Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/278

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. iv. SEPT. 30, 1911.

the enemy's cavalry were coining down ! In a moment the troops sprang to their arms and formed ; and Cole's brawny brigade rushing out of the sea, and throwing their belts over their shoulders, grasped their muskets and drew up in line, without attempting to assume an article of clothing. The alarm was utterly groundless ; a great dust and an imperfect view of a herd of scampering buffaloes had conjured up a vision of French Chasseurs in this noodle of an officer, one of my assistants."

C. HAGGARD.

The paragraph quoted by MB. TEW is from Mr. C. K. Fletcher's ' Introductory History of England,' iv. 273, where 6,300 is given as the number of the French there ; but the full account of the battle, with plans, by Prof. Oman, in the Journal of the Royal Artillery for March, 1908, shows from French sources that the field state was 6,440 (p. 564), and on the preceding page that of the English is given.

The incident happened after the battle, when the English commander had gone aboard Sir Sidney Smith's flagship, and is described in Sir Henry Bunbury's ' Narrative of some Passages in the Great War with France, 1799 to 1810,' pp. 249-50. Sir Henry was Quartermaster-General to Sir James Craig, who commanded the English forces.

It must be borne in mind that since that time the old numbers of regiments have been altered, while some have disappeared from the Army List. From the English field state above alluded to, it appears that "Cole's brawny brigade " consisted of six com- panies (including the Grenadier companies) of the 20th, now the East Devon Regi- ment, which bears " Maida " on the colours, and the 27th, the Inniskillings (not the 6th Dragoon Guards, who also bear " Maida " 011 the colours). The 36th (Hereford Regiment) is now linked with the 29th Regiment ; the 81st (Lincoln Regi- ment) is now the second battalion of the 47th Lancashire, and also bears the name of the battle on the colours, as does De Watteville's. A. RHODES.

This battle being fought on the 4th of July, 1806, the weather was very hot, and after the engagement each of the brigades received permission to bathe in the sea. An alarm being raised that the French cavalry was approaching, the Grenadiers and the 27th Regiment at once rushed out of the water, seized their belts and muskets, and fell into line " ready to fight and give a good account of themselves without a

shred of clothing." See Fortescue's ' History of the British Army,' Book XIII. chap. xi. p. 351 (Macmillan & Co., 1910).

T. F. D.

THIRTEENTH (US. iv. 167, 213, 238). This was one of the feudal aids or tallages levied, like scutage and carucage, on special occasions by the Norman and Plantagenet kings, but on the inhabitants of towns and royal demesnes only. The first imposition on movables was made in 1188 on the occa- sion of the Saladin tithe. Tallages varied at different times in the proportion of assess- ment, the two most common rates being the tenth and the fifteenth ; but I have found the following assessments 'also mentioned : a fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, eighteenth, twentieth, twenty- fifth, thirtieth, and fortieth.

Stubbs in his ' Constitutional History,' vol. i. p. 586, refers to this particular tax :

" The assessment of the thirteenth in A.D. 1207 was, however, not made by juries, but by the oath of the individual payer taken before the justices ; the contribution of the clergy being a matter of special arrangement made by the arch- deacons."

N. W. HILL.

New York.

PER CENTUM: ITS SYMBOL (11 S. iv. 168, 238). MR. SHEPHERD'S explanation of the symbol % seems a little wide of the mark. It surely represents the space for fractions of a pound, whether expressed in shillings and pence or in fractions. Thus 5 % per cent stands for 51. per 100Z., and 5 1 per cent for 51. 15s. per 100Z. Nobody would think of writing 5| % per cent.

HERBERT MAXWELL.

CORNISH GENEALOGY AND THE CIVIL WAR (US. iv. 228). The following list is taken from " A True Relation of the Pro- ceedings of the Cornish Forces under the command of the Lord Mohune and Sir Ralph Hopton, &c. London. Printed for Philip Smith" (19 May), 1643. I have preserved the eccentric spelling. A List of His Majestie's Commanders in chiefe, also the names of the Colonells, Lieutenant- Colonell's, Serjeant-Majors and Captaines of his Majestie's forces in Cornwall.

Lord Mohune, L. Generall.

Sir Ralph Hopton, Lieutenant Generall.

Colon ell Ashburnham, Serjeant-Major-Generall.

Sir Nicholas Slanning, Colonell of one foot regiment.

Sir John Berkeley, Lieutenant Colonell. Ser- jeant-Major Mannington. Captains, Weeks, Cooke, Foster, Rich, Smallacombe, Rous, Piper and Poulson.