Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/178

 172

NOTES AND QUERIES, [ii s. vm. AUG. so,

Miles MacCostelloe. His sons predeceased him, and he died at Carrickfergus, 1242-3. We may take all these children to have been legitimate, as they bear the distinctive De Laci Christian names. One question is, Who was their mother ? and I do not think it can yet be answered.

What, then, may be suggested as the possible origin of this curious confusion as to the families of De Verdon and De Riddels - ford in this Irish marriage of the Earl of Ulster ? To the present writer the least difficult hypothesis seems to be to assume that Hugh de Laci did marry firstly a De Verdon, possibly (it must be admitted) a daughter of Bertram de Verdon, and with whom passed the Castle of Rathour and Le Nober (? Nobber, co. Meath), and, secondly, Emeline de Riddelsford. If Richard Fitz- Gilbert (De Clare) II. (Strongbow) bestowed Bray upon Walter de Riddelsford c. 1170-76, the latter must have been born c. 1150. He w"as probably as much as thirty years junior to Bertram de Verdon. As, however, he was living in August, 1237 (as shown above), he was at the latter date nearing 90 years of age. A daughter of his might well have been born c. 1172 i.e., but little after the date of Hugh de Laci, Earl of Ulster's birth. On the- other hand, if (as Sweetman, ii. 834, states) this daughter was living in 1267 (November), she was probably born a good deal later. The dates of the births of Hugh's children are much needed. (But see below.) The formula I venture to suggest is the following : (1) Lesceline,= Hugh de =f=(2) Emeline=f=(2) Stephen

d. (?) of

Laci, of

living

de

Bert, de Verdon and

Ulster, b. c. 1167,

1267.

Longespee.

Rose

d. 1242-3.

One daughter.

(1) Walter. (2) Roger. (3) Rose. (4)

If Emeline married Stephen de Longe spee after the death of Hugh de Laci in 1242-3, and had one child by him, her own birth could not have been before 1198, which would make the date of her marriage to Hugh de Laci c. 121216, when he would have been c. 45 years of age. It is clear that he must have been c. 70 when he left her a widow, and she was no more than c. 45.

The result of this seems to point to one of two things : either ( 1 ) De Laci remained a bachelor until c. 40 years of age ; or (2) he was married to another lady before Emeline de Riddelsford. If so, who was she ? I think the probable answer would be Lesceline de Verdon. ST. CLAIR BADDELEY.

"BURGEE" (11 S. vii. 65, 153). I believe the suggestion of this word's origin being on the same lines as that of " marquee " and " Portugee " to be correct ; and that the term was first used of a flag or pennant belonging to a ship owned by a burgher or citizen as his private property, or yacht, and not for purposes of trade. " Burgee caution " might mean a notice to seafaring men to distinguish between mercantile and amateur craft.

On the other hand, the expression a " bur- gess of the sea" occurs, apparently without any specific meaning, in Beaumont and Fletcher's ' Custom of the Country,' Act II. sc. i. :

" Twenty years I have lived a burgess of the sea, and have been present at many a desperate light, but never saw so small a bark with such incredible valour, so long defended, and against such odds."

COMING OF AGE (US. vii. 369, 432). In this connexion it may be pertiivent to note that the Lady Margaret Beaufort, who married Edmund Tudor, Earl of Rich- mond, gave birth to her only son who later became Henry VII. when she was but thirteen years of age, at Pembroke Castle. On the authority of Hall, Miss Strickland gives the date as 26 June, 1456 ('Lives of the Queens of England,' ii. 63) ; but the ' D.N.B.' places it on the Feast of St. Agnes the Second (28 Jan., 1457). In both cases the mother's age is stated to have been under fourteen years. N. W. HILL.

San Francisco.

TAILORS' RIOT AT HAYMARKET THEATRE, 1805 (11 S. vii. 464; viii. 65). The view ex- pressed by MR. ALECK ABRAHAMS is borne out by the following from ' The Life and Enter- prises of Robert William Elliston, Comedian,' by George Raymond, 1844, much of the material being supplied by a contemporary and intimate friend of Elliston, one Winston :

" Dowton had chosen for his benefit Foote's burlesque piece entitled ' The Tailors,' or ' A Tragedy for Warm Weather,' in which the fra- ternity of the thimble were not treated with the respect which their importance in all ages appears

to have enjoyed ; and they now resolved to

vindicate the dignity of their order. The actor [Dowton], on his appearance in the part of Fran- cisco, was assailed by no less a missile than a pair of tremendous shears, which would at once have cut the thread of his existence had the ate been an echo to the will. This demonstration of hostility caused the immediate interference of the constables, and in nine minutes the uproar

was at the best. The tailors were presently

overmatched. Some of the ringleaders were handed over to the public office, where Mr. Aaron Graham was at that moment sitting. Here good fortune appeared, in some degree, to attend the