Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/263

 9<*s. XL MARCH 28 ; 1903.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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tion from the English. The pretence that the verses have been translated from a foreign language is a familiar one in literature a notable example being Mrs. Browning's 'Sonnets from the Portuguese,' the originals of which were at one time sought for in vain. The expression " jeunes filles, pleurez ! vous n'avez plus de pere," is almost identical with a couplet by Jean Paul :

Dieu est niort ! le ciel est vide.

Pleurez ! enfants, vous n'avez plus de pere,

which forms the epigraph to Gerard de Nerval'a ' Le Christ aux Oliviers,' and this indication may perhaps furnish a clue to the authorship of the stanzas in question if the research is worth pursuit. JOHN HEBB.

THE LAST OF THE PEE- VICTORIAN M.P.s (9 th S. ix. 226, 333, 378). As some consider- able interest was roused concerning this query at the first reference, I beg to send a further reply, as it may possibly be the last word upon the subject. The Times of Tues- day, 3 March, states as follows :

" A Reuter telegram from Pistoja, dated 2 March, says Mr. John Temple Leader died on Sunday night at his residence in Florence, at the advanced age of ninety- three. Mr. Leader was M.P. for Westminster from 1837 to 1847, having previously sat for Bridgwater. He was a man of great wealth and owned the castle of Vincigliata, which he had magnificently fitted up in mediaeval style. It was visited by Queen Victoria, and by many lovers of art. The late Mr. Gladstone was his guest when he visited Florence. The charities of that city bene- fited largely by Mr. Leader's liberality."

The paragraph goes on to say that a corre- spondent writes :

"The ultimate survivor of a distinguished trio who sat iu the House of Commons in the Reform Parliament of 1832, Mr. John Temple Leader sur- vived his friends and contemporaries Mr. W. E. Gladstone and Mr. C. P. Villiers, some time Father of the House, and has for many years resided, in the enjoyment of a green and vigorous old age, in the Piazza di Petto, Florence. In addition to Mr. Gladstone and Mr. C. P. Villiers, Mr. Leader was an intimate friend of his contemporaries Sir William Moles worth, Lord Brougham, Sir John Trelawny well known in the House of Commons in connexion with the Bill for the abolition of church rates and his cousin Edward J. Trelawny, well known in Cornish circles as Greek Trelawny, the friend of Byron and Shelley, and author of 'The Adventures of a Younger Son,' and other distinguished men of the time, who were in the habit of meeting and dis- cussing men and manners at Mr. Leader's hospitable mansion on Putney Hill. A scholar, a man of letters, a politician, and a political critic of no mean order, Mr. Leader was as good a specimen as the country can produce of an English gentleman in the best sense of the word. The owner of large estates in England, France, and Italy, and a man of large and liberal views, he was always ready to discharge the duties which, in his opinion, were attached to wealth apd station. Always ready to

lend a helping hand, in the hour of need, to high or low, peasant or noble, he will be greatly missed in the three countries where he lived his life ; and those who were privileged to know him intimately know best the loss which is sustained by his con- temporaries in the death of John Temple Leader."

It may also be worth noting that the Daily Telegraph of 4 March has an article, "per- sonal and political," which gives a thorough resume of this gentleman's career ; and the Daily Graphic has a short leaderette devoted to him and speaking of his book, published only a few years ago, a ' Monograph on Robert Dudley, generally supposed to be the Illegiti- mate Son of Queen Elizabeth's Favourite the Earl of Leicester, who entered the Service of the Duke of Tuscany, and founded an Italian Family of some Note.' This book is not un- justly said to be "a very remarkable contri- bution to the history of the Elizabethan period." We can but regret that a man of such a remarkable personality should have been lost to the service of this country for so many years. W. E. HARLAND OXLEY.

C2, The Almshouses, Rochester Row, S.W. [See also ante, p. 206.]

FRENCH PHRASE (9 th S. xi. 128). Quant a 1'origine de la phrase, on dit que le proverbe de toilette " Pour plaire il faut savoir souffrir '' (dont la phrase citee pour moi n'est qu'une variante) n'est qu'une parodie d'un mot attri- bue a Agnes Sorel. Je ne fais que le citer, sans toutefois en garantir 1'authenticite :

"Avant Charles VII., il n'y avait que leg couronnes de nos rois qui fussentorne"esdediamans. Agnes Sorel en eut un collier, et elle le nomma un carcan, parce que les pierres. qui en etaient brutes et mal monte"es, I'incoramodaiept. Cependant, le roi lui ayant temoigue 1 du plaisir a 1'en voir pare'e, elle continua de le porter, disant que pour plaire a ce qu'on aime, il fallait savoir soitffrir.

Un proverbe du xiii e siecle, savoir "Qui veut vaincre il doit souffrir," exprime une idee pareille, car de "etre beau, belle," "plaire a ce qu'on aime," il n'y a que quelques pas bien faciles a f ranchir.

EDWARD LATHAM.

61, Friends' Road, East Croydon.

The current rendering is " II faut souffrir pour etre belle." I have known it since the seventies when at school. I think it is an allusion to a fashionable lady trying to get into shoes several sizes too small for her feet ! JOHN A. KANDOLPH.

LACONIC PRAYER (9 th xi. 126'). Was it Sir Jacob Astley or Lord Lindsey who uttered the famous prayer before the battle of Edge Hill, 23 October, 1642? I remember the words as follows: 4k O Lord, Thou knowest how busy I shall be this day. If I forget