Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/428

 352

NOTES AND QUERIES. : [12 s. TO. 001.30,1920.

EDMUND PYLE, D.D.

(12 S. vii. 289.)

LAID aside until further light is forthcoming, I have several notes on the Pyle family, because of the association of the name with the Hero of Trafalgar. " Mrs. Joyce Pyle " was Horatio Nelson's Godmother. In his 'Historical Register,' a MS. pedigree written in faded ink in the year 1781 by the Rev. Edmund Nelson, is a list of the births baptisms, and sponsors of his children, Of his " third son, Horatio," he says, that he was " born at Burnham Thorpe on Sept. 29, 1758, privately baptized Oct. 9, publickly Nov. 15." The sponsors were Horatio, second Lord Walpole of Wolterton, the Rev. Horace Hammond (b. 1718, d. 1786), and "Mrs. Joyce Pyle " who, so far, has never been identified. There was a Rev. Richard Pyle at Gains College, Cambridge in 1619, whose widow, Martha, was of Thornage, and in her will (proved July 18, 1656) named her "grandson, Roger Pyle." The Rev. John Pyle, son of Richard, was born at Hanworth and entered Caius College in 1648. It is noteworthy that his wife was named " Joyce," and that she died, as his " widow," at the age of 83, in 1715. Their son, John Pyle, was buried at Stody in 1710. Their son Thomas Pyle (who was at Caius College in 1691), became Rector of Watlington and was buried at S waff ham in 1756. He was married in 1701 to Mary, ds/ighter of Edmund Rolfe, Mayor of King's Lynn. His mother's name of "Joyce" suggests a relationship with Horatio Nelson's god- mother, but her name does not appear in the Lynn registers as a daughter of the Rev. Thomas Pyle. I have vainly endeavoured to discover if Edmund Rolfe of Lynn was related to the Rev. Robert .Rolfe, who married Alice, sister of the Rev. Edmund Nelson. She was born in 1729, married by her brother at Burnham Thorpe, Jan. 23, 1760, and lived at Hilborough until her husband's death in 1785. Mr. Rolfe was son of the Rev. Waters Rolfe (b. 1688, d. 1748), Rector of North Pickenham and Houghton, said by the register of Caius College, Cambridge^ to be son of John Rolfe, innkeeper of Downham, Norfolk. Since President Wilson's wife is a descendant of t he Princess Pocohantas, who married a

John Rolfe, tobacco planter of Virginia.* Bermuda, in 1714, at the time of the Presi- dent's visit to this country, a further attempt was made to connect Alice Nelson's Roifes with the families of Heacham, and of Tullington, but without result. There must be parish registers that would solve the mystery and also disclose the identity of "Mrs. Joyce Pyle," whose name was linked, as a sponsor with two such dis- tinguished Norfolk worthies as Lord Walpole,, and his cousin the Rev. Horace Hammond, both cousins of Mrs. Nelson on her mother's side. F. H. S.

FRENCH SONGS WANTED (12 S. vii. 270, 297). J.C.W. will find the words of " Ou peut-on etremieuxqu'au sein de sa famille? " in the opera ' Lucile ' composed by Gretry in 1769. "O Richard, O mon roi, 1'univers t 'abandonne " is an air in ' Richard Cceur de Lion,' also by Gretry. The British Museum has copies of both in the original editions ; a complete reprint of Gretry 's works was begun about 1880 by the Belgian Govern- ment. H. DAVEY.

89 Montpelier Road, Brighton.

The first line of the second of the scngs wanted by J. C. W. is not given quite correctly. It should be " Ou peut-on etre mieux qu'au sein de sa famille ? " The song is in 'Lucile.' sc. 4, a comic opera by J. F. Marmontel (1723-1799), music by Gretry, 1769. There is an edition of Marmontel 's works by Saint-Surin, Paris, 1818. Two fuither lines of the song are given in Francis King's ' Classical and Foreign Quotations,' viz. :

Tout est content, le creur, les yeux, Vivons, aimons comme nos aieux. Mr. King adds that the song " was sung by the crowd on the entry of Louis XVL into Paris, Thursday, July 16, 1789, two days after the taking of the Bastille. The song was also- repeated on the following Sept. 7th. when the ' Darnes Fran<;aises ' wives of Parisian artists presented the National Assembly with offerings of their own jewels and trinkete for the popular cauee."

C. A. COOK. Sullingstead, Hascombe, Godalming.

Both your correspondents have noted the intrusion of one word in my misquotation of "O Richard ! 6 mon roi ! " Short as the time that had elapsed between the famous occasion on which it was sung the debauch of the regiment of Flanders and the execu- tion of Marie Antoinette, it was certainly misquoted, in the form given by me, in those