Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/191

 us. vi. AUG. 24, 1912.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

155

In the February number, 1839, N.S., xi. pt. i. 204, under date 29 Dec., 1838, is :

" At St. George's, Hanover-sq. the Hon. Randall E. Plunkett, eldest son of Lord Dunsany, to Eliza- beth, only dau. and sole heiress of Lyndon Evelyn, esq. of Keynsham Court, Herefordshire."

Ibid., p. 666, June number, under date 30 April, is :

" At Richmond, Lyndon Evelyn, esq. of Keynsham Court, Heref. and late of York- terrace, Regents-park."

In the Blue-book of Members of Parlia- ment Lyndon Evelyn is described as of York Place, Portman Square, when he was M.P. for Whithorn, Wigtown, &c., and when he was M.P. for St. Ives, 1820-26. When he was M.P. for Dundalk, 1813 (not 1812) to 1818, no address is given.

Probably in the third obituary notice, which appears in the same words in ' The Annual Register, 1839, Chronicle,' p. 337, 41 York-terrace, Regent's-park," should be
 * ' York -place, Portman-square."

I have not succeeded in my attempts to trace Keynsham Court.

ROBERT PIEBPOINT,

FORLORN HOPE AT BADAJOS (11 S. v. 288, 394, 492 ; vi. 56). It is only now (the end of June) that the April issue of ' N. & Q.' has reached me, but the following note may not be too late for Y. T. It is copied from a very old letter recounting the engagements in which a cousin of my father served :

" Major-General Sir Dudley St. Leger Hill, Kt., Companion of the Most Honourable Military

Order of the Tower and Sword, and K.C.B

returned to Portugal in the Rifle Brigade in 1809, and was present at.... all the different actions in which the Rifle Brigade were engaged until appointed Major of the Lusitanian Legion previous to the Battle of Bussacco, at which he commanded a wing of the Regiment, and was wounded. Commanded half the Regiment and the British Light Company at the Battle of Fuentes d'Onora ; Commanded the 8th Capsi- dores at the Storming of Badajos, and, unassisted, took the strong fort of Pardalinaz early on the night of the assault," &c.

E. McC. S. HILL, F.S.G.

Wingham, Manning River, N.S.W.

FIRST USE OF FINGER-PRINTS FOR IDENTI- FICATION (11 S. v. 208). Although not juite what COL. HERSCHEL asks for, perhaps may draw his notice to an article on Palmistry in China,' by Prof. H. A. Giles, The Nineteenth Century and After for member, 1904. At the close of the article >f. Giles writes :

" In conclusion it may be pointed out, in simple justice to the Chinese, that the wonderful system of identification by finger-prints, which is forcing

the modern burglar to carry on his_ trade in gloves, was in force in China many centuries before it was heard of in Scotland Yard. Title-deeds, and other legal instruments, are often found to bear, in addi- tion to signatures, the finger-prints of the parties concerned ; sometimes, indeed, the imprint of the whole hand."

In the reduced Facsimile Edition of T. Bewick's '^Esop's Fables ' (Methuen's " Illus- trated Pocket Library," 1903) a copy of a receipt dated January 1st, 1824, is given on the page before the title. In addition to the signatures of Thomas Bewick and Robert Elliot Bewick, there is at the foot a second signature of Thomas Bewick above a facsimile of his thumb-print (showing the convolutions), the thumb-print being be- tween the words " his mark."

SIMPLE SIMON.

POPE: REFERENCE WANTED (11 S. vi. 89).

A soul supreme, in each hard instance tried, Above all Pain, all Passion, and all Pride, The rage of power, the blast of public breath, The lust of lucre, and the dread of Death. The reference is undoubtedly to Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, formerly Prime Minister to Queen Anne, the founder of the Harleian Collection, to whom the ' Epistle to Robert, Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer,' is written. It was sent to Harley after his imprisonment and retire- ment from public life, with a copy of Parnell's 'Poems.' The words immediately pre- ceding DR. WILLCOCK'S quotation are " a Soul like thine," so that the reference to Harley is beyond dispute.

J. FOSTER PALMER.

The lines quoted are from ' Epistle to Robert, Earl of Oxford, and Earl Mortimer.' In ' Pope's Poetical Works,' by the Rev. George Gilfillan, vol. i. p. 147, there is the following note :

" This Epistle was sent to the Earl of Oxford with Dr. Parnell's poems, published by our author, after the said Earl's imprisonment in the Tower, and retreat into the country, in the year 1721."

In ' Pope's Works,' by Elwin and Court- hope, vol. iii. p. 192, there is the following note :

" They are quite mistaken in his [Lord Oxford's] temper, who thought of getting rid of him, by advising him to make his escape from the Tower. He would have sat out the storm, let the danger be what it would. He was a steady man, and had a great firmness of soul, and would have died unconcernedly; or perhaps like Sir Thomas More with a jest in his mouth. Pope to Spence,