneously) called Lady Atkyns throughout.

Her executor, N. W. Peach, predeceased her, dying 29 Aug., 1835. She died in a small flat on the first floor of 65, Rue de Lille, Paris, 2 Feb., 1836. She had lived there since the death of her mother, aged 86, in 1826.

Lady Jerningham's suggestion, that Mrs. Atkyns went to Lille in 1784 to avoid her creditors in England, seems absurd. Besides possessing the estates at Ketteringham, Mr.

and Mrs. Atkyns had a town house at 17, Park Lane, which Mrs. Atkyns, after becom- ing a widow in 1794, kept on for some years [M. Barbey erroneously supposes it belonged to some friend). When she disposed of this house, she took 12, Piccadilly.

I think M. Barbey is also wrong in saying that she was buried at Ketteringham, in accordance with the wish she had expressed in her will. At any rate, Miss Catherine Welch in her excellent book ' The Little Dauphin,' which Messrs. Methuen published last year, says at p. 255 :

" A tablet has lately been erected at Kettering- ham to commemorate the bravery of this devoted woman. The inscription reads ' In memory of Charlotte, daughter of Robert Walpole, and wife of Edward Atkyns, Esq., of Ketteringham. She was born 1758, and died at Paris 1836, where she lies in an unknown grave [italics mine]. This tablet was erected in 1907 by a few who sym- pathised with her wish to rest in this church.- She was the friend of Marie Antoinette, and made several brave attempts to rescue her from prison, and after that Queen's death strove to save the Dauphin of France.' "

As to the " several brave attempts," M. Barbey and Miss Frances Williams Wynne ('Diaries of a Lady of Quality,' 1864, pp. 216-19) seem to have known of only one. Who was the Comtesse Mac- namara, on whose authority this one rests ? The first Count Macnamara lived in Brittany, and was made a Count in 1782. I presume this was his wife.

I was in error in describing Frotte as an officer in the " Crown " Regiment. He was in the " Colonel-General's."

M. Barbey must be wrong in stating that Peltier was 65 when he died, if he is right in saying he was born 21 Oct., 1765. In that case he would be 59, for he died 31 March, 1825.

Is anything known of Antoine Quentin Atkyns (b. 19 March, 1791), illegitimate son of Edward Atkyns and Genevieve Leglen of Lille, beyond his christening ?

JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

"WATCHET" (10 S. xi 367, 412). The " philologist " who suggested " woad " as a possible origin of this interesting term is of no consequence now. Indeed, it is not un- likely that he may have changed his opinion, as even experts in etymology are entitled to do, for it is some years since he wrote what has already been quoted. It may, however, be added that his book is not without considerable pretensions to an authoritative character, and that it commands a wide respect. More germane to the imme- diate purpose than the identity of this