Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/644

 534 NOTES AND QUERIES, tw s. iv. DEC. so, HKK. mentioning his having taken the command when first lieutenant on the death of Capt. Oooke, the only captain who was killed at Trafalgar. Westcott was the only captain who fell at the battle of the Nile. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge. TRAFALGAR (10th S. iv. 385, 431, 471).—MR. JAS. PLATT is doubtless right in his opinion that the pronunciation Trafalgar is due to the English tendency to stress a long penulti- mate, and the instance of Aladdin is very much to the point. It is not, however, strictly correct to say that Aladdin and Saladin were in Arabic Ala-al-din and Salah- al-din, except to the eye, because the letter lam, by the process known as the euphonic teshdtd, is passed over in pronunciation and assimilated to the following consonant, when that consonant happens to be one of the fourteen solar letters. The two names in question are in Arabic 'Alau-'d-din and Salahu-'d-dln. Why the common English spelling should differ in the two cases, I cannot say. Trafalgar is of course Tarafu- '1-ghar, which means the place of the cave. In ordinary Arabic, a cave is mughdra. The Moors have a habit of eliding the first short vowel in a word, hence Traf for Taraf, Spahi for Sipahi, ic. W. F. PRIDEAUX. SARAH CURRAN, ROBERT EMMET, AND MAJOR SIRR'S PAPERS (10th S. iii. 303, 413, 470; iv. 52. 111, 310).—I cannot help express- ing astonishment that FRANCESCA should seriously write (ante. p. 112), "on the testi- mony of the late Sir John Grey, that the Rev. D'Arcy Sirr had a fixed belief that all Irish malcontents were favourable to assas- sination, even O'Connell and the Repealers <Fitzpatrick's 'Sham Squire,' pp. 273-6)." The reference is to a long memorandum made, in August, 1858, by Fitzpatrick, purporting to give details received from Sir John Gray of a visit to Dr. Sirr's rectory at Kilcoleman (in 1842), where he spent the day, and found the rector sorting Major Sirr's papers. A •discovery was made from the papers that a personage then living (to Dr. Sirr's astonish- ment) had been an informer in 1798. Sirr •extracted a promise from Gray that he would not make this known, urging that "the papers before him showed him that the fate •of detected informers in '98 was death." He was not aware of safeguards, even in 1843, and knew what might nave been the conse- quence if the man in question, who was then posing as a Repealer, had been exposed. He was assuredly right, with strong argument to help him, in extracting the promise which Gray eventually made. There is not one word in this connexion about O'Connell or the body of Repealers, nor is there a sugges- tion that Dr. Sirr expressed a belief that leaders, or indeed any one, lent countenance to acts of assassination. The narrative refers to Dr. Sirr as " the good parson," and states that he "playfully" addressed Sir John as "You Rebel Repealer." The suggestion now made that he had a fixed belief about Irish malcontents is purely imaginary, buttheeffect is to create an impression that he had extreme political animosity. There is not the slightest proof of such a thing. Fitz- patricks note testifies to Dr. Sirr's compas- sion, and his extreme anxiety that his father's papers (now in Trinity College Library, Dublin) should not be the means of exposing any one to public indignation. Let me now call attention to the catalogue entry of Major Sirr's papers :— "Major Henry C. Sirr's Papers, relating chiefly to the Rebellion, 1798 to 1804, 9 vols. fol., with portfolio. " Including letters, informations, warrants, to., also other papers concerning matters of police of various dates up to 1831. The portfolio cont&ios the ' Declaration of Catholics of Ireland,' 179*2, as sent to Dublin from different localities ; some copies on parchment, some on paper, with all the original signatures." As the portfolio was in Major Sirr's keep- ing, no surprise need be expressed that he also had the correspondence which passed between Sarah Currau and Robert Emmet MR. MxcDoNAGH does not realize that during Major Sirr's tenure, which extended over several administrations, the office of Town Major of the Garrison of Dublin was a very active and confidential one. Sometimes it has been affirmed with exaggeration that Major Sirr was "omnipotent" at the Castle. Correspondence of Russell, Emmet's asso- ciate, formed part of the "Sirr Papers " made over to the library of Trinity College, Dublin, by the Rev. Joseph D'Arcy Sirr, D.D., when his friend Dr. Todd (vide 'D.N.B.') was librarian. The catalogue entry is :— "Correspondence of Thomas Russell, sometime Prisoner of State in Dublin, 1793-99. '2 vole," This shows conclusively that the Curran- Emmet letters did not comprise the only correspondence seized by the authorities which is not to be found in Government boxes or volumes, or among the papers of a former Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. MR. MACDONAGH'S comment that it is unusual to destroy papers seized by orders of Government is irrelevant. Dr. Sirr not only states that he saw the Curran-Emmet