2»d S. VII. J AS. 22. '69.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



73 



word cant from canto, as does also Skinner ; 

 though the latter suggests several other etymolo- 

 gies as possible, adding, however, " sed nihil ho- 

 rum satisfacit." Enough has, I think, been said 

 to show that the derivation given in the Spectator 

 (from Andrew Cant, a Scotch Presbyterian minis- 

 ter), as quoted by your correspondent Exui.^ can 

 hardly be correct. Henet Huth. 



ADMIRAL DUQUESNE. 



(2"i S. V. 13.) 



For an ample and interesting account of Ad- 

 miral Du Quesne, as well as of his ancestors and 

 descendants, G. C. is referred to Moreri, Dictionnaire 

 Historique (edit. Amsterdam, 1740, in 8 vols, fol.), 

 but in case that work is not available to G. C, it 

 may not be unacceptable to give a brief sketch of 

 the Du Quesne family, which gave a succession of 

 naval officers to the French marine. 



Abraham du Quesne, Marquis du Quesne or 

 Quune, was born in 1610 at Dieppe in Normandy, 

 where his family had long been settled ; his father, 

 of the same name, was a naval officer of reputation, 

 and died at Dunkerque in 1635, from wounds re- 

 ceived in a sea fight with the Spaniairds, when re- 

 turning from a mission, on which he had been sent 

 to Sweden by Louis XIII. Being destined for 

 the navy, he early entered that service under his 

 father, and commanded a frigate at the age of 

 seventeen. His first campaign was in the attack 

 on the islands of St. Honorat and Ste. Marguerite 

 in 1637. In the following year he contributed 

 greatly to the defeat of the Spaniards at Cattaro ; 

 and he also distinguished himself at Tarragona, 

 Barcelona, &c., in 1642-3. In 1644, he entered 

 the Swedish service, and was nominated Vice- Ad- 

 miral of the fleet of that kingdom, in which capa- 

 city he completely defeated the Danish fleet, 

 having nearly made the king a prisoner. Re- 

 called to France, in 1647, he received the com- 

 mand of the naval armament destined for the 

 expedition against Naples. Subsequently he was 

 made a Lieut.-General and Commandant of thirty 

 ships of the line, and defeated lluyter, the Dutch 

 Admiral, and also the English and Spanish fleets, 

 in 1676; his last naval victory being in 1683 over 

 the Mediterranean corsairs. As he uniformly ad- 

 hei'ed to the Calvinist faith, which his family had 

 long professed, his sovereign, Louis XIV., was un- 

 able to reward him as he deserved ; but, to mark 

 his appreciation of the admiral's services, the king 

 bestowed upon him the beautiful domain of 

 Boucher near Etampes, and erected it into a Mar- 

 quisate, In favour of himself and his descendants, 

 at the same time changing his name to Du Quesne. 

 The marquis enjoyed a vigorous old age, and died 

 at Paris, Feb. 2nd, 1688, in the fa,ith in which he 

 had been brought up, for he never swerved from his 

 Protestant profession. He had many brothers, all 



of whom died in the French service : of two of 

 these, who were captains of French vessels-of-war, 

 one was killed by a cannon shot in a naval en- 

 gagement ; and the other left a son, who also at- 

 tained the rank of captain in the French navy, 

 and was a knight of the military order of St. 

 Louis. This last, who lost an arm in 1705, was 

 married, and may have left descendants ; his name 

 was Du Quene-Monier. The subject of this no- 

 tice left by his wife, Gabrielle de Berniere, a 

 family of four sons : 1. Henri, Marquis du Quesne, 

 born Jn 1652, having entered the French marine 



— for the navy appears to have been the* heredi- 

 tary profession of this family — became Enseigne do 

 Vaisseau in 1666, Capitaine de Pavilion in 1674, 

 without passing through the intermediate grade of 

 lieutenant, — a promotion unexampled at the time, 



— and in 1675 was made Capitaine de Vaisseau. 

 In 1672 he was engaged in the naval battles with 

 the English and Dutch fleets, and in 1674 com- 

 manded the royal ship " Le Parfait" in three en- 

 gagements with theDutch and Spanish fleets, in the 

 second of which Admiral Ruyter was killed, and 

 he was wounded in capturing a Spanish vessel. 

 He commanded the "Laurier" in 1683 at the bom- 

 bardment of Algiers under his father, and was 

 afterwards sent to Tunis to renew the peace be- 

 tween France and that Regency. On the revoca- 

 tion of the Edict of Nantes, he found it necessary 

 to choose between the court and his religion ; and 

 having determined to adhere to the Protestant 

 faith, he obtained permission from King Louis 

 XIV. to purchase lands out of the kingdom of 

 France, and take up his residence there ; which 

 licence to emigrate was refused to his venerable 

 father, who was not allowed to quit the kingdom, 

 and was only granted leave to reside in Paris, 

 with the assurance that he would not be disturbed 

 on account of his religion. Accordingly he pur- 

 chased, at the commencement of the year 1685, the 

 Barony of Aubonnein the Swiss canton of Berne, 

 and having retired there with the royal permission 

 in 1686, continued to make it his residence till 

 1701, when he sold his barony to the government 

 of Berne. He steadily refused all the solicitations 

 made to him both by England andHolland to enter 

 the service of those countries in their wars with 

 France, although oflered the highest posts in their i 

 navies, his love of country, even in exile, being proof 

 against such temptations ; and he spent the latter 

 years of his life in the peaceful pursuits of litera- 

 ture, and in efforts to ameliorate the condition of his 

 suffering Protestant fellow-countrymen. In 1718 

 he published a work entitled Reflexions Anciennes 

 et Nouvelles sur T Eucharistie ; and he died at 

 Geneva, Nov. 11th, 1722, in the 71st year of his 

 age, universally esteemed, loved, and regretted by 

 all who knew him. It does not appear that Henri, 

 second Marquis Du Quesne, the eldest son and 

 successor of the admiral, was ever married. 



