Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/333

 ii s. v. APRIL 6, 1912.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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HENRY BLAKE (11 S. v. 168). He was presumably, Henry Blake of Lehinch,. co Mayo, and Renvyle, co. Galway. admittec to the Middle Temple. 27 February, 1748/9 died s.p. 1780; will dated 5 May, 1779 proved 8 November. 1780, leaving his estates to his kinsman Valentine Blake, second son of Martin Blake.

The pedigree of his line will be found in the second volume, at pp. 131-40, of that most interesting compilation ' Blake Famil-y Records, 1300-1700,' by Martin Blake barrister-at-law (Elliot Stock, 1905).

PHILLPPA SWESTNERTOX HUGHES. 91, Albert Bridge Road. S.W.

MR. HIPWELL is not quite accurate in stating that Blake's name " does not appear in any register, list, or other official record preserved at Westminster School," for it is to be found under the admissions of January, 1743/4. Like MR. HIPWELL, I should be glad to learn something more of Henry Blake. G. F. R. B.

FELICIA. HEMANS (11 S. iv. 468, 534; v. 55, 116). Between forty and fifty years ago a stained-glass window was placed in St. Anne's Church, in Dublin, as a memorial of Mrs. Hemans, who for a time resided in Kildare Street, very near the church. I cannot say whether the house is still in existence, nor, if so, whether it has any inscription to mark its literary associations. ALEX. LEEPER.

Trinity College, University of Melbourne.

DUCHESSE DE BOCILLOX (US. V. 70, 153).

May I supplement the reply on the subject of Philip d'Auvergne, Admiral of the British Xavy, and Duke of Bouillon ? In a little work ' From the Gunroom to the Throne,' by Mr. Henry Kirke, M.A., it is denied that the unlucky Duke of Bouillon committed suicide, a.s Burke alleged in his ' Vicissitudes of Families.' Mr. Kirke, who is husband of a great-granddaughter of Philip d'Auvergne, was informed by one who was present at his death-bed at Holmes's Hotel. Parliament Street, that death was due to mental worry, protracted anxiety, and ill-health of long standing. It took place on 16 Sept.. 1816, when the Duke of Bouillon was in his 62nd year, and he was buried in St. Margaret's, Westminster.

The mystery of his descendants is ex- plained by the following passage in Mr. Kirke's book :

" There is nothing now extant to show that Philip d'Auvergne was ever married. .. .During his residence in Jersey he formed a connection With a French lady and by her had children, whom he acknowledged and brought up in his own

house. His only sou, named Philip after his father, a midshipman in the Royal Navy, died on board H.M.S. Africaine on the East India station on the 18tb March, 1815, in his 17th year, and was buried at Colombo. A daughter, Mary Ann Charlotte, who was born on the 14th of Nov., 1791, was married at Jersey in July, 1815, to Capt. Prescott, K.N. (afterwards Admiral Sir- Henry Prescott, C.B.)."

Neither of these children will account for the Duchesse de Bouillon, Princess de la Tour d'Auvergne, inquired for by EL SOLTERO ; but in ' The Memoirs of Comtesse de Boigne,' vol. i. p. 108, the real clue- is found. The gossiping Anglo - French memoirist is writing of the Royalist emigres in England, and especially of Madame de Vaudreuil and her daughters :

" One of them, Madame de la Tour, had fol- lowed her husband to Jersey, where his regiment was in garrison. At the moment the Governor of the island was a certain d'Auvergne, a captain in the English Navy, who claimed descent from the family of Bouillon, at any rate upon the left side. The Comte d'Auvergne began a very close intimacy with Madame de la Tour, and she did the honours of the Governors house. The officers jestingly called her among themselves Madame de la Tour d'Auvergne : but she accepted the- title, and with her husband, children, and brothers- in-law abandoned the surname of Paulet in favour of d'Auvergne. Thereupon, supporting this claim by some papers which Capt. d'Auvergne. who died without issue, had left her, she returned to France and founded a family branch of La Tour d'Auvergne. It had no other claim to- exist than that which I have narrated, and yet its existence eventxially became undisputed. In this enterprise she was greatly helped by her brother-in-law, the Abbe de la Tour, a thorough intriguer. At the time of which I shall have to supporter of the Bishop of Arras, and was accus- tomed to fulminate against every emigre who- returned to France. One fine morning he dis- appeared [from London] without saying a word, and a fortnight afterwards we learnt that the First Consul had appointed him to the Bishopric of Arras. His patron and predecessor was in- furiated to the point of madness against this- wretched hedge priest.' He never referred to him in any other terms."
 * peak he was the private secretary and fanatical

Philip d'Auvergne resided in Jersey,, save for short intervals, from 1793 to 1814. Be was a captain in the Navy when he was appointed Governor of the island, and the agent of the British Government in financing, provisioning, and arming the numerous raids md descents made on the French coast by hose unlucky heroes the Royalists. He was promoted rear-admiral in 1805. Mr. Kirke nentions that, with the exception of a ew letters in the British Museum, all D'Auvergne s papers are destroyed or lost,, and it may have been some of these papers which the French lady utilized for con- structing her pedigree. It is quite clear,