Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/515

 ii s. ix. JUNE 27, 1914.] NOTES AND QUERIES ,

509

HAYDON. In response to inquiries from abroad, re the authenticity of certain draw- ings, I should be glad to hear from any surviving member of the family of the great Plymouth painter Mr. B. R. Haydon. Mr. Frank Haydon, the eldest son, died in 1887. Has he left any family ?

T. V. HODGSON. Museum and Art Gallery, Plymouth.

NAPOLEON III. AT CHISLEHURST : Miss HOWARD AND COMTE DE BECHEVET. To whom belonged the property Camden Place at Chislehurst, which was rented by Napo- leon III. in 1871 ? Some people say the proprietor was a Mr. Strode. Others have it that this property belonged, or formerly belonged, to a Miss Howies, who is said to have been at one time the fiance"e of the then future Emperor Napoleon III. This sounds rather curious.

It was also rumoured at that time that Mr. Strode was the trustee of the late Miss Howard, and that in consequence he was very well acquainted with the descendants of Miss Howard, alias Comte de Bechevet and his children. Is this true ? Could it be ascertained where the birth certificate of Comte de Bechevet is, or where his birth is registered ? Comte de Bechevet died at Meudon, near Paris, 22 Aug., 1907, and the death certificate mentions that he was born in London, 15 Aug., 1842. Search in London for the birth certificate of this person, under the names of Howard, Herriott, and Martins, has been made without any result. P. DAVY.

[Much information about Miss Howard and Comte de Bechevet was given at 11 S. iv. 347, 430, 473, but not the particulars now sought.]

( 1 ) CRAMPTJTIUS : SIMPLICIA : Q. CRASSTJS TUBERO : THE GENIE JONQUIL. In an un- published letter to Walpole, Gray writes :

" I have a taste for the works of Cramputius and his scraps .... One should have had a passion for Simplicia oneself, if one had lived in those days. .... I suppose at that time Q. Crassus Tubero was as pretty a fellow with the women as the Genie Jonquil."

Can any reader of ' N. & Q.' explain these allusions ?

(2) MADEMOISELLE QUIMBEAU. In an- other unpublished letter to Walpole, Gray says : " Mademoiselle Quimbeau is weary of her new husband." From the context this may be a character in a play. I should be glad if any one could inform me where such a character occurs. PAGET TOYNBEE.

Fiveways, Burnham, Bucks.

THE ROSE IN FITZGERALD'S OMAR. June brings us roses in England, and we may quote stanza ix. of FitzGerald's ' Ru- baiyat ' :

Each Morn a thousand Roses brings, you say ;

\ es, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday ?

And this first summer month that brings the Rose

Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobad away.

But later we are confronted with stanza xciv.,

And then, and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand

My thread- bare Penitence apieces tore,

where the rose seems to play the part of our

English primrose.

The beginning of xcvi.

Yet Ah, that Spring should vanish with the Rose ! is not decisive to one who does not know the original.

Is the rose in Persia, then, a spring or a summer flower ? It seems to be both in the noticed in the commentary by H. M. Batson (1900). Dr. R. A. Nicholson com- ments thus, in his edition with notes (1909), on the second quotation :
 * Rubaiyat.' The discrepancy has not been

" ' To break vows of penitence in the season of the rose' must have been a popular custom in Persia, to judge from the number of poetical allusions to it."

This looks as if the spring rose were really the Persian article, as in this country one has recognized signs of spring mania a fancy lightly turned to love, or motor-cars, or bulldogs.

Is it possible that FitzGerald had English ideas in his mind when he penned the ninth stanza, or that different poets in Persia I understand that Omar, as given by Fitz- Gerald, is more like an anthology than a single poet ascribe the rose to different seasons ? HLPPOCLIDES.

' CHATHAM HOUSE MAGAZINE.' In or about the year 1863 a small newspaper with this title was produced at Chatham House, Ramgsate. Its stories were of the usual " blood - and - thunder " kind beloved by schoolboys. As an old scholar, I greatly desire to possess a copy. Could any reader of ' N. & Q.' oblige ? CECIL CLARKE.

Junior Athei.seum Club.

DEVICE ON ENCAUSTIC TILES. Can any one give me informatior as to the device on certain ancient tiles in the west end of the Cathedral of Bangor, which has been re- peated in modern tiles in the chancel x>f that church ? A hare or rabbit is sitting up and holding a bow and arrow ready to shoot. I should be glad to hear of a small book on ecclesiastical tiles. E. M. C. T.

Brooinfield, Camberley.