Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/74

 '66

NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. xn. JULY 2*. 1915.

HUGUENOTS.

Wandsworth. In the Huguenot cerne-. tery known as ' ' Mount Nod ' ' a memorial was unveiled on 21 Oct., 1911. It was designed by Mr. Harold Trimnell, and on it is repre- sented an open Bible surmounted by the arms of France and Great Britain. It is thus inscribed :

" Here rest many Huguenots who, on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, left their native land for conscience' sake, and found in Wandsworth freedom to worship God after their own manner. They established important in- dustries, and added to the credit and prosperity of the town of their adoption."

(Then follow the nam3s of thirty different families.) JOHN T. PAGE.

long Itchington, Warwickshire.

(To be continued.)

" IT is MORE (OB WORSE) THAN A CRIME, TT is A BLUNDER." In his note on "La Garde meurt, mais ne se rend pas " (ante, p. 7), MR. PAYEN- PAYNE writes: "Shall we ever know if Talleyrand said : * C'est plus qu'un crime, c'est une faute' ? "

In ' The Memoirs of Joseph Fouche,' translated from the French, second edition, 1825, vol. i. p. 266, we read, concerning the murder of the Due d'Knghien :

"Indignation, as I had foreseen, broke out in the most bitter manner. I was not the person who hesitated to express himself with the least restraint, respecting this violence against the rights of nations and humanity. 'It is more than a crime,' I said, 'it is a political fault'; words which I record, because they have been repeated and attributed to others."

The word " political " is an interpolation. In the original ' Memoires de Joseph Fouche,' Paris, 1824, first part, p. 310, I find "" * C'est plus qu'un crime,' dis-je, c'est une faute ! ' ' " Blunder "is, I think, a much better translation than " political fault." The saying is not always given exactly as
 * above.

In ' Histoire de France,' .par Theodose Burette, 2me edit., 1842, vol. ii. p. 606, I find, " * C'est pis qu'un crime, c'eot une faute,' dit froidement Fouche en apprenant cette espece d'assassinat juridique " (i.e., the jnurder of the Due d'Enghien). Ramage, in Iris ' Beautiful Thoughts from French and Italian Authors/ second edition, 1875, p. 387, has, under Talleyrand, " C'est pir [sic] qu'un crime, c'est un [sic] betise."

' Familiar Quotations,' by John Bartlett, Author's Edition, and ' A Treasury of Choice ^Quotations,' rew edition, 1880, give "It is anore than a crime, it is a political fault,"

quoting the English translation of Fouche' s 'Memoirs,' each observing that it is com- monly quoted "It is worse than a crime, it is a blunder," and is attributed to Talley- rand. Of course, " It is more (or worse) than a crime, it is a blunder," is a good translation of w r hat Fouche actually said, according to the ' Memoires.'

Mr. W. Gurney Benham in ' CasselTs Book of Quotations ' (circa 1907), p. 456, gives " C'estoit pire qu'un crime, c'estoit une faute (Fouche)"; and p. 714, " C'est plus qu'un crime; c'est une faute," in this case '\Attributed to Fouche," with this added: " Boulay de la Meurthe is, how r ever, reputed to have originated the expression." No reference for this is given.

I may add that in the British Museum Catalogue to ' Memoires de Joseph Fouche,' and to the English translation, is appended this note: "Compiled by A. de Beauchamp from the notes of P. L. P. De Jullian." | ROBERT PIERPOINT.

PARISH REGISTERS. (See 11 S. xi. 397, 501.) I subjoin a few references to London and Middlesex registers which may prove of service.

Hackney. A transcript of this register, from c. 1540 to 1812, in five volumes, folio, made by Mr. R. H. Browne, will be found in the Guildhall Library (MS. 478-80).

Stoke Newington. A transcript, from 1559 to 1812, in six volumes, is to be seen in the Stoke Newington Public Library. This transcript was made by Mr. F. W. Baxter.

Willesden. MS. Wood 19 in the Harlesden Public Library consists of an alphabetical index, in two small quarto volumes, to the names in the old parish register, 1570-1740.

Original records of marriages at Lambe's Chapel, Monkwell Street (otherwise St. James's - on - the - Wall, Cripplegate), dating from 1619 to 1753, are preserved in the Guildhall Library at MS. 1159, Nos. 1 and 2.

References to transcripts of, and extracts from, sundry London registers to be found at the College of Arms are set out in the ' Index ' and ' Supplement ' issued by the Parish Register Society.

WILLIAM McMuRRAY.

THE LAST TOILETTE. Mrs. Macbeath, a, grandmother of Dr. George Harley, whoso ' Life ' has been written by his daughter, Mrs. Alec Tweedie, saw to her grave-clothes some years before her death, being of the opinion that gentlefolk should prepare their shrouds. She was born in 1772. We are told :

" She learned to weave that she might weave her last garment, which was of the finest white lawn, trimmed with lace "