Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 6.djvu/94

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. vi. MARCH,

Cornwall, 1743 until his death, 1749/50, .aged 38. He left an only son,

Aaron Abraham Baker (5) of Wadham and All Saints' Colleges, D.C.L., Incumbent of Brislington, Rector of Burnett and of Marksbury, Somerset, and Prebendary of Wells, until his death in 1814, aged 64. His eldest son,

Aaron Webb Baker (6), was of C.C.C., Oxford ; B.A., 1803 ; lieutenant 18th Royal Irish Regiment ; and died at Jamaica, 1805, .aged 25.

Returning to Aaron (2), his second son George was at Eton and King's Colleges ; Vicar of Modbury and Staverton and Arch- -deacon of Totnes, 1740, until his death in 1777. He had three sons, George, Aaron, and Thomas. George was the well-known Physician to George III., F.R.S., and .baronet. Thomas was Vicar of Staverton .and Prebendary of St. Asaph. The second son,

Aaron Baker (7), was born in 1725, and was of Wadham College, B.A. 1746. He died early in the following year.

It will be seen therefore that the answer is "that the Rev. Aaron (Abraham) Baker (5) -was the great-grandson, while Sir George Baker was the grandson, of the Rev. Aaron (2), Vicar of West Alvington. It may be observed that the Baronetages leave the origin of Sir George Baker of Loventor in .unnecessary obscurity. A. T. M.

P.S. Since the above was in print, I have learned that Aaron (3) became Recorder of ^Plymouth, and died there in 1750.

DBEUX FAMILY (12 S. vi. 37). The Comte de Dreux, whose dau. Yolande m. Alexan- der III., King of Scots, was Robert IV., fifth holder of the county which was origin- .ally conferred in 1137 on Robert I., fifth son of Louis VI., King of France. According to ithe ' Genealogie Historique de la Maison Royale de France ' [Paris, 1738], the succession went from Count Robert I. (d. 1188), a Crusader, and his third wife Agnes (m. 1152), dau. and heir of Guy de Baudement, seigneur of Braine, to their son Robert II. (d. 1218), a Crusader, who m. as his second wife Yolande (d. 1222), dau. of Raoul I., Sire de Coucy. Of their sons Robert III. became Count of Dreux and Peter m. Alice (d. 1221), dau. and heir of Guy de Thouars and half-sister and heir of Arthur, Duke of Brittany (murdered 1203), in whose right he became Duke of Brittany in 1213. He abdicated in 1237 in favour of his son John I., whose descendants became extinct in the male line in 1488. Robert III. <d. 1233) m. Eleanor (d. 1251), dau. and heir

of Thomas, Seigneur of St. Valery ; their eldest son John I. (d. 1248), a Crusader, m. Marie (d. 1274), dau. of Archambaut VIII., Sire de Bourbon. He was succeeded by his eldest son Robert IV. (d. 1282), who m. Beatrix (d. 1311), dau. and heir of John I., Count of Montfort 1'Amaury. Of their children Yolande (d. 1332) was Queen of Scots and afterwards m. Arthur II., Duke of Brittany (d. 1312), and John II. (d. 1309) became 6th Count of Dreux. He had three sons by his first wife Jeanne (d. 1308), dau. of Humbert de Beaujeu, Seigneur of Mont- pensier and Constable of France. These all succeeded in turn as Counts of Dreux, Robert V. (d. 1329), John III. (d. 1331), and Peter (d. 1345), who m. Isabel, dau. of John I., Viscount of Melun. Their dau. Jeanne I. succeeded as Countess of Dreux but d. 1346 unmarried. She was succeeded by her aunt Jeanne II. (d. 1355), dau. of Count John II. by his second wife Perrenelle, dau. of Henry III., Sire de Sully, and wife of Louis, Viscount of Thouars (d. 1370). Her son Simon (d. 1365) was 12th Count of Dreux, but his sisters Perrenelle and Mar- garet, who succeeded as co-heirs, sold their rights to the Crown in 1378 and 1377. The cadet branches of the House of Dreux became extinct in the male line in the years indicated in each case : Beu (1359), Bagnaux (1368), Baussart (1420), Baussart and Esneval (1540), and Morainville (1590). A bastard branch of this last, but not using Dreux as a surname, failed in 1674. The Counts of Dreux bore : Chequy or and azure within a bordure gules. H. P.-G.

DONKEYS' YEARS : A VERY LONG TIME (12 S. ii. 506 ; iii. 39, 74). At the second reference B. B. states he has heard this expression for at least forty years in Wilt- shire but never in London. I have a cutting from The Stwidard newspaper of Jan. 21, 1896, which contains the report of a case at the Bow Street Police Court. In the course of the examination of a witness the following occurs :

" Mr. Bodkin : How long ago is it since you first borrowed money from Prisoner?

" Witness : Years and years : donkeys' ears ago (laughter). It was long before I came of age."

The expression is noted in Prof. Wright's ' Dialect Dictionary,' as in use in Oxford- shire, and the following quotation given from the Dorchester Parish Magazine (pre- sumably Dorchester in Oxfordshire) for April, 1896 : " For years, long years, and to use a well-known local expression, donkeys' ears."