Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 5.djvu/327

 12 8. V. DEC., 1919.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

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LIEUT. -GENERAL SHARPE. According to a pedigree of Higgins of Skelton Grange by Owston, Yorkshire, in, Hunter's 'South Yorkshire,' ii. 482, Lieut. -General Sharpe of Haddam Castle, co. Northumberland, married Jane, elder daughter of Godfrey Higgins, Esq., of Skelton Grange, F.S.A., J.P., of West Riding of co. York, who was living in 1831, by his wife Jane Thorpe, who died in 1822. Where is Haddam Castle, Northumberland, and what more is known of Lieut. -General Sharpe ? I. F.

MAISON ROUGE, FRANKFORT. J. C. Eustace in his preliminary discourse to his to which is dated Sept. 14, 1812), says that the advantages of a warm room, a news- paper, and a well-stored larder, though common enough, at home, " are not to be found in any inn on the Continent, not even Dessin's at Calais or the Maison Rouge at Frankfort." For the former, see 12 S. iv. 187, 248. Information about the latter would be interesting.
 * Classical Tour through Italy ' (the preface

JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

SMALE. I should be glad to obtain any information about the following Smales, who were educated at Westminster School :

(1) George Smale, who was at the school, 1802-3

(2) H. L. Smale, who wa^ at the school in 1801.

(3) William Adderley Smale, born Apr. 25, 1816, who was admitted to the school, Jan. 15, 1830. G. F. R. B.

WILSON. Major Wilson, the grandfather of Sir Robert Wilson and father of Benjamin Wilson (see ' D.N.B.'), had fourteen children, of whom Joseph Wilson, born 1707, was one ('Leeds Registers,' Thoresby Society).

Is anything known of him ? Did he go to Ireland, and was his son, or grandson, agent to the first Lord Londonderry ? I should be grateful for any information about him, or about any other sons of Major Wilson other than Benjamin. H. W. B.

PRINCE JAMES FRANCIS EDWARD STUART. Can any of your readers give an accurate answer to the following question ?

What is the correct legal title of Prince James Francis Edward Stuart, sometimes known as the Chevalier de St. George ? Born at Whitehall, the son of a king- regnant of England, he was at any rate Duke of Cornwall, and is so described by Burke (see the Royal Lineage, preceding

Burke's ' Peerage '). On the other hand, the 'D.N.B.' styles him Prince of Wales, and when mentioned in letters of the period written very shortly after his birth (including those of the Prince and Princess of Orange), he is spoken of as Prince of Wales, or, when it suited the writers, " the pretended Prince of Wales." What I wish to ask is this : When was James, Duke of Cornwall, created Prince of Wales ? Inquiries at the Record Office elicit the reply that no letters-patent of such a creation have ever passed the Great Seal, yet James II. (then still king- regnant) authorised a publication in October, 1688, of the depositions of those who were present at the birth of his son, and in this James is termed " Prince of Wales."

A. J. ARBUTHNOT. 8 Albert Court, Kensington Gore, !3.\V.7.

CHARLES HOWARD HODGES : ENGRAVER. He appears to have adopted another name* for signing some of his work, but I cannot trace it, and there is not any men- tion of it in the ' D.N.B.' I have been told that The Gentleman's Magazine had a note of it, but a diligent search has not helped me. I ask for information.

XYLOGRAPHER.

THE THUMB LATCH. Is the common door latch, of wrought iron or other metal or wood, with thumb press upon a lever or lift which penetrating the door, raises the latch bar from its catch, an English invention and unknown on the European Continent, and is it known that the lever on all the older latches was straight ? If so, when and by whom was the end of this lever, where it passes under the latch bar, curved downward so that, as now, the forefinger can lift the latch bar and pull the door open at the same time ? Information as to the above points, which would facilitate the dating of old houses, would oblige. H. C. MERCER.

" THE BEAUTIFUL MRS. CONDUITT." In a

volume of reminiscences or letters published in the first half of the last cemury, this expression occurs. It was recalled to me recently in looking up some details of Sir John Soane, R.A. According to The Gentle- man's Magazine of June, 1838, Sir J. Soa;?.e left a legacy of 5,OOOZ. to Mrs. Conduitt, who was, I believe, "matron " or curatrix of the Soane Museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields.

At the west end of the nave of West- minster Abbey there is a tablet to the memory of Joannes Conduitt, whose remains, together with those of his greatest friend (and his uncle by marriage) Sir Isaac