Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/529

 io" s. ii. NOV. -j.i, low.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

437

Hazely-brickearth is a kind of loam found in some parts of Essex, and "hazel-oil" is & severe beating (with a hazel rod).

J. HOLDEN AlACMlCHAEL. [See 'H.E.D.' for "hazel-oil."]

BOOK OF LEGAL PRECEDENTS, 1725-50 (10 th S. ii. 365). The Samuel Barr here mentioned is a misreading for Samuel Parr, father of Dr. Samuel Parr the scholar, and son-in-law and successor at Harrow of Leonard Mignard, descendant of one of the French refugees of 1685. The elder Samuel was an ardent Jacobite, and in 1745 gave 800^. nearly his whole fortune to the Young Pretender.

A. R. BAYLEY.

'PRAYER FOR INDIFFERENCE' (10 th S. ii. 268, 335). I noted at the Salford Free Reference Library a query *A Prayer for Indifference.' I enclose you what is wanted.

H. J. OLDHAM.

24, Gay thorn Street, Salford.

[We have received the poems, which appear in Elegant Extracts,' book ii. pp. 421, 4(>3, and have duly returned them. We regret that the poems are far too long to give them space in our pages. They are three in number : ' A Prayer for Indiffer- ence ' ; * The Fairy's Answer to Mrs. Greville's

Prayer for Indifference,' by the Countess of C ;

and 'Address to Indifference,' by Mrs. Yearsley.]

GOVERNOR STEPHENSON OF BENGAL (10 th S. ii. 348). No one bearing the name of Stephenson or Stevenson was Governor of Bengal from the date that office was created in July, 1682, up to 20 October, 1774, when the office was merged into that of Governor- General of India.

There was in Bengal a sea-captain, Francis Stevenson, who perished in the Black Hole of Calcutta, or was killed in the fighting previous to that tragedy in June, 1756 ; and it is, of course, quite possible that there may have been another person of the same name who acted as chief, or upon the council, of one of the factories which the East India Company established in Bengal during the earlier part of the eighteenth century, such as Kasimbazar, Hugli, Dacca, &c., and was locally called governor. The undersigned would gladly help S. to identify the person he seeks if he would communicate more par- ticulars, privately or otherwise.

F. DE H. L.

MANOR COURT OF EDWINSTOWE, NOTTS (10 th S. ii. 226, 353). The above wills are deposited at the Nottingham Probate Registry ; among them is an administration of Christo- pher Capperne, 1641, a copy of which could be procured on application to the registrar. NATHANIEL HONE.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &o. Three Generation* of Fa*' mating Women, and olh> r

Sketches from Family History. By Lady Russell.

With Illustrations. (Longmans & Co.) Tins lovely and deeply interesting volume is another contribution to family and general history by Con- stance Charlotte Eliza, Lady Russell, the historian of Swallowfield, her picturesque and historical family residence, and a well-known and highly- valued contributor to our pages. For her ' Swallow- field and its Owners,' a companion volume to the present, the reader is referred to 9 th S. vii. 498, a notice which, if he does not own the earlier volume, he is counselled to read before undertaking the perusal of the present work. As to how far the contents are made up from family records we are unable to state. More knowledge than we possess or than is easily accessible is necessary to trace the ramifications of the Russell pedigree. Lady Rufesell herself is a daughter of Lord Arthur Lennox, and a grandchild of a Duke of Richmond. Through this parentage she is thus brought into closest association with half the peerage, and much of the oldest nobility of Eng- land and France is closely connected with her family. No information as to the connexion with the Russells of the highborn and lovely ladies with whom she deals is directly afforded, though such is easily obtained in perusal ; her preface occupies but one short page, tells one nothing that is personal, and is only remarkable for a display of modesty which is as characteristic as uncommon. In behalf of a work that is delightful to read, and enables us to mix with those most distinguished in the records of history, literature, and fashion during the eigh- teenth century a work that the man of taste as well as the student will place on his shelves with a glow of satisfaction Lady Russell only says that she trusts that her sketches "will be found beneath criticism, ' For who would break a fly upon the wheel ? ' " The italics in this remarkable utterance are ours.

The three generations of "fascinating women" consist of the Hon. Mary Bellenden, Caroline/ Countess of Ailesbury, and the Hon. Mrs. Darner. The first of these, the

Smiling Mary, soft and fair as down, of Gay, was the most distinguished of the " four Beautys " named by "the town, or perhaps them- selves," as maids of honour on the arrival, in 1714, of Caroline of Anspach, Princess of Wales. To this post she was duly appointed. Pope, after dining with her at Hampton Court, gives a sad account of the depressing life she had to lead. Over her annoyances she seems to have triumphed, since in 4 The Excellent New Ballad ' it is told how Bellenden we needs must praise,

Who, as down the stairs she jumps, Sings "O'er the hills and far away.

Despising doleful dumps.

Compensations of a sort there were. Gay read to Mary Belleuden and Molly Lepell 'The Beggar V Opera,' and Swift communicated to them 'Gulli- ver's Travels.' Lord Hervey called Mary "the most agreeable, the most insinuating, and tlu- most likeable woman of her time"; and tin Prince, afterwards George II., sought to make love