Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/449

 io s. XIL NOV. 6, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

369

Margery Tremayle was the daughter of John Tremayle of Blackmore, son of Thomas Tremayle (M.P. for Bridgwater in 1472), by his wife Margaret, daughter of

Trivett of Dunster, Somerset, and grandson on John Tremayle of Sidbury, Devon. I am inclined to think that Blackmore may have come to the Tremayle family through this Trivett alliance. Is there any known connexion between the Tressevelen and Trivett families ? D. K. T.

DRINKING TOBACCO. Most, if not all, European nations hold a cigarette between the first and second fingers, and speak of " smoking tobacco." All Orientals hold the cigarette between the thumb and first finger at an entirely different angle, in a position which to us seems awkward, and they speak of " drinking tobacco." I think that Sir Walter Ralegh " drank " tobacco. When did the altered locution begin ?

FRANK SCHLOESSER.

Kew Green.

STIVERTON ARMS AND FAMILY. Is the crest of the Stiverton coat of arms to be found in the British Museum ? If so, under what heading ? The arms are Or, three fusils conjoined in fesse, vairy arg. and gu.

I have looked for the name Stiverton (Steeton) in all books on heraldry in the Bradford Reference Library, and the only mention is in Burke's ' Armory.' Here the arms are given as Sa., a chev. betw. three hawks' lures ar.

Dr. Whitaker's ' Craven ' states that the effigy in Kildwick Church is supposed to be that of " Sir Robert de Stiverton, but the armour is of later date than 1307.

The following notes are from a recently published ' History of Kildwick Church ' :

"10 Kal. Jan. 1326. D's Rob. fil. Alex, de Estburne." P. 47.

" A suggestion has been made that this vicar was possibly a grandson of Sir Robert de Stiverton, the Crusader, whose monument is in Kildwick Church. It' so, will this account for the ancient custom of calling Sir Robert ' the old Lord of Eastburn ' ? Even to this day he is commonly spoken of as 't'owdlord.'" P. 49.

"It has been said that the knight, 'Lord de Estburn,' died of the wounds he received in this

famous battle, along with others but as against

this, the date is given on his tomb 1307." P. 14.

"John de Styveton was Lord of the Manor 9 Edw. II. Norn. Vill." P. 144.

" 1318. John was a commissioner of array for the wapentake of Staincliffe. Vol. I. Parl. writs in British Museum." P. 146.

"39 Henry III. Inquest on the lands of R. de Sty ve tori.''

J. C. E.

" CAN " v. " CANNOT." Is the use of can for cannot in such sentences as " Do not make more noise than you can help " universal in England ? The dictionaries condemn the usage as erroneous, but many American literary authorities assert that the lexico- graphers are behind the times. The ' N.E.D.' gives examples of the erroneous use, but none of the correct form. T. F.

Brooklyn, N.Y.

[We certainly regard the sentence cited as common in English usage.]

MRS. H. BEECHER STOWE ON BYRON.

(10 S. xii. 328.)

' THE TRUE STORY OF LADY BYRON'S LIFE, by Mrs. H. Beecher Stowe, from Lady- Byron's Own Statements and Memoranda,' appeared in The Atlantic Monthly and also in Macmillaris Magazine for September, 1869. The sale of the latter was so great that four editions were issued within a few days. The Athenceum did not believe Mrs. Stowe's " true story," and on the 4th of September expressed " indignant sorrow " at the statements

"Mrs. Stowe has thought proper to publish in justification of the wife of the poet a noble woman who needed no apologist. None but painful con- sequences can result from this indiscreet, not to say

inexcusable utterance The story told by Mrs.

Stowe is irreconcilable with the terms of respect in which Lady Byron always spoke of her husband.

The Times, strange to say, had a sym- pathetic review, and The Athenceum of the 30th of October states that it was " absurdly attributed to Mrs. Norton.'' This, with " a not unbecoming earnestness," she denied, and " declared her antagonism to its sentiments." The Athenceum also refers to an article which appeared in The Quarterly, and which

"shows that Lady Byron was addressing Lord Byron's sister, as her dear sister and comforter, at bhe very time when, according to Mrs. Stowe, Lady Byron was charging her husband and his halt-sister with a crime outraging God and nature."

After the sensation caused by Mrs. Stowe's story, which is now shown to be untrue, it passed into comparative oblivion
 * or thirty-six years, when it was revived

3y, of all men, the grandson of the poet, the late Lord Lovelace (who died on the 28th of August, 1906), in a book, of which only a limited number were issued, entitled ' Astarte : a Fragment of Truth concerning Gleorge Gordon Byron, sixth Lord Byron.'