Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/238

 194

NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. vi. SKFT. 7, 1912.

The mother of General Lee, the well- known Confederate general in the American Civil War, was subject to catalepsy, and upon one occasion she was pronounced dead by a physician, and buried. Whilst, how- ever, the sexton was filling in the grave, he heard loud crying and knocking, and Mrs. Lee was rescued from her perilous position and a horrible fate. A year after- wards her youngest son, General Lee, was born.

Your contributor MB. PIERPOINT is evidently referring to the debate on ap- parent death and premature burial in the French Senat in February, 1866, on a peti- tion usually attributed to the father of the late President Carnot. On that occasion the Archbishop of Bordeaux, Cardinal Donne t, cited the case of a young clergyman who, in the middle of his sermon before a large cathedral congregation, fell down in the pulpit. A physician pronounced him to be dead, and signed the customary order for burial on the following day. The young man was carried to his room ; the bishop arrived and recited the ' De Profundis ' ; the undertaker measured him for the coffin ; and friends arrived to bid a last adieu to the supposed dead man. He, however, had heard and understood all that was taking place, and, by a supreme effort, at length aroused himself. He appeared in the pulpit on the following day. " And that young priest, gentlemen," continued the speaker, " rose to be a cardinal, and it is he who now has the honour of addressing you."

To those of your readers who are in- terested in this momentous subject I should be pleased to send literature relating to it on receipt of an envelope, stamped and addressed. JAS. R. WILLIAMSON.

100, Chedington Road, Upper Edmonton, N.

Undoubtedly premature burial has taken place many times ; but there is one thing commonly forgotten : when a body is found in such a position as to suggest violent efforts at escape, this is often caused by the coffin having been tilted up to allow of its being carried down a staircase.

W. B. S.

The French bishop and Senator alluded to at 3 S. xii. 176 was, I think, Dupanloup, Bishop of Orleans.

F. E. R. POLLARD -UKQUH ART.

Craigston Castle, Turriff, N.B.

PLACE OF DEPOSIT OF WILLS (11 S. vi. 129). Though I am unable to answer MR. CANN HUGHES 's inquiry, the last sentence of

his query requires notice. He says that, amongst others, the wills for Richmondshire have been done. Doubtless he refers to the volumes of the Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society. I wish, however, to point out that the original Richmond wills down to 1748, which until recently were at Somer- set House, have now, according to p. 281 of vol. ii. of ' The Pedigree Register ' (the official organ of the Society of Genealogists of London), been removed from London to York. This is a serious matter for those interested in genealogy. For personal pur- poses I recently obtained at very moderate fees abstracts of four of these wills made by a skilled professional genealogist. I now require information from further wills, but have to abandon the idea because the York fees would be prohibitive, though made on a strictly official scale. The skilled genealogist can make an abstract of such information as is alone material to the private inquirer, but the Probate Court only furnishes copies. MISTLETOE.

The registers of the Probate Office at Somerset House will show what wills have been proved and deposited. There are separate registers for the ' ; principal " registry and the " district " registries.

There is a " search " fee of Is., payable before the registers are inspected.

A. COLLINGWOOD LEE. Waltham Abbey, Essex.

KNIGHTS OF MALTA : GRAND MASTER VILHENA (US. v. 429; vi. 34). A few notes, taken from ' A Guide to the Maltese Islands,' by the Rev. G. N. Godwin, Chaplain to the Forces, 2nd ed., Malta, 1890, may be of interest to MR. AUSTEN-LEIGH.

The Grand Master, Manoel de Vilhena, did much to strengthen the fortifications, and in 1726 built, at a cost of 2,5001., de- frayed by himself, the fort on the island in the Marsamuscetto, or Quarantine Harbour, which bears his name (pp. 32, 136). This is Fort Manoel, which gives its name to the island. Other names for the island are " Gezira " and " The Island " (p. 136).

Antonio Manoel de Vilhena was the twenty- third Grand Master in Malta, 1722-36 (p. 35).

The handsome bronze monument of Manoel de Vilhena is in the church of St. John, Valletta, in the south aisle, in the chapel dedicated to St. James, assigned to the Language of Castile (p. 71).

In Victoria Square, formerly called "The Square of the Knights," is a statue of the Grand Master by Cavalier Savasse, which