Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/113

 116. V. FEB. 3, 1912.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

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to him as his companion, " whose virtuous and disinterested character appears to have been beyond the censure even of the most censorious."

Is it known whence Charles Dickens obtained the information of this romantic episode, or where further and more detailed particulars of it may be found ?

WlLMOT CORFIELD.

"TRUTH:": HENRY LABOUCHERE. To- day, the 17th of January, I have dipped into two morning papers. Both announce the death of Mr. Henry Labouchere, and are ready with anecdotes concerning him. Each repeats that of his treatment of a caller at the Embassy at Washington who was resolved to see His Excellency ; and also that of the suggested walk from London to a far-distant foreign capital. There are certain differences in the relations which may bewilder narrators a hundred years hence, if any desire for accuracy still exist. It may be possible for contemporary writers in ' N. & Q.' to lighten the burden of posterity by testifying to the correctness of A or B, or to the incorrectness of both. I append the versions :

A.

" One day when Mr. Labouchere was an Attach^ at Washington an irate Britisher bounced in and demanded to see the Ambassador. ' Not here ! you say. Then I will wait till he comes.' ' Very well,' said Mr. Labouchere, ' take a chair.' After waiting some hours the visitor inquired if the Minister would be much longer, and was staggered when the Attach^ replied, ' Well, he sailed for Europe on Wednesday, but as you insisted on waiting, I offered you a chair.'

" When Mr. Labouchere was in the diplomatic service he was suddenly ordered from London to Vienna. Half a week passed ; no word came from the traveller, and wires to the Austrian capital failed to find him. At length he was unearthed at Dover, and met the furious official demand for explanations with the simple statement that his allowance for expenses was so low that he had no option but to walk."

B.

" The stories told of him in the diplomatic service are as numerous as they are amusing. When, for instance, he was at Washington a citizen of the Republic entered the office in a manner which excited the resentment of the Attached ' I want to see the " boss," ' he said. ' You can't see him,' was the answer, ' he 's out ; see me.' ' You 're no good to me,' rejoined the visitor, ' I can wait.' He was requested to take a seat, and the Attache 1 went on with his work. A long time having elapsed the caller remarked : ' Stranger, I 've been fooling around here for two hours. Has the " boss " come in yet ? ' Mr. Labouchere replied quietly : ' No ; you '11 see him drive up to the door when he returns.' ' How long do you reckon he will be ? ' was the

next question. ' Well,' was the response, ' he went to Canada yesterday. I should say he '11 be about six weeks.'

' ' On one occasion he was directed to proceed to St. Petersburg, but at the end of six months he was discovered at Homburg. There were, as a result, remonstrances from Downing Street, The reply of the youthful diplomat was that his means were small, but his zeal great, and that as neither his purse nor Government liberality was sufficient to meet the cost of trains he was walking to the Russian capital, which he hoped to reach in the course of the year."

ST. SWITHIN.

VETURIA, MOTHER OF CORIOLANUS. Who was the mother of Coriolanus ? Shake- speare, following Plutarch, gives Volumnia as his mother, and Virgilia as his wife. Lempriere, quoting from several authorities, gives the same. A statue, too, of Volumnia is said to have been erected in Rome on account of her influence in saving the city from destruction. I see, however, that ' The Encyclopaedia Britannica ' and the ' Dic- tionary of Biography ' both make Volumnia the wife of Coriolanus, and Veturia his mother. See also Lempriere, under ' Veturia. ' What are the authorities upon which this version is founded, and why are they con- sidered superior to Plutarch ? The name " Veturia " has the appearance of an ex post facto origin, as a kind of generic term for an old woman, and gives the whole story more the appearance of a myth than even Plu- tarch's version. J. FOSTER PALMER.

8, Royal Avenue, S.W.

[Livy, ii. 40, gives Veturia as the name of the mother, and Volumnia as that of the wife, of Coriolanus.]

BRANDON, DUKE OF SUFFOLK : BRUNT. Charles Brandon married Mary, youngest sister of Henry VIII. ; was standard-bearer to that king, who visited him at Grims- thorpe Castle, Bourne ; was created Duke of Suffolk, and received Tattershall Castle ; and was the son of the standard-bearer to Henry VII. at Bosworth. What is known of his father's antecedents ?

The valiant Sir John Brunt gave rise to " He bore the brunt of the battle," and died intestate. What is known of him ?

C. LANSDOWN.

WOMEN AND TOBACCO. The following is a curiosity in several ways :

SHEET HART I am glad to here you are well ; I came saue to buknum after the frite of the winmell thankes be to god ; I haue bout Lookes ; for the garden dores ; at swoffom but I thinke ; you had ned ; by a Look for the Ladder dore, at holbrok ; for I here you haue left it oppe ; where all the bras & peuter is I have done all the