Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/179

 fl' k S. I. FEB. 26, '98. J

NOTES AND QUERIES.

171

improper etymolpgically, arising from past carelessness or ignorance, has eclipsed to some, but not to all (as the living example of Her Majesty's use of the word, together with that of sundry learned men, shows), its original and strictly correct use.

In short, " ancestor " by derivation means a mere preceder ; but, by subsequent appli- cation, it now also signifies a progenitor. The word may be used in either sense, or in both at once. C.

GEORGE COOKE (8 th S. xii. 505). In the appendix (containing some short notes re- lating to Harefield) to that delightful little book by J. Blackstone, ' Fasciculus Plantarum circa Harefield' (London, MDCCXXXVII.) p. 116, is the following :

" As to Houses of Note there are only Four, viz., Moor-Hall, which (with its appurtenances) is a Manor distinct from Harefield. Breakspears, the Seat of the ancient Family of Ashby. Harefield Place, the Seat .of the Newdigates, Lords of this Manor; and Rise, the Seat of Sir George Cooke, Knt. The three first are ancient, the last of modern Date, but greatly improved by the present

Again, with the list of plants growing wild,

" Juncellus Omnium Minimus Chamseshsenos

By the side of the Canal in Sir George Cooke's Garden." P. 47.

HARRY SIRR.

For his parentage see Dr. Howard's Mis- cellanea Oenealogica et Heraldica, Second Series, vol. iv. p. 152, where there is a repro- duction of his father's book-plate; and at p. 136 of the same volume one of the book- plate of his uncle. T. K

FRENCH PEERAGE (8 th S. xii. 489; 9 th S. i. 15). I do not think the DUKE DE MORO requires a book similar to our British peerages, and I doubt whether such a work is to be found for France. The order of peers in that country was very different from our peerage. Probably what your correspondent wants is simply a nobiliaire, or book treating of the noblesse as a whole. Of these a great number are in existence, large and small, old and new. Of small and concise works perhaps the best is the ' Armorial General de France,' by Edouard de Barthe'lemy, Paris, 1867. The magnum opus on the subject is the * Armorial General,' in ten folio volumes, produced in the last century by the d'Hozier family, hereditary Juges d'Armes of France.

JOHN HOBSON MATTHEWS.

Town Hall, Cardiff.

If the DUKE DE MORO will go to the British Museum Keading-Ptoom, turn to the left, and follow the wall-cases round to nearly the end

on that side, he will find on the lowest (E) shelves a series of large books in French. They contain a very splendid account of the royal and noble houses of France and their scions abroad, from the earliest times to about the eighteenth century. I forget the title of these books. C. L. D.

INDIAN AND FRENCH SILKS (8 th S. xii. 488). The following extract from * Ireland Sixty Years Ago,' 1849, answers MR. W. ROBERTS'S query, " Where was the Earl of Meath's liberty?"-

" The liberties of Dublin consist of an elevated tract on the western side of the city, so called from certain privileges and immunities conferred upon it. It contained formerly a population of forty thousand souls, who had obtained a high degree of opulence by the establishment of the silk and woollen manu- facture among them. After the revocation of the edict of Nantz, a number of industrious artizans of the reformed faith, driven from their own country, had taken refuge in this district, and brought the manufacture of silk and woollens to a high state of perfection. About seventy years ago they had three thousand four hundred looms in active employment, and in 1791 there were twelve hundred silk looms alone. This prosperity was liable to great fluctua- tions. Two years after, when war was declared with France, and the raw material was difficult to be procured, the poor artizans experienced great distress ; but the Breaking out of the insurrection in '98, in which many of them were engaged, entirely ruined them, so that at the time of the Union they were reduced to utter beggary." Pp. 49, 50.

W. A. HENDERSON.

The following may be the "Earl of Meath's liberty," mentioned by MR. ROBERTS. Sir William Brabazon, on 31 March, 1545, had a grant of the site and circuit of the monastery of Thomas Court, near Dublin, the church, churchyard, stable, malt-mill, wood-mill, &c., belonging to the same ; one carucate of land called Donower, &c., all the tenths of the premises, and all jurisdictions, liberties, &c., spiritual and tem- poral, &c. This grant was confirmed by patent, 12 March, 1609, to Sir Edward, his son. In 1579 the city of Dublin claimed it to be within the jurisdiction and liberty of the city, and subject to scotte and lotte with the citizens ; but they lost their case. See Archdall's Lodge's ' Peerage of Ireland,' vol. i. p. 267. JOHN RADCLIFFE.

"DIFFERENT": "THAN" (9 th S. i. 3). MR. ADAMS emboldens me to express two cautions which are sometimes needed in balancing our statement of authorities :

1. Bad grammar and clumsy writing may be used by standard authors, otherwise correct and pure, without becoming thereby good and elegant.