Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/285

 i2s. i. APRIL i, i9i6.i NOTES AND QUERIES.

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that he fell on his knees and solicited her hand in marriage. This story is substan- tiated by her nephew, Sir H. E. Bunbury, so the authority is good.

The only son, " the Captain in Lace " of Goldsmith's verses, was born in 1750, and joined the 3rd Foot Guards in 1768.

The question of the origin of the various nicknames given to the three children is discussed in ' N. & Q.,' 4 S. ix. and x.

ALAN STEWAET.

0tt

The Monumental Inscriptions in the Churches and Churchyards of the Island of Barbados. Edited by Vere Langford Oliver. (Mitchell Hughes & Clarke.)

THIS careful piece of work, by a contributor to our columns whose name is well known to all students of West Indian history and genealogy, needs no recommendation at the hands of a reviewer. Only two hundred copies of it have been printed, and since it forms a record of originals exposed to more than ordinary perils, we hope that a good majority of copies will be securely housed where they may best prove of use.

The inscriptions copied come from the churches and churchyards, and it would appear that all of these, with the exception of a few of the most recent date, have been entered here. With them are about one hundred of the oldest Jewish in- scriptions ; but those in Dissenting chapels and in modern cemeteries have not been included. Hallett, Alleyne, Walrond, Haynes, Gittens, Clarke, Dottin, Phillips, Nicholls, Jordan these are a few of the names which occur most abundantly and with interesting connexions. Edward Lascelles, mer- chant, the ancestor of the Harewood family, buried, in the years around 1700, three small children in a vault by St. Michael's Cathedral; the body of Nathaniel William Massey, Lord Clarina, lies within the Cathedral, but, except for the beginning, the lengthy inscription to his memory has all been worn away ; there is an inscription there to the memory of Susan Barrett, daughter of Rich, and Martha Barrett, who died in 1665 is this a connexion of Elizabeth Barrett Browning ? and in All Saints' Churchyard is the rather pompous and self-justificatory monument of Sir William Gibbons, which may lead up to the remark that in general these inscriptions making all allowance for the absence of the verses which, no doubt, give a certain eloquence to some of them are singularly dreary and vapid productions. The moat remarkable are, perhaps, those at St. James's, Hole Town, " To the Memory of Dames Christian and Jane Abel, successively the Consorts of Sir John Gay Alleyne," and to Mercy Alleyne.

Mr. Oliver has certainly not overburdened his pages with notes, being reasonably afraid of in- creasing overmuch the bulk of his book ; but he quotes the Burial Register belonging to each inscription where he finds it, and here and there adds an explanation, as when he tells us about an Alleyne who was drowned " whilst bathing in Bathsheba" that Bathsheba is a cool retreat on

the Windward Coast, where the currents are- dangerous ; or tells us, concerning seven coffins de- posited at first in a vault in the churchyard of Christ Church, that, because of mysterious movements in them after the vault had been sealed, they were removed and buried in another part of the church- yard; or, again, remarks on a curious device of stone, used on the Island 1670-90, having the- inscription cut framewise in a border round a< blank space, or a figure of skull and crossbones.. Many of the monuments, especially those bearing 1 ; coats of arms, are well executed, and were cut in England. Mr. Oliver, though he omits poetry and" texts of Scripture, has inserted the name of the maker where he found it. A good proportion of the English work was done at Bristol.

The ravages of yellow fever come before us again- and again till one wonders how English families; had the courage to settle in a place swept so often by such a scourge. A few cases of leprosy are also noted, it being reported as the cause of several deaths in the seventies of the last century. There- are relatively numerous commemorations of deaths at sea.

A few mild instances occur of the unusual' or ludicrous in decoration or wording. Thus the marble monument of the Trotmans has upon it Isabella and the pot of basil ; Mrs. Rachel Phillips is lamented as having died in giving birth " to a son," her " first and only surviving child " ; and 1 "we all fade as a leaf "does not seem strikingly applicable to a person who died at the ripe age- or 87.

The most interesting inscription, historically speaking, is that of Ferdinando Palaeologus, already discussed in our columns (10 S. vii.), which we cannot resist quoting in full : " Here lyeth " in St. John's churchyard, that is " ye body of FERDINANDO PALAEOLOGUS Descended from ye Imperial Lyne of ye last Christian Emperors of Greece Churchwarden of this Parish, 1655, 1656. Vestryman Twenty e years."

Curious names, both Christian and surnames,, may run to a score or two.

We noticed a few matters which need correction* or comment. Thus, if dotoris (p. 4) is correctly transcribed, it would seem to require [sic] to authenticate it ; and so would virutis (p. 15). One or two cross-references have gone astray, and in the indications of the site of the several monu- ments in St. Michael's Cathedral the wording is sometimes a little puzzling.

There are a good map of Barbados, a plan of Bridge Town, and a full index of names ; and we may add that the printing which follows the different types used in the inscriptions and the- " get-up " of the book are excellent.

Coronation Rites. By Reginald Maxwell Woolley. " The Cambridge Liturgical Handbooks." (Cam- bridge University Press, 5s. net.) THIS book is very well done. Within the compass of some 200 'small pages it gives all that a student will want when first mapping out for himself the field of this subject, with quite as much in the way of detail as the general reader is likely to require, and a full bibliography of original documents anoV of treatises for those who desire to pursue the matter further.

The Eastern rite which has, indeed, a more popular character, in spite of its magnificence, and shows a far more clear unbroken tradition