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NOTES AND QUERIES. [IIS.IV.SBPT. 9,1911.

REPUBLIQTJE FRAN9AISE on the reverse. The said sheet also gives a five-franc piece dated 1811, with NAPOLEON EMPEREUR on the one side, and EMPIRE FRANAIS on the other.

If this money-sheet is to be trusted, the gradual change was :

1. " Bonaparte Premier Consul."

2. " Napoleon Premier Consul," both in An 12.

3. " Napoleon Empereur," An 13 and 1808, all with " Republique Francaise."

4. After about three or four years, " Napoleon Empereur " and " Empire Fran9ais."

I notice that MAJOR WILLCOCK gives the date of his piece as AN 13. 0. I doubt whether the " " has anything to do with the date. On the earliest of the coins to which I am referring is, at the foot of the reverse, AN 12. .L. (there being nearly a quarter of an inch between the stop follow- ing 12 and that preceding L.). On that dated 1808 there is a stop after the date, and after nearly a quarter of an inch the letter A without stops. Further, on a five-franc piece of Louis XVIII. I find 1814 Q space as above, no stops. In each case the letter is balanced on the other side of the date by a device : in the first a flower, in the second a cock, in the third something which I cannot make out. Where the letter has a stop on each side, so has the device ; if the letter has none, the device has none.

The head of Bonaparte First Consul is, in my opinion, much superior to that of Napoleon Emperor of the Republic. The former has, of course, no wreath ; the latter has. The former is like, but is not the same as that of NAPOLEONE IMPERATORE E RE on the Italian five-franc pieces.

The absence of the wreath in half-francs, francs, and (I think) two-franc pieces of Napoleon III. has for several years made many coins not current. The five-franc pieces of Napoleon III. without the wreath are, I think, still current. In fact, I believe that all five-franc pieces coined in France from the time of the First Republic till to-day are good. ROBERT PIERPOINT.

CARACCIOLO FAMILY (11 S. iv. 69, 136, 173). This illustrious Neapolitan family was first admitted into the Libro d'Oro of the. ' Almanach de Gotha ' in 1909, and in the issue for that year will be found, under the heading ' Aveliino,' pp. 264-9, a short account of the family and a sketch pedigree commencing with Domizio Caracciolo Rosso, who was created Dukejjrf Atripalda by

King Philip II. of Spain in 1572. His son Marino, the second duke, was created Prince of Aveliino by the same king in 1589. His descendant Marino Francesco, the fifth prince and sixth duke, was ambassador from the Emperor Charles VI. to the Holy See, and was created a Grandee of Spain in 1708, and a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, with the qualification of " Celsis- simus" and of "Cher et bien-aime Cousin" and the right of striking money, in 1715. The present holder of these dignities is Francesco, thirteenth Prince of Aveliino and fourteenth Duke of Atripalda, born in 1860, who succeeded in 1901 his father Marino, mentioned by MR. ROBERT PIER- POINT at the last reference.

The family is descended from a feudal house in Southern Italy, which since the twelfth century has thrown out several branches. Many of these are extinct, and among those still existing the principal are those of Aveliino and of the Princes of Tor- chiarolo, who are descended from a younger son of the above-mentioned Prince" Marino Francesco. This branch is very widely extended, and many of its members seem to have intermarried with plebeian families.

The Dukedom of S. Arpino seems to have been originally a Spanish dignity. Ambrogio, the third Prince of Torchiarolo (1755-1818), and great-grandfather of the present Prince, married in 1775 Maria Teresa Sanchez de Luna, daughter of the Duque de S. Arpino (1750-1842). W. F. PRIDEAUX.

MR. PIERPOINT confirms my statement precisely in giving Settanni as the surname of the Emilia, who married, 4 March, 1876, Giovanni, brother of Prince Giuseppe Carac- ciolo. Her humble origin will explain the silence of the ' Annuario ' on her birth and parentage.

She was a bella bionda of a type greatly admired by Italians from its rarity. Her only sister married a well-known English painter about 1870.

Capri peasant-girls frequently attracted foreign artists and others by their classic features, and a descendant of one now sits in our House of Peers.

WILLIAM MERCER.

SIR THOMAS MIDDLETON (US. iv. 169). He was of Stanstead Montfichet, Essex, son and heir of Thomas Middleton of the same place by Constance, daughter of Thomas Bromefield, Alderman of London. He was baptized at St. Antholin's, London, 21 April, 1654 ; knighted at Whitehall 14 December, 1675 ; M.P. for Harwich