Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/106

 98

NOTES AND QUERIES.

. N 5., FEB. 2. '56.

cease of Col. J. Strode, his nephew, Thomas Chetham, by will, inherited the Southill estate, and took the name of Strode. He died in 1827 without issue, and under the uncle's will his bro- ther, Col. Richard Chetham, succeeded to the estate and name ; he died without issue, and was succeeded by his brother Randall Chetham, who also died without issue, and was succeeded by his brother, Admiral Sir Edward Chetham (Strode), K.C.B., G.C.H., &c. I should be glad to be put in communication with MB. HACKWOOD, whose address is not given. " Chepton " means Shepton Mallet. H.E.

P.S.

family.

Sir E. Chetham Strode has a numerous

DE WITT QUERIES.

(1" S. xii. 244. 310. ; 2 nd S. i. 34.)

It appears to me that the most complete answer to the virtually unsolved Queries of your cor- respondents G. L. O. and MB. JOHN JEBB, is to be found in the Histoire Metallique de la Repub- lique de Hollande. That work contains engrav- ings and explanatory details of the medals partly described in 1 st S. xii. 244. 310. Two other medals are added, and the Amsterdam edition of 1690 gives a fifth specimen relating to the De Witts. All are interesting, but an entire quota- tion would be too lengthy for " N. & Q."

In preparing, a few years ago, my English version of the long-lost Treatise on Life Annuities by the Grand Pensionary De Wit, I was at con- siderable pains to ascertain whether his name ought to be spelt with one final t, or with two. The medals above mentioned gave evidence as follows (that is to say, presuming them to have been correctly engraved) :

No. 1. Medal with busts of the brothers, and reverse of two ships foundering under the same wave ; the legend, " Una mente et sorte." One t.

No. 2. Medal with the busts, and reverse, " Twee Witten eens gezint, gevloecht," &c. One t.

No. 3. Medal with the busts, and reverse of the brothers torn by wild beasts ; legend, " Nunc redeunt animis ingentiaconsulis acta, etformidati Sceptris oracla Ministri," &c. Two fs.

No. 4. Medal with the car drawn by men with crowns, representation of the massacre beneath, and reverse, " Wie op't Gheluck teveele steunt," &c. One t.

No. 5. Medal with busts, and representation of the massacre on the reverse. One t.

Thus far there were four examples of one t, compared with one of two fs.

Next came under review contemporary pub- lications. These did not solve the question, as they point in both directions, although (nu-

merically considered) rather to the one than to the two fs.

I then renewed a search for an autograph sig- nature, and the only one I had an opportunity of seeing is subscribed to a Latin letter, and spelt with one t. This suspended the doubt pro tern, and I had the name printed with one t. Some months afterwards I was shown a lithographed copy of a letter of the Grand Pensionary, in Dutch, in which his signature is with two fs. Biographies were turned to, but they answered both ways in a most teasing manner. Genealo- gists gave no aid, for some described a descent from the old family of De Witte or De With, others from that of De Witt or De Wit. I came to the conclusion that the probabilities are in. favour of the Grand Pensionary having spelt his name both ways, like Buonaparte or Bonaparte, &c.

MB. PETEB CUNNINGHAM, in his interesting article in 2 nd S. i. 8., quotes a triad of Sir John Vanbrugh's ways of spelling his name, viz. Van- brook, Vanbrug, Vanbrugh. The triad becomes a decad if we include the modes in which others spelt it. This example reminded me that in the case of so great a man as John de Wit, some ^ of your readers, either here or abroad, might be in- duced to take the necessary amount of trouble to set the following Queries at rest.

Query No. 1. Did the Grand Pensionary, in his Latin correspondence with learned foreigners, or in signing diplomas and instructions in Latin, spell his name habitually with one t?

Query No. 2. Did the Grand Pensionary sign letters and state documents, in Dutch, habitually with two fs f

Query No. 3. Was there a period when the Grand Pensionary changed his ways of spelling his signature ?

Query No. 4. If Queries Nos. 1. to 3. remain unsolved, are we not nevertheless justified in as- suming that the facts above adverted to are suffi- cient to leave it open to us to spell the name either with one t or else with two fs ? and to be equally free from the possible discomfort of the criticism of etymologists, or from the charge of abetting the ambiguity with which the printer's devils of all countries treat the name of De Wit ? FREDERICK HENDRIKS.

POPE PIUS AND THE BOOK OF COMMON PRATER.

(2 nd S. i. 60.)

We are, it seems, contending about a point which we cannot settle. We can only hold to our own opinions.

MR. HAKINGTON seems to think that the Pope actually wade the offer. On the contrary, I con-