2'«» S. VII. Feb. 26. '69.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



175 



ich doch, bei Gott, ein Mann bin, der nicht zarter zu seyn 

 braucht, als des zarteste aller weiblichen Wesen. 



(^Legt sie auf den Ruckeii, streckt ebenfah die Beine in die 



Luft, undfdhrt dann in dieser Stdlung fort zu gesticu- 



liren, und zu sprechen, 



* liebenswUrdige Freiheit von Vorurtheilen ! Wirf auch 

 du sie von dir, Hebe Freundin, alle die Reste von falscher 

 Scbam, wie ich oft die fatalen Kleider von dir riss, und in 

 schoner Anarchic umherstreute. — * Lucinde, 38." J. D. 

 Falk's Neueste kkine Schriften, Weimar, 1801, i. 343. 



Kotzebue asserts the verbal identity of what he 

 puts into the part of Karl with Sohlet^el's ro- 

 mance. Falk does not ; and I presume the latter 

 part of the quotation is a caricature. I have not 

 been able to buy or borrow a copy of Lucinde. 

 Heine, twenty years ago, wrote of it as altogether 

 thrown aside and past inquiring for {verworfen 

 und verschoUeii), but he admits that it was admired 

 when fresh. No better proof of its popularity 

 can be desired than the success of Der Hyperho- 

 riiischer Esel, the wit of which consists of cleverly 

 introduced quotations, and must have seemed 

 mere foolishness to those who were not familiar 

 with the original. Judging Lucinde from Kot- 

 zebue's and Falk's samples, I should agree with 

 J. D. A. in calling it ''a scandalous novel ;" but, 

 knowing how easy it is to convey an erroneous 

 impression by selections, I suspend my opinion 

 till I have read the book. F. Schlegel bore a 

 good character for morals and religion ; he was 

 the friend of Novalis and Tieck ; and Schleier- 

 macher wrote a volume (^Vertraute Brief e Uber F. 

 SchlegeVs Lucinde, Lubec, 1 800) in which he ex- 

 pressed enthusiastic and unbounded admiration of 

 the work. H, B. C. 



U. U. Club. 



CONSTABLE OF ENGLAND. 



(2"« S. vii. 130.) 



The office of Constable of England, " Comes 

 Stabuli," Great Master of the Horse, such being 

 then the principal military force, was an office of 

 the highest dignity in early times; the holder 

 during war being next in rank to the king. He 

 was the king's lieutenant, and commanded in 

 his absence. He inspected and certified the mi- 

 litary contingents furnished by the barons and 

 knights, &c., such being the only national force in 

 those days. He was in close attendance on the 

 king in time of peace also; he and the king's 

 "justicier" alone witnessing the king's writs, and 

 he had the power of arresting the sheriffs of coun- 

 ties for the neglect of their duties, &c. The office 

 has certainly not been held by the parties men- 

 tioned by CoNsivE ; for, having been an office " in 

 fee," it has thus been restricted to a particular 

 line of descent (till it eventually merged in the 



* Zur Geschichte von neuem schonen Literatur in Deutsch- 

 land. Paris, 1840. 



crown), but that was an illustrious one. Ralph 

 de Mortimer, a principal commander in the army 

 of the Conquerop and a kinsman, was first ap- 

 pointed Constable. Henry I. then constituted 

 Walter de Gloucester Constable in fee, to him and 

 his heirs, whose son Milo succeeded, was confirmed 

 by the Empress Maud, and created Earl of Here- 

 ford. His five sons succeeded him in turn as 

 Earls of Hereford and Constables of England, but 

 all died without issue. His eldest daughter, and 

 eventual coheir, Margery, having married Hum- 

 phrey de Bohun, steward and "sewer" to Henry 

 I., and a kinsman also, he became Earl of Here- 

 ford and Constable of England, as in fee, in right 

 of his wife. (It is stated, however, that the earl- 

 dom is properly to be considered as recreated in 

 the person of his grandson Henry.) The office 

 continued in this illustrious line to Humphrey de 

 Bohun, Earl of Hereford, eleventh Constable by 

 descent, who, on his marriage with the Princess 

 Elizabeth, daughter of Edward I., surrendered to 

 the king all his honours and estates. They being 

 regranted to him in as full a manner as he had 

 held them, he entailed them upon his lawful issue, 

 in default of which to revert to the crown. His 

 descendant Humphrey de Boliun, fourteenth Con- 

 stable, left two daughters and coheirs, the eldest of 

 whom, Alianore, married Thomas of Woodstock, 

 Duke of Gloucester, son of Edward IH. He be- 

 came Constable in right of his wife, after the 

 dignity had continued for nearly two hundred 

 years in the family of Bohun. His eldest daugh- 

 ter and heir, Anne Plantagenet, married secondly 

 Edmond, fifth Earl of Stafford, created Duke of 

 Buckingham. His grandson Henry, second Duke 

 of Buckingham, claimed and was allowed the 

 High Constableship, as heir of blood of Humphrey 

 de Bohun, temp. Richard III. His son Edward, 

 third and last duke, succeeded him; but being at- 

 tainted for high treason and beheaded, 17 May, 

 1521, the High Constableship, with all his other 

 honours, was forfeited to and merged in the 

 crown, where it remains, to be regranted at its 

 pleasure. 



CoNSivB will thus see that this high office, with 

 its then important functions, was held in succes- 

 sion for nearly five centuries from the Conquest 

 by a long line of illustrious individuals, to which 

 descent in blood also it was restricted as being an 

 office in fee. Frecheville L. B. Dykes. 



Ingwell. 



The last High Constable of England was Stafford, 

 Duke of Buckingham, beheaded in the reign of 

 Henry VIII., who abolished the office through jea- 

 lousy of its high privileges. Baker, in his Chronicle 

 (12 Hen. VIII.), after mentioning that the Duke 

 of Buckingham was the last High Constable of 

 England, says that it was the greatest place, next 

 the High Steward, in the kingdom ; and that the 



