Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/75

 ws.ii.jLM.vic.im] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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turn of the last line, which is an essential point of the whole thing, and which gives the flavour of Yorkshire humour. It runs :

Here 's to all on us, May we ne'er want nowt : noan on us. Nor me, nawther.

There is a much more comprehensive ver- sion, if it should not be considered a different toast, in which the proposer stands, and says :

Nah, then, hey ye all filled yer pots an' mugs? Here's to t' King an' Queen, an' all their folk. An 1 here 's to t' owd chap [the host] an all his folk. An' here 's to all ye, an' all ya'r folk. An' here 's to me, an' all my folk. An' me an' all [also].

It would be interesting to know the spread of these and other old toasts which are said to be local, especially if the evidence could be carried back fifty years or so.

H. SNOWDEN WARD. Hadlow, Kent.

FAIR MAID OF KENT (10 th S. i. 289, 374). I am much obliged for MR. BAYLEY'S answer to my query about the descendants of Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent. I should be grateful if he, or any other contributor to * N. & Q.,' could tell me where I could find particulars as to any children of her daughters, Joan, Duchess of Brittany, and Maude, Countess of St. Pol. HELGA.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

A Later Pepys : the Correspondence of Sir William Welter Pepy*. Bart., Master in Chancery. Edited by Alice C. G. Gaussen. 2 vols. (Lane.) "A LATER Pepys" Sir William Weller Pepys un- questionably was, and it would be absurd to dream of calling the title of the work now issued a mis- nomer. Misleading, however, it so far is that those will be disappointed who dream of finding in the new Pepys any trace or suggestion of the old. In addition to their claims, which are con- siderable, to genealogical interest, the contents of the two volumes cast some light upon literary history. Miss (?) Gaussen, by whom the somewhat laborious task of editing the letters has been accomplished, is a descendant of the closely asso- ciated families of Pepys and Franks, with whom she has to deal, many of the letters she now pub- lishes being from the collection of Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks, a former and well -remem- bered president of the Society of Antiquaries. Abundant material has been supplied her, and has been treated by one with much knowledge and reverence. Sir William Weller Pepys, the special subject of her work, she looks upon as the third distinguished member of the family, the first in order of time being Sir Richard Pepys, in 1655 Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, and in order of celebrity Samuel Pepys, the diarist. It is pardonable, per- haps even commendable, in a gentlewoman to fail

in grasping the real greatness of Samuel Pepys. What is said concerning him is at least inadequate. It is otherwise with Sir William, whose character seems to have been beyond reproach. So far as we trace him in literature, he seems chiefly remarkable for the brutal attack made upon him by Dr. John- son, whose wrath he had incurred by failing to- appreciate his 'Life of Lyttelton.' Miss Burney gives an animated account of a scene at a dinner at the Thrales' at Streatham : "I never saw Dr. Johnson really in a passion but then ; and dreadful indeed it was to see. I wished myself away a thousand times. It was a frightful scene. He so- red, poor Mr. Pepys so pale " (see Boswell, ed. Hill, iv. 65, note). Johnson on another occasion rebuked Mrs. Thrale for praising Pepys overmuch : "Now there is Pepys ; you praised that man with such disproportion that 1 was incited to lessen him, perhaps more than he deserves. His blood is upon- your head" (ibid., iv. 82; also the present work, i. 125). Subsequently Johnson made it up and treated his former antagonist with more considera- tion than he often exhibited. Much similar matter is narrated in these volumes and constitutes very entertaining reading. Pepys was mixed up with blue-stocking society, and his intimates in- cluded Mrs. Montagu, Mrs. Chapone, and Hannah More. To his great correspondent W r illiam Franks he commends as indispensable the study of Locke, telling him that until this is accomplished he must suspend all opinion about rights of the people or prerogatives of kings. Hume's^ ' History ' he con- siders a mere apology for the Stewarts. He was, indeed, as Sir Nathaniel Wraxall calls him, "a- staunch Whig." A good account is given of the origin and conduct of the " Bas Bleu " society, for which we must refer the reader to chap. iii. Some excellent stories are told. One of the best (from Wraxall) is that concerning Sir Joseph Yorke and the Due de Chartres. As space cannot be afforded for quotation, we can but refer the reader to vol. ii. p. 9. A special feature in the volumes consists of the illustrations, which are numerous and admir- able. The choice of portraits is especially to be commended. The work is an indispensable supple- ment to the ' Genealogy of the Pepys Family' of the Hon. Walter Courtenay Pepys, and constitutes a valuable addition to any historical and biographical library. It is tastefully and admirably got up.

Slang and its Analogues, Past and Present. Com-

S'led and edited by John S. Farmer and W. E. enley. Vol. VII. Part III. (Privately printed.) WITH the present part, our notice of which has been accidentally retarded, the work compiled with so much industry, erudition, and intelligence by Messrs. Farmer and Henley is completed. We have yet to receive the covers for the later volumes, and the concluding portions of the revision of the first volume are still in prospect : but the entire alphabet is finished, and the labour is virtually complete. How much interest in it is inspired we are in a condition to know, since applications for knowledge where to subscribe, which we are not always in a position to supply, still reach us from time to time. The present portion extends from U to Z. We can but notice a few things that strike us on perusal, and cannot attempt anything in the shape of a survey. It is curious to find the first instance of use of HW//X'//"//s as applied to boots taken from Keats. Of well it is said its elliptical use, especially at the beginning of sentences, is