Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/435

 12 s. ix. OCT. 29, i92L] NOTES AND QUERIES. 357 dormant " (G.E.C.) in 1739. The last phrase, may explain why the baronetcy is not in Burke's ' Extinct Baronetages.' JOHN R. MAGBATH. 'RTJDDIGORE' (12 S. ix. 291). In the second act of ' Ruddigore,' after the ghosts I of the Murgatroyds have returned to their frames, leaving Robin Oakapple overcome by emotion, his faithful servant, Adam Goodheart, enters, and the following dialogue ensues : Adam. My poor master, you are not well Robin. Gideon Crawle, it won't do I've seen 'em all my ancestors they're just gone. They say that I must do something desperate at once, or perish in horrible agonies. This is the only mention I can find in the libretto of Gideon Crawle (not Crawl), and I am consequently at a loss to under- stand on what G. M. bases his theory that " He seems from the allusion to have bee'n a man who returned to a life of crime after an interlude of virtue." As to who Gideon was, or whether he ever existed in fact or in fiction, I have failed to discover, and shall await with interest any light other correspondents can throw on the query. WrLLOUGHBY MAYCOCK. ANNE BOLEYN'S EXECUTION (12 S. ix. 311).- In an appendix to Paul Friedmann's ' History of Anne Boleyn ' (Macmillan, 1884), the author states that she was " be- headed with a sword by the executioner of Saint Omer," and he cites as his authority for the statement the ' Cronica del Rey Henrico Octavo.' Furthermore, an old guide to the Tower, by Mr. A. Harman, describing the execution, says, " after addressing a few calm words to those around, she laid upon the fatal block her head which the executioner severed from her body with one stroke of his sword.'* WLLLOTJGHBY MAYCOCK. Bishop Godwin in his * Annales,' under the year 1536, says that the executioner was summoned from Calais, and that the instrument was a sword, alhough the English custom was to behead with an axe. His words are, " Carnifex, qui ad id Caleto accersitus fuerat, gladio cervicem pene- travit, cum moris sit nostri, securi capite mulctandos, non gladio, ferire." EDWARD BENSLY. Some twenty years ago, when I was inspecting the armour in the Tower, the then curator, Viscount Dillon, told me that at the time of Anne's execution she asked one of those attending upon her to point out the headsman ; this showing that he did not always wear a particular dress at this period. I forget whether he told me as to a sword or axe being used. In the past, I have seen some very good historical film pictures abroad, and when English history is in question, certain details were not always correct. The same may be the case now. In a fine French film portraying certain incidents in the life of Queen Elizabeth, in which the " Divine Sara " represented the Queen, the Royal Arms of England were very incorrect. HERBERT SOUTHAM. I am in possession of a very old manu- script entitled ' An Epistle concerning the Criminal Process made against the Queen Anne Boullan of England. By Carles Almoner to Mons. le Dauphin. Printed at Lyons in the year 1545. Translated from the French by P. L. Buee, Doctor of the College of Sorbonne.' The manuscript is without date and is of 43 pages. The following account is given of the execution. After a long speech from the Queen on the scaffold it is stated : When the Queen had let down her white collar and put off her hood in order that the blow should meet with no obstacle she fell humbly on her knees pronouncing repeatedly these words : " Christ I beseech Thee receive my soul. O grant pity ! " One of the Damsels shedding unremitting tears' approached her to perform the last and lamentable duty of her office and veiled her face with a linen cloth. Then the Master who was himself disconsolate and dismayed on account of the execution refraining his emotion to" fulfil his duty levelled at her neck the last stroke of a sword by which it was immediately cut through. The head and body were taken by the ladies whom you would have thought almost lifeless from the languor and excessive feebleness they were in. But they feared that their Mistress should be touched and held by the hands of inhumane men. The manuscript in describing the execu- tion of Lord Rochefort states that he pre- sented his head to the cruel scimitar which cut it off at one blow. EDWARD H. DOBREE. Udney Hall, Teddington. JOHN CRAWFORD (12 S. ix. 310). In 1789 Sir Joshua Reynolds painted his portrait from which J. Grozer did a fine mezzotint. Chaloner Smith's book on portraits spells the name Crauford. E. E. LEGGATT.