Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/253

 ii s. v. MAR. IB, i9i2.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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surrounded by its " God's Acre," where a tomb may be found bearing the inscription :

" Here are interred the remains of several soldiers of the allied army, who died in hospital at Biarritz in the year 1814. Their remains were removed hither in 1861 on the levelling of the Atalaye. their original place of sepulture."

The site of the last battle of the Peninsula is but a few miles away. Whether the French commander knew that peace had actually been signed when he made his fierce sortie from the fortress of Bayonne on 10 April, 1814. is still disputed. But a sharp struggle took place, of which several inter- esting souvenirs remain kept up with pious care, and frequently visited by mem- bers of the Royal Family in recent years. From Bayonne citadel the old earthworks which baffled Wellington in 1814 still sur- round the town a pleasant walk of a couple of miles in the direction of Bordeaux brings the pilgrim "To the Third Guards'* Cemetery," as the English finger - post terms it. On the undulating upland, studded with cork-oaks, is a tiny railed-in enclo- sure containing the tombs of officers who died of their wounds in the Guards' camp near this spot. A marble obelisk is dedicated to the memory of Capt. and Adjutant F. R. T. Melbourne ; Capts. C. L. White and J. B. Shiffner lie together in a second tomb ; the third slab is inscribed to Capt. Luke Mahon. The ground was enclosed by Capt. Holbourne's sister in 1876. At what date the obelisk and slabs were placed is less certain ; but they are not the originals, for the roughly carved gravestones raised in 1814 ^re still visible, side by side with these replicas. " The King [Edward VII.] came here in a motor," the little lad who showed me this " Cimetiere des Anglais " explained, and he hinted that Princess Beatrice and the present Queen of Spain had also visited the spot (possibly during their visits to Mouriscot).

Xear Bayonne, but in a slightly different direction, lies the Coldstream Guards' Cemetery, where the following four inscrip- tions may be noted :

1. Burial Place of the British officer?, especially of the Coldstream Guards, who fell in action near to this spot on the 14th April, 1814, the night of the sortie from the Citadel of Bayonne.

Tombeaux des officiers anglais tus au champ de bataille pros de ces lieux, le 14 avril, 1814.

This ground was purchased by the Guards in 1814.

2. This Tomb is placed by the Officers of the 3d Battln. 1st or Royal Scots to the Memory of the Late Major General A. Hay, commanding the


 * Now the Scots Fusilier Guards.

1st Brigade 5th Division, British Army ; who- gallantly fell in Defence of the ground in which his body is deposited on the morning of 14th April, 1814. aged o2 years.

N.B. The stone was removed from the N.E. angle of the Church of St. Etienne in consequence of the enlargement of the Chancel, Dec., 1868.

3. 1814 Wm. Yuill

C r Serg. 3rd Batt. 1st Foot Guards, killed by Grape Shot 7th April. Beloved by the Regt. in wich [sic] he served 20 Years. A Friend to Truth. He loved his King, zealous for his country. And in its just cause he Breathed his last. Adue [sic] My Friend.

4. The Enclosure of this cemetery is largely due to the patriotic exertions of P. A. Hurt, Esq., who resided for many years at Amade, near this place. Died Nov., 1900.

Her Majesty Victoria, Queen of Gt. Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, accompanied, by Her Royal Highness the Princess Beatrice, Princess Henry of Battenberg, visited the Guards' Cemetery, March 20th, 1889.

A particular interest is given to this pretty little cemetery by the touching tribute to the colour-sergeant, eloquent in its illitf racy. The tomb of General Hay is also distinguished by some minor singu- larities (a free use of capitals, the word " in " engraved " JN," &c.). It will be remarked that the gallant General was first buried in consecrated ground, and removed (like the bodies of the above-mentioned soldiers who died in hospital) when Biarritz commenced its transformation from a fishing village into a fashionable seaside resort.

The last battle fought ere peace was offi- cially declared was at Toulouse (Easter Sunday, 10 April, 1814). An obelisk on the hill overlooking the railway station recalls this final struggle between Wellington and Soult ; but I know of no British graves^ The town has, of course, been much extended and altered since this distant date. At Orthez (27 Feb., 1814) only some 280 British soldiers fell, and this battle-field I have had no opportunity of visiting. F. A. W.

(To be continued.)

PITT'S ' LETTER ON SUPERSTITION.' Last year you kindly inserted a query of mine (see 11 S. iii. 107, 218) about the ' Letter on Superstition,' originally published in The London Journal of 1733, and attri- buted to the elder William Pitt.

This ' Letter,' reprinted in William Pitt's- lifetime, is to be found in one of the British Museum scrapbooks dated 1760.

It was reprinted in 1819 and 1820 as a hawker's broadsheet, and again, in 1875 by A. Holyoake, as a secularist tract.