Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/525

 12 S.YITI. MAT 28, 1021.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 431 BAKER. I should be glad of any in- formation concerning the Major (or Colonel) Baker who was joint Governor of Derry with Walker during the siege, and also concerning his family. E. GERTRUDE COCK. Ings Vicarage, Kendal. ENOCH STERNE. Collector of Wicklow and Clerk to the House of Lords in Ireland. Frequently mentioned in Swift's * Journal to Stella.' I should be glad of any informa- tion concerning him or his family. E. GERTRUDE COCK. Ings Vicarage, Kendal. " CHATAUQUA." What is the exact meaning, and origin, of this word ? E. W. " LITTLE ENGLANDER " Who originated this description and to whom was it first applied ? E. W. GIBBON : REFERENCE WANTED. The Standard of Sept. 24, 1908, quoted from Gibbon as follows : The servitude of rivers is the noblest and most important victory which man has obtained over the licentiousness of Nature. Can anyone give me the reference ? ROLAND AUSTIN. PALESTINE : FORT OF ST. GEORGE. During the Palestine campaign, I read I believe in The Times a .very interesting account from two officers relating to an old fort they found, connected with St. George. I have unfortunately mislaid the cutting. Could any reader supply the date ? VERA S. KEMBALL. ENGLISH APPLES. In ' Madame Geoftrin's Salon and Her Times,' by Janet Aldis, we find that Count Caraccioli, the Ambassador at the French Court from Naples, who was a heavy and inert man till roused by the company of his friends, then became an animated and brilliant talker. He detested England, where he had stayed some time, and always referred to it as a dreary country of poor productions. He stated " the only ripe fruit he had tasted during his residence in England was ripe apples." Was this an original remark, or is it more often credited to Gondomar from Spain, who was Ambassador to this country ? V. W. GLENNY. Barking, E JOHN LANGHAM. Of Catthorpe, Leicester- shire, born 1691, died 1766. Can anyone inform me who his parents were and where he was born ? (MRS.) C. STEPHEN. Wootton Cottage, Lincoln. JAMES MACBURNEY, portrait painter, was the paternal grandfather of Madame d'Arblay. I wish to ascertain when and where he was born, when he died, and w r here he was buried. G. F. R. B. MOUATT. Alexander Mouatt was ad- mitted to Westminster School, Oct. 14, 1771 ; Frederick Mouatt, March 29, 1773 ; and James Mouatt, June 20, 1768. Any information about their parentage and careers is desired. G. F. R. B. BERNARD ANDREWS, POET LAUREATE. Brewer's ' Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,' after giving a list of poets laureate appointed by letters patent, which begins with Ben Jonson, says : " The following are some- times included, though not appointed by letters patent : Chaucer, Gower, John Key, Bernard, Skelton, Rob. Whittington, Richard Edwards, Spenser, and Sam. Daniel." Who was the Bernard to whom Brewer refers ? W. Toone, ' Chr. Hist.' i. 112, writing of November, 1486, records : The King granted an annuity of ten marks to Bernard Andrews, poet laureat. Who was he ? JOHN B. WAINE WRIGHT. " THE POOR CAT i' TH' ADAGE " (' Mac- beth, ' I. vii. 45). The adage about the cat wishing to secure a fish but hesitating through dislike of wetting its paws, was, I understand, a French proverb. Are there grounds' for believing it had become known to English readers before the pub- lication of ' Macbeth ' ? E. BASIL LUPTON. 10, Humboldt Street, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A. THE " DIEHARDS." The distinctive title of the Middlesex Regiment is the " Die- hards," and it is claimed by them that the title began at Albuera in 1811, where they won great honour. The name apparently ! has a much earlier origin than that, for it was applied to the Earl of Dumbarton's Foot when that regiment returned from serving the French king after the Flanders campaign, in which Sir James Hepburn was killed, in 1678. Can any reader state the origin and the reason for the appella- tion ? W. W. DRUETT.