Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/571

 10 s. XL JUNE 12, im] NOTES AND QUERIES.

471

shire is in John Kersley Fowler's volumes on the county life of Buckinghamshire in the second half of the last century. Two other sets of verses on the Straits are given in his volume, entitled ' Recollections of Old Country Life' (1894), p. 65. I reproduce them for the benefit of your readers.

The first of these, written by Horace Lloyd, was sent to Mr. Fowler on 4 March, 1874. It ran as follows :

With the farmer of Aylesbury they sat down to

dine

On his excellent cheer and his capital wine ; The mirth it ran high, and the fun was no slacker ;

The laughter went round

With a loud cheering sound, And they ne'er gave a thought to the Straits of

Malacca.

Alas for life ! Before the month of March was out poor Horace Lloyd was dead !

The second set was composed by Fowler himself, and sent in reply. Its inferiority is evident :

Old Hodge drank his beer, and axed, with a sneer. " Where be these here Straits of Malicker ?

Dang Gladstone's sour wine !

Gi'e me malt and hop-bine, And don't tax a poor man on his licker ! "

W. P. COURTNEY.

THE TREATY OF TILSIT: COLIN A. MACKENZIE (10 S. viii. 469, 510 ; ix. 31, 96, 135, 154, 171, 237; x. 11). Since writing my last reply on this subject, I find in that interesting book published this year, ' George Canning and his Friends,' by Josceline Bagot (vol. ii. note, p. 404), the following :

"Lady Sarah Spencer, as she then was, writing to her Father from Spencer House on January 2, 1808, says : 'Lord Glastonbury (son of Right Hon.. J. Grenville), is in town, grumbling as usual, but he quite approves of the Copenhagen business, and says Lord G. _L. Gower had got possession (for 20,00$. ) of the original treaty of Tilsit, and that one of the secret articles stipulated that the Danish fleet should be employed against us, which induced Ministers to adopt such vigorous measures."

Lady Sarah Spencer was a daughter of the second Earl Spencer, and was the well- known Lady Lyttelton, a Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria, and acted as governess to the Queen's children. Her letters were privately printed.

I shall be glad to know if there is any reference anywhere, except in this private letter, to the alleged payment of 20,000/. by Lord G. L. Gower, by means of which he got to know of the secret clause in the treaty. The debate in the House of Com- mons on the seizure of the Danish fleet, with Canning's defence, was in February, 1808.

I should like to add, as I am writing on this subject, that a letter from Canning's private secretary, Mr. Ross, to the Earl of Malmesbury, of 23 July, 1807, conclusively shows that McKenzie left Memel on 4 July, and arrived in London on 23 July, 1807. See ' Letters of the First Earl of Malmesbuiy,' vol. ii. p. 27. HARRY B. POLAND.

Inner Temple.

EARL OF WESTMORLAND'S ELOPEMENT WITH Miss CHILD (10 S. x. 248, 293). The specific question intended by MR. MABERLY PHILLIPS has not, I think, been answered.

Very possibly the " illustrated journal " which he wanted to hear of is The Lady's Realm of February, 1898 (vol. iii. p. 480), in which is " Gretna Green and Fleet Marriages, By Mrs. Stepney Rawson " (Maud Rawson), containing inter alia a short account of the elopement.

The following illustrations accompany the text :

"Gretna Green, 1812."

" Facsimile of the only Fleet marriage certificate known. Found by C. Van Noorden, and now in the British Museum."

"The ReV 1 M r Keith, D.D."

"A Fleet Marriage Party. (From a, print of the time.)"

" A Mile from Gretna."

" A False Alarm on the Road to Gretna. Only the Mail."

"Gretna Green, or the Red-hot Marriage."

" M r Robert Elliot."

"Joseph Paisley, the celebrated Gretna Green Parson. Dec d January 9, 1811, aged 79."

"John Fane, Earl of Westmoreland."

" The Marriage-House, Gretna : 1842."

The fifth and sixth, representing elope- ments on the road, do not appear to refer to any particular events. These two, as well as the first and seventh, are signed " P. Naumann." ROBERT PIERPOENT.

LEG GROWING AFTER DEATH (10 S. X.

506 ; xi. 72). After giving an account of the processions formed by phantoms of drowned seamen, who are believed to visit churches or chapels on the coast of Brittany, Sebillot tells the following story :

" Sometimes nothing is seen, but appeals and prayers always coming from the same place are heard. These are the wrecked, buried in the sands of the bay of the Trepasse's, who demand a handful of consecrated earth. Certain dead do not rest quietly till this satisfaction has been accorded to them. The hand of a Dutch corsair, who was buried on the shore of the island of Loscouet, came out of the sand several times, till the day on which some spadefuls of earth from the cemetery of Saint-Sauveur were thrown on his grave." ' Le Folk-lore de France,' ii. 138.

M. P.