Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/195

 ii. AUG. 30.19M.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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eproduction of the MS. page. On the left hand, near the top, is the name Nevill, and below it the canting motto of the family, " Ne vile velis," lead- ing to the supposition that the documents belonged to Sir Henry Nevill, Bacon's nephew and junior by three years. Then there is " Honorificabiletudine," which, a little further expanded, attracts attention in * Love's Labour 's Lost.' A rimed Latin quatrain, known to Anthony Bacon, in leonine verse, is in later editions of 'Les Bigarrures' of Le Seigneur des Accords, but not in the earlier :

Multis annis iani transactis,

Nulla tides est in pactis,

Mell in ore. Verba lactis,

ffell in corde. ffraus in factis.

Bacon's name, spelt ordinarily Mr. Frauncis Bacon, occurs often. What is most interesting is that with the mention of 'Richard II.' and 'Richard III.' are coupled the words, strangely combined, "By M r ffrauncis William Shakespeare." Underneath comes again "see your William Shakespeare. Shak Sh Sh Shakesp," with many similar contrac- tions. Now on this we pass no comment. The MSS. and the calligraphy are supposed, for re_asons we need not advance, to belong to about 1597, a date the significance of which will be recognized by those who study the book. Meantime the history of the documents is satisfactory. It seems as though they were once in possession of John Anstis the elder, 1669-1744, and John Anstis the younger, 1708-54, consecutive or joint Garter Kings of Anns, whence they passed into the possession of the Duke of Northumberland. Bishop Percy, the famous editor of the Percy MS., during his stay at North- umberland House, seems to have placed them in the box in which they reposed presumably after the fire at the ducal mansion, in the course of which they seem to have been partially consumed. Mr. John Bruce, a well-known antiquary and editor of State Papers, and a contributor to our columns, examined them in 1869 at the desire of the duke, and left a description of them, now reprinted in the introduction. In 1870 Mr. Spedding, the biographer and editor of Bacon, printed a few pages under the title of ' A Conference of Pleasure.' This is all that we have space or need to tell. We congratulate Messrs. Longman on their courage in printing in facsimile a unique treasure, Mr. Burgoyne on the manner in which his task has been accomplished, and all concerned in the production. Most of all do we congratulate scholarship on the acquisition of a book that will greatly exercise all concerned in Shake- spearian pursuits. Our readers will need no com- ment from us to turn their attention to a work by future notes on which our columns are bound to benefit.

The Jacobite, Petrage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Grant* of Honour. Extracted, by permission, from the Stuart Papers now in possession of His Majesty the King at Windsor Castle, and Supple- mented by Biographical and Genealogical Notes, by the Marquis of Ruvigny and Raineval. (Edin- burgh, T. C. & E. C. Jack.)

TIIK Marquis of Ruvigny and Raineval, the author of 'The Blood Royal of Britain,' has once more added greatly to our knowledge by producing a Jacobite peerage which, like its predecessor, is up to the highest standard of modern research. ^Ye welcome it quite as gladly as we did the previous volume. In some respects it is even more valuable, for any special line of facts regarding the royal

descent of any one of the families which possess this distinction might have been worked out inde- pendently, though at a great expenditure of time and money, which most of us could ill afford to devote to such a purpose ; but no one, at whatever cost, would have been able to produce a work such as this, with any pretension to completeness or accuracy, who had not had the fullest freedom of access to the Stuart Papers, which are His Majesty's personal property and are most carefully guarded.

A Royal Commission was appointed upwards of seventy years ago to examine and report upon these documents, and among other things it recommended that a list of the honours conferred by the exiled monarchs should be published. This excellent piece of advice, like so much else that has from time to time been suggested by bodies of a like nature, was unheeded. This must at the time have been felt as a great hardship by- all students of eighteenth-century history, but we are far from sure that all was not for the best. Had a Jacobite peerage been issued in those days, even by royal authority, it would have caused irritation among some of the members o the old Revolution families who had not forgotten- the scare of the '45 : and, what is of more con- sequence, we may be sure it \vould have been executed in a very imperfect manner when con- trasted with the excellent work before us. Then> it is pretty certain that only the titles, names, and residences of the grantees would have been given, without the pedigrees showing who would be the inheritors at the present day had a Stuart restora- tion been not a mere dream, but, as their votaries longed for, a fact of history. We need not say that most of them are now extinct. The male lines have, failed ; but there are a few persons still alive who- are heirs to the succession were their claims valid- Some, at least, of the recipients of what have been designated "these vain honours" must have fully- believed in their legality. John, the second Earl of Tenterden (of Jacobite creation), when offered a peerage by the first Hanoverian English king, " in- sisted on his right to the titles that had been con- ferred upon his father by King James [3 May, 1692], with precedence according to that creation.'"

These titles are almost forgotten now except by- historians and a few old families who still cherish the memory of the sufferings of their ancestors for the lost cause. We wonder whether any of the original patents exist in this country. If there are any they would be most interesting historical, records, but such "treasonable" documents would have been dangerous things to keep. We fear air have perished along with the Patent Rolls on which, we presume, they were recorded.

As well as peers, baronets, and knights we have also a list of those persons to whom Declarations of Noblesse were given. These documents require explanation, as we have had nothing analagous in this country. They were frequently required when marriages were in contemplation, and many posts in Italy and France, though open to the followers of the exiled family, could only be held by those proving that they were of gentle blood, and in most cases this could only be done by a certificate from the exiled king. The earliest of these documents is dated 15 October, 1602, the latest, 27 January, 1760. We have carefully examined this long list of names. We need not say that many of them are unknown to us, but of those we are able to identify we believe all were truly of gentle blood.