Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/350

 342

NOTES AHD QUERIES. [** S. N 17., APRIL 26. '56.

without proclamation of banns at all, by the pro- duction of a certificate from his commanding officer that he is not aware of any impediment to his marriage. The reason is that a soldier is liable to be called away at any time without pre- vious notice, and therefore cannot be refused marriage under any circumstances if he has the consent of his superior officer. There is a well- known story of the late General Gordon, of Fyvie, which will illustrate the Scotch practice satisfac- torily. The general having remained unmarried till pretty far advanced in life, and having had a son in his youth who became a great favourite, and the mother being still alive, he one day sent for the parish minister, and bringing forward the mother of his son, who was now both old and blind, ordered the clergyman to marry them on the spot. The clergyman at first refused ; but upon the general reminding him that he was in his Majesty's service, and thus liable to be called away at a moment's notice, the marriage took place, by which means the son was legitimised, and the fine estate of Fyvie, with its magnificent castle, which was strictly entailed, was kept in the family. B. B.

Aberdeen.

Bacon's "Reflections on Death" (2 nd S. i. 173.) As no one has answered Ma. SINGER'S Query, I beg to refer him to Mr. Craik's work on Lord Bacon and his Writings, in Knight's Shilling Series. Mr. Craik says, " the only authority for attributing it [the essay referred to] to Bacon is that of the Remains (1648), in which volume it first appeared. It is a composition of considerable beauty, but not in his manner." (Vol. i. p. 87.) And in the preceding page Mr. Craik says, " the collection called The Remains is of no authority." I think every one familiar with Lord Bacon's writings will concur in the remark that the piece referred to is not in his style. J. W. PHILLIPS.

Haverfordwest.

William Kennedy (2 nd S. i. 113.) Mr. William Kennedy, of whom your correspondent PATRICIUS inquires, was a student in Belfast College about the year 1819. He belonged to Aughnacloy, in the county of Tyrone. His father, if I rightly recollect, was a dissenting clergyman at that place. Young Kennedy, it was stated, was de- signed for the same profession : at least, he re- ceived his education in an institution, in which, at that time, and for many years afterwards (indeed, till the opening of the Queen's Colleges), nearly all the dissenting clergy in Ireland were prepared for the ministry. When there, he was distin- guished for great ability ; but I can tell nothing farther regarding him of my own knowledge. The statements current in the place of his early education respecting his subsequent career, and

which, there is every reason to think, are in the main correct, were, that he became attached to the newspaper press in Paisley ; afterwards some- where in England, and, having published several works which your correspondents notice, that he finally received the appointment of secretary (sucli was the rumour) to the late Earl of Durham, and accompanied that nobleman to Canada in that capacity. It was from this appointment his two volumes on Texas shortly after resulted. One of your correspondents states, though rather hesita- tingly, that Mr. Kennedy is dead. I would like to know if such be the fact. If unfortunately true, his work on Texas was probably his last ; his first was one published a great many years ago, and of which probably none of your corre- spondents have heard. It was called My Early Days, and though adapted for juveniles, and, as well as I remember, somewhat weak, was a very pleasing and popular little volume, and inculcated a most excellent moral. G. B.

Liverpool.

Heaven in the sense of Canopy (2 nd S. i. 133. 201.) Talking of the ceiling of Canterbury ca- thedral before it was burned down, A.D. 1174, Gervaise the monk says :

" Coelum inferius egrie depictum, superius vero tabula plumbeffl ignem interius accensum celaverunt." Hist. Anglican. Script, ed. Twysden, ii. 1289.

Why it should be unfitting to call the covering of a throne by the same word " heaven," as the covering of a building is unintelligible ; so natural is the thought, that the smallest room has its ceiling, its ccelum, its heaven, to English under- standings. CEPHAS.

School-boy Rhymes (1 st S. xi. 113.) The fol- lowing lines, which are quite new to me, I picked up recently from a respectable rat-catcher in the west of Fife :

" God made man,

Man made money ; God made bees,

Bees made honey ; God made the deil,

The deil made sin ; God made a muckle hole And pat the deil in ! "

A. R. X. Paisley.

Freer Family (2 nd S. i. 261.) I regret I can- not furnish ME. FRERE with any particulars of the Perthshire family of Freer. The earliest person of the name that I have met with was George Freer, who was minister of the parish of Lethemly. in 1697. It was his son, I believe, who acquired the large estate of Innernethy, which passed by purchase into the family of Moncrieffe. The Perthshire Freers bore " Argent, a saltire azure, in chief a mullet, and in base a martlet ;