Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/326

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. vn. APRIL 20, 1901.

in this miscellany that the editor took pains with it, and did not merely reproduce what a predecessor in his craft had given. ' The Spirit of the Age,' published in 1825, \vas twenty years older than Disraeli's 'Sybil,' which appeared in 1845. THOMAS BAYNE.

"Sibyl" is undoubtedly right. But the other, being an old family name, was in use long before the appearance of the novel. Sybilla was queen of Jerusalem when it was taken by Saladin, A,D. 1187. See Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,' chap. lix. E. YARDLEY.

UGO FOSCOLO IN LONDON (9 th S. vi. 326 ; vii. 150). The dates of Ugo Foscolo's birth and death have been variously stated. Faulkner, in the ' History of Brentford and Chiswick ' (p. 339), gives a copy of his epitaph in Chiswick churchyard, which is said to be incorrect (4 th S. viii. 255).

The epitaph in Faulkner's ' History ' is as follows :

Ugo Foscolo

Obiit xiv die Septembris, A.D. 1827.

and the tomb is described as being a large flat stone on the south side of the church- yard, with a coat of arms. There is a draw- ing of the tomb in Fagan's ' Life of Antonio Panizzi,' but the tomb is a table tomb, with a coat of arms at one end. The ' Encyclopedia Britannica ' says Foscolo was born 26 January, 1778, and died 10 October, 1827 ; and the 'Nouvelle Biographic Generate' gives the same date for his death, but is silent as to the date of his birth. Trovanelli, the latest authority on the subject, says that Foscolo died 10 September, 1827, and that he was born 26 January, 1779 (although the date in the register is 1778, Venetian style), and was consequently only forty-eight years seven months and fifteen days old at his death, instead of fifty-two, as recorded on his tomb- stone.

Dr. Roller, referred to at the last refer- ence, in whose house Foscolo died, is a mis- print for Dr. Collier, father of Dr. N. C. Collier, medical officer of health to the borough of Hammersmith. JOHN HEBB.

Canonbury Mansions, N.

COLUMBARIA, ANCIENT DOVE OR PIGEON COTES (9 th S. vi. 389, 478; vii. 15, 116, 216). There is a very fine specimen at Corstor- phine (three miles west of Edinburgh, on the Glasgow road) which stands a little to the south of the fifteenth - century collegiate church of St. John the Baptist (now the

parish church). It cannot well be seen from the village, but is amongst some trees to the west of the cross-road going to the Pentlands. It is supposed to have room for many hun- dreds of birds, is in good preservation, has been figured in 'A Midlothian Village' (a delightful book lately published on Corstor- phine), and was the scene of the murder of Lord Forrester in 1679. Quite recently a ghost " walked " by the dovecot.

In 'The Grange of St. Giles' (Mrs. J. Stewart Smith, Edinburgh, 1898) several dovecots are mentioned, and a picture of a ruinous one at Heugh, North Berwick, is given on p. 107. IBAGUE.

"BELONGS WITH" (9 th S. vii. 148). See ' H.E.D.,' s.v. ' Belong,' 4. b : " Occas. const. To belong here ; also in U.S., with, in. 1861, O. W. Holmes, 'Elsie Venner,' xxvii., You belong with the last [set], and got acci- dentally shuffled in with the others."

C. C. B.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

Shakespeare's Family. With some Account of the

Ardens. By Mrs. C. C. Stopes. (Stock.) THIS latest work of Mrs. Stopes, one of the most intelligent and indefatigable of Shakespearian scholars, consists of an expanded reprint of articles which first saw the light in the Genealogical Maga- zine. Without departing from her original scheme of presenting Shakespeare primarily, if not wholly, as an interesting Warwickshire gentleman, Mrs. Stopes has added to the genealogical details which form her theme a short life of the poet. Concern- ing this she says that no one probably has ever attempted to write a biography of Shakespeare "with so little allusion to his plays and poems." She does not, moreover, confine herself to the Warwickshire Shakespeares, or indeed to War- wickshire families generally, but introduces all the Shakespeares that can be traced. Concerning the family of the poet, it can be said that, though the origin is entirely conjectural, the end at least is known. A space of one hundred and five years, from 1564 to 1669, covers the birth of Shakespeare and the death of his last lineal descendant. Claimants to a direct descent from Shakespeare are still to be found. Mrs. Stopes has been told that a modern visitor to the tomb of Juliet in Verona has described himself as a Shakespeare, "descendant, of the poet who wrote the play" of ' Romeo and Juliet.' Yet, as Mrs. Stopes definitely states, no lineal descendants can survive: "The presence of the name is a certain bar to the descent." If we accepted the tradition concerning D'Avenant which presented him as the son of Shakespeare, it is not certain that the chain of descent would be greatly lengthened. This supposed or conjectural paternity, which is as dubious as it is unimportant, is said by Mrs. Stopes to have been " an unfounded slander disposed of by Halliwell-Phillipps." The latter part of this sentence is too strong. That