Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/337

 II. OCT. 22, '98.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

329

Dr. Busby, in his ' Concert-Koom Anecdotes,' 1825, states that it had seven strings, and that the seventh is tuned to G ; but in this year a patent was obtained in France for an improved harp guitar with seven strings, and he may allude to it, although he refers to Light as the inventor, dementi & Collard, Cheapside, published ' Instructions for Play- ing the Harp Guitar and Lute,' by F. Cha- bran. Where can this work be seen ?

K. B. ARMSTRONG.

BYARD'S LEAP : SILLY-BOY AND HIS SWEET- HEART. - - Will some correspondent of ' N. & Q.' be good enough to furnish me with the details of the legend connected with Byard's Leap, in Lincolnshire ? I also wish to hear of a perfect version of the Leicester- shire noodle-story about Silly-Boy and his sweetheart Amy. G. W.

MISTLETOE IN SCOTLAND. Is there such a thing of natural growth north of the Midland counties of England that can be vouched for 1 I am aware that apple trees have been inocu- lated with the juice of the berry with satis- factory results, but fancy that the genuine or spontaneous article is extinct in Scotland. W. M. GRAHAM EASTON.

EEV. HENRY PARKHURST, D.D. He was presented by Charles II. in 1662 to Stour- mouth Rectory, which he held until his death in 1669. He appears to have been non- resident. John Parkhurst, Master of Balliol College, Oxford, had a son Henry, who be- came a fellow of Magdalene College, 1631-48, and a canon of Southwell, 1662 until his death in 1669. Was he the same as the rector of Stourmouth? Any further information would be welcomed. ARTHUR HUSSEY.

Wingham, Kent.

KELTIC PERSONAL NAMES. Where can I find a list of Keltic personal names with their meanings? At the moment I require the meaning of the name Darerca.

ARTHUR MAYALL.

THE RIVER PARRET. What is the origin of this name ? Was it derived from a family ? Parrais, in Norman French, would seem to imply a morass or mud flat, which answers to the description of the locality of the Somerset- shire river. Were the various forms of Parrot, Parry, Perret (family names), associated with any locality in Normandy or elsewhere ?

T. W. C.

MONASTIC ORDERS. I shall be glad to know if any book is to be had which gives an account of the monastic orders in England, particularly the Cistercians. W. J. N.

THE LETTERS OF JUNIUS.

(8 th S. i. 512 ; ii. 57, 218, 393, 481 ; iii. 49, 111, 189, 331 ; 9 th S. ii. 155, 169.)

MY attention has only recently been called to correspondence in your columns under the above heading, and especially to two letters signed H. H. DRAKE (8 th S. iii. 189-and 9 th S. ii. 169).

I am the son of the late steward of Boconnoc to whom reference is made in those letters, and I follow my father in the office he held. I fear DR. DRAKE must have been drawing largely, if not entirely, on his own imagination when he tells the story of the " sealed packet containing the secret of Junius." I never heard my father speak of any such packet, neither has he mentioned it in his diary, which he most carefully kept. And although DR. DRAKE says, "To me this astute steward was most communicative," I cannot believe my father would have been guilty of such a breach of confidence as is implied in DR. DRAKE'S story. He would have been the very last man at all likely to speak of such a private business matter to another whom it did not concern. And even if we suppose the story were true, has not DR. DRAKE, in publishing it, betrayed the confidence of one whom he claims as " my late friend " ?

I cannot find words to express my indigna- tion at what DR. DRAKE has written in your columns, not only of my father, but also of the late Hon. George Fortescue. To accuse the latter a gentleman of the strictest integ- rity of having "for family reasons disre- garded the instructions for publicly revealing the name of Junius," is presumptuous indeed, and will not for one moment be accepted by any who knew him.

Again, I find in my father's copy of Junius, on the fly-leaf, the following extract, written by himself :

'"It seems to be placed almost beyond a doubt that the author of Junius's letters was Sir Philip Francis, who, at the time he wrote them, was a clerk in the War Office.' See Cornhill Magazine, June, 1871.-W. P."

Now is it at all probable that my father would have been content with such an entry if he was in possession of [a sealed packet which he knew contained the secret of Junius?

And then, too, the story of the Burnham Beeches cannot possibly be true. My father did not suggest to Mr. Fortescue (Lady Gren- ville's heir) the sale of that property. Such a thing was never contemplated until after Mr. Fortescue's death, and even then my father was strongly opposed to it.