Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 7.djvu/212

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. VIL MARCH 2, 1907,

other of the great languages that we can never expect its spelling to be quite so easy and simple and regular as that of Italian or even German. Our spelling will perhaps always be a compromise between phonetic and etymology ; but it certainly ought to be more rationally compounded of these two elements.

It is singular that though all the European tongues distinguish voiced from unvoiced consonants, in most cases thus, t from d, p from 6, k from g, f from v, they none of them clearly distinguish voiced and un- voiced sibilants. Thus so we English pro- nounce with s unvoiced, but the Germans with s voiced. We write is, his, bids, &c., s voiced ; but its, ships, bricks, s unvoiced. T. WILSON, B.A.Lond. Harpenden.

Why wastrel (ante, p. 52) at all ? Why not waster ? At all events, wastrel is de- fined in Ogilvie's ' Dictionary,' not as the instrument, but as the state, of waste, and substantially as " waste substances."

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED (10 S. vii. 69). PROF. LAUGHTON will find the " old ballad " he is in quest of in D'Urfey's of reprint of 1719 edition. J. H. K.
 * Pills to purge Melancholy,' vol. iii. p. 210

DUKE OF KENT'S CHILDREN (10 S. vii. 48, 115). After the death of the Princess Charlotte, the Government of the day in- sisting upon the marriage of the bachelor brothers of the Regent, it is known that the Duke of Kent demurred from complying with their wishes, unless some provision were first made out of the public funds for Madame de St. Laurent. I think that a letter from him to Lord Liverpool upon the subject was printed in Creevey's memoirs, and no mention is therein made by H.R.H. of any children. As the Duke's plea for a separate income being granted would have been much strengthened in the event of issue, it is probably safe to assume that none had been born, or at all events none survived in the year 1816. But the nick- name of " Joseph Surface," given to the Duke of Kent by his royal brothers, implies that in matters of morality his standard was no higher, though more discreet, than theirs.

The task of detailing the amours, and of tracing the left - handed descendants, of George III.'s children would be considerable, and probably unprofitable in view of the old proverb, "A wise child," &c. As

regards King George IV., the Italian author of the work describing Queen Caroline's adventures in Italy and elsewhere, lately translated into English, has broached a curious theory, which is certainly corro- borated by the fact that none of that monarch's numerous mistresses was ever known to bear him offspring. It is true that Grace Dalrymple Elliott, distinguished in the gay world as " Dally the Tall," gave birth to a daughter whose parentage was sometimes attributed to the then Prince of Wales ; but the lady's admirers were not few, and the circumstance can hardly be said to contradict the fact above stated.

H.

Your correspondents may find many interesting particulars concerning the career of Edward, Duke of Kent, in his ' Life ' by the Rev. Erskine Neale, rector of Kirton,. Suffolk (an adjacent parish to Newbourne) subsequently vicar of Exning, near New- market. Prefixed to this laboured pane- gyric is a portrait of the Duke " from a picture by G. Dawe, R.A., in the posses- sion of H.R.H. the Duchess of Kent." The likeness to her late Majesty Queen Victoria is striking.

In the preface, p. xv, occurs the following tribute to ' N. & Q.,' then in its infancy :

"May I seize this opportuity of naming a little periodical, Notes and Queries, as a most desirable mode of intercommunication for literary men ? " JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.

Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

Perhaps I may be allowed to supplement my former reply by saying that much about Madame de St. Laurent is to be found in ' The Life of the Duke of Kent illustrated by his Correspondence with the De Sala- berry Family,' by Dr. W. J. Anderson. (Toronto, Hunter, Rose & Co., 1870). Dr. Anderson assures us that she was an amiable lady who possessed to the fullest extent the Duke's confidence, esteem, and affection, and shared his joys and sor- rows. These virtues gained for her the favour of the Bishop of Quebec, the Bishop of Nova Scotia, and the leading residents of Halifax, except three : Chief Justice Blowers ; Foster Hutchinson, a nephew of the last royal Governor of Massachusetts Bay ; and Col. Kearney, of the Nova Scotia Regiment. The last two experienced her just indignation and that of the Duke. Her name, Julia, was the one most often given to- girls born at Halifax while she was there* Col. Landmann in his ' Recollections ' de- scribes an evening party at Halifax where