Portlaw, wrote to the Times, enclosing a copy of a letter that he had received from the Lady Louisa Tighe, which I will give in full :— "Dear Dr. Martin,-In answer to your letter, I beg to inform you that the ball was given in my father's house, and in the room which we used as our schoolroom, where we, the children, had our meals, and it was also our playroom. The dancing was in the room I mention. I was allowed to sit up and see the ball......The room was a long one, with several windows looking towards the stables. It was a room on the ground floor, and the dining-room and my father's study all on the same floor, but the dining-room and study looked out to the pretty garden, which reached the ramparts, and was extensive. In that garden there was a house which seemed to be a store for carriages. It was some way from the house, and concealed by large horse-chestnut trees and small shrubs, but not used by our family, and I am quite certain the ball took place in our schoolroom, as I remember it well, and all the sad scenes of wounded men brought into Brussels after the battle of Waterloo." Here, then, we have a real difficulty. Lady Louisa Tighe was in the Duke of Richmond's house at the time of the ball, and so was Lady De Ros, her sister. Both ladies have a distinct recollection of the locale of the immortal scene, and yet they are not of one mind as to whether the ball took place in the Duke of Richmond's house or at a coach-builder's adjoining. I think we may take it that the Lady De Ros would be more likely to be accurate than her younger sister, who was still in the schoolroom. In April, 1884, I approached Lady De Ros through the Duke of Richmond, with a view to settling once and for ever one of two very difficult Byronic points. I had, of course, like every other gaping tourist, been shown the "Salle de Reception" in the Hôtel de Ville at Brussels, where, according to those pests the town guides, I had been assured that the Duke of Brunswick's "prophetic ear" had caught the sound of his own doom. And yet I was not happy. Feeling sure that the Duchess of Richmond would not have given a ball in the Hôtel de Ville, I determined to apply to a lady who was actually present on that occasion. On April 9, 1884, Lady De Ros very kindly wrote down the following words, which I shall treasure all my life long: "The ball given by my mother the Duchess of Richmond, 15 June, 1815, took place in the Rue de la Blanchisserie, where we lived, in the lower part of the town of Bruxelles. There was no park attached to it, but a moderate-sized garden. The house had belonged to a coachmaker, and the warehouse in which he kept his carriages was converted into a long narrow room, in which the ball took place. In 1868 I looked in vain for the house and the street, and, after many inquiries, was told that the house had been pulled down, and the street no longer existed, or if it did its name was changed. "GEORGIANA DE ROS." It further appears, by the evidence of Lord William Pitt Lennox, published by Sir William Italics are mine. Fraser in the Times (September), that the ball which his mother had given, and at which he was present, did "not take place at the residence of the duchess, but in some sort of an old barn at the back or behind." Thus it will be seen that the theory of Sir William Fraser is borne out_by strong contemporary evidence. I congratulate him on having made a discovery, and on settling a point which has perplexed us long. RICHARD EDGCUMBE. 33, Tedworth Square, S.W. BALLADS AND SONGS OF THE WEST F ENGLAND. A It was usual about fifty years ago, in tavern: in Devon and Cornwall, for certain men who were well known in their districts as famous song-men to be given free entertainment if they sang to amuse the company gathered about the fire. few of these old song-men linger on toothless and decrepit, and from them I have begun to collect the traditional ballads and songs they sang formerly. Some of them can neither read nor write. The profession-if so it may be called-was in many cases hereditary, and those who remain learned most of their songs from their fathers. I have collected already about eighty with their tunes, and am comparing the latter with the melodies in Durfey, the Compleat Dancing Master,' and other early collections, so far with the result that I am convinced we had in the west of England independent school of melody. I have, so far, been able to track a very few tunes. I shall be obliged if any of your readers can help me to trace some of the ballads. I give one to begin with: THE MOWER. As I walked out one morning, I met a maid, she ask'd my trade, To journey up and down There's work I trow for thee; I'll find the task that thou dost ask If thou wilt follow me. There is a pretty meadow That's kept for thee in store, Besprent with dew, I tell thee true; 'Twas never mown before. "And in that gentle meadow Are neither hills nor rocks; I answered: "Lovely maiden, "And if the grass be all cut down In the country where I go, Then it may be I'll come to thee, The herbage sweet about thy feet He cometh here no more. And where he stays I cannot tell, Is growing, growing still. It will be noticed that there is a confusion as to who speaks. S. BARING-GOULD. ROBERT BURTON, with the addition of "The second Edition, corrected and augmented by the Author"; the same motto from Macrobius, below which is the arms of the University of Oxford, with the letters AC. OX. separated by the shield; the imprint same as before, but with the date 1624; title and dedication two leaves; 557 pp.; index. British Musem pressmark 8408. 1. Third edition, folio.-Engraved title; two leaves of verses, one dedication; 646 pp.; four leaves of index; one leaf of errata; one leaf with imprint of Henry Cripps. There is, I think, a copy in the British Museum, but I have not a note of the pressmark. The pressmark of the Bodleian copy is M. 5. 2. Art. It is imperfect, wanting the two leaves of verses. On the title is "Rob Burton" in the author's handwriting. The copy in the Library of Lincoln College, Oxford, pressmark G. viii. On the last board there is, in the author's hand :I There is not, so far as I am aware, any accurate description of the various early editions of the Anatomy of Melancholy.' This being the case, shall perhaps be doing a service by transcribing the following memoranda for publication in 'N. & Q.' Much more might and ought to have been added. They are, however, I believe, trustworthy so far as they go. All the books described have been personally inspected by me. I made these notes at a time when I had thoughts of issuing an annotated edition of that learned and amusing book. The notes remain, perhaps for use at some future time by other hands than mine. I found that the work could not be carried out by any one, however zealous or painstaking, who did not live in London or at Oxford. The number of quotations is vast beyond my powers of computation. No private library contains a quarter of the volumes Burton laid under contribution, and for an edition such as I had in my mind it would have been necessary that the references to all these should have been verified. First edition, 1621, 4to. "The Anatomy of Melancholy, what it is, with all the kindes, cavaes, symptomes, prognostickes and severall cures of it. In three maine partitions, with their seuerall Sections, Members, and Svbsections. Philosophically, Medicinally, historically opened and cvt vp. By Democritus Junior. With a Satyrical Preface, conducing to the following Discourse. Macrob. Omne meum, nihil meum. At Oxford Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps. Anno. Dom. 1621." "1628. Ex dono Rob. Burton authoris. Nunc opus est, tanta est insania transeat omnis Anticyra was noted in ancient times for the helle- Fourth edition.-Engraved title, verses concerning it beginning "The distinct squares"; dedication one leaf; verses two leaves; 722 pp.; index five leaves. On the back of last leaf, "Oxford printed by John Lichfield Printer to the Famous Vniversity, for Henry Cripps Ann. Dom. 1632." The British Museum copy (pressmark 715. i. 12) has written on the title, "E. Lib. Tho. Gent Civ. Lond. & Ebor 1735." Fifth edition, 1638.--One leaf of verses; engraved title; one leaf of dedication; two leaves of verses ; two leaves of synopsis; 723 pp.; errata on last page of index. British Museum pressmark 8408. 1. The copy in the library of Corpus Christi, Oxford, has an inscription in Burton's hand, "Ex dono Roberti Burton authoris 1638. mense Julio." Sixth edition. Frontispiece, at the bottom The title-page and dedication two leaves. There "London, printed & are to be sould by Hen. Crips are no verses following them. The conclusion to & Lodo. Lloyd at their shop in Popes head alley the reader three unpaged leaves, dated "From my 1652"; dedication one leaf; verses three leaves; studie in Christ Church Oxon. Decemb 5. 1620"; 723 pp. On the last leaf of index is a notice that one page of errata; no index. The British Museum the author has died "since the last impression," copy has the press mark C. 45. C., and an auto-signed "H. C." The imprint at the end is dated graph inscription on the back of the dedication, 1621 Ex dono Roberti Burton authoris Edis huiusce alumni." The press mark of the Bodleian copy is "Mason AA. 500," Second edition, folio.-Title same as before, 1651. British Museum pressmark 715. i. 13; Bodleian, Bliss. 2. 272. This copy has 1651 on the engraved title, as well as at the end. In the Library of the University of Leiden there is a very fine copy of this edition. It has 1652 on the title, and 1651 at the end, as is also the case with an inferior copy purchased at the Manwaring sale, Coleby Hall, Lincolnshire, about thirty-six years ago, and now in my possession. Seventh edition, 1660.—On the engraved title is, "London, Printed for H. Cripps and are to be sold at his shop in Popes-head allie, and by E. Wallis at the Hors-shoo in the Old Baley 1660." There are two copies in the British Museum, 715. 1. 14 and Grenville 19,650. There are also two copies in the Bodleian, L. 3. 14.; Jur. B. Subt. 202. Eighth edition. "London Printed for Peter Parker, at the sign of the Legg & starr in Cornhill over against ye Royal Exchange 1676." The engraved title is from a new plate, and badly executed. The text is in double columns. There is a copy in the Royal Collection in the British Museum, 40. f. 15. be said that this is a passage which deser annually to be read "upon St. Crispin's Day," commemorative of it in the North of E shoemakers used to have a holiday upon the rence of the day of the patron saint of the crit The Shakspearian estimate of the British cannot, of course, be correct, and is set much be the mark, which seems really to have been att 1,000, or 1,500: Edward the Duke of York, the Earl of Suffolk, Sir Richard Ketly, Davy Gam, esquire: None else of name: and of all other men But five-and-twenty.-'Henry V.,' IV. viii. Macaulay has also a fine allusion to the ange the British lion in his chivalrous poem 'Armada ': So glared he when at Agincourt in wrath he tur to bay, And crushed and torn beneath his feet the pris hunters lay. Is it known who Davy Gam was, and whether & The above is, I believe, the last of the old descendants are yet existing in Wales; or is editions of the work. No reprint appeared in the rescued from oblivion by this solitary mention last century, but there have been many issues in his name? Not only was Agincourt immortalis recent days. The work grew under its author's by Shakspeare, but one of his contemporaries, hands. I have ascertained that the editions pub-him-in 1563-Michael Drayton, author of t was also Warwickshire born, just one year be lished during his life do not any of them contain a complete text. Any future editor should make the fifth or sixth edition the basis of his work, as these are perfect, and are freer from misprints than succeeding issues. To do the work properly, however, it would be necessary in preparing the text to have all the editions published during the author's lifetime consulted, as they contain various readings that it is important to note. For some reason (why I do not know) the first edition, in quarto, is considered a very rare book, and fetches high prices when it occurs at sales. I think, however, it must be rather common, as I have seen many copies of it. On the other hand, the second edition (the only folio issue without the engraved title) seems really very scarce. I have only seen four copies of it. Bottesford Manor, Brigg. EDWARD PEACOCK. BATTLE OF AGINCOURT: DAVY GAM.-Henry V. seems to have been one of the most popular sovereigns that ever reigned in England, and recently, on October 25, St. Crispin's Day, the memory was recalled of this "famous victory" and also of another instance of British valour, the deathcharge of the six hundred at Balaclava. Agincourt reminds us of the days when "England was but fling, save for the crooked stick and grey goose wing." Shakspeare, in one of the finest passages of the historical plays,' Henry V.,' IV. iii., has described the courage of Henry V. on the eve of the great battle, which seems to have increased proportionately with the difficulties it had to face. It may a 'Poly-Olbion,' wrote a fine poem in sixteen starts Nor has the other passage of British arms- Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge. So SURNAMES. The following passage I ha quoted from Mr. L. Lloyd's Scandinavian A ventures,' 1854. It may not impossibly thr some light on the origin of a class of English su names concerning which there has been mu speculation, and more than one foolish guess been accepted for truth in certain quarters :— h "Few of the Swedish peasants have surnames, and i consequence their children simply take their father' Christian name in addition to their own. For example, if the father's name be Sven Larsson, his sons', in consequence, would be Jans or Nils Svens-son; and his daughters', Maria or Eliza Svens-daughter. The co fusion that this system creates would be endless, were is party is usually attached to his name. In the army, not that in all matters of business the residence of the to prevent the confusion that would otherwise arise, the common soldiers therefore are designated by fictitious (generally monosyllabic) names; as, for instance, name* of birds, beasts, trees, &c."-I. 366n. I have occasionally, though but very rarely, met with "daughter" as a name-ending in early Eng lish documents. It has not, so far as I know, survived in that position to the present time. ASTARTE. VERSES ON FLY-LEAF OF A HISTORY OF THE WINDSOR-CLIVE FAMILY.'-During a tour in South Wales a few years ago I turned in one day at the "Clive Arms," Caerphilly, for a rest and a meal, and picked up a book to amuse myself with-a 'History of the Windsor-Clive Family'-on the fly-leaf of which I found the following verses, which may be deemed worthy of preservation in 'N. & Q. They tell the story of a former traveller detained by stress of weather : Unbroken solitude and misty gloom Reigned undisturbed in this well-furnished room, WM. GEO. FRETTON, F.S.A. Coventry. LITERARY PARALLEL.-'Richard II.,' I. iii.:O, who can hold a fire in his hand By thinking on the frosty Caucasus? Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite By bare imagination of a feast? Or wallow naked in December snow By thinking on fantastic summer's heat? Compare the following passage from the Hakdamah to Saadya Gaon's 'Emunot ve-deot' (Hebrew philosophical work, beginning of tenth century): Let him who has no money imagine that his coffers are full, and let him see how little this thought will profit him. Or if he is forty, let him think himself seventy, and what will he gain? Let him fancy himself satisfied with food when he is hungry, or that his thirst is quenched though he has not yet drunk, and what boots it? Let him think that he is warmly clad when he is really naked, or that his enemy is dead and no longer to be dreaded when he still lives, able to do him harm. What good will these delusions do to him?" I. ABRAHAMS. KISSING THE LADIES AN ENGLISH MODE OF SALUTATION.-Nicolaus de Bethlen, a pupil of Dr. Basire at Alba Julia, visited England during the winter of 1663/4, and relates the following in his 'Autobiography **:— "Being unaware of the fact that it was customary in England to kiss the corner of the mouth of ladies by way of salutation, instead of shaking hands as we do in Hungary, my younger brother and I behaved very rudely on a gentleman of high rank, and found his wife and three one occasion. We were invited to dinner to the house of * Published at Pest in 1856, et seq. daughters, one of them married, standing in array ready to receive us. We kissed the girls, but not the married ladies, and thereby greatly offended the latter, but Duval [a French Protestant clergyman] apologized for our blunder, and explained to us that when saluting we must always kiss the senior lady first and leave the girls and children to the last; after dinner it was considered sufficient to kiss the hostess only in recognition of the hospitality received." Thereafter, he adds, he and all his travelling companions, with the exception of one who could not be prevailed upon, complied most scrupulously with the rules of etiquette. Bethlen moved in the best society in London. He was received by Charles II. "in publica solenni audientia" surrounded by a throng of noblemen; he called on the "Dux Eboracensis, Rupertus Palatinus Rheni," and many noblemen of high rank. At Oxford he was entertained and made very much of by the professors, who, he informs us, spoke Latin with difficulty. In fact everybody in England, he tells us, considered it a great torture to be obliged to speak Latin, and he was therefore compelled to air his broken English, which he had picked up at Leyden under the tuition of a poor Englishman. I have known that passage relating to the custom of kissing for some time, but have hitherto always treated it as a "traveller's tale." Recently, however, I found it again alluded to in a German writer, who gives Erasmus of Rotterdam as his authority. L. L. K. [See Erasmus on Kissing,' 6th S. vii. 69, 93, 116; viii. 58; xi. 92.] ERRATUM IN INDEX TO SIXTH SERIES, VOL. XI., AND GENERAL INDEX.-In the index to the Sixth Series, under "Proverbs and Phrases," the third reference to Green Baize Road' should be 220 instead of 200. The same correction is necessary in the index to vol. xi., Sixth Series; and under Marshall, J.," should be added "Green Baize Road," 220. W. E. BUCKLEY. EGYPTIAN HIEROGRAMS ON ENGLISH PICtures. One of the most familiar Egyptian hierograms is that, of a globe with wings, with sometimes a rod entwined by two serpents-the caduceus of Mercury. In Brydges's 'Peers of James I.,' p. 394, there is an engraving of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and his wife, Mary Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII. The lady holds this emblem in her right hand, and it is surmounted by a cross bar resting on the serpents' heads. From the extreme points of the bar depend little balls. Among the pictures at Longleat there is one of Francis I. and his wife, Eleanor of Austria, in which the lady is represented holding the same emblem slightly varied. The globe looks more like a pineapple or artichoke, and at the ends of the cross bar hang what appear to be two little bells. It has been suggested that in this picture it may be meant as an emblem of the Peace of Cambray ("La "Secondly, like Mercury, you must alway carry a Caduceus, or conjuring Japan in your hand, capped with a civet-box: with which you must walk with gravity as in deep contemplation upon the arbitrement between life and death." Were Egyptian hierograms in fashion among the SIR FRANCIS WALSINGHAM AND THE 'ARCANA AULICA.'-In 'N. & Q.,' 1" S. x. 290, there is an interesting note on this little volume, ascribed to Walsingham, at least as the translator. Thirtyfour years have elapsed since that note was written, and in the interval the author of the original work, said to have been written in French, may have been discovered. Is it now known who wrote it? May it not have been Walsingham's own? With the exception of his numerous letters, printed in Digges's Compleat Ambassador' (1655-1691), the only accredited writings of Sir Francis Walsingham are his brief essays entitled 'Anatomizing of Honesty, Ambition, and Fortitude,' printed amongst Sir Robert Cotton's 'Posthumia' in 1651, and reprinted in the Somers Tracts,' vol. i. These essays were written in 1590. It is quite possible that Walsingham wrote the 'Arcana Aulica,' and it is in keeping with his subtle and politic character that he should represent the work as a translation, or that he should lead others to think so. Was not his motto, video et taceo? There is a French translation of the 'Arcana Aulica,' rendered directly from the English copy, entitled 'Maximes Politiques de Walsingham, and published at Amsterdam in 1717. This is in the fourth volume of a work entitled "Memoires et Instructions pour les Ambassadeurs, ou Lettres et Negotiations de Walsingham, Secretaire d'Etat, sous Elizabeth, &c. Traduit de l'Anglois. Seconde Edition." Sir Francis died at his town house in Seething Lane, London, April 6, 1590. Most biographers add, so poor that his friends were obliged to bury him in St. Paul's late at night in the most private manner." But night funerals were not unusual at this period, and were not necessarily an indication of poverty. To be interred by torch light would be regarded as a mark of honom. EPIGRAM.-The following has been, I belier published by Wordsworth, but the date has been given for his appearance, viz., April 14-1, { 1726, St. James's Evening Post. It was speed copied by the other newspapers: On the Bursar of S. John's College, Oxford, cutting Indulgent Nature to each kind bestows JAMES E. THOROLD ROGERS. BLEISHO. (See 7th S. vi. 347.)-I hope your learned and valued correspondent MR. BRADLEY will not think me intrusive if I suggest that the local authorities have imposed a fictitious name the place where he resides. We are familiar wit the title of St. John of Bletsoe, or Bletshoe, bu in Burke's Armory' another spelling occur namely, Bletsho. I have no doubt that this w the word originally intended to designate the roa and that by some mistake the t was changed in . Bletsho is a recognized name; Bleisho seen J. DIXON. to be nonsense. PROGRAMME. - We write anagram, diagra phonogram, telegram, cryptogram, monogram, & Nay, in some recent scientific works gram already found in lieu of gramme. Why not d card the two useless letters at the end of the w programme? Queries. L. L. K. We must request correspondents desiring informati on family matters of only private interest, to affix the names and addresses to their queries, in order that t answers may be addressed to them direct. CHEESE-MAKING. There are certain utensi used in cheese-making called chesford and chesse I should be glad to know exactly what these are and whether any more likely derivation for ther can be suggested than the current conjecture tha they are respectively corruptions of cheese-fat and cheese well. The forms chessart, cheswirt, chizzard, and kaisart are also given by Jamieson as variants of chessford, and make its derivation from cheess fat still less likely. We want early instances for all these words. The Scriptorium, Oxford, J. A. H. MURRAY. BOOK OF MARTYRS.-Will any one give me the title and date of a small, thin quarto book o |