Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/159

 12 8. III. FEB. 24, 1917.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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spondents, as they often do, content them- selves with a mere nom de plume or initials, from which the rest of us are ordinarily un- able to gauge the knowledge or capacity of the writer. This is strongly apparent in the articles in any ordinary review.

Now heraldry is one of these out-of-the- way but important subjects upon which ' N. & Q.,' almost from its earliest days, has been considered an authority. Its study is in the nature of an exact science ; its canons are well known. The rightful attribution of armorial bearings to particular families should be, and usually is, capable of verifi- cation by research ; and in order to effect this ' the authority for that attribution should be stated. I am not, of course, speaking now of families whose claims to certain armorial insignia are widely recog- nized, but of the numerous ordinary in- quiries in which ' N. & Q.' has been of the greatest assistance, and of which instances may be found in the three references given above.

Whenever a person answers a heraldic query if not one of common knowledge he must first consult some authority, of which there are many. Then why not give it ? Those interested then have an oppor- tunity, if they so desire, of verifying it, or of pointing out that the authority given is misleading or inaccurate. By this means only can an error in transcription no un- common danger be detected and rectified.

If the authority be a MS., surely it is worth while saying so. People are often apt to cite or quote ' N. & Q.' still more so, perhaps, as it gets older as an authority per se. Surely it is our duty to see that that authority is not weakened by any possi- bility of inaccuracy or insufficiency.

J. S. UDAL, F.S.A.

ISABELLA. S. STEPHENSON (12 S. iii. 70). Your correspondent will find an interesting account of this lady in The Church Times of April 16, 1915. She is there referred to as Miss Isabel Stevenson.

J. DE BERNEERE SMITH.

4 Gloucester Gate, Regent's Park, N.W.

THOMAS GRAY (12 S. ii. 285, 399, 526 ; iii. 32, 99). The preface to the ' Life of Gray ' in the " English Men of Letters " Series is dated March, 1882. On May 26, 1885, in consequence of a movement in which Mr. Gosse himself took a prominent part, a bust of the poet was unveiled in the hall of Pembroke College. It really seems a little hard on Mr. Gosse to blame him for not having mentioned this event three years

earlier. The placing of this bust, as well as that of a stained-glass window in the hall of Peterhouse in 1870, is duly recorded in a later edition of Mr. Gosse's book. Leslie Stephen's article on Gray in the ' D.N.B.' does not deserve to be neglected.

EDWARD BENSLY.

GUNNERS' HANDBOOKS (12 S. iii. 90).

Copies of all these books are in the British Museum, but the following particulars may be of interest :

Claudius Shaw. The Artilleryman's Pocket Companion. Second edition. London, Clowes^ 1855. Oblong 12mo, 2s.

Thomas Walker Bridges. Bridges' Gunner's - Pocket-book, &c. London, Spon, 1871. Oblong. 12mo, 1*.

Frederick Page. Gunners' Aid to Instruction. . Sixth thousand. London, 1873. 8vo.

ARCHIBALD SPARKE.

Though I cannot supply the information - asked for by MAJOR LESLIE, a note of the following local work may, if not already known to him, be of interest :

" The Rifle, and Those who are to use It. A . Lecture, given at Campden in 1861, to the North Cotswold Company of Volunteers. By Sir J~

Maxwell Steele, Bart. (Captain) [Quotations

from Homer and Racine.) London, Bell & Daldyy . 18& Fleet Street, 1862.'^ 8vo, pp. 60. Folding plate showing the various parts of the rifle,, front. Folding table, giving time of flight and velocities at various distances, p. 34.

ROLAND AUSTIN.

Gloucester.

PICTURES : WHERE EXHIBITED (12 S.. iii. 70). I have in my collection of water- colours a very fine picture of St. Michael' s- Mount by J. N. Carter. I do not know if" this is what MR. L. VENDEN wants to see. I have also two drawings by H. B. Carter of ' A Wreck at Whitby ' and ' Whitby Harbour,' and three more by J. N. Carter :. ' Whitby Beach,' ' Whitby Abbey,' and ' Dartmouth Castle.' My late father pos- sessed four others of his work : ' Whitby,' ' Old Scarborough,' ' Scarborough Beach,'.' and ' Torbay.'

T. CANN HUGHES, M.A., F.S.A.

Lancaster.

ENGLISH PRELATES AT THE COUNCIL or BALE (12 S. ii. 28, 74). Profiting by the indications given at the second reference, 1 am able to give the uncertain abbreviated words as " t[em]p[or]e g[e]n[er]al[is] co[n- cilii] ba[si]l[iensis]."

During a recent visit to Bale I was able to examine the hatchments in the Car- thusians' church, now the chapel of the Bale Orphanage. Although restored about