Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/252

 206 NOTES AND QUERIES. [io» s. iv. SEPT. 9, UK. By the courtesy of Mr. Nelson Wise I was enabled to visit the ground and gathered the following particulars. What had apparently been about eighty separate interments were found in an oblong excavation measuring approximately 50 ft. by 20 ft., situated close to the wall on the southern extremity of the Bartholomew Hospital property, and extend- ing partly under the old swimming bath of the school. The highest grave was not more than 8 ft. from the ground level. The in- evitable sinking had brought the remains together in a chaotic mass that, except for certain indications, would justify the belief in its having been a plague pit. But the depth and nature of the soil, the fairly evident separate interments, and, what is of most importance, the improbability of the grounds of a school being selected for the purpose, are sufficient to dismiss such a supposition. The suggestion that this was the graveyard of the Grey Friars Monastery is of greater interest. Dugdale (' Monasticon,' p. 1515) renders very little assistance; Stow (' Survey,' Thoras's edition, p. 119) says nothing of monu- ments or burials outside the church : Besant {' London,' p. 83) identifies the burial-ground as being covered by the quadrangle ; and Weever, in giving the total number interred from the first foundation to the Dissolution as 663 persons, only refers to the church. So, at least by ordinary authorities, there is no identification of this recently discovered burial-ground ; but probably other records beyoncfmy ken support this very reasonable supposition. ALECK ABRAHAMS. 39, Hillmarton Road, N. THE " BLACK " BOURBONS. — Readers of ' N. & Q.' may like to see an article, ' Les Bourbons de 1'Inde,' in La Revue de Paris of 1 September. It is based on Col. Kin- caid's ' Historical Sketch of the Indian Bourbon Family,' but adds the facts of their present life. B. B. WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct. COL. PITT, 1711. —Can any one tell me who was the Col. Pitt mentioned in the ' Memoirs of General Peter H. Bruce' (written 1755), and whom he married ? General Bruce, after stating that, owing to the Czarina's insistence, all the wives of the officers accompanied the expedition against the Turks in 1711, tells the follow- ing romantic adventure which happened on the return march :— " We decamped on 2 July At our setting out Col. Pitt had the misfortune to lose his wife and daughter, both beautiful women. By the breaking of one of their coach wheels they were left so far in the rear that the Tartars seized and carried them off. The Colonel addressed himself to the Grand Vizier, who ordered a strict inquiry to be made, but to no purpose. The Colonel—being afterwards informed that they were both carried to Constantinople and presented to the Grand Seignor—obtained a pass and went there in search of them, and getting acquainted with a Jew doctor, who was physician to the iSeraglio, the doctor told him there had been two such ladies lately presented to the Sultan, but that when any of the sex were once taken into the Seraglio they wore never suffered to come out again. The Colonel nevertheless tried every expedient he could devise to recover his wife if he could not get both, till, becoming outrageous by repeated disappointment, and very clamorous, they shut him up in a dungeon, and it was with much difficulty he got released by the intercession of some of the Ambassadors at the Court, and was after- wards told by the Jew doctor that they both died of the plague, with which information he was obliged to content himself and return home." CONSTANCE RUSSELL. ROBERT HARLEY, EARL OF OXFORD.—At p. 95 of Mr. E. S. Roscoe's ' Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford,' appears the statement, " She [Abigail Masham] was Harley's cousin." Sir Edward Harley, father to Robert, created Earl of Oxford, married Abigail, daughter of Nathaniel Stephens, of Essing- ton, co. Gloucester, Esq. I presume that this Nathaniel was a son of Richard Stephens, who was the great- grandfather of Abigail Hill, afterwards Lady Masham, who, as is well known, was first cousin to Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough. Can any of your readers confirm this ? If Nathaniel was not the son of Richard, how is the relationship said to have existed between Abigail, Lady Masham, and Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, accounted for t At p. 183 of the same volume an extract is given of a letter written by Robert Harley to nis brother Nathaniel at Aleppo, dated 13 April, 1716. What is known of this Nathaniel ? Various peerages I have examined make no mention of him. FRANCIS H. RELTON. 9, Broughton Road, Thornton Heath. QUILLIN OR QUILLAN : NAME AND ARMS.— I should be glad if some of the many readers of 'N. & Q.' could tell me the meaning or origin of the name Quillin or Quillan. In earlier times it was written Huibhilin and Ugilin. The family is supposed to be of English