Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/64

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io<-g.v. JAN. 20.1906.

General Robinson (Blackwood, 1894)? Sir George is there mentioned (chap. i. p. 11.), as Secretary of State in 1788. I should be glad to hear what is known of his life, parentage, &c. E. S. M.

[There is a full account in the ' D.N.B.']

AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED : When love unites, wide space divides in vain ; And hands may clasp across the spreading main.

OVERY.

The thunder down the dark ravine Crashed rattling from on high.

C. TUPMAN.

SIR R. PEEL'S FRANKED AND STAMPED LETTERS. In 1846 Sir Robert Peel wrote two letters to John Singleton, Esq., of Quinville, co. Clare, concerning the Irish famine. Both of the fine envelopes were franked as well as stamped. Is any other example of this phila- telic curiosity known to exist 1 It seems that about 1838 Peel franked thousands of beauti- ful envelopes forhimself and friends, not then anticipating the Act of 1840. His envelopes being the finest then known, he complied with the law by adding the penny stamp to the innocent "frank." I believe that it is little known that he was most liberal with his franked envelopes, as I have seen some of them covering letters of his politica opponents. JAS. HAYES.

Church Street, Ennis.

PORTMAN FAMILY. From an article on the Portman family under ' Political Pen Pic tures ' in The King of 23 Dec., 1905, I cull the following extract :

" Far more ancient than either of these [Somer set] families is that of the Port-mans of Orchard Portman. The ' Men of the Gate ' were already famous in the days of the warrior king Edward I They have ever since played an important part in our national history."

What authority is there for supposing that Portman = the " Men of the Gate " ? and what mention is there of them in history ?

K. T.

SIR GERARD (OR GARRETT) FLEETWOOD. He was of Crawley, Hants, the second or third son of Sir William Fleetwood, of Gran- ford, Middlesex, Receiver of the Court of Wards, by his wife Joan, sister to Gervase, Lord Clifton of Leighton Bromswold. He was knighted 14 July, 1603; Ranger of Woodstock Park, 1611 ; M.P. for Woodstock in 1625 and 1626. A Royalist in the Civil War, he compounded for his delinquency on 16 December, 1647, being fined 570/. At the same time he was assessed at 4001. ; but upon proving that his debts were more than

the total value of his estate, this assessment was remitted. He is said to have married Isabel, daughter of Hercy Neville, of Grove, Notts, and widow successively of Sir John Harper and Sir Peter Frescheville, Kt. (Hunter's * Fam. Min. Gen.,' iv. 1235). " Isabel, lady ffleetewood, wife of Sir Garrett ffleetewoode," was buried at Bath Abbey, 24 November, 1642 (Genealogist, vi. N.S. 94). When did Sir Gerard die? He was still living on 6 May, 1651, when he was further fined 66/. for a portion of his estate not previously compounded for, but must then have been in advanced years. He is said to have died without issue, but he had at least one son, Dutton Fleetwood, who matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford, 11 October, 1639, aged sixteen.

W. D. PINK. Lowton, Newton-le-Willows.

DEVONSHIRE FUNERAL CUSTOMS. I have been spending Christmas at the vicarage of a small village in Devonshire, and noticed there two things which were new to me, but which I was told are the regular custom there.

1. On the morning of the day on which a funeral is to take place, one of the church bells is rung at eight o'clock for about five minutes.

2. On the following Sunday the mourners come to church, and together occupy the same seat, but take no part in the service, remain seated all through it, use no books, but frequently apply their handkerchiefs to their faces. Is this a practice followed in many English villages 1 THOMAS RUTT.

[Many articles on the observance of Mourning Sunday will be found in 9 th S. ix., x., xi.]

MOTHER CHRISTMAS. It is somewhat strange that this expression is far from

common almost unknown. In connexion with children's pleasures the mother comes first, and father keeps a back seat, except at the Christmas season, when it is Father Christmas and Daddy Christmas from bottom to top of the house. At any rate, that was my experience when a lad, before my faith in the deeds of Father Christmas was broken. Now and then a child would ask about the Mother Christmas, but this was rare, and seems a bit surprising, since mother rules as the " angel of the house. " As a lad I knew nothing about "Santa Glaus," not then introduced into children's Christmas keeping. Father or Daddy Christmas was the one who carried the bountiful bag, and tumbled down the chimney into the hung- up stockings the dear presents precious