Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/129

 2" d S. NO 6., FEB. 9. '56.]

KOTES AND QUERIES.

121

name. Whether the Dukedom of Ireland created by Richard II., in 1386, should be regarded as a merely Irish peerage or not, may admit of doubt ; but as it soon became extinct, and its possessor was an English earl, this cannot now be more than matter of curious inquiry. The Dukedom of Ormond, in the ancient family of Butler, con- ferred by King Charles I., was lost early in the last century by an act of attainder, which we may wonder has not been since reversed in favour of that eminently loyal house. King James II., in 1689, raised the Earl of Tyrconnell, whose family name was Talbot, to the rank of Duke. Wil- liam III., in 1692, conferred the title of Duke of Leinster on the son of the famous Duke of Schon- berg, who fell at the Battle of the Boyne. That dukedom soon became extinct. George I., in 1716, conferred the title of Duchess of Munster on Evangard Melusina, Baroness of Schuylem- berg, whom he afterwards created Duchess of Kendal, in England. Those titles became extinct in 1743. King George III., in 1766, revived the title of Duke of Leinster in favour of the ancient Earls of Kildare, who still worthily bear the dis- tinction of the only dukedom in the Irish peerage.

The Duke of Wharton, who was Lord Lieu- tenant of Ireland early in the eighteenth century, was Marquis of Carlow in the Irish peerage. His dukedom was English.

These now enumerated are the only ducal titles that can be connected with Ireland, and none of them was borne by any family of the name that E. C. mentions in his Query. The family about \frhich he inquires is probably that which still sub- sists in Ireland, spelling their name -Dry, instead otDreigh. Should this be so, the other particulars that he requires may be obtained. ARTEEUS.

Dublin.

Running Footmen (2 nd S. i. 80.) A writer in the Bee, July 13, 1791, and referring to thirty years previous to that date, or 1761, noticing the bad condition of the public roads in Scotland, says :

" A four-wheeled cliaise was then unknown, the usual travelling carriage for hire being a close two-wheeled chaise, placed very low between the shafts. Coaches were the only carriages kept by gentlemen, which were usually drawn by six horses. These were generally accompanied by running footmen, who were easily able to keep pace with the horses, and whose assistance were often wanted to support the coach on each side, to prevent it from being overturned on the very few roads where they could be carried at all."

I have heard it said that in old times running footmen were kept by the nobility and gentry of Scotland, who ran alongside the carriages, and who were also employed in carrying despatches from place to place. Their speed and endurance were so great, as in a long journey to overcome any horse. A traditional anecdote is related of one

of these fleet messengers (rather half witted), who was sent from Glasgow to Edinburgh for two doctors to come and see his sick master. He was interrupted on the road by an inquiry, how his master was now, " He's no dead yet," was the reply; " but he'll soon be dead, for I'm fast on the way for twa Embro' doctors to come and visit him." G. N.

Hannah Lightfoot (1 st S. x. 228.) A lady who is niece to the late Mrs. Henry Wheeler, sometime of " the corner of Market Street, St. James's Market," in a letter to me of yesterday's date, has the following :

" Hannah Lightfoot was staying with our late uncle Wheeler, and his brother George, when she disappeared in so remarkable a way. She was their first cousin, I believe. The family have never been able to gain any intelligence of her. It is altogether a most mysterious affair. Our cousin, Mrs. Phillips, one of Mr. Henry Wheeler's daughters, spent a few days with us in the autumn, and we had a long chat about Miss Lightfoot. My sister says, when young, Mrs. Phillips was thought to resemble her cousin'Hannah in person."

I will some day ascertain from the registers of a Society of Friends, at Devonshire House, the parentage of this Lightfoot, and communicate the same to you. G. STEINMAN STEINMAN.

January 22, 1856.

Ballad of Sir Hugh (1 st S. xii. 496. ; 2 nd S. i. 80.) The writers of the Notes on this ballad are evidently not aware of a work expressly de- voted to the subject, entitled :

" Hugues de Lincoln, recueil de Ballades Anglo-Nor- mande et Ecossoises, relatives au meurtre de cet enfant, commis par les Juifs en 1255 ; public', avec une introduc- tion et des notes, par Francisque Michel. 8. Paris, 1834."

In this little work will be found, collected to- gether, everything known on the subject ; and also reprints of the Scottish Ballad, as it appears in the several collections of Percy, Gilchrist, Jamieson, Pinkerton, and Motherwell. It is also in Herd's Collection, 1776 ; and in the Restitute, edited by Sir Egerton Brydges (vol. i. p. 381.), is a fragment of the ballad, taken down from recita- tion, which resembles closely the one sent to " N. & Q." by B. H. C. M.

Passage in General Thanksgiving (1 st S. xii. 405.) Your correspondent E. C. H. asks for a parallel passage " from any English author of any age" to the sentence which he quotes from the General Thanksgiving ; viz.

" Give us that due sense of all Thy mercies, that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful, and that we show forth Thy praise."

Has he ever noticed the following passage from the Prayer Book itself? In the first of the prayers, towards the end of the Litany, we say " And graciously hear us, that those evils, which the