Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/113

 12 s. vii. JULY si, 1920.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 89 HERALDRY : DIMIDIATION. I should lik< to repeat W. FRASER'S query (1 S. vii 548) as to whether examples' of dimidia tion are common in modern heraldry D. P. in reply (1 S. vii. 629) gives a few examples, but states that he knows of no instance of dimidiation since the time o: Henry VIII. T. H. DE H. (1 S. viii. 230) however, shows that Mary, Queen of Scots bore the arms of France dimidiated with those of Scotland from the death of her firsi husband, the King of France, 1560, until her marriage with Darnley in 1565. Perhaps other correspondents can discover more recent uses of this ancient method of impaling. While on the subject of impalements, I should like to ask where I may find a list of officials, who bear the arms of their office impaled with their personal arms, either by right of legal grant or by right of usage and custom. NOLA. BLACK OLIVER ST. JOHN. There has been some uncertainty as to the identity of Oliver St. John, who in April, 1615, was sentenced by the Star Chamber to a fine of 5,OOOZ. and imprisonment for life, for his opposition to the tax called " Benevolence." In ' N. & Q.' (2 S. vii. 27) there is an account given of him, and it is stated that a contem- porary document styled him " Black Oliver St. John of Wiltshire." The note further states that, according to the pedigree of the Wiltshire branch of the St. John family, John St. John had two sons, viz.,* John and Oliver, and the latter had a son of his own name, who may have been the Oliver of the Star Chamber. The matter seems to have been left in doubt, and I should be glad to know if the point has been cleared up. J. HAMSON. [See also 2 S. viii. 386.] INFLUENCE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ON STYLE. In an article in the current Quar- terly Review on Mr. Buckle's two volumes completing the ' Life of Disraeli,' Lord Esher says of Queen Victoria's letters : " No stress should be laid upon their style. The Queen wrote in maturity much as she wrote as a schoolgirl. It is the penalty nearly every one pays who speaks and thinks in three or four' languages. Style is indigenous, and the best writer of a language is he who is familiar with none but his own " How far would readers of ' N. & Q.' endorse the sentences I have italicised ? Did Queen Victoria speak and think in three or four languages ? E. R. GOLEMUTH : WADBIDDING. Could some one tell me where these place are ? A Welsh gentleman, whose will, proved in 1613, is preserved in Somerset House, describes himself as of Llanfihangel gener glyn (in Cardiganshire), Golemuth, and Machynlleth. I can find no trace of Golemuth, which looks rather like an anglicization of a Welsh name. Wadbidding is mentioned in a document of about a century ago. Possibly in Northamptonshire ? J. C. HUGHES. GEORGE BUCHANAN. The picture on the cover of Blackwood's Magazine is said to be of an individual of this name, who was a traveller something after the style of Tom Coryat. Is anything known of him or of his wanderings ? H. WILBERFORCE-BELL. ' OLD BACHELORS ' : AUTHOR WANTED. Any information as to the author of the following book would be very welcome : " Old Bachelors ; their varieties, characters and, conditions. By the author of ' Old Maids.' London, John Macrone, St. James' Square, 1835." (2 vols.). The book is dedicated to the Duke of Devonshire, and the style is that of a gentle- man and scholar. H. MAXWELL PRIDEAUX. Plymouth. ENGLISH PLAYS PERFORMED IN PARTS. Where can I get some information about English plays (especially Shakespeare) per- formed in Paris at the time of the Romantic School. C. E. PRIOR. ANGLO-CJESARUS. At Bloxham in Ox- fordshire there is an epitaph on a nonjuror, named Andrew Durell. He is described aa a graduate of the University of Sedan ; and ihe epithet " Anglo-Caesareus " is appended to lis name. Can any one explain this word ? A. D. T. ABBOT KEMEYS OF CEFN MABLEY. In mediaeval times members of leading Welsh amilies, irrespective of creed, settled in East Anglia. In certain areas representative /Velshmen were identified with religious louses and abbacies. Among such there was Abbot Kemeys of Cefn Mabley, Glamor- ganshire attached to the Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds. There is slight mention of im in Dinely's ' Itinerary Progress of Henry Duke of Beaufort through Wales n 1684. 1 I should be pleased to come cross genealogical or other scraps of infor- lation throwing light on his settlement