Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 10.djvu/454

 372 NOTES AND QUERIES. ri2 s. X.MAY is, 1922. WILLIAM THOMAS, CLERK TO THE PRIVY COUNCIL. Can any reader impart know- ledge about this personage and state where he was born, and also time of death ? ANEURIN WILLIAMS. Menai View, North Road, Carnarvon. [His life is given at some length in the ' D.N.B.' He is thought to have been a native of Radnor- shire and to have been educated at Oxford. In 1544 he left England and spent five years chiefly in Italy. Froude, who wrote a preface to ' The Pilgrim,' thinks this may have been on account of his religious opinions. He returned to England in 1549, and early in the following year was appointed a clerk to the Privy Council, lie gained considerable ascendancy over the mind of Edward VI., as may be seen by several writings drawn up by him for the King's instruc- tion. On the accession of Mary he lost his employment, took part in Wyatt's conspiracy, and, after sharing in the vain attempt to raise the West, was taken and committed to the Tower. Here, it is supposed from fear of the rack, he made an attempt at suicide. He was tried on May 8, 1554, found guilty of treason, and executed at Tyburn ten days later. His name is included in the Act of Elizabeth which restored in blood the heirs and children of those who had been attainted, but it is not known whether he had any family. Besides ' The Pilgrim,' he wrote an Italian Grammar and Dictionary and a History of Italy, both of which were much esteemed.] JOHN JONES (1730-96), AUTHOR or ' LES- SONS FOR HARPSICHORD.' Biographical ana and intimation of birthplace and year of demise will oblige. ANEURIN WILLIAMS. Menai View, North Road, Carnarvon. [The ' D.N.B.' has a few particulars concerning him, taken from Grove, Pohl's ' Haydn in London' and Mendel. He died Feb. 17, 1796, having then been organist to St. Paul's Cathe- dral for over forty years. The place and date of his birth appear not to be known. Haydn, in 1791, heard one of his chants performed by charity children, and noted in his diary : " No music has ever affected me so much as this innocent and devotional strain."] CROSSLEY. I seek information as to the parents of the John Crossley of the following marriage entry in the Halifax Parish Re- gister : "13 January, 1708. John Crosley, Southowram, and Hannah Longbottom, Halifax." J. M. C. ELIZABETH, DAUGHTER OF JAMES I. I shall be grateful for the names of any books dealing with the life of the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King James I. T. H. S. [There is a good life of " the Queen of Hearts " in the ' D.N.B.,' which gives authorities. Mrs. Everett Green's Life in ' Lives of the Princesses of England ' would be the book to begin with.] WILLIAM CLARK WIMBERLEY. Wanted, dates and any particulars of the life of William Clark Wimberley, the author of the sonnet to Shakespeare commencing : Thou wast an oracle. Thy voice was heard, To cheer and warn a listening, wondering world. F. H. MOIR SURNAME. Can any reader inform me as to the derivation and meaning, if any, of the Scottish surname Moir. A. G. GORDON MOOR. WROTH FAMILY. I shall be glad if any reader can give me information or historical details relative to the Wroth family. W. P. C. L. EPIGRAM ON THE DEATH OF QUEEN CHARLOTTE. " The deith of the Queen has caused great perturbation ; We must mourn by command throughout the whole nation," &c. This has been attributed to Charles Mathews the younger, who would then be only fifteen years old. Was it written by him or his father ? F. H. QUOTATION WANTED. In the Memoir, by the Rev. Jardine Wallace, prefixed to the fifth edition (1878) of Thomas Aird's '^Poetical Works,' several letters from Carlyle to the poet are printed, in one of which, dated " 5, Cheyne Row, Chelsea, 1st May, 1840," Carlyle, alluding to his Lectures on Heroes, Hero- Worship and the Heroic in History, No. 1, May, 1840, says : " When you read the inclosed Program, and think that my day of execution (' Do not hurry, good people, there can be no sport till I am there ! ') is fixed for Tuesday first, you will see too well the impossibility of writing any due reply." Is Carlyle quoting from any written source ? I have always heard " they cannot begin without me " instead of " there can be no sport," <fec. Is the saying attributed to any particular con- demned man, and, if so, to whom ? JOHN B. WAINEWBIGHT. EARLY VICTORIAN LITERATURE. (12 S. x. 210,273, 332.) THE late Mr. W. E. Church, who was for many years hon. secretary of the Urban Club, a popular lecturer of the Sunday League and a writer on Lloyd's Weekly News, who ended his days as a member of the Charterhouse Brotherhood, often said during the year 1887 he had collected an abundance of material for a series of articles on the popular anonymous cheap fiction of Queen Victoria's reign, but there were two fatal objections against tho scheme. First, the " penny dreadful " was passing into the