Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 4.djvu/23

 128. IV. JAN., 1918.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

IT

was the motive also of associating the inter- ment of this lady with the na'ive remark that " she adopted an infant boy," unless something lurks behind ? If this fact is recorded on her cenotaph in so crude a form, it is one of the strangest memorials I have ever met. However, I think I have a clue to the mystery, and am on the track of this " infant boy " ; but I should be very grateful for more definite information. Can any member of the Kent Archaeological Society afford me such ? I want to identify this " adopted boy " with another boy about whose origin there is a mystery.

J. W. B.

BOOK ABOUT PIRATES. I have been asked to identify a small book (5 by 3 in.) con- taining biographies of pirates. The title- page is lost, and the only clue left is the name of the printer at the bottom of the last page : " T. Johnson, 92 Dale Street, Liverpool." About a dozen of the bio- graphies are probably based on Capt. Johnson's well-known ' General History of the Pyrates ' (5th edition, 1735), but some of the naval heroes flourished in more recent times, such as, e.g., Benito de Soto (hanged at Gibraltar, 1830) and Charles Gibbs and Thomas J. Wansley (Bellevue Prison, New York, 1831). The book was probably published in the thirties. Can any kind reader help me ? L. L. K.

' POCAHONTAS,' A POEM. Who was the author of the poem ' Pocahontas ' ?

I. S.

EDMONSTONE OF NEWTON. I shall be glad if any of your readers can send me particulars regarding James Edmonstone of Newton, who was born in 1627, and suc- ceeded to Newton in 1661. He was the son of William Edmonstone, minister of Kilmadock, the other children being Archi- bald, Margaret, Nancy, and Katherine. I should like particularly to know the name of James Edmonst one's wife, and the fate of his brother and sisters.

F. A. JOHNSTON.

56 Queen's Gate, S.W.

' BLACKWOOD ' AND THE CHALDEE MANU- SCRIPT. E take the following from Black- wood for April, 1917, p. 434, col. 2 :

" The first number of the Magazine is still memorable for the Chaldee Manuscript, an elaborate jest, hit upon by a happy accident ' a jest, moreover, which set all Edinburgh by the ears, and ensured the success of the venture .... the point was so sharp that it pierced deep into the heart of Edinburgh society. One subject only was in all minds, upon all tongues the

Chaldee Manuscript. From a. second edition the offending work was withdrawn, in deference to public opinion ; but the withdrawal merely in- tensified the people's curiosity, and the original number was handed about from friend to friend with a sort of furtive persistence."

I have referred to the first volume of the set of Blackwood in the British Museum, and also to that in our local library ; but there is no trace of the Chaldee Manuscript. Where can I see a copy of the original edition of the first number ? R. B. P. _

' THE ART OF BOOK-KEEPING.' This jeu d esprit consists of ten verses. I shall be glad to learn who wrote it. The first two verses run :

How hard when those who do not wish to lend,

thus lose their books ; Are snared by angler-folks that fish with

literary " Hooks," Who call and take some favourite tome, but

never read it through ;

Thus they complete their set at home by making one at you.

I, of my " Spenser " quite bereft last winter,

sore was shaken ; Of " Lamb " I've but a quarter left, nor could

I save my " Bacon " ; And then I saw my " Crabbe " at last, like Hamlet,

backward go ;

And as the tide was ebbing fast, of course I lost my " Howe."

W. E. W.

CHARLES BRANDON, DUKE OF SUFFOLK : HIS WIVES. Have the first two wives of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, ever been clearly identified ? He is supposed to have married aunt and niece, basing his plea for divorce on this ground among others. Anne Brown was one of the ladies to Queen Elizabeth (who died 1503). She was con- tracted to Brandon, 1505 ; married after 1508 ; died 1512, leaving two daughters. She was called the third daughter of Sir Anthony Brown, Governor of Calais, by the Lady Lucy NeviK;, whose sister Margaret, widow of Sir John Mortimer, Brandon married in 1506, and divorced in 1507.

But Lady Lucy's first husband, Sir Thomas Fitzwilliam of Aldwark, died in 1495 only, as can be seen on her monument at Tickhill ; therefore it is almost impossible that her daughter by her second husband, Sir Anthony Brown, can have been old enough to be the Anne Brown who became Lady Brandon ; and if she were a daughter by a former marriage, the Lady Margaret Mor- timer cannot have been her aunt. This lady is represented as of mature age, and her husband was killed at the battle of Bos- worth, 1485. As she was the fourth