Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 7.djvu/311

 10 S. VII. MARCH 30, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

255

doro Palseologus of Pesaro in Italye, de- scended from ye Imperyall lyne of ye last Christian Emperors of Greece." He married Mary, the daughter of "William Balls of Hadlye in Suffolke, gent." ; died at Clyfton on 21 Jan., 1636, and lies buried in Landulph Church, in Cornwall. The writer quoted these and other particulars from a rubbing lie made in that church, in 1833, of a brass mural tablet to the memory of Theodore. The same writer refers to Mr. A. Wall's historical romance ' The Fall of Constanti- nople ' (London, 1897), which in the Appen- dix has a short chapter on the descendants of the Palseologi, and mentions an account of them by F. V. Jago, a former rector of Landulph. Clyfton was a residence in his parish.

The long inscription on the brass in that church is reproduced also in ' The Parochial History of Cornwall ' (Truro, 1868), accord- ing to which (ii. 406) Theodoro had issue three sons and two daughters. No traces Another son, Theodore, was a mariner who served on board the Charles II., Capt. Gibson, and died at sea in 1693. No children are mentioned in his will. One of his sisters, Mary, died a spinster in 1674 ; the other, " Dorothea Palseolog de stirpe Imperatorum," married, in 1656, William Arundell. L. L. K.
 * are left of two sons, John and Ferdinando.

Another " descendant of the Greek Emperors " is said to be buried in Cornwall. The last male descendant certainly known to history is the apostate Andrew, who took the name Mohammed. He was grandson of the despot Thomas, the brother of Con- stantine, the last Emperor. Finlay ('His- tory of Greece,' ed. 1877, vol. iv. p. 268n) says :

" The pretended descent of a Palaeologos, buried in the parish church of Landulph in Cornwall, from the despot Thomas, cannot be admitted as authentic. See the account by the Rev. F. Vyvyan Jago, F.S.A.. rector of Landulph, in the eighteenth volume of the Archmoloyia. The name Palneologos became, and continues to be, a common one, and all who bear it are, of course, prepared to substantiate their pretensions to descent from the imperial family?'

JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

Ferdinand Palaeologus of Barbados died in 1678 ; his will, dated 1670, was proved in 1680. He settled in Barbados between 1628 and 1645. He is supposed to have been the brother of Theodore, who was buried in Westminster Abbey in 1644, and son of Theodore Palseologus by Mary Ball. This latter Theodore's father, according to a

memorial tablet in Landulph Church, was Camillo, son of Prosper, son of Theodore, son of John, son of Thomas, the youngest brother of Constantine XIII., the last of the Byzantine empire.

The above particulars are from Capt. Lawrence-Archer's ' Monumental Inscrip- tions in the West Indies ' and from 1 S. v. 173, 280, 357 ; viii. 408, 526 ; ix. 312, 572 ; x. 134, 351, 409, 494 ; xi. 31 ; xii. 480 ; 3 S. xi. 485, 531 ; xii. 30, 54. The penulti- mate reference contains a communication from PRINCE RHODOCANAKIS, pointing out that the name Palseologus is common among Greeks, and ridiculing the idea of the descent from the imperial family. LEO C.

[An editorial note at 3 S. iv. 270 gives a summary of the history of the home of Theodore Palseologus at Clifton.]

" O DEAR, WHAT CAN THE MATTER BE ? "

(10 S. vi. 29, 57, 73, 92, 116, 152, 198, 454, 515.) Some thirty years ago a nonsensical parody of the above appeared in one of the society journals. I am unable to give either name or date, but I have ever since retained the words in my memory. It represents one of those jingles which, without any effort or desire on the part of the victim, haunt him through life. It runs as follows :

O dear, what can the matter be ?

Sallust must surely as mad as a hatter be,

Growling away like a bear.

He is leaving Madrid at the height of the season,

Without even giving his servants a reason :

It smacks very strongly of murder or treason, But that isn't our affair.

Every time I hear played the air of " O dear, what can the matter be ? " my memory harks back to a certain evening when I formed one of an audience assembled to hear a lecture illustrated by limelight views. Somehow or other the pictures got out of order, and persistently illustrated anything except the point on which the lecturer was dilating. There was a musical accompani- ment as part of the programme, and after a time the orchestra entered heartily into the spirit of the fun by striking up " O dear, what can the matter be ? " and thus filling up the interludes during the rectification of the errors. It was an amusing experience for the audience, and one I can never forget ; but the feelings of the poor lecturer can be better imagined than described.

JOHN T. PAGE.

Long Itchington, Warwickshire.

My mother was more familiar with Scotch music than any other person I have met, and she always called " O dear, what can the matter be ? " a " modern Scotch song."