Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/125

 12 s. ix. JULY so, NOTES AND QUERIES. 99 HORSE-RIDING RECORDS (12 S. viii. 509 : ix. 32, 56, 73). In the Autobiography of Sir Harry Smith, Chapter 32, Sir Harry describes his ride from Cape Town to Grahamstown. He started on Jan. 1, 1835 and arrived in Grahamstown fresh enough to have fought a general action, after a ride of 600 miles in six days over moun- tains and execrable roads on Dutch horses, living in the fields without a grain of corn. I per- formed each day's work at the rate of fourteen miles an hour, and had not the slightest scratch even on my skin. C. LESLIE SMITH. Baling. VISCOUNT STAFFORD, 1680 (12 S. viii. 409, 454, 478, 497, 516). I wish to thank all correspondents who have so kindly replied to my query re Viscount Stafford. I have found Burke's ' Extinct Peerage,' recommended by E. E. COPE, give much useful information ; that same Work states that John Howard, second son of William Viscount Stafford, married as his second wife Theresa, daughter of Robert Strick- land, Esq., and had issue by her a son and daughter, Edward and Harriott. Nothing more is mentioned concerning them ; did either or both of them marry and if so were any children born to them. Is it known where Robert Strickland lived ? L. H. CHAMBERS. Bedford. ROBERT PARR, CENTENARIAN (11 S. iv. 309, 378 ; 12 S. viii. 457). In ' Records of Longevity,' by Joseph Taylor, published in 1818, it stated that Robert Parr died in August, 1757, but as the date of the month is given in Toone's Work probably that is correct. A Mrs. Parr, widow, of Liverpool, died 1818, aged 103. She had been a widow for fifty-five years ; was she related to Robert and Thomas Parr ? ' Records of Longevity,' by Thomas Bailey, 1857, says Robert Parr Was married twice. By his first wife he had but two children, who both died young : and one, a daughter, by his second. L. H. CHAMBERS. Bedford. DE VALERA (12 S. ix. 72). The surname of Valera is fairly common in Spain, Portugal and Italy. The founder of the noble branch, of which the present day Mr. de Valera is a descendant, was Don Diego de Valera, born at Cuenca, 1412, d. about 1482. He was majordomo to Isabella of Castille, and made historiographer of " United Spain " by Ferdinand the Catholic. He was the author of the valuable " Cronica de Espana abreviada " (first edition, 1482). During the following three centuries several mem- bers of the family distinguished themselves as military officers in the Spanish South- American colonies, and in the eighteenth century some entered the Austrian service in Belgium and were " created " barons and counts of the " Holy Roman Empire." The best known member of the family in the nineteenth century was Don Juan de Valera, born Cabra (Cordova), 1824, died 1905. He held for some time a diplomatic position at Washington, and was the author of several popular novels, plays, and poems. ANDREW DE TERNANT. 36, Somerleyton Road, Brixton, S.W. on A Short History of Scotland. By Charles Sanford Terry, Litt.D. (Cantab.). (Cambridge Univer- sity Press, 8s. net.) LAST year Professor Sanford Terry produced his ' History of Scotland from the Roman Evacua- tion to the Disruption, 1843,' in order to fill the gap between the histories in several volumes and tha schoolroom textbooks. This year lie produces a smaller History of Scotland for the use of schools, training-colleges, and similar institutions. The good qualities of the larger History are so well known already that the smaller one is sure to be warmly welcomed ; and it deserves to be the " standard " book of its kind. It is compact, but not dry ; it is well- balanced and well-proportioned, and it is free from bias. There is a good map, four genealo- gical tables, and a useful, if not impeccable, index. The Ociocentenary of Reading Abbey: A.D. 1121- A.D. 1921. By Jamieson B. Hurry, M.A., M.D. (Elliot Stock.) THE eight hundredth anniversary of the founding of Reading Abbey fell on June 18 this year; and Dr. Hurry, well-known as the historian of that great foundation, has written this volume as a memento of the occasion. It is a handsome book, illustrated with reproductions of pictures of events in the Abbey's history and with a large pictorial reconstruction of what Reading Abbey must have looked like in its original state. The history of the Abbey need not be closely examined here : we had rather refer to Dr. Hurry's new book such of our readers as are not familiar with his other writings on the subject. Pounded by Henry I., Beauclerc, to enshrine the hand of St. James of Compostella (which possibly may still be seen at St. Peter's Church, Marlow-on-Thames), Reading Abbey, at the