Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 11.djvu/502

 492

NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. XL JUNE 26, 1915.

teenth century that it is now. It was appa- rently so with the great Edmund Burke. His " brogue " is said to have been as unmistakable as that of O'Connell. It is tolerably certain, then, that Prince Charles Edward's tutor, and those other Irish fol- lowers with whom he was in close touch, spoke what the late Dr. Joyce would have called " Irish English."

Peculiarities of utterance thus acquired at the most susceptible time of life would remain. Possibly they struck the dour Hanoverian Scot as I presume he was who witnessed the Prince's arrival in Edin- burgh, and who took such precise note of his appearance and his mode of speech- To be sure, his concluding remark might only be an allusion to the style of the Prince's deliverance, and not exactly to its intonation. The popular idea of an Irishman of that period, on the eastern side of St. George's Channel, was that he was an adept in cajolery, and must necessarily be " sly." In the comparison he instituted " our poor friend " may have meant to be simply satirical, and to show his contempt for what the admirers of Charles Edward described as a singularly gracious and winning address. Yet he may also have meant that the Prince's English had certain Irish inflections. What one would wish to know is whether it ever struck anybody else in the same way. The present writer can recall no statement to that effect.

Charles Edward frequently dropped across English travellers on the Continent, and no doubt on such occasions spoke to them in their own vernacular. There are some de- tailed accounts of meetings of the kind. For example, there is the story of the English lady who, towards the close of his life at Florence, I think was at a card - party where Charles was present. He spoke to her in English, and even made a jest, in " sly," but good-humoured fashion, at his own ex- pense. Taking up three picture-cards to which well-known nicknames then current in England attached, he said, " Here, madame, we have the Pope and the Devil who the third party is I need not specify." Who that was, all loyal adherents of the Hanoverian dynasty knew perfectly well. They prayed to be saved from the Pope, the Devil, and the Pretender. The lady who had this meeting with the " King by Divine right," and who has given the actual words he made use of, is silent as to any pecu- liarity of accent on his part.

Are there any contemporary witnesses who can now, through the medium either

of printed books or unpublished docu- ments, be made to testify with respect to the English spoken by Bonnie Prince Charlie ? The inquiry thus suggested is not to be thought altogether idle or superfluous* Nothing that can add to the general know- ledge of a prominent historic figure can be considered in such a light. Perhaps the quest indicated may be pursued by one of the many contributors to ' N. & Q.' who are nearer than I am to original sources of infor- mation regarding Charles Edward.

MORGAN McMAHON, Sydney, N.S.W.

CHARLES READE'S NOTE-BOOKS. Accord- ing to the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica,' Charles Beade irr.de a vast collection of notes, cut- tings, and extracts from books for use in his novels and plays, and, having du'y arranged and indexed them, gave orders- that they should be open for inspection for two years after his death. I should be glad to know in whose hands these valuable records are now, and whether it would be possible for Beade's admirers to get access- to them. Please reply direct.

C. B. WHEEIiER. 80, Hamilton Terrace, N.W.

' EDWIN DROOD ' : A CLASSICAL QUERY. Miss Twinkleton, when her school broke up (chap. xiii. of 'Edwin Drood '), referred in her parting speech to " what was said by the Spartan General, in words too trite for repetition, at the battle it were superfluous to specify." Was she bluffing her young charges without any special knowledge be- hind her ? and, if not, who is the General I He would be discovered, I imagine, in school- books now obsolete. Leonidas at Thermo- pylae is the obvious person, but I find nothing which seems apt to the occasion in Plutarch's ' Laconica.' V. R.

JAMES JOHN LONSDALE. This man was a barrister, and the second son of James Lonsdale, portrait painter. He was edu- cated at University College, London, and admitted a student of Lincoln's Inn on 24 Nov., 1831 (aged 21). He was Recorder of Folkestone and Judge of County Courts from 1855 to 1884. He was twice married :

(1) 1 Jan., 1853, to Jessica Matilda, widow of Dr. Herbert Mayo, F.R.S., and only daughter of Samuel James Arnold of Orchard House, Walton-on-Thames ; she died July, 1866.

(2) August, 1878, to Prudentia Sarah Jeffer- son, widow of Thomas James Arnold, metro- politan police magistrate, and only child of