Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/549

. iv. DEC. 2,1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 455 •about Thomson than he manages to be at the second reference. One would be glad to learn from him (1) where the poet asserts that frost is noisy in fulfilling its ministry; and <2) where he mentions that he " heard, or heard of, air growling under ice during a frost." It is, perhaps, the case that publishers do not issue leather-bound reprints of Thomson's works ; but for this peculiarity of treatment they may probably have substantial reasons that satisfy themselves. But a poet cannot be considered altogether neglected, apart from the question of leather, who was admir- ably edited five years ago for " The Uanter bury Poets " series by Mr. William Bayne, and included, a little earlier, among the English classics published at the Clarendon Press. These are but two of the notable services rendered in latter days to the author of 'The Seasons,' who has besides been the subject of a memoir in the series entitled 41 Famous Scots," and who will presently be enrolled in the distinguished company that constitutes Messrs. Macmillan's "English Men of Letters." Scholars know what M. Morel has done for Thomson. THOMAS BAYNE. DUELLING IN GERMANY (10th S. iv. 388).— Was the code of honour ever consistent any- where? M. P. can hardly expect it to be more so in Germany than elsewhere. The instance to which reference is made is com- paratively trivial. Within the memory of those now living, an officer in the English army would be cashiered if he refused a challenge, and imprisoned if he accepted it; while if he killed his adversary he would be liable to be hanged, and his seconds as well. This, I believe, was the state of the case so late as the forties, if not later. It was probably not so always. Duelling was at one period, no •doubt, recognized by law; but there arrives eventually a time when the relics of a dying barbarism come into violent collision with the germs of a growing civilization, and, sooner or later, one set of forces must retire. The problem was solved, and the difficulty removed, by Queen Victoria. J. FOSTER PALMER. DETACHED BELFRIES (10th S. iv. 207, 290, 415).—I may supplement what has been said of the belfry at Pembridge by the description given of it by Mr. A. G. Bradley in his 'In the March and Borderland':— " The lower part is of stone and octagonal; the main part above is of wood supported by huge pillars composed of single tree trunks. Its outside appearance is of the Pagoda type, and it is said to I/': of fourteenth-century date Full of time-worn beams and timber, it was not unsuggestive of the inside of some ancient water mill, but for the pendent bell ropes, while in the chaos of wood- work above there was both a chime and a clock." E. MAKSTON. St. Dunstan's House. If MR. CLIPPINGDALE'S suggestion were well founded, detached belfries would usually be of earlier date than others, which, however, is not the case. J- T. F. Durham. ' NICHOLAS NICKLEBY ' (10th S. i. 16G, 217, 274).—The REV. J. WILLCOCK, in mentioning at the first reference a slip of Dickens in this tale, observes that he has never seen it noticed anywhere. But this oversight was pointed out by a contributor to bcribner's Magazine several years ago (vol. xx. p. 641), in an article on Dickensian localities, <fec.:— " By an oversight—or as a touch of burlesque— which however seemed scarcely in keeping with the earnest purpose of the book, Dickens makes the exercise of the school to include weeding the garden by ' No. 2' on the very morning when the pump was frozen, and Nicholas was requested to make himself contented with a dry polish in the place of a wash." FREDERICK B. FIRMAN, M.A. Castleacre, Swaffham, Norfolk. SIR ROBERT LYTTON (10th S. iv. 389).—In Lord Lytton's ' Last of the Barons' mention is made in book ix. ch. ix. of a knight of Lytton among the adherents of the house of Lancaster who were present at Tours at the meeting of Queen Margaret and the Earl of Warwick. A foot-note to that chapter says :— "Sir Robertde Lytton (whose grandfather had been Comptroller to the Household of Henry IV. and Agister of the Forests allotted to Queen Joan) was one of the most powerful knights of the time, and afterwards, according to Perkin Warbeck, one of the ministers most trusted by Henry VII. He was lord of Lytton in Derbyshire (where his ancestors had been settled since the Conquest), of Knebworth in Herts (the ancient seat and manor of Plantageoet de Brotherton, Karl of Norfolk and Earl Marshal), of Myndelesden and Langley, of Standyarn, Dene, and Brekesborne, in North- amptonshire ; and became in the reign of Henry VII. Privy Councillor, Under-Treasurer, and Keeper of the great Wardrobe." I cannot help thinking that this must be the Sir R. Lytton about whom your corre- spondent inquires, although there are some discrepancies as regards dates. F. E. R. POLLARD-URQUHART. Castle Pollard, Westmeath. For descent of present Lyttons of Kneb- worth see Mr. J. Horace Round's ' Studies in Peerage and Family History,' 1901, pp. 25-7. A. R. BAYLEY.