Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/32

26} To these excerpts may be added such expressions as Statute of Lamentations (Limitations), p. 28; poluteness (politeness), p. 20; instuted (instituted), p. 53; syllabub, p. 54, &c., which suggest, to an ear attuned to Fielding's creations, a Slipslopian similitude.

No one can fully relish 'Shamela' who does not first read 'Pamela.' 'Shamela' is the grosser, but having read it we lay it aside with a hearty laugh, and with a distinct preference for virtue, whereas 'Pamela' lingers long in our thoughts: we are perplexed how so many deeply-laid schemes to inveigle a girl miscarry; we meditate how, by discreeter handling, success might have been secured.

(See 1 S. ix. 76; x. 95, 175, 376; 2 S. viii. 225, 362.)—No biographical information respecting Colonel, afterwards Major-General, St. Leger has appeared in 'N. & Q.' since the somewhat scanty details given more than fifty years ago. We know that he was a member of the Doneraile family, that he was born on July 23, 1756, and that he died at Madras in 1799 (Gent. Mag. lxx. part i. 187). The most interesting portion of his career was during the time of his intimate association with the Prince of Wales, and it is with regard to this period that references would be welcome. A short but valuable biography will be found in The European Magazine of June, 1795 (vol. xxvi. pp. 363-5), from which we learn that he was gazetted Captain (with the rank of Colonel) in the First Regiment of Guards on Oct. 25, 1782. In this particular it is interesting to note that as early as March 19, 1781, The Morning Herald speaks of him as Colonel St. Leger, and says that he is one of "the principal companions" of the Prince of Wales. For this reason I conclude that he is the hero of one of the famous tête-à-tête 'Histories' in The Town and Country Magazine in July, 1781 (vol. xiv. p. 289), the letter-press of which seems to point to him. The portrait, given under the title of 'The Gallant Colonel,' while quite dissimilar to the prints after the famous picture by Gainsborough, is not altogether unlike that reproduced in The European Magazine. Other references will be found in J. Chaloner Smith's 'British Mezzotinto Portraits,' p. 242 'Gainsborough,' Sir Walter Armstrong p. 278; 'Thomas Gainsborough,' William B. Boulton, pp. 180, 207, 252-3; 'Memoirs of George IV.,' H. E. Lloyd, pp. 115, 324; Hist. MSS. Com. 15 Report, Appendix, part vi. pp. 470, 553; 'Reminiscences of Henry Angelo' (Kegan Paul), ii. 177; 'Female Jockey Club,' Charles Pigott (London, 1794), pp. 19-20.

—In the chancel of the church of St. Laurence, North Hinksey, distant a mile to the west of Oxford, and famous for its remains of Norman architecture, one finds the following epitaphs:—

Jacent,

Resurgent,

Guil:

Martha

Finmore

obijt Jun: 19

obijt Jun: 5

1687

ætat:

xxix

xxviii

Consanguinei conjuges, Maritus charus Sponsa non minus chara: Quâ, non imāturo sed precoci fato avulsâ Lugens sponsus (pro dolor!) }} Per 14 tantū dies superfuit. Interiit Record: de Abington, Tarn comitatûs quam oppidi pacis Justiciarius;

Look to thy feet, honest & Loyall men are sleeping under them, there lies W$d$. Fynmore, Fellow of S$th$ Johns in Oxford, & Batch$d$. of Law, who in y$r$