Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/486

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[9 th S. I. JUNE 11, '98.

is known in Yorkshire as " riding the stang." The following lines from ' Punishments in the Olden Time ' may prove of interest : Here we come with a ran, dan, dang. It 's not for you, nor for me, we ride this stang, But for Gooseberry Bob, whose wife he did bang. He banged her, he banged her, he banged her

indeed,

He banged her, poor creature, before she stood need. He took up neither tipstaff nor stower, But with his fist he knocked her backwards ower. He kicked her, he punched her, till he made her

And to 'finish all he gave her a black eye.

Now, all good people that live in this row,

We would have you take warning, for this is our

law :

If any of you your wives do bang, We 're sure, we 're sure to ride you the stang.

T. SEYMOUE. 9, Newton Road, Oxford.

SAN LANFRANCO (9 th S. i. 364, 435). MR. PEACOCK has misread my note, which endea- vours to show that Murray's ' Handbook ' calls the church near Pa via by the name of the Beato Lanfranco, though it seems to be known locally as that of San Lanfranco. Dean Hook does not actually assert that Arch- bishop Lanfranc was canonized, though he seems to imply as much when he says of Pavia, " Here his name is still in honour, a church in the vicinity of the town being dedi- cated to San Lanfranco." What is known of the prelate who is really commemorated there? Was he designedly named after the great Archbishop of Canterbury? Perhaps MR. PEACOCK may be able to supply information.

ST. SWITHIN.

PUDDLE DOCK (9 th S. i. 329). This is a well-known London site, near Blackfriars Bridge. Described as a wharf by Stow, it appears as a dock in ' Hudibras.' Any inter- ment in Bedfordshire might represent a former occupant thereof. Shakspere had some leasehold property "abutting upon a street leading down to Puddle - Wharfe," adjoining St. Andrews by the Wardrobe.

A. xl.

FRENCH PEERAGE (8 th S.xii. 489 ; 9 th S. i. 15, 171). Probably the best French peerage is that by Viton de Saint-Allais, the first edition of which was published in Paris, in twenty- one volumes, octavo, 1814-43. It was repub- lished by Bachelin-Deflorenne, twenty volumes in forty parts, Paris, 1872-5. Another very valuable work on this subject is the ' Histoire Genealogique et Heraldique des Pairs de France,' by Courcelles, in twelve volumes, quarto, Paris, 1822-33.

-*vdBj GASTON DE BERNE VAL.

Philadelphia.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

The Cheverels of Cheverel Manor. By Lady Newdi-

gate-Newdegate. (Longmans & Co.) EMBOLDENED oy the success of her ' Gossip from a Muniment Room' a work we have not yet seen, but hope to see Lady Newdegate has drawn again upon family documents, and has supplied us with a series of interesting letters, constituting something like a journal, which passed between Sir Roger New- digate, Bart., of Harefield and Arbury, 1719-1806, and his second wife Hester, daughter of Edward Mundy, of Shipley, co. Derby. These were princi- pally written by the lady, who, however, at times was assisted by her sister and other members of her family. The Cheverels of Cheverel Manor are non- existent. Research in the ponderous and authori- tative tomes of Burke will fail to reveal their exist- ence. Students of George Eliot will, however, remember the name Cheverel Manor as that of the scene of ' Mr. GilfiTs Love Story,' the second story in ' Scenes of Clerical Life.' Cheverel Manor stands for Arbury Priory. The first wife of Robert Evans, the father of George Eliot, whose mother was, however, a second wife, had been a member of the household at Arbury. It may please A. J. M. and those in- terested in memorials to or of devoted servants (see 6 th S. x. and xi. passim) to learn that there is an epitaph in Astley Church "In Memory of Harriet, wife of Rob* Evans, for many years the Friend and Servant of the Family of Arbury. Ob* 26 Dec., 1809. Mi. 39." George Eliot was born at the South Farm, within the precincts of the park at Arbury, and doubtless learned there the story which she based to a great extent upon incidents con- nected with the Newdigate family, which Lady Newdegate is at the pains from family documents to elucidate. Caterina, the heroine, is Sally Shilton, otherwise the Syren, adopted and tenderly cared for by Sir Roger and Lady Newdigate, otherwise Sir Christopher and Lady Cheverel. Captain Wybrow has some points of resemblance with Charles Parker, the destined heir of Sir Roger. George Eliot has departed far from the original story, with which she had but a slight acquaintance, obtained presumably from the housekeeper's room. The worlc now pub- lished makes strong demands upon the considera- tion of those interested in George Eliot, and should henceforward take its place in any future biblio- graphy of that writer. It has other claims. It throws a pleasant light upon English country life at the close of last century, and brings before us many interesting individualities. Hester Mundy, subse- quently Lady Newdigate, is a delightful per- sonage. We do not love her as we love Dorothy Osborne (whom, indeed, do we love to that extent?), but we think well of her, and are pleased with her doings. The same may be said of Nelly Mundy arid other people constituting her environment. Of the Syren we hear little, and we fail quite to understand her ; but we are pleasantly stimulated by Charles Parker, the Barwells, the Burtons, and others of her associates, and like the descriptions of life at Burton, Bognor, Brighthelm- stone, and elsewhere, and the account of presenta- tions at Court. We are amused, moreover, to see how few, even in those stirring times, are allusions to politics. We have an account (p. 99) of a sort of anticipatory Jack the Ripper. Some light is thrown upon the proceedings 01 Romney with his sitters. We are delighted to find how eager are ladies of