Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/277

 9">S. IV. OCT. 28,'99.] 341 NOTES AND QUERIES. LONDON, SATCRDAr, OCTOBER K. 1899. CONTENTS. -No. 96. NOTES :— Irish Soldiers at the Boyne, 341— Wordsworthiana, 343 -Folk-lore, 343— "Genttlitial "=Heathenish— Misprint — "Characterie"— Relic of Old London — King Alfred's "Parliament," 344-Epitaph at Gawsworth— "Tiffin "— The Toledo -"Giuns" in the Fylde, 345 — " Loon "—Pitt Portraits, 316. QUERIES :-" A Highland Donald hastle " — Armorial — Hoos and Cromwell Families, 34*5 — Ben Jonson — Ailanthus — " Polder ": " Loophole "—Words of Song Wanted, 347 — 'The Telegraph' — Hordon — Rosmer— Henry Stephens — "Santez"— The Mint— " Roxburghe " Binding-Reid of Haille«,348— Dclormc : Delarge Judith Frore— " Purism " of Speech— London Churches— Kide from Paris to Fon- talnelileau, 349. REPLIES :— "That" Elliptical, 349— Granite Tramway, 350 —Sir Matthew Mennes— Maheu dp Redman, 351— Autho- rized Version Shagreen — Originof "Tips" — "Marsonin," 352 -Cvclopjrdia of British Domestic Archeology — Brick dated l"383—"Grisky"- Leprosy of Houses- Littl«Gid<ling Church -Cuthbert'Bede— Criticism of Raine's 'St. Cuth- bert '—Welsh Gipsy Story, 353 - HiilMng-pins as Charms— Masspnn— Pronunciation of " Water "— Les DMeniu, 354— " Smuak "=" to twig "—Miss Di Bertie— Margaret Blount —"By the haft"— Askell Family-Scottish Army— "Le mot de Cambronne," 355 — Cornish Armoury — Russian Language— Arms of Ardagh — "Bleachfteld horn," 356 — " Kggiste " — First Halfpenny Newspaper — Albert Gate — Miles Family — British Suzerainty In South America — "Hard," 357-" Pins," 35M. NOTES ON BOOKS :— Lady Dilke's • French Painters of the Eighteenth Century ' — Fergnssou's * Alexander Hume and his Intimates' — Munro's 'Prehistoric Scotland.' Nolicea to Correspondents. gate*. IRISH SOLDIERS AT THK BATTLE OF THE BOYNE. VOLTAIRE remarked that, notwithstand- ing the valour shown by the native Irish soldier in every age and in every quarter of Europe, he has never fought well at home. Field-Marshal Viscount Wolseley, K.P., <tc., in his ' Life of John Churchill, Duke of Marl- borough,' states:— " The poor impulsive Celtic peasant, as a, foot- soldier, fought for James. The Irish cavalry was officered by gentlemen, arid consequently fought much bettor than the foot. The captains of the Irish foot wore but butchers, tailors, and corner-boys of their own towns and villages, who, ignorant of arms, neglected the welfare of their men, and sought only to make money out of them. Subsequently these very foot soldiers, when led by Irish gentle- men in the French army, made their enemies, in- cluding the English, dread their fierce onslaught and reckless daring.' Will any reader of ' N. & Q.' kindly tell me where I, a kinsman of more than one officer in King James's Irish army, can obtain authentic information on the subject of the " captains of the Irish foot" having been " butchers, tailors, and corner-boys " t I may mention that I have on my shelves copies of 0 A!liin's 'King James's Irish Army last' and Lord Macaulay's ' Works.' But why sneer at tailors 1 The craft has given to the world more than one famous soldier. What of John Hawk- wood, who gave up his needle and thimble for a sword anu a shield ' His life was, indeed, a marvellous one. Knighted by Edward III. on the field of battle, he received the praise of the chivalric Black Prince on the bloody, but glorious day at Poitiers. And George Dorfling, he, too, had been a tailor. Failing to stick to his needle and skeins of thread, he gave up sewing button-holes for a knapsack and a soldier's life in the service of the Elector of Brandenburg. His rise was a rapid one, and he became a celebrity, so much so, in fact, that the great Count Thurn solicited his co- operation, and the ex-knight of the goose in epaulettes fought like a lion at Prague. Under the mighty Augustus he served as general - major in the Swedish army in 1612, and never once sheathed his sword during the Thirty Years' War. It is. indeed, a long journey from the shop-board of a tailor to a field-marshal's saddle and to be an ambassador to kings, but Dorfling accomplished the feat. He was ever gentle, this successful soldier, and never was there a man more brave. On one occasion in his old age his origin was sneeringly alluded to. "True," roared the old warrior, "true, I have been a tailor, and have cut cloth ; but hark ye, the sword at my side is the instru- ment with which I shall cut the ears of those who are audacious enough to make of that fact a ground for mockery or reproach." George Dorfling lived to enter his nine- tieth year. Long before his death he was accounted to be as rich as all the retired tailors and living field-marshals in Europe put together. When the Spanish Armada was threatening our shores, the tailors were among the first to enrol themselves as defenders of the country. William Craven, the son of a tailor, early in life achieved a reputation in arms under Gustavus Adolphus. Having fought and suffered in the royal cause, he was at the Restoration raised by Charles II. to the earldom of Craven. In 1670 he succeeded the Duke of Albcmarle as colonel of the Cold- stream Guards. He was the adviser and friend of the unfortunate Queen of Bohemia, and the world believed they were married ; at all events, she could not have united her- self to a kinder, a braver, or better man. As the pen is mightier than the sword, it may not, be out of place to say that in time to come, the names of the military men of this tury, with few exceptions, will be but