Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/138

 108 NOTES AND QUERIES. [i 2S .ix A. 6,1921, ANGLO - DUTCH RELATIONSHIPS : FAGEL - BENTINCK - ATHLONE - HE AY - BOREEL. It may perhaps be worth recording an instance where the ancient ties between two nations survive unknown to. the multitude in one solitary individual after a lapse of time almost beyond belief. When in 1688 William of Orange set foot on these shores, Caspar Fagel was Grand Pensionary of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, one of the principal instiga- tors of the enterprise, and William IJI.'s right hand. Soon after, Bentinck was created Earl of Portland, and after the Battle of the Boyne Ginckel became Earl of Athlone. At that very time Colonel Mackay, younger of Reay, was commander of the Scottish Brigade in the service of the United Pro- vinces. During the Civil War, William Borcel, the Dutch Ambassador, was created a Baronet by Charles I., in 1645. The other day I came across Baron Fagel, the last representative of his name, at the residence of his first cousin, the Lord Reay, in Berkeley Square. Baron Fagel's seat in the Netherlands, named Avegoor, came to him through his great-aunt, the last Dowager Countess of Athlone of the William III. creation. His mother was a Bentinck, and the late Burgo- master of the city of Haarlem in Holland, Sir Jacob Boreel, Bart., is his cousin. Truly a wonderful instance of the very ancient ties between the Netherlands and Great Britain converging in one person now alive. Baron Fagel unfortunately is a confirmed bachelor and the last male of his race so far. W. DEL COURT. 47, Blenheim Crescent, W.ll. OPINIONATION, &c. (12 S. ix. 69). I am glad that MB. WAINEWBIGHT protests against the invention of hideous and un- necessary barbarisms. The word " self- opinionatedness " has long vexed me in a devotional litany with which I am, familiar. May I call attention to a burden which the hysterics of our lady writers are rapidly fastening upon us the substitution of '' selfless " for " unselfish " ? If the mean- ing is the same, why not stick to the existing word, which is both good and clear ? If the new creation has a different meaning, I can only conceive that it resembles " soul- less," and is therefore by no means the complimentary term intended by its coiners. W. E.'B. LOWSE FAIBE. The following are extracts from Holinshed's ' Chronicles,' reprint 1807-8, vol. i. : There are verie few of them [the great towns] that haue not one or two faires or more within, the compasse of the yeare assigned vnto them by the prince. And albeit that some of them are not much better than Lowse faire or the common kirkemesses beyond the sea, yet there are diuerse not inferiour to the greatest marts in Europe (p. 343). There is almost no towne in England, but hath one or more such marts holden yearlie in the same, although some of them (I must needs con- fesse) be scarse comparable to Lowse faire, and little else bought or sold in them more than good drinke, pies, and some pedleric trash : wherefore it were no losse if diuerse of them were abolished (P. 4H). These extracts are from 'The Description of England,' attributed to William Harrison,, being respectively in ii., xviii., and iii., xv. I have not found tr Lowse Faire " in the " Kirkemesse," given s.v. " Kermis," is described as " In the Low Countries, parts of Germany, &c., a periodical (properly annual) fair or carnival, characterised by much noisy merrymaking." The latter part of the above first quotation is given, except that the words " Lowse faire or the ' r are omitted. Can it be that the edition of Harrison's England, which is quoted by the dictionary, leaves them out ? The Dutch word is " Kermis " ; the French appears to be "Karmasse" or " Kermesse." I have a French engraving of Rubens's " La Kermesse Flamande," in which most of the men and women- peasants- are dancing or hugging one another or both. Little, if anything, is being sold. ROBERT PIERPOINT. "BATHWOMEN" (see 12 S. ix. 69). MB. ARMSTRONG seems a little precipitate in saying that Homer represents women as bathing men. Whether Homer meant this, or only intended to represent the women as preparing and furnishing the bath, has been the subject of much discussion. Strong arguments for the former view are given by Max Schneidewin, ' Homerische Naive - tat ' (1878), p. 150-2 ; for the latter, by Gladstone, ' Studies- on Homer, &c.,' vol. ii., sect, ix., p. 513-7. It seems quite possible that the majority of critics favour the latter view. The question is fully con- sidered by Merry and Riddell in their edition of the first twelve books of the Odyssey, in their note on Book m. 465. AGATHIPPE,
 * New English Dictionary,' where, however,