Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 7.djvu/209

 10 S. VII. MARCH 2, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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of Lady Mary Coke,' ed. Hon. J. A. Home as one of the Princess Amelia's servants and grandchild of Oliver Cromwell (iii. 110) is in a foot-note stated to be the wife of John Revett, of Checkers, Bucks,

" her father being John Russell, 3rd son of Sir John Russell, Bart., of Chippenham, who m. Frances, youngest dau. of Oliver Cromwell, and widow oi the Hon. Robert Rich."

Can any reader of ' N. & Q.' state to what branch of the family of Revett or Rivett John Revett, of Checkers, belonged ; also whether Col. George Revett, killed at Mal- plaquet, was of this latter family ? The line of Sir Thomas Revett, Kt., of Chippen- ham, co. Cambridge, terminated in heir- esses. L. SCHANK. Conservative Club, St. James's Street, S.W.

" WHAT WANTS THAT KNAVE THAT A KING SHOULD HAVE ? " Can any of your readers tell me where I can find the ballad that begins with these words ? The story is that one of our Norman kings (I forget which), seeing a great feudal lord an ecclesiastic, I think sweep by with his retinue, exclaimed, " What wants that knave that a king should have ? " words which became the first line of the ballad that I wish to find. G. G. G.

PITCH-CAPS PUT ON HUMAN HEADS AND SET ON FIRE. T find in the text of a modern writer of note the following reference to this alleged atrocity :

" The susceptible British reader should not suppose that the exploding of dynamite is the quint- essence of Anarchism ; any more than the igniting of pitch-caps upon the heads of Irish insurgents in 1798 was the quintessence of British militarism in that year. Dynamite has been exploded by anarchists, and pitch-caps have been ignited by soldiers," &c.

I have special reasons for thinking that this tale about pitch-caps and their being ignited is an absolute falsehood, like many other legends about the Irish rebellion of 1798 which Cruikshank illustrated with such wonderful force. Nevertheless, not being omniscient, I should like to know on what authority the legend has been founded.

O.

AUTHOR OF QUOTATION WANTED. The source and exact wording of the following are desired :

" Some say the age of chivalry is' gone, but I say the age of chivalry is not gone while there remains a wrong to be righted and a man who will say, ' I will set that wrong right, or die in the attempt.' "

Kingsley and Carlyle are in my thoughts ; but I have hunted them in vain.

H. WELLS BLADEN.

SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN ON BRI- TAIN'S SUPREMACY OF THE SEA. The date is wanted of the occasion on which the words printed below were spoken by the present Prime Minister. They occur in a speech some time before 1898 :

"I accept in fullest and most complete form the doctrine that it is necessary for this country to hold the supremacy of the seas. I accept the doctrine of standard of supremacy that our fleet should equal any two other fleets in the world."

w. c. c.

CARTE, THE HISTORIAN. T should be obliged to any of your readers for infor- mation respecting the ancestry and birth- place of Carte, the historian, whose ' Life of the Great Duke of Ormonde ' was published in 1736. F. GODFERY.

2, Morton Crescent, Exmouth.

[Carte was born at Clifton - upon - Dunsmoor, Warwickshire. See the lives of him and his father in the 'D.N.B.']

PRETENDED PRINCE OF MACEDONIA. Can any one put me on the track of infor- mation as to a certain Gio. Andrea Angelo Flavio, calling himself Prince of Macedonia, who appeared in Italy about 1605, and dis- tributed titles of nobility and crosses of the Order of St. George ? R. STEELE.

Savage Club.

OHABLES T. : HIS PHYSICAL CHARACTER- ISTICS. In The Gentleman's Magazine for October last there is a notice of ' The Heads- man of Whitehall,' by Philip Sidney. The writer of the article, who seems scarcely to allow for the fact that all contemporary statements are not of equal value to the historian, makes the following remark among some others which give the reader pause :

"Far from being the ideal and picturesque cavalier of that potent wizard Antonio van Dyck, Oharles favoured his father, the sandy and slobber- ng James, as much as Charles II. favoured his mother." What is the authority for this assertion ?

The " potent wizard " could have no reason to indulge in childish misrepresenta- ion. An artist of genius can paint a striking portrait of nearly any type of face, except
 * hat of the " successful soap-boiler."

There is a fine representation of the

' sandy and slobbering " James in the col-

ection of historical portraits in the chateau

of Azay-le-Rideau. Lout as he was, a painter

with insight, could still produce a vivid and

yet satisfactory portrait of him.

What contemporaries of the two men recorded that Charles I. closely resembled his father ? And what did the assertion