Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/261

 ii s. v. MAR. 16, i9i2.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

FAMILIES : DURATION IN MALE LINE (11 S. v. 27.92 ; 132. 174). The extract from Burke'.- ' Extinct Peerage,' 1883, which is quoted by TERTITJS, is substantially correct, though one or two points are open to ques- tion ; but I fail to see how it supports SIR W. BULL'S " idea." Sir Bernard Burke's remarks apply exclusively to peerages, but SIR W. BULL did not mention peerages in his query, which asked for information as to the usual duration of a family in the male line. Families in the possession of a peerage form but a very small proportion of the families in the kingdom, and the duration of a peerage cannot be considered as an index of the duration of families in general. But even as it is, there are more members of the House of Lords who directly represent ancient families than is generally supposed. Some time ago I drew up a list of the peers who are still in enjoyment of the estates held by their ancestors in the time of Henry VII. If my recollection is correct, they numbered between thirty and forty.

Mr. Shirley's book does not deal with Scottish and Irish families, but long descents are not uncommon in those countries. Putting the Highland chiefs on one side, there is perhaps a larger proportion of old families in Scotland than in England. CAPT. SWINTON adduces the Lindsays, but there are also the Hamiltons, whose Dukedom dates from 1643 ; the Gordons, whose Mar- quisate of Huntly dates from 1599 ; the Erasers of Lovat, the Maxwells, the Kers, the Leslies, and hosts of others. In Ireland, besides the old Celtic families, we have the Fitzgeralds, Fitzmaurices, Butlers, Plunketts, Roches, and others of Anglo-Norman descent, as well as the Chichesters, Hamiltons, and other immigrants with long pedigrees, who came from England and Scotland in Eliza- bethan and Jacobean times. Nor must the De Courcys be forgotten, whose barony of Kingsale dates from 1191, and therefore invalidates one of Sir Bernard Burke's assertions.

Returning to England, I may state that not long ago I went carefully through the late Miss Toulmin Smith's valuable edition of Leland's ' Itinerary,' and found that a large number of families who hospitably received the traveller, especially in Cornwall, were still in possession of their old estates. A family which entertained Leland in the time of Henry VIII. has surely a claim to long descent.

I noticed an editorial note to my last reply (ante, p. 92), referring me to ' Domes- day Book and the Luttrell Family,' 11 S.

iv. 365. Not having the back numbers of ' N. & Q.' by me, I cannot consult this reference, but I have a vague recollection that it implies that the Luttrells of Dunster Castle are descended from a Domesday tenant. The family of Mohun, which originally possessed Dunster, and that of Luttrell, which succeeded the Mohuns, were very ancient families, but the present Luttrells of Dunster are no more Luttrells, though they bear the name, than the Dukes of Northumberland are Percies or the Earls of Lytton Lyttons. I think they would find a difficulty in proving a Domesday descent in the direct male line.

W. F. PRIDEAUX.

Villa Paradis, Hyeres.

[The reference at 11 S. iv. 365 was to Mr. A. F , Luttrell of East Quantockshead, who is stated to be a lineal descendant of Ralph Paynell, temp. William the Conqueror.]

' LONDON CHRONICLE ' : ' MONTHLY RE- VIEW ' (11 S. v. 130).

" 1749, May. The Monthly Revieic. No. 1. This work was commenced by Mr. Ralph Griffiths, bookseller, in London, which he edited, with un- remitting perseverance, for fifty-four years " ;

and see further details in Timperley's ' Dic- tionary of Printers and Printing,' 1839, p. 677.

Griffiths was born 1720, and died in 1803. For details see The European Magazine, January, 1804. The ' Memoir ' by Dr. Griffiths's son, mentioned in this article, I cannot trace, and probably it was never published.

Benjamin Collins of Salisbury, who printed the first edition of ' The Vicar of Wakefield,' bought on 25 June, 1761, from Ralph Griffiths, a fourth share in The Monthly Review for 1551. 12s. 6rf. Collins was the founder of The London Chronicle. See ' A Bookseller of the Last Century,' by Charles Welsh, 1885, p. 19. On p. 161 of this volume will be found the will of Jolm Newbery, 1767, giving to his wife all hi& " right, shares, benefit, and advantage " in, The London Chronicle and other newspapers.

WM. H. PEET.

The London Chronicle, of which Griffith; Jones (1722-86) was for many years editor, was started by Dodsley in 1756. Dr, Jolmson wrote the introduction. Boswell, who states that it was (in 1769) the only newspaper which the doctor took in regularly r gives the following note on the introduction :

" As one of the little occasional advantages- whieh he did not disdain to take by his pen, a a man whose profession was literature, he this- year accepted of a guinea from Mr. Robert