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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th S. V. MARCH 24, 1900.

upon four stone arches, built by Robert de Rhodes, Lord Prior of Tinmouth, in Henry the Sixth's days : It lifteth up a head of majesty, as high above the rest, as the cypress-tree above the low shrubs.

Ben Johnson.

My altitude high, my body four-square, My foot in the grave, my head in the air, My eyes in my sides, five tongues in my womb, Thirteen heads upon my body, four images alone ; I can direct you w r here the wind doth stay, And 1 tune God's precepts thrice a day. I am seen where I am riot, I am heard where I is not, Tell me now what I am, and see that you miss not."

It is with extreme diffidence, as I dare not usurp an editor's privileges, that I suggest the seventh line should run as follows : I am heard where I am not, I am seen where eye is not. The poem shows that it was, in every sense of the words, an obiter dictum, and perhaps the sack of his entertainer, to whom no doubt Ben Jonson presented the lines, was of excel- lent quality. Quien sabe? as the Spaniard says. JOHN T. CURRY.

I have said that the style of Jonson's prose is simpler and better than that of Shak- speare's prose. But I may distinguish. Com- monly there is simplicity in the best styles. Shakspeare is almost always simple when he is at his best, both in his prose and in his verse. His language is for the most part very tumid when he is at his worst. I acknow- ledge, however, that, when I make this remark, I ought to take into consideration the increasing mannerism of Shakspeare. This mannerism is quite, or nearly, absent from his earlier, and very conspicuous in his later plays. I suppose that mannerism, which is an exaggeration of style, increases in most authors who write much. It seems to me, however, that Shakspeare, even in his late plays, generally throws aside his mannerism, and resumes simplicity, when he is writing very well. Collins, addressing Simplicity, says :

Though taste, though genius bless

To some divine excess,

Faints the cold work till thou inspire the whole.

E. YARDLEY.

[The best styles admit of ornateness as well as simplicity, a point our correspondent hardly seems to cover, which cannot, however, be briefly dis- cussed with advantage.]

FRENCH SOCIETY IN THE LAST CENTURY (9 th S. v. 67). Duke and Duchess of Berwick. James Francis Edward (great-grandson of James II.), third duke, born 28 December, 1718, succeeded 2 June, 1738, died 1785 ; married 1738 Maria Teresa de Silva Alvarez de Toledo (born 6 January, 1716, died 5 May, 1790), daughter of Manuel Jose

de Silva by Maria Teresa Alvarez de Toledo, eleventh Duchess of Alba.

Madame d'Egmond the elder. Widow of Procope Charles Nicolas Augustin Leopold Pignatelli, Due de Bisaccia and Count of Egmond (he died 1 May, 1743). Married aefore 1720, She was Henrietta Julie de Durfort, daughter of Jacques Henri, Count le Duras, and sister of the Princesse de Lamballe. She was living in 1773.

Madame d'Egmond the younger was the widow of Gui Felix, Count of Egmond, son of the preceding. She was married 5 Feb- ruary, 1744, and was Amable Angelique de Villars (born 18 March, 1723), only daughter of Honore Armand, Due de Villars, by Amable Gabrielle de Noailles. She died 16 September, 1771.

Madame de Rochefort. This lady is diffi- cult to identify. She may be Madame de Jhabannes, whose husband was Count de Rochefort; if so, she was Marie Elizabeth de Taleyrand, daughter of Daniel Marie Anne de Taleyrand by Marie Elizabeth ^hamillart, who married, 20 February, 1759, Charles, Count of Chabannes, Count de Rochefort. She was nominated " dame pour accompagner Madame" March, 1759.

Neither Rochefort-Lu^ay (the family of Rochefort of 'The Three Musketeers' and of Rochefort of the Lanterne) nor Rochefort d'Ally seem to be of the standing in society of the other ladies mentioned by H. T. B.

Madame de St. Prie (or St. Priest) I cannot identify in 1765.

La Marechale d'Estrees. Wife of Louis Charles Cesar le Tellier, Marechal de France (lie assumed the name of D'Estrees in right of his mother after the male line of that family became extinct). He died 177L She was his second wife, Adelaide Felicite Bru- lart de Sillery, born 5 November, 1725, only daughter of Louis Philogene Brulart, Marquis de Sillery, by Charlotte Felicite le Tellier Louvois de Rebenac de Souvre. She was married 26 January, 1744, and was living 1771.

Madame de Brionne was the third wife of Charles Louis de Lorraine (branch of Guise), Count de Brionne. She was Louise Julie Constance de Rohan, born 8 March, 1734 ; canoness of Remiremont ; daughter of Charles de Rohan, Prince of Montauban, by Eleonore Eugenie de Bethizy de Mezieres, sister of the Princesse de Ligne, She was married 3 Octo- ber, 1748, and was living in 1770.

Princesse de Ligne was the widow of Claud Lamoral Hiacinthe, Prince de Ligne (he died 30 August, 1755). She was Henrietta Eugenie de Bethizy, de Mezieres (born 27 January,