Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/97

 9 th S. II. JULY 30, '98.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

89

the other day. Is it common ? It certainly is not true^of the second animal named, at any rate. C. C. B.

Epwortb.

SOLEBY, co. LEICESTER. Robert May dedi cates the fifth edition of his 'Accomplisht Cook ' (London, 1685, 8vo.) from here. I can find no such place in that county. S.

LABRUSCA, SPANISH POET. Who was Don Diaz Labrusca ? What and when did he, write ; and did he leave an autobiography ?

W.

SIR THOMAS MUNRO, 1761-1827. Was this famous Governor of Madras descended from any branch of "the Munro of Fowlis ' family ? Gleig, in the ' Life,' says :

" He was second son of Mr. Alexander Munro, a respectable merchant, trading chiefly with Virginia, by Margaret Stark, the sister of Dr. William Stark, an anatomist of no meaif reputation in his day."

A. R. BAYLEY.

St. Margaret's, Malvern.

JOHN HITCHCOCK. John Hitchcock, of Preshott, co. Wilts, had a younger brother, William Hitchcock, Merchant Tailor, of Lon- don, whose will is dated 1654 and was proved 1661. He married Hester, daughter of Anthony Luther, of Myles, co. Essex, and had, inter alios, William and Edward.

Can any reader of ' N". <fc Q.' kindly say if these sons left issue, or if either of them became connected in marriage with any member of the same family as Sir Robert Booth, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Ireland, who died in 1679-80?

WM. JACKSON PIGOTT.

Dundrum, co. Down.

CANN OFFICE-. (See 6 th S. vi. 168, 293.) What is the derivation of this name, which, as the references show, was formerly in use at Bath and Shrewsbury, and is still borne by the well-known inn on the road between Welshpool and Machynlleth ? Cancellaria and cantred were suggested in 1882. Perhaps more is known now. C. S. WARD.

Wootton St. Lawrence, Basingstoke.

CHINTZ GOWNS. Why was it illegal for ladies to wear chintz gowns last century, if they liked to wear them ? How long did the embargo last ? (See 'N. & Q.,' 1 st S. ix. 397.) JONATHAN BOUCHIER.

MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. Will some reader of 'N. & Q.' kindly refer me to a correspondence in an evening paper some few years since upon marriage customs, particularly upon those relating to the county of Norfolk ?

W. J. GADSDEN.

HOUSES WITHOUT STAIRCASES

(9 th S. i. 166, 210, 356, 418.) THE following is a description of Balzac's celebrated house Jardies at Ville d'Avray, near Paris, by Balzac's friend Leon Gozlan : " The two residences where he has left the keenest memories of his habits are the cottage at Passy, in the Rue Basse, and the Jardies, a small insigni- ficant property which lie had purchased, I hardly know when, and which cost him more in the end than he paid for it originally.

" There is no Indian or Chinese poem containing so many verses as this estate of Jardies occasioned annoyances to Balzac. And it may be said of it that although he lived, thought, and worked there for many years, he never really inhabited it. He camped out, rather than resided there.

"Could this villa, with its green shutters, where not a ghost of furniture ever entered and where nothing like a curtain was ever hung up, be con- sidered a real residence ? The actual mansion of Jardies was one which already existed in the same locality, some twenty or thirty paces from his own, a house in which he might have lived, where for some prudential reasons he had deposited some of his magnificent furniture from the Rue des Batailles and his extensive library. The Countess de V and her family occupied this pavilion, which was entirely valueless from an architectural point of view. Balzac's famous pavilion at Jardies was erected just in front of this insignificant building. Although the locality is at this point sufficiently rural, it is beset with so many drawbacks, it is surprising Balzac should have selected it. It does not lean towards, but falls over on to the high road between Sevres and Ville d'Avray.

"It would, 1 think, be difficult for a tree of any size to take root on such a shelving soil. Scene- painters may, if they think fit, consider it ex- tremely original ; but it is furiously opposed to the pleasure of walking. Landscape gardeners, under the fanciful supervision of Balzac, occupied several months in endeavouring to keep up, by means of art and little stones, these successive terraces, ever ready to slip down one upon another upon the least storm of rain. I have seen them almost always at work keeping up these hanging gardens, which were renewed like those of Semiramis. They were their

despair

"A few lines in the 'Memoires de Saint-Simon ' decided Balzac, when in search of a rural retreat, n favour of Jardies. When Louis XIV. lived at Versailles the courtiers pitched their tents as they iked round about Saint-Cloud, Meudon, Luciennes, Sevres, Ville d'Avray, and other villages near to or adjacent to Versailles. Les Jardies rose put of its yellow vertical mud. Then came the evil day for ,he monarchy, and Les Jardies disappeared. Balzac ,vas desirous of restoring a portion of this past, which was perhaps imaginary imaginary at least as regards topography. For did Les Jardies ever really exist? I have heard considerable doubt expressed on this point. Sevres and Ville d'Avray lave always declined to recognize Balzac's Jardies ; ,hey called it M. de Balzac's vineyard. However hat may be, Balzac had scarcely finished the en- losing walls and fixed the principal entrance, with