Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/278

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. i. APRIL i, me.

The books in which Carey's ride is referred to, or which have illustrative notes, are very numerous. Although Lord Cork was the first to issue Carey's 'Memoirs' entire, Birch in his '.Historical View' had printed that part which related to the death of Elizabeth. It is a little aggra- vating that the latest volume issued of the Hatfield papers stops short of the Queen's death and Carey's ride by about one day. Whenever the next volume appears it will, no doubt, contain letters by Carey which are known to be preserved at Hatfield, and which have not yet been printed.

Most important genealogical details of the Careys, with extracts from the Registers of Berwick and many other places, are to be found in The Herald and Genealogist, vol. iv. The two articles there printed give valuable extracts and im- portant biographical details.

John Nichols's ' Progresses of James I.' has several references to Carey's ride. It is amusing to compare James's progress to the south, which lasted over a month, with Carey's ride of two and a half days; James left Edinburgh April 5, 1603, and reached London, May 7. He stayed with the Careys at Widdrington on Friday, April 8, and while there " slew two deer in the park."

The 'Domestic State Papers, James I.,' vol. i., contains the following, dated from Edinburgh, March 28, 1603 :

"Tidings of Queen Elizabeth's decease and of his majesty's proclamation were brought by Sir R. Carey on Saturday at midnight. The King thinks best of Master Secretary [Cecil] of any creature living. Will be glad to speak with him."

James knew quite well how much he owed to Cecil's counsels with Elizabeth in his (James's) favour.

A. L. HUMPHREYS.

187 Piccadilly, W.

See the first item, in Prof. Arber's ' An English Garner ' (1903), of the volume entitled ' Stuart Tracts,' edited by Prof. Firth. This account of Queen Elizabeth's death is' extracted from Carey's ' Memoirs ' and is in the first person ; but he gives few details of his celebrated ride. The first six pages of Prof. Firth's preface should also be read. A. R. BAYLEY.

V. A. F. will find an account of the famous ride in ' The Memoirs of Robert Carey, Earl of Monmouth,' published by Alex. Moring, Ltd., the De la More Press, 1905.

G. C. C.

MBS. QUON (2 S. v. 8 ; 10 S. xi. 501 ; xii. 113, 470)." Who was Mrs. Quon ? " asked Q. N., writing to 'N. & Q.' on Jan. 2, 1858, and quoting Horace Walpole's letter to Montagu, dated May 19, 1756 (Toynbee, iii. 425) ; but his query has remained unan- swered till the present day. Walpole wrote :

" I believe the French have taken the Sun* Among other captures I hear the King has taken another English mistress, a Mrs. Pope, who took her degrees in gallantry some years ago. She went to Versailles with the famous Mrs. Quon."

Mrs. Quon had earned her fame five years before when, on March 6, 1751, she played the part of Desdemona to the Othello of Sir Francis Blake Delaval, K.B., at an amateur dramatic performance at Drury Lane. See Genest's ' English Stage/ iv. 325 ; Gent. Mag. (1751), pp. 119-22, 136, 142; The Ladies' Magazine,' ii. 169-70. Her name is spelt variously Mrs. Quon, Mrs. Quane, Mrs. Qualm. J. T. Kirkman in his ' Life of Charles Macklin ' says of her acting :

" Desdemona had all the native honesty and candour in her face that the poet meant to make an example of .... The native modesty of the character charmed the audience exceedingly." I. 341-2.

Macklin seems to have been the producer of the play. Walpole declares that " the rage was so great to see this performance that the House of Commons literally adjourned at 3 o'clock on purpose" ('Letters' [Toynbee], iii. 37-8).

Mrs. Quon or Quane was Deodata Roach or Roache, eldest daughter of John Roach,, merchant, of London, formerly Mayor of Fort St. George, whose will was proved Jan. 4, 1738/9. She was born circa 1731. After her father's death her mother married Baron Chambrier of Berlin. About the year 1742-3, when she was under the age of 12, a certain Richard Quane managed to entice her from the care of her guardian and married her in Paris to his son. This may have been Richard Quane, " an eminent banker in Paris," whose death in Dublin is announced in The General Advertiser on Jan. 4, 1752. Mrs. Quane (Walpole's " famous Mrs. Quon") died at Chatillon-sur-Loire, "much lamented," on Jan. 13, 1759 (v. London Chronicle, Feb. 15-17, 1759; Grand Maga- zine of Magazines, February, 1759).

Her younger sister, Elizabeth Roach, was much more famous than herself. For several years she was the mistress of Sir Francis Blake Delaval, whose wife, Lady Isabella Delaval, sought a divorce against her husband on this account in Doctors' Commons on Jan. 28, 1755. In September,