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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s.vi. JUNES, 1920.

COL. THOMAS HARDWJCK SMITH. I seek genealogical particulars of the marriage and descendants of Col. Thomas Hardwick Smith of the West Indian Regiment, a son of Thomas Smith, Esq., of Jersey.

He was born about 1830, and was living in 1905.

Any information would be appreciated. REGINALD SMITH.

2, Manor Road, Lewisham High Road, S.E. 4.

Two OLD PISTOLS. I have recently come into the possession of a pair of old pistols. On each is affixed a silver plate with the following inscription : " The dying gift of Lieut.-Col. R. Place, H.M. 41st Regt. to Lieut -.Col. Welsh, Commanding the Dooab Field Force, January, 1828."

The pistols are in an excellent state of preservation and the maker's name is James Thomson, Edinburgh.

I shall be much obliged if any of your readers can give me any information re- specting the two officers named, or any details regarding the Dooab Field Force. PHILIP H. LEE.

Poplar Villas, Huddersfleld.

GEORGE IV. Can any reader kindly supply the reference to an authentic record of the story of the introduction of an irrelevant passage into one of his speeches in the House of Lords ? I have searched the indexes of several likely books in vain.

T. F. H.

THE PREFIX " HONORABLE." (See 2 S. x. 494.). The following query appeared in ' N. & Q.' of Dec. 22, 1860, and I am not aware that it has ever been replied to. Though somewhat after date I too should be glad of the solution :

" What is the earliest instance of the prefix of ' Honorable ' having been adopted by sons of peers, and what authority was there for that assumption ? " C.

GUY ROSLYN. In 1876 was published ' George Eliot in Derbyshire, by Guy Roslyn,' mainly a reprint of an article that had appeared in London Society. I have always been under the impression, derived from some authentic but now forgotten source, that the author was Joseph Hatton (1841- 1907). The work is mentioned in ' D.N.B.' sub nom. ' Cross, Mary Ann,' but not in its notice of Joseph Hatton. A work of 1910 has mention of one G. R. Hatton " under the nom de plume of Guy Roslyn," as then Jiving. Can the apparent confusion be

cleared up, and the authorship of 1876 assigned ? As Joseph Hatton was married in 1860, the " Guy Roslyn " of sixteen years later could not have been a son ; indeed, the ' D.N.B.' says he had only one son, who died by an accident in 1883. ' George Eliot in Derbyshire ' contains an advertise- ment of ' Village Verses,' by " Guy Roslyn."

W. B. H.

BENJAMIN FARNWORTH, who was Mayor of Newark 1724 and 1737, was buried Nov.27, 1738. Brass near font in parish church Newark. Who were his parents and those of his wife, who was buried June 15, 1749, ibidem. H. PIRIE-GOBDON.

NAIRNE AND ARNOTT. William Nairne of Kirkhill, co. Perth, married Margaret Arnott and had a son Thomas Nairne, afterwards of Dunsinane, who was created a baronet Mar. 1, 1703/4, and died in or before 1721. What was the family and parentage of William Nairne and of Margaret Arnott ? H. PIRIE -GORDON.

20, Warwick Gardens, Kensington, W. 14.

SPROT OR SPROAT. What is the origin and meaning of this personal name ? Is there an older form of it ?

" The first bearing the surname in its integrity was Wulfric Sprot, Count of Mercia, who founded Burton Abbey (1002)." v. McKerlie, ' Lands and their Owners in Galloway ' (vol. v.).

In the ' Diet. Nat. Biog.,' Wulfric is called (alternatively) Spot.

So far as I am aware surnames were not in use at that early period of English history.

JAMES SPROAT.

Rockville, Castle-Douglas, Scotland.

RUE DE BOURG, LAUSANNE. Writing of Lausanne in 1705 De Blainville says (' Travels,' vol. i. p. 363) :

There is a remarkable Privilege belonging to the Inhabitants of one of the largest Streets of this Place. They have the sole Power of judging, condemning or absolving, as they think fit, any of them that has committed a capital Crime, let the nature of it be what it will."

' The Swiss Tourist ' (London, 1816), at pp. 38, 39, records :

Criminal cases, after having been examined by a particular tribunal, are decided by an assembly of all the proprietors of houses in a street called De Bourg. The origin of this singular regulation is unknown.

When did this privilege come to an end ? JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.