Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/300

 244

NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. v. MARCH 31.

proverbes nous ennuient a la fin," I now bring this short series of papers to a conclusion. EDWARD LATHAM.

I add some illustrations of the two French proverbs referred to in the review ante, p. 119. They are taken from ' Le Livre des Proverbes Francais,' par M. le Roux de Lincy, seconds 'edition, Paris, 1859, tome premier, serie No. V. The first, on p. 248, is from Gabr. Meurier, * Tresor des Sentences,' XVI e siecle :

Homme roux et fenmie barbue

De quatre lieux les salue,

Avec trois pieres an poing

Pour ten ayder, s'il vient a point.

On p. 222 occurs :

" ' Femme barbue de loing la salue, un bastou a la nain.'

" Ce proverbe fait allusion a la croyance ad mi 86 pendant le moyen age, qu'une femme vieille et fearbue etait une sorciere."

On p. 231 is found : Souvent femme varie, Bien fol est qui s'y fie.

As to this the editor observes that it is often cited as having been written with a diamond on a window in the Chateau de Chambord by Franois I. when talking with his sister Marguerite d'Angouleme. A passage from Brantome's 'Dames Galantes' (Brantome, t. vii. p. 395 des ' CEuvres,' in- 8) appears to show that the words which the king wrote were "Toute femme varie."

ROBERT PIERPOINT.

DALLY THE TALL. It is strange that modern writers so often mistake the sobriquet of the well-known courtesan Mrs. Grace Dalrymple Elliott. Even such recent works as Sir W. Armstrong's 'Life of Reynolds' and Mrs. Toy n bee's edition of the Wai pole letters refer to her as "Dolly the Tall." But there is absolutely no point in such a designation, for her nickname was derived from her maiden name Dalrymple, and thus became " Dally." To her contemporaries she was known as " Dally the Tall."

HORACE BLEACKLEY.

Fox Oak, Walton-on-Thames.

NELSON TRAFALGAR MEMORANDUM. The original holograph draft of Nelson's "in- structions" for the battle of Trafalgar was sold at public auction by Messrs. Christie, Manson & Woods on Wednesday, 14 March. 'The purchaser was Mr. Sabin, of Shaf tesbury Avenue, who became its possessor for 3,600/. This document was formerly the property of Admiral Sir George Rodney Mundy, who presented it to the father of the vendor.

Four copies or transcripts of this document are known, and one of them is now on view at the British Museum. These facts are, I think, worthy of a place in ' N. & Q.'

RICHARD EDGCUMBE. Edgbarrow, Crowthorne, Berks.

'KING TRISANKU.' This is one of those quaint little poems so characteristic of Long- fellow. A magician tries by spells to raise Trisanku to heaven, whereupon Indra and the gods offended Hurled him downward, and descending In the air he hung suspended, With these equal powers contending.

I recently asked a Mahratta friend if the legend is actually current in India. He tells me that it is well known, and that in his language a common phrase, descriptive of any one of undecided opinion, or neutral in action, is " Trisankuriv antarale tistha, ;; i.e., 41 Standing midway in air, like Trisanku." This seems worth recording here as the Mahratta equivalent of our " sitting on the fence." JAS. PLATT, Jun.

THOMAS CORNWALLIS, OF PORCHESTER. With reference to MR. WAINEWRIGHT'S article ante, p. 172, it may not be inopportune to note that the Thomas Cornwallis men- tioned in Lady Lawrence's will was the second son of Richard Cornwallis, of Upnell or Okenell Hall, in Baddingham, Suffolk. He had a grant for life of office of Groom Porter by pat. dated 20 June, 42 Eliz, after the death of his cousin Thomas, of East Horsley ; was knighted at Greenwich, 9 April, 1603 ; and died 13 Nov., 1618. Will dated 17 Sept, and proved 14 Dec , 1618. The wife of this Sir Thomas was Elizabeth, second daughter of John Molineux, of Thorpe, co. Nottingham.

Lady Catherine Cornwallis, who was con- ceded liberty of conscience in 1598, was the daughter of Thomas, Earl of Southampton, K.G. W. McB. & F. MARCHAM.

69, Beechwood Road, Hornsey, N.

OLDEST PROTESTANT CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. The assertion which has appeared in several papers that Bruton Church, Williamsburg, Virginia, to which the King has recently presented a Bible, is the second oldest church in the United States calls for some comment. Dr. Shinn, in his * Notable Episcopal Churches,' says :

"The earliest buildings for the religious uses of English Churchmen of which we have any record were the one erected on Roanoke Island, in Virginia (1585). and the other at Sagadahoc, at the

mouth of the Kennebeg River, in Maine (1607)

The first permanent settlement made by English