Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/457

 ii s. vi. NOV. 9, i9i2.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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a school in Boston. She was also for many years a resident of Staten Island. She married in 1838 Calderon de la Barca, Spanish Minister to the United States, and subsequently to Mexico. She published ' Life in Mexico,' with a preface by William H. Prescott, the historian (2 vols., Boston, 1843). After her husband's death she was attached to the household of ex-Queen Isabella II. of Spain at Seville."

See also Allibone and the ' Encyclopaedia Americana,' in which she is included as a " Scotch- American." In the American edi- tion of her book Prescott, in the Preface, says :

" It consists of letters written to the members of her own family and really not intended origin- ally however incredible the assertion for pub- lication. Feeling a regret that such rich stores of instruction and amusement, from which I have so much profited myself, should be reserved for the eyes of a few friends only, I strongly recommended that they should be "given to the world."

N. W. HILL.

San Francisco.

"HONEST" EPITAPH (11 S. vi. 308). In 1890 I copied the following inscription on a tombstone in Askrigg Churchyard in Wensleydale :

Here lyeth y Body | of M r Myles Alder | son who died in y* | 75 th year of his age | in the year 1746 | An honest attorney.

R. B R.

THE ROCKET TROOP, ROYAL HORSE ARTILLERY, AT LEIPSIC (US. vi. 230, 313). The Second Division served at Leipsic. The services of Col. Strangwavs are given in ' Hart ' (1851) as follows :

" Lieut. -Col. Strangways served the Cam- paigns of 181314 in Germany, including the battles of Goerde, 16 September, and Leipsic, 10, 18, and 19 October, 1813 : for which the Swedish order of the Sword was conferred upon him, he having commanded the Rocket Troop after the death of Major Bogue, killed in action."

The Leipsic medal is an unpublished one, the specimen in Lord Cheylesmore's collec- tion being the only one known. It belonged to a Waterloo veteran of the troop, and is undoubtedly genuine.

The medal is not mentioned in Duncan's and Decorations.' ROBERT RAYXER.
 * Royal Artillery,' nor in Tancred's ' Medals

Herne Hill, S.E.

SOLAH TOPEE OR PITH HELMET (11 S. vi. 290, 307). The use of the solah topee is much earlier than your correspondent believes. Mr. E. B. Baker, in his valuable book ' Sport in Bengal,' 1887, p. 288, states that, as appears from the old sporting pictures, sola hats for shooting do not seem to have come into use till after 1830, or even a few years

later. This is corroborated by Mrs. Fanny Parkes in her delightful book ' Wanderings of a Pilgrim in Search of the Picturesque,' 1850, i. 286. Writing in 1833, she says :

" Our friend Mr. S was robbed ere he quitted Jaunpore of almost all he possessed : the thieves carried off all his property from the bungalow, with the exception of his sola topi, a great broad- brimmed white hat, made of the pith of the sola. The best sola hats are made in Calcutta : they are very light, and an excellent defence from the sun : the root of which the topi is formed is like pith. It is cut in thin layers, which arc pasted together to form the hat. At Meerut they cover them with the skin of the pelican, with all its feathers on, which renders it impervious to sun or rain ; and the feathers stretching out beyond the rim of the hat give a demented air to the wearer."

I wonder if any contemporary print exists of this wonderful headgear.

W. CROOKE.

"BASSET" (11 S. vi. 310). See 'The Compleat Gamester.' &c., 5th ed., printed for J. Wilford at " The Three Golden Flower- de-Luces" in Little Britain, 1725.

F. LAMBARDE.

[MAJOR LAMBARDE writes that he will be pleased to lend our correspondent a copy of the book if he will communicate with him.]

This is the name of a game of cards, now obsolete, similar to faro or lansquenet, introduced into France in 1674 or 1675 by Justiniani, ambassador of the Republic of Venice. It was played between a banker and punters, usually four. Two packs were used, one for the punters and the other for the banker. From the first pack each punter took thirteen cards of a suit, which was called a book; then put forward one or several, at his own choice, on which he plunged that is to say, staked his money. The banker, after shuffling his pack, drew out the cards in pairs until they were ex- hausted, taking care to place them exposed on the table. The first of each couple was for him, and the second for the punters. If this first one was similar to the one on which they had staked, the banker gained all that sum. If, on the contrary, the second card was the similar one, the banker lost. When the banker " made a double," that is to say, when he drew two like cards two kings, two aces, &c. he won the money staked on the cards similar to them. As one can see, bassette was very similar to faro or lansquenet, and, like these, could become, amongst the quick- fingered, an opportunity of clever roguery.

TOM JOXES.