Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/519

 11 S. V. JUNK 1, 1912.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

sailors, with a corps of naval reserves, to do honor to the sole survivor of the Monitor's crew, the first ironclad pitted by the Federals against the Merrimac in 1862, on which vessel the grizzled veteran William Durst, an inconspicuous Hebrew, served as orderly, during that terrible sea-fight. Originally he was but a poor coal- heaver, but when his country needed him, in the hour of her direst peril, he was ready."

Taken in conjunction with Lord Wands- worth's magnificent bequest of l millions to charity, and with the unforgettable loyalty to England of Prof. Vamb^ry (whose eightieth birthday was announced on 19 March), the foregoing biographic details of these illustrious men demonstrate de novo how uncalled for was Goldwin Smith's question " Can Jews be patriots ? " M. L. R. BRESLAR.

Percy House. South Hackney.

" THE TRIBES OF GALWAY/' The Free- man's Journal, 11 March, 1912 says :

" The death of Mr. Patrick Perrin Skerrett, which occurred in the house in which he was born in Mary Street, Galway, recalls the Tribes for which the city was once famous. Mr. Skerrett, who had attained his eightieth vear, was for many years collector of harbour dues, and was afforded an honorarium of 300?. by the Harbour Board upon his retirement some time ago. He was the last representative of the name in the city, his relatives being all in foreign lands.

" It was upon the advent of the English that Galway first came to be known as ' Citie of the Tribes." The Tribes were of ancient lineage, and had come from many European countries, the names [sic] being thus in verse ' Athy, Blake, Bodkin, Dean, Darcy, Lynch, Joyce, Kirwan, Morris, Mai-tin, Skerrett, Ffrench.' "

To the twelve names mentioned should be added the Tribes of Browne and Ffont (the latter is now extinct). Galway had 14 principal Tribes, 14 Towers, 14 principal Altars, and 14 principal Streets.

WILLIAM MACARTHUR.

Dublin.

REPUBLICAN MEDALLION. In ' Letters written in France in the Summer, 1790, relative to the French Revolution,' 1792, vol. i. p. 38, Miss Helen Maria Williams mentions a rather singular medallion in the form of a brooch, apparently designed by the wearer, who was Madame de Genlis, the celebrated authoress, and governess of the future King Louis Philippe, and the other children of the Duke of Orleans. This Stephanie, Countess de Genlis, known as Madame Sillery, when the National Assembly abolished the nobility, renounced her title, and took the name of Madame Brulart.

She and her royal pupils were living at St. Leu, in the valley of Montmorenci, when Miss Williams saw her wearing

" at her breast a medallion made of a stone of the Bastille polished. In the middle of the medallion, ' Libert6 ' was written in diamonds ; above was marked, in diamonds, the planet that shone on the 14th of July ; and below was seen the moon, of the size she appeared that memorable night. The medallion was set in a branch of laurel, composed of emeralds, and tied at the top with the national cockade, formed of brilliant stones of the three national colours."

It was her daughter (by the Duke of Orleans) who married, in 1792, Lord Edward Fitzgerald. L. M. R.

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.

ROMAN WIT. I know and possess F. A. Paley's booklet ' Greek Wit, a Collec- tion of Smart Sayings and Anecdotes, trans- lated from Greek Prose Writers/ London, 1881. It is a mere anthology, although a very pleasant one. Was a similar collection of Roman wit ever made ? I see that many sayings of this kind are reported in the second book of Macrobius's 'Saturnalia'; but many others are scattered in Cicero's writings and elsewhere. I know that such collections were made at the time of the Renaissance, but as jest-books, without any reference to their antiquity. What I have in mind, and what I am looking for, is a kind of Corpus Facetiarum.

H. GAIDOZ. 22, Rue S e rvandoni, Paris (VI C ).

CONVENT OF THE BLUE XUNS, BROMPTON. Where can I find any record of the Convent of the Blue Xuns, Brompton, founded by French sisters who fled in the first emigration circa 1790 ? Where was it situated, and when did it cease to exist ?

G. E.

FRANCES, DUCHESS OF SUFFOLK. (See ante, p. 26.) Why did this lady allow her daughter. Lady Jane Dudley, for whom she seems to have cared little, to take precedence of her in claiming the crown of England ? Was it because she feared the consequences, and preferred that her daughter should suffer them rather than herself, or because her own elevation would not have suited the ambitious designs of Northumberland ? She certainly incurred some risk by bearing her daughter's train. E. L. H. TEW.