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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. vm. JULY 13, 1901.

The family to whom it belonged were many of them hand-loom weavers, and most likely the James Mills referred to was of that occu- pation. The phrase in which the word occurs runs, " Ja 8 Mills co-ruff : says all Maps and Cuts are here." The writing is that of one accustomed to penmanship, and the word is clearly written. ARTHUR MAYALL.

MACKESY. I am anxious to trace the history of the Irish family of Mackesy, formerly of Ballymackesy, co. Wexford, and latterly of Waterford. Dr. T. L. Mackesy, President of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1845, was a grandson of Michael Mackesy, who is said by Burke to be descended from the old sept of the O'Maolmackessy. Can any of your readers help me with information likely to throw light upon earlier members of this family? Ballymackesy seems to have belonged to Lord Carew's family since about the middle of the eighteenth century. Is anything known of its previous connexion with the Mackesy family ?

ARTHUR GROVES.

Stanley Cottage, Alperton, Wembley.

PRISONERS J!OF WAR IN OUR

LITERATURE.

(9 th S. vii. 469.)

As there is no published list of this nature, perhaps I may be allowed to men- tion that one of the characters in the late James Grant's best work is first intro- duced to us when a prisoner of war in Edin- burgh Castle. The hero of ' The Romance of War,' Ronald Stuart, 92nd Highlanders, on the eve of his departure to become a " Penin- sular hero," noticed among the French cap- tives a young officer in deep dejection, and ventured to say to him :

' ' I regret much to see an officer placed among the common rank and file. Can I assist you in any way ? ' ' Monsieur, I thank you, you are very good, but it is not possible,' stammered the Frenchman

in confusion 'Yours are the first words of true

kindness that I have heard since I left my own home in our pleasant France. Oh, monsieur, I could almost weep ! I am degraded among my fellow-soldiers, my freres d'armes. I have broken ray parole of honour, and am placed among the private men. I have been placed here in conse- quence of a desperate attempt I made to escape trom the depot. I perceive you pity me, monsieur ; indeed I am very miserable.'"

Stuart having pressed the captive to accept his purse,

" By Heaven and St. Louis ! Victor d'Estouville will requite your kindness. If by fortune, or

rather misfortune, of war you ever become a prisoner in my native country, you will find that the memory of La Garde Ecossaise and your brave nation, which our old kings loved so long and well, and the sufferings of the fair Marie are not yet forgotten in la Belle France."

Until nearly the days of Waterloo, it is stated in Old and New Edinburgh ' (Cassell & Co.), the castle vaults were invariably used in every war as a receptacle for French prisoners. They are deep, dark, and horrible dungeons. So many as forty men were confined in one vault. The origin of these vaults is lost in antiquity.

There is a very interesting account in Lever's 'Tom Burke of Ours' of the sad career of Charles Gustave de Meudon, an ex-lieutenant of the 3 me Cuirassiers of the French army, who took part in the Irish Rebellion. Shortly before his death in Wick- low, he spoke much to Burke about Italy and Egypt, the Tuileries, La Vende'e, and Ireland. His last words were :

"Perhaps it may be your fortune to speak to" General Buonaparte; if so, I beg you to say to him that when Charles de Meudon was dying in exile, he held his portrait to his lips, and with his last breath he kissed it."

The door of the little room in which this scene occurred opened, and a sergeant entered. "Sorry to disturb you, sir. I have a warrant for the arrest of Capt. de Meudon, a French officer concealed here."

Burke pointed to the bed. The sergeant looked, but started back in horror. Charles de Meudon lay dead !

HENRY GERALD HOPE. 119, Elms Road, Clapham, S.W.

The hero of Robert Louis Stevenson's posthumously published novel 'St. Ives' is a French prisoner of war who escapes from Edinburgh Castle. C. C. B.

THE HALBERTS (9 th S. vi. 181 ; vii. 473). It would be a relief to myself, and I hope to all readers of * N. & Q.,' if IBAGUE\ without departing from the truth, could in any way modify his very painful note at the las"t reference, which has " got into my constitu- tion " more deeply than I like to think of. IBAGUE, as I understand him, speaks of the horrible punishment he describes, not as obsolete, but as in use at this very time. It is almost incredible that such atrocious barbarity should exist in any part of the world at the beginning of the twentieth century, and yet IBAGUB whose word of course I do not doubt says that he not only heard of, but actually saw it, so lately as 1876-7; and he also speaks of it in the