Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/37

 11&X.JOLTH.19H.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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General, and should be made of official value. Those recommendations were carried into effect 10 Aug., 1840, 3 and 4 Viet., cap. 92. Another Cormaission was appointed later (I Jan., 1857), and the provisions of the Act of 1840 (supra) were extended in 1858 to 265 other Registers which had been collected since 1838.

As to fees, I believe they vary, and there have been reasonable complaints. A Con- gregational minister wrote to the papers a few years ago, stating the difficulty of consulting the registers of his own chapel lodged at Somerset House without paying the full fees. Another Dissenter wrote :

" For the general search lasting two days they charged me a guinea, although I made special request to the Registrar General that my purpose was literary research."

It is a pity that all Dissenters have not done as the Friends have done, and made copies of their Registers before parting with them.

Bibliography.

' Lists of Non-Parochial Registers and Records in the custody of the Registrar-General,' 1841.

4 Report on Non-Parochial Registers,' 1857. Both these are Blue-books.

' Observations on Parish Registers and the Marriages of Nonconformists, with the outlines of a Bill for establishing a more certain General Register of Marriages, liirths, and Deaths in each Parish,' London, 1819.

Sims's ' Manual,' pp. 365 and onwards, is, as always, invaluable, and the same can certainly be said of Rye's ' Records and Record Searching,' 2nd ed., 1897. Cox's ' Parish Registers in England ' has references, and Phillimore's ' How to Write the History of a Family, 'pp. 336-7, has titles of numerous Dissenting Registers which have been printed. Lyon Turner's ' Original Records relating to Nonconformists,' recently com- pleted, is a monumental work of immense value from the Indexes alone. Chester Waters's ' Parish Registers in England,' 1887, has much information which I have found useful. In The Daily News, 18 and 25 Dec., 1893, and 2 Jan., 1894, there was a correspondence of some importance upon Non-Parochial Registers ; and in January, 1894, the subject was discussed in Parlia- ment (see Times reports, 5 Jan., 1894).

A. L. HUMPHBKYS.

187, Piccadilly, W.

1. A vast majority, if not all that now exist, are at Somerset House under the Registrar-General. There is a full Calendar at the office, under counties.

2. These are not indexed.

3. One shilling is charged for every con- gregation's books consulted, and 2s. Id. for a certificate of an entry. I have a certifi- cate which runs :

"William the twenty seventh son and thirty first child of Peter Magee baptized at Whitehaven May 30, 1756. The sd. Peter is 86 and his Wife 50 year old. She is his 8th Wife."

Surely a good 3*. Id. worth !

R. M. GI.ENCBOSS. Makshufa, Harefield Road, Uxbrklge.

" SPEAK TO ME, LORD BYRON " (11 S. ix. 388). The line which L. G. R. asks for will be found in a ballad entitled ' Devil Byron,' by Ebenezer Elliott. This poem appeared on 23 Jan., 1847, in a publication known as The People's Journal, edited by John Sanders, and published at The People's Journal Offices, 69, Fleet Street.

The poem has to do with the Lord Byron, father of the poet. In a Foreword of the ballad the poet relates the following :

" I had the facts on which this ballad is founded' from old Luke Adams, a forgeman, who had worked many years, when young, in a small charcoal Bloomery near Newstead Abbey ; but I have not adhered strictly to his narrative. The words uttered by the lady (she was quite sane) were, ' Speak to me, my Lord ! Do speak to me, my Lord ! ' uttering which words with pas- sionate calmness, she was often seen on horse- back, accompanying her Brother in his drives. She was pitied, respected, and must I add ? slandered. I am not willing to record scandals and to hint at them is to record them ; I have alluded to them, but not to give them credence. The character which Luke Adams gave me of the old Lord of Newstead differs from the received and accredited one."

There is a very lurid illustration to this poem by William Harvey. " Devil Byron " is riding on what might be the box seat of an old-fashioned curricle with four wheels, driving two horses, while his sister rides by his side with clasped hands, and an imploring expression on her face. Evidently a storm is raging, and the storm fiend is seen at the back with upraised hands, while the lightning is playing round. The horses are galloping furiously, apparently uncontrolled by any harness.

If L. G. R. will send me his address, I will send him my copy to have a look at.

J. H. MURRAY. 100, Lothian Road, Edinburgh.

WJLDGOOSE (11 S. ix. 330, 397, 438). John Wildegoos, a member of the Company of Carpenters in 1651, is described as an "old Master" in 1664. He lent 4001. to the Company prior to the latter date.

J. C. WHITEBROOK.