Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/171

 n s. iv. AUG. 20, mi.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

165

Ann Freeman and her heirs. . . .sister Sarah Freeman, widow " (see 10 S. viii. 45).

The will of James Freeman of the parish of St. Botolph, Aldersgate Street (dated 30 Dec., 1734 ; proved 8 Jan., 1734, P.C.C., Ducie, 7), is witnessed by John Pike and John Hocker.

Toward the solution of our problem sufficient progress has been made to permit the adoption of a working hypothesis which seems to fit all the facts and traditions (see 9 S. xi. 205 ; xii. 468).

Three series of ' Extracts from British Archives on the families of Halley, Hawley, Parry, Pyke, &c.,' appeared in The Maga- zine of History, New York, 1906-11, and were reprinted in pamphlet form.

The writer would gratefully receive any additional facts. EUGENE F. McPiKE.

135, Park Row, Chicago.

THE SCOTS GUARDS AND THE KING'S HEALTH. The following extract from The Jewish Chronicle ('Children's Section') of 4 August may be of interest to readers of 'N. & Q.': "

" At every military mess in the kingdom, with one exception, the toast of the King is given after dinner each day. The one exception is the mess at St. James's Palace. The King's Guard there may not drink the health of the reigning sovereign unless it happens to be the regiment of Scots Guards that has to form the guard ; in that case that corps, and only that one, is ordered to drink the King's health. I will tell you the reason. In the reign of William III. the Scots Guards were supposed to be in favour of the Stuart King James II., to whose throne William III. had succeeded, and the officers of the regi- ment were ordered to drink to the health of the reigning King, William, whilst other corps were forbidden to do so, in order that the enforced loyalty of the Scots should be the more marked. At this time the Scots Guards were also forbidden the use of finger-glasses at mess, lest when the toast of ' The King ' was given any Jacobite officer should pass his wineglass across the finger- bowl and thus toast the King ' over the water.' In recollection of this old tradition no finger- glasses are allowed to this day at the mess of the Scots Guards."

HERBERT B. CLAYTON. 39, Renfrew Road, Lower Kennington Lane.

THE FIRST EARL OF LYTTON. In the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral there is a memorial tablet to the first Earl of Lytton, and at the end of the ' Personal and Literary Letters of Robert, first Earl of Lytton,' there is what professes to be a copy of the inscription ; yet there are some strange differences between the two.

The inscription begins : " Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton, first Earl of Lytton." There

is a hyphen between Bulwer and Lytton, which,* whether it was ever used by the Earl or not, was never, I believe, used by his father, the famous novelist ; and there is no hyphen between the two names on his tombstone in Westminster Abbey. The copy of the inscription begins : " Robert Edward, first Earl of Lytton." Here we have no " Bulwer-Ly tton* " at all, and the order of the Christian names is reversed. There can be no doubt that the inscription is right on this point ; but it was decided in the Earl's youth that he should be called Robert to distinguish him from his father, although the latter was at that time a baronet, whilst the son had no title. The copy also omits " Viscount Knebworth,'* and sundry letters.

The next discrepancy is with respect to- the Earl's birth, which the inscription places in 1830, whilst the copy says it was in 1831. On this point the copy is certainly right ; and as the date in the inscription is in Roman figures, with nothing after it in the same line, it would be easy to add I after the XXX.

The inscription next tells us that the Earl entered the diplomatic service in 1850, whilst the copy says 1849. I do not know which is right here, but I may remark that in 1849 young Lytton was only eighteen years old.

Both inscription and copy agree that he was Viceroy of India from 1876 to 1880, but there is a verbal difference in what follows, The inscription says : " From 1887 to the day of his death Ambassador at Paris, where he died November 24, 1891 "; but the copy says : " From 1887 to 1891 Ambassador at Paris, where he died on the 24th of Novem- ber." W. A. FROST. St. Paul's Cathedral.

SECOND DUKE OF GOBDON : A CURIOSITY IN BIBLIOGRAPHY. I venture to think that my experience in publishing a complete life of the 2nd Duke of Gordon (1678 ?-1728) and his sons and daughters in other than book form may interest genealogists and be useful to bibliographers. The Duke is exceedingly interesting as having, after a temporary support of Jacobitism for which the ballad- mongers pilloried him saved his house by declaring finally for the house of Hanover, although his son Lord Lewis almost undid the work of regeneration. Two or three years ago I began co-ordinating the numerous notes I had collected about him, and the material ultimately snowballed itself into a continuous biographical compilation of 90,000 words, occupying 602 pages of manu- script. I have managed to get it all in print