Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/379

 10*8. iv. OCT. 14, loos.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 313 him in this discussion ; but in conclusion my correspondent writes :— " In any case J. D. S.'s note stands. I suppose he may have been mistaken in thinking that the Kinmet-Curran letters formed the whole of the pile he saw burnt—perhaps they were contained in it along with papers which for some reason were also being burnt. Bat the substance of his note would remain, and must still be accounted for." I would merely add that I have not said anything insisting upon the note being received pedantically. What I have been insistent upon is that canons of modern historical criticism should be applied ; and it seems to me that the note would stand the tests of historians acknowledged to be im- partial ; though, unless for the purpose of helping to bear out other evidence as to the leniency of Government, I do not suppose it would be brought forward. I fear that it may be inferred from FRAN- CESCA'S remarks that Dr. Sire's notes are the general expression of his own opinions, as though he claimed to be a judge of Irish history at the time of the rebellion of 1798 and the insurrection of 1803, and of the characters of some individuals concerned. I give copies of all the notes, and I think it will be admitted they appear to be the out- come of a natural instinct to record facts or circumstances which were impressed on his memory. The 'D.N.B.' shows he did not discover the papers until after his father's death. Curran must then have been dead a quarter of a century (and many, if not all, of Miss Sarah Curran's immediate relatives probably were dead also). Be that as it may, there was no likelihood of relatives of Miss Curran or of Emmet seeing the note as to the correspondence. When Dr. Sirr ultimately decided that the papers should go to Trinity College, Dublin. they were delivered over as he had arranged them. Though the authorities of the College at first kept them very guardedly, Sir John Gray and Mr. Madden had access to them. I beHeve Dr. Sirr's note about Aliss Cn Iran's and Emmet's correspondence never appeared in print until I sent it to 'N. & Q.' Dr. Sirr cannot be held to have carefully defeated his father's humane intentions, as FRANCESCA suggests. Even if he gave a second thought about the notes, he could not have erased them, I believe, without mutilating the letters or the album. Copies of Dr. Sirr's Notes. Note re letter of Mr. Secretary Cooke to Major Sirr (undated). — " Bravo Brennan once a writer for the republican party, and acquainted with all their characters. He wrote in the Hib* Journal very cutting replies to articles in the Press News- paper, exposing their intentions, £c., under the- signature of Whipcord.—J. D. Sirr." Note re an anonymous letter to Major Sirr.— "Anonymous threatening letter, of which he re- ceived many." Note re a letter from Sir *** to Major Sirr (circa 15 May, 1815).—" Sir ***, Bart., unfortunately was not always sober, or always in his senses. At other periods he was as affec'0 and confiding towards my father as he was now unreasonable and absurd.— J. D. S." Note re a letter from Lord Dufferin to Major Sirr, 26 Aug., 1821.—"This was a most extraordinary exhibition to put up in Donnybrook Fair. It was at the period of His Majesty's visit there. Removed by Police to Head police office, as calculated to dis- turb the public tranquillity." Note re combination against paying tithes.—Major Sirr sent down by Govt., accompanied by one of the clerks [this is the gist of the note, I believe]. " A poor man who attended market was waylaid and beat, being mistaken for Cox, who took a con- trary road home in the evening after a walk." Besides, there are the notes to Mr. Wick- ham's letter re the correspondence of Miss Curran and Emmet and to a communication re O'Brien. I believe these are all, but ana not absolutely positive. H. SIRR. ' THE CLOISTER AND THE HEARTH ' (10th S. iv. 249).—The account of the German inn (chap. xxiv. pp. 132 sqq. in Chatto & Windus's " fine-paper edition, 1900) and that of the Burguudian inn in chap, xxxiii. should be closely compared with Erasmus's colloquy ' Diversoria.' It will be found that Charles Eeade was indebted to this in many points. The shipwreck in chap. Ivii. is largely based on Erasmus's ' Naufragium.' There are various isolated touches in Keade's book for which he seems to have dra-vn on the ' Colloquise,' e.g. cf. p. 634, chap. Ixxxiv., with ' Adolescens et Scortum.' It is tempting to indicate the novelist's gains from other sources, such as Shake- speare's comedies and 'Coryat's Crudities,' but that would be passing beyond the imme- diate subject of the query. EDWARD BENSLY. Aldeburgh. Some of the material on which Charles- Reade so admirably wrought came from the ' Colloquies ' of Erasmus. ST. SWITHIN. ' DON QUIXOTE,' 1595-6 (10th S.iv. 107, 158). —Surely the title alone of the volumes is- sufficient to show that they are not of the dates mentioned, as it is in French instead of Spanish. The information given on p. 107 is too meagre for any one to form an opinion. But, as has often been said before in ' N. &Q./ nobody can tell the value of anything with- out seeing and inspecting. I have looked at