Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/274

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NOTES AND QUERIES. L2 - s. N. u., APKIL 5. '56.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MACAULAT.

Landing of the French in 1690 (2 nd S. i. 133.) Burnet, in his History, sub anno 1690, says that the French fleet lay for some days in Torbay, and before they left the coast

" Made a descent on a miserable village called Tin- mouth : they burnt it and a few fishing boats that be- longed to if. But the inhabitants got away, and as a body of militia was marching thither, the French made great haste back to their ships. The French published this in their gazettes with much pomp, as if it had been a great trading %>wn that had many ships, with some men of war in port. This both rendered them ridiculous and served to raise the hatred of the nation against them : for every town on the coast saw what they must expect if the French should prevail."

It seems, however, that this was a more serious affair than the bishop was willing to acknowledge, for the inhabitants of Teignmouth and the village of Shaldon petitioned the lord-lieutenant and magistrates of the county for relief, stating, that on Saturday the 26th of July, the French, to the number of about a thousand, landed and burned the dwellings of 240 persons, plundered them of their goods, defaced the two churches, and burned ten ships, besides fishing-boats, nets, &c. The magistrates in sessions thereupon certified to the king and queen as to the facts, and that the damages amounted to 11,030Z. 6s. lOd. The inhabitants also, 680 in number, petitioned the crown detailing the circumstances, and a brief was in consequence granted on the 13th Nov., 1690, for a collection throughout the realm. It seems that the full amount was obtained, and this probably was the event respecting which your correspondent J. K. inquires. The names of Tre- maine and Hatch do not appear in the documents above referred to, but they are those of Devon- shire families at that period, and the parties seem to have obtained a separate brief, or at least to have made an independent appeal for themselves.

J. D. S.

History of William III. (2 nd S. i. 243.) At the moment when public attention is so strongly drawn to King William, the old biographies of that monarch have more than usual interest. Among others who have made the life and acts of Macaulay's hero the subject of panegyric is Charles Povey, and I shall feel obliged if you, or any of your correspondents, will assist me in identifying his Life of William, as well as that of Queen Anne, alluded to in the following :

" I writ the Acts of King William the III. ; and upon the demise of Q. Anne, I drew up 65 Articles of that reign ; which said work inspir'd the Spirits of the People throughout G. Britain and Ireland, and gave life to all the Protestant Churches in Europe. This latter Piece was then declared by the Privy Council, and in both Houses of Parliament, to be of the highest consequence to the nation. K. George 1. sent the Lord Stanhope to

my house at Hampstead (Belsize), to tell me in his name he approved of that work, and had published a Procla- mation offering One Thousand Pounds reward to discover the Author that writ the answer to the said sixty-five articles." Virgin in Eden, 5th edit., 1767.

These works I have not been able to meet with. The author seems to have been an extraordinary character, and in his English Inquisition, 1718, speaking of his extensive contributions to litera- ture, says ; " Tke large quarto and octavo vo- lumes, with other small pieces I have writ, exceed six hundred in number." When surveying this mass, at the age of fourscore, the poor old man puts us in mind of Littleton's compliment to Thomson :

" Not one immoral, one corrupted thought, One line which, dying, he could wish to blot."

For although mostly penned under the heat of political excitement, while badgered by the wits of the day, imprisoned for defending King William, persecuted for keeping the Romish Host out of the Church of England, &c., he complacently says : " My writings will do me honour in the sight of men and angels, when I am gone to si- lence, and returned to my original dust." Alas, for the visionary author ! Who now knows even the name of the voluminous Povey ? The British Museum contains but four of his pieces, only two or three of which were known to Watt. Povey published mysteriously : I have only met with one of his books bearing his name on the title, others bear internal evidence of their paternity ; some may be identified by the Povey arms ostentatjpusly displayed on the title ; but the greater number can only be recognised by the unmistakeable Povian vein in which they are writ. And in these several ways I cannot, with certainty, say that I have traced over ten of the six hundred books of the prolific Povey. J. O.

Mr. Macaulaij and the Editor of the Sidney Papers. Speaking, in a foot-note (vol. iv. p. 440.), of Sunderland's celebrated narrative, Mr. Macau- lay says : " His wife's letters are among the Sidney Papers, published by the late Serjeant Blencowe." Here are two mistakes : the editor of the Sidney Papers is still alive and well, to the joy of a wide circle of friends and Sussex neigh- bours ; and the popular 'squire of the Hook neither is a serjeant, nor ever was a member of any branch of the leg:il profession. D. ROCK.

TOPOGRAPHICAL NAMES.

" Over." "Over" is used as a prefix and ter- mination in names of Roman situations : as in Overton. Overley, Overbury, Condover. I have not been able to trace an Anglo-Saxon, Frisian, or Flemish root, indicating the meaning. It is