Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/492

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. XL JUNE 20, im

niece of the Duke of Buckingham. She married Robert Douglas, Lord Dalkeith, who, on the death of his father in 1648, became eighth Earl of Morton. Lady Dalkeith was governess to the Princess Henrietta, who, on her birth at Exeter on 16 June, 1644, was committed to her care. Her romantic rescue of her royal charge, in the summer of 1646, when, under the disguise of a beggar, "she dressed the child in rags, and walked with it [from Oatlands] to Dover, crossed the Straits in safety, and delivered her to her mother," is matter of history. Fuller, in 1645, dedicated to Lady Dalkeith his * Good Thoughts in Bad Times.' The Earl of Morton died in 1649, and his wife in 1654. "Anne, Countess of Morton," has had ascribed to her the com- pilation of a small book of devotions, first published in 1665 by " M. G., a lady of her acquaintance, to whom she had recommended it." Between 1665 and 1689 it went through no fewer than fourteen editions. This quaint, if not ludicrous expression occurs in it, " O Lord, wilt thou humble thyself to hunt after a neaT' She may, however, have been familiar with the saying of St. Augustine that " God disposes of gnats and fleas."

Mrs. Kirk. Granger states that a "Mrs [Anne] Kirk was one of the dressers to queen Henrietta Maria. She stood for this place in competition with Mrs. Neville, to whom she was preferred " (* Biog. Hist, of Eng.,' 1775, vol. ii. p. 391). Bishop King has ' An Elegy vpon Mrs. Kirk, unfortunately drowned in Thames ' (' Poems,' 1843, pp. 103-205). This lady was no doubt sufficiently well known at the time to merit such a tribute. Bishop King's poems were first published in 1657.

Mrs. Howard. Not identified ; but the author of * The Progress ' devotes a verse to a lady of this name :

Howard dared not a Servant own ; Her love she keeps from being known : Although she thinks the world too blind, Yet always cat will after kind.

Mrs. Beaumont. Probably a member of the family of Beaumont of Coleorton, in Leicestershire. The mother of the Duke of Buckingham, according to Sir Henry Wotton, was " daughter of Anthony Beaumont, of Coleorton, Esquire."

Mrs. Seamer. Perhaps an old form of spelling Seymour. I cannot identify this lady ; but one of the latter name has a place in ' The Progress':

Seymour, they say, did love too much, And did the given saddle grutch ; 'Twas her own fault : had she been wise, Both saddle and horse had been her prize.

My Lady Ann Feilding. Sister to "my

Lady Marquess," and second daughter of the first Earl of Denbigh. She married Baptist Noel, third Viscount Campden, but there was no issue of the marriage. She died on 24 March, 1636. This peerage is now extinct. The Mother of the Maydes. Most likely Bridget, Lady Sanderson, daughter of Sir Edward Tyrrell, Knt., and wife of Sir William Sanderson, Gentleman of the Privy Chamber of Charles II. She was mother of the maids of honour to both Henrietta Maria and Catherine of Braganza. She was born in 1592, and died on 17 January, 1681. When ' The Shepheard's Paradise ' was performed assuming 1633 to have been the date of its first representation she would be forty-one years of age, sufficiently old to fill the posi- tion assigned to her at Court. Her name was evidently unknown to the author of 'The Progress':

The Mother o' th' Maids almost forgot : Why? she 's obscure, I know her not: She came to court, 'cause she was poor ; Yet got her living easily before.

It must be borne in mind that the invari- able practice at this period was to give to all unmarried ladies, not coming within peerage rank, the courtesy title of "Mrs." A. S.

LATIN DIMINUTIVES. In 1896 there was a correspondence in ' N. & Q.' on the ' Force of Diminutives in Silver Latinity ' (see 8 th S. ix. 487 ; x. 123, 319, 439). Notwithstanding the heading, the discussion was not confined to Latin of the Silver Age.

The following epitaph is an example of the use of diminutives in Late Latin. I take it from p. 304 of ' Monuments Sepulcralia, et In- scriptiones Publicse Privatseque Ducatus Bra- bantise,' collected by Franciscus Sweertius (Sweerts), Antuerpise, 1613. My copy has lost its title-page, but probably p. 304 is correct as a reference.

In obitum GVILLELMI VAN GRAMB,* Genere, Forma, ^Etate nobilis, egregii, Pueruli.

GVILLELMVLVS pulohellulus, lunone pulchra pulchrior, Genis Diones mollior, Collumbilique plumula

Nunc occidit,

dolor ! dolor !

Heu ! dulcior puellulus Qukm mel sit hyble aut saccarum, Nitore vincens candidos, Candore vincens cygnulos.

Sic occidit ?

dolor ! dolor !

Grame or Gramp.
 * The last letter is blurred. The name may be