Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 11.djvu/201

 iis.xi.MAK.6,1915.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

191

owing the preservation from impending of St. John's Gate, Clerkenwell, as is stated in Thornbury's ' Old and New London,' vol. ii. p. 319, " the Society of Antiquaries refusing to assist." W. B. H.
 * tucco, or worse, and the restoration in 1845,

DRYDEN AND SWIFT. I should be glad to know if the relationship between John Dryden the poet and Jonathan Swift has been determined. The statement in Burke's ' Landed Gentry,' under the Swift family, is evidently incorrect. The poet's biographers also disagree on the subject. A. M.

THE RED CROSS FLAG.

(11 S. xi. 148.)

ON receipt of this query I wrote to the Secretary of State for War, and have received the following official answer :

SIB, In reply to your letter, I am com- manded by the Army Council to acquaint you that the only hospitals which are entitled to fly the Red Cross flag are those which are exclusively under the administration and control of the Army Medical Services.

Civil hospitals and private houses, even though they contain wounded soldiers, are not entitled to fly the Red Cross flag, unless they conform to the above requirements. They are, however, protected under the Hague Convention, which provides that such buildings are to be protected by the display of a distinctive sign. It has been decided that this sign shall consist of a large stiff rectangular panel, divided diagonally, the upper portion black, the lower portion white, and its adoption has already been notified to the German Government. It may be displayed by hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected in the event of siege or bombardment by land sea, or air.

L. D. HOLLAND (for the Secretary). War Office, S.W.

JOHN COLLINS FRANCIS.

Article 21 of the Geneva Convention (1906) lays it down that

" The distinctive flag of the Convention shal only be hoisted over those medical units anc establishments which are entitled to be respectec under the Convention, and with the consent o" the military authorities."

The War Office (in a letter of 9 Jan., 1915) published the following instruction : |

" The only buildings which are authorized to Jy the Red Cross flag are those which are used exclusively for the reception of sick and wounded soldiers, and are exclusively under the administra-
 * ion and control of the Army Medical Services."

J. M.

ANTONIO VIEIRA. (US. xi. 109, 156.)

THERE is a biography of Vieira ou Vieyra (Antoine) in the ' Biographie Universelle.' Born at Lisbon 6 Feb., 1608, he was at an early age taken to Brazil, where his father established himself with his family. He studied first at the College of Bahia under the direction of the Jesuits. Having become a Jesuit in 1622, he was sent to San- Salvador for his novitiate, where in two years he made remarkable progress. He was sent in 1641 to Lisbon with the Viceroy's son, whose mission it was to announce the submission of Brazil. King John later charged him with special negotiations in England, Holland, France, and lastly Rome. On his return to Lisbon in 1649, the King offered him a bishopric ; but Vieira asked only to be allowed to return to Brazil, so that he might accomplish his vow to devote himself to the instruction of the savages.

It was not until 1652 that his request was granted. During the intervening time the King decided that the Jesuits of Portugal, forming then only one province, should be divided. Vieira was suspected of having advised this measure, and there was talk of excluding him from the order as an inno- vator. It was on this that he prevailed on the King to let him return to Brazil. In 1653 he returned to Lisbon to plead the cause of the savages of the Maragnan, whom the colonists were stealing and reducing to slavery. All that he asked was granted. Again the King tried to get him to remain at Court, and he was unable to return to Brazil until 1655. In less than six years he suc- ceeded in civilizing 600 leagues of territory, introducing the Gospel, useful arts, and liberty. The Portuguese colonists managed to get rid of him in 1661, and embarked him for Lisbon on the plea that the missionaries had agreed with the Dutch as to taking away Brazil from Portugal. Nothing came of this accusation.

Vieira was consulted by the Regent (King John having been succeeded by the boy Al fonso) about measures which might be taken