Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/303

 =

S. I. APRIL 9, '98.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

295

urrent at the time, they supplied an amusinj [lustration of obtuseness of perception dull mpervious insensibility to humorous allu ion in the aristocratic person of a presum .bly well-educated member of good society lady, in her neighbouring drawing-room he windows of which commanded a view o Ubert Gate, referring to the edifices in ques ion as " Gibraltar " and " Malta," expressec ler annoyance that they should remain sc ong unlet, inasmuch as, while unoccupied ,hey presented an eyesore. " Ya - as, Irawled an officer in the Guards to whom the lostess had addressed herself, " but why are they called ' Gibraltar ' and ' Malta '] " "Oh, was the gay reply, " because, I suppose, thej vill never be taken." "Oh, but' queriec ,he Guardsman, " but why why shouldn' hey be taken 1 If the landlord only asks a easonable rent and but what has that to io with Gibraltar and Malta 1 " NEMO. Middle Temple.

I always understood that the two houses at Albert Gate were called Gibraltar, or Gibraltar and Malta, because they "were never taken " or " could not be taken." The hapel adjoining, built in 1789, was rebuill r restored in 1861. It is noted as standing >etween two public-houses.

G. F. BLANDFORD.

I remember the reason given at the time

for the two houses at Albert Gate being called

the " Two Gibraltars " was because they

would never be taken. SHERBORNE.

A PSEUDO - SHAKSPEARE RELIC (9 th S. i. 226). The late W. J. Bernhard Smith was for many years a contributor to ' N. <fe Q.,' and his contributions were most interesting. He was not a captain, but his father, who was in the navy, had that title. Mr. Bernhard Smith showed me some hair that was said to be the hair of Shakspeare. I suppose that it was that which is mentioned in the cata- logue. It appeared to me to be red and coarse.

There is another error in the descrip- tion of Mr. Bernhard Smith. His house was in Eaton Place, not in Eaton Square.

E. YARDLEY.

ROBESPIERRE AND CURRAN (9 th S. i. 183). There is certainly a tradition that the (de) Robespierres were of Irish descent, the name j having been originally Rosper, Roper, or Hooper, into which family Margaret, Sir Thomas More's heroic daughter, married. MR. HOPE may possibly find this matter referred to in one of the following books : Jl. d'Hericault's * La Revolution de Ther-

midor,' Mr. Morse Stephens's great work on the French Revolution, Madame de Stael's 4 Considerations sur la R. F.,' and Barbaroux's 4 Memoires.'

Mr. T. P. O'Connor's remarks on Lord Rosebery's portrait of him who possessed, in Carlyle's phrase, " a small soul, transparent, wholesome- looking as small ale," will apply equally well to several other representations of Robespierre, viz., to the bronze medal by David d'Angers ; to the drawing, probably by Boze, in the Musee de Versailles ; to the death-mask (all of which are reproduced in M. Armand Dayot's admirable album of pic- tures, &c., illustrative of the French Revolu- tion) ; as well as to the wax mask taken after death by Madame Tussaud.

A. R. BAYLEY.

YETH- HOUNDS (9 th S. i. 89). In a small volume entitled ' Devonshire and other Original Poems, with some Account of Ancient Customs, Superstitions, and Tradi- tions,' by Elias Tozer, published at Exeter, 1873, there is in the section devoted to customs, &c., a note on yeth- hounds. As the note is short it will perhaps best serve the purpose of J. P. if transcribed in its entirety :

" Faith in supernatural hunting, with headless hounds and horses, at the ' witching hour of night,' was common in Devonshire at one time, and still lingers in the minds of ancient grandams in obscure localities. The spectral animals were called wisht ' and ' yeth ' hounds. Our Devonshire poet, Mr. Capern, has a poem on this subject, in a note to which he says that he knew an old matron who was a firm believer in the existence of the moor- Send and his pack, and who also was convinced that every unbaptized infant became the prey of the 'yeth hunter. Following are verses from the poem :

Oh for a wild and starless night,

And a curtain o'er the white moon's face, For the moor-fiend hunts an infant sprite At cockcrow over Parkham chase.

Hark to the cracking of the whip !

A merry band are we, I ween ; List to the ' yeth ' hound's yip ! yip ! yip !

Ha, ha ! 'tis thus we ride unseen."

C. P. HALE.

Halliwell, in his 'Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words,' and Thomas Wright, n his ' Dictionary of Obsolete English,' state hat in Devonshire they are believed to be

'dogs without heads, the spirits of unbaptized hildren, which ramble among the woods at night, making wailing noises."

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

For information respecting this spectral )ack see any of the following : Henderson's