Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/482

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NOTES AND QUERIES. i )-> . n. DEC. 9, me.

EDWARD HAYES, DUBLIN, AND HIS SITTERS (12 S. ii. 350, 413). To supplement COL. MAXET'S interesting list of the late Edward Havre's works, I have a large signed drawing 1>\ Hayes of the late Thomas Francis Meagher, signed by him in Richmond Prison "as a member of the Irish Confederation," 1849. In Meagher's handwriting is an inscription dedicating the drawing to his friend, Sir Benjamin Francis Wall. The exact words are :

" To Sir Benjamin Francis Wall from nis

and sincere friend Thomas Francis Meagher. Mem- ber of the Irish Confederation, Oct. 23, 1848." On the right hand side " Richmond Prison, Nov. (?) 4, 1849." The drawing is signed " Edwd. Hayes, 1842."

RICHARD J. KELLY.

45 Wellington Road, Dublin.

I should be much obliged to any of your correspondents who could give me informa- tion regarding the grandchildren of Edward Haj es, the painter. Now many years ago I knew some members of his family ; I met a Mrs. Benham-Hayes at Naples, and re- member her son Michael Angelo, named doubt- less after his father, and a little girl called Gemina. Later on I lost sight of them, but seeing the name of Edward Hayes recalled their memory and reawakened the interest I took in them. MARIE GOSSELIN.

Bengeo Hall, Hertford,

GEORGE IV. AND THE PREROGATIVE OF MERCY (12 S. ii. 401). SIR HARRY POLAND has done well to bring forward so many instances " to show how earnest and sincere George IV. was to mitigate the draconian severity of the criminal law." According to statements in the newspapers, he was anxious to save the life of Henry Fauntleroy in" November, 1824, in spite of the fact "that this incomparable forger, whose frauds ran into many hundreds of thousands, and involved a loss of over a quarter of a million to the Bank of England, was regarded by public sentiment as a very unfit object for thie prerogative of mercy.

jtn a most entertaining volume Mr. Shane Leslie has told us, with reference to Thackeray's ' Four Georges,' that the author " could not be received at Court for de- scribing the nature of their wallowing " (' The End of a Chapter,' p. 72). In spite of the charm of the book many critical readers will agree that the punishment was appro- priate to the crime of publishing these unhistorical biographies. For many years George IV. (when Prince of Wales) was " the rising hope" of the Whig party, and the

Whig historians never forgave him because,, when he became Prince Regent, he did not bring their party into office. Hence the " dusting of his jacket," which has continued to the present das. It was ungrateful of them, at all events, for the lethargy and lack of statesmanship of George IV. in his latter days were responsible for the declension of the power of the Crown from the high level to which George III. had raised it. SIR HARRY POLAND gives an illustration of the King's want of discretion in the case of Peter Comyn. when George IV. acted on his own initiative without reference 1o his Council or his Secretary of State. The Royal Prerogative of Mercy, however, was untouched by the Revolution Settlement, and if the King had refused to authorize the execution of the convict the minister would have had no alternative but to submit or to resign. Although in these days the Sovereign no longer presides in Council to receive " the Report " of the Recorder he appears still to have the right (since it has been abrogated by no statute) of pardoning a criminal after conviction.

HORACE BLEACKLEY.

' SOME FRUITS OF SOLITUDE ' : ' MORE FRUITS OF SOLITUDE ' (12 S. ii. 407). I am afraid that MR. C. ELK.IN MATHEWS has not consulted Joseph Smith's ' Catalogue of Friends' Books,' 2 vols., 1867, and ' Supple- ment,' 1893. An edition of ' More Fruits,' dated 1702, is recorded in vol. ii. p. 309, and several copies of this are in this Library. The next edition of ' More Fruits ' was brought out by the Assigns of J[ane] Sowle in 1718, and another was printed by Luke Hinde, not earlier than 1750 when he took over the business, and erroneously called " Seventh edition^'

Another reference to Smith's ' Catalogue r reveals the fact that the " anonymous " editor of Penn's \ Works ' was Joseph Besse*

For several years before his death William Penn's condition of mind would preclude his either writing or publishing books.

NORMAN PENNEY.

Friends' Reference Library,

Devonshire House, Bishopsgate, E.G.

MONASTIC CHOIR-STALLS (12 S. ii. 409). In all churches of monks and canons, cathedral and collegiate churches, &c., stalls were placed in the choir not neces- sarily in the architectural choir. These stalls were occupied either by the monks or by the canons and their deputies, and by men singers and choristers ; there was also a limited lay use. In the centre, between