2"'» S. NO 61., Feb. 28. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



179 



and an inscription to be fixed in the wall near 



his wife's pew, ' ad sedile vocat Anglice pewe.' " 



K. P. D. E. 



General Macartney, Sfc. (2""* S. iii. 111.) — The 

 case of General Macartney was not one of mere 

 report. He was convicted of manslaughter at the 

 01(1 Bailey in 1716, and burned in the hand, and 

 died in Kensington Square, July 7, 1730, being 

 then a Lieut.-General, Col. of Infantry, Governor 

 of Portsmouth, and Commander-in-Chief of the 

 Forces in Ireland. See Historical Register, 1716. 

 pp.223. 226., vMdibid., 1730, in Diary, ^y>- 49, 

 51., and also Brydges's Collins' s Peerage, i. 545. 



Gen. Macartney's genealogical position will be 

 found in Burke's Peerage, where Gen. George 

 Macartney (elder brother of Isaac Macartney, 

 the ancestor of the present Sir W, J. Macartney, 

 Bart.) occurs as holding the appointments above- 

 mentioned. 



In answering thus briefly, I may note that much 

 more extended particulars are preserved in a vo- 

 lume now before me, containing Tracts and MS. 

 Collections relative to legal and other discussions 

 connected with Gawsworth, and extending from 

 tiie death of the last Sir Edw. Fitton to the de- 

 cease of this second of Lord Mohun in his duel 

 with Haniilton. 



I mention it for the purpose of adverting to its 

 containing a more complete copy of a tract of 

 local and historical interest, than one which was 

 considered to be the only perfect copy when the 

 History of Cheshire was printed. (See vol. iii. 

 p. 191.) It relates to a subject which has lately 

 attracted more general attention from Macaulay's 

 notices of one of the litigants, Sir Alex. Fitton, 

 created Chancellor of Ireland and Baron Gaws- 

 worth by James II. The Museum copy of this tract, 

 A True Narrative of Proceedings in the several 

 Suits at Laiv between Lord Gerard of Brandon 

 and Alex. Fitton, Esq. (4to. Hague, 1663), ends at 

 p. 49. The more complete copy abovementioned 

 has^ a " Continuation " extending to p. 72., and 

 giving later trials and proceedings, the alleged 

 unhappy ends of some of 'the witnesses, and the 

 patronage of others by Lord Gerard and' the 

 Crown. Gko. Ormerod. 



Royal Privileges at Universities (2""^ S. ii. 270.) 

 — JoiiNiAN will find by referring to the Cam- 

 bridge Calendar (1856, p. 38.) that at this Uni- 

 versity it was determined " by an interpretation 

 made May 31, 1786," that persons entitled to 

 honorary degrees are bishops, privy councillors, 

 noblemen and their sons, baronets, and " Persons 

 related to the Sovereign by consanguinity or af- 

 finity, provided they be also honourable." But 

 by a grace of the Senate (March 18, 1825) all the 

 above have to be " examined and approved " in 

 the same manner as others ad Respondendum 

 Quastioni; but this may take place after nine 



terms' residence, the first and last excepted. They 

 then take the degree of M.A. : 



" I was transplanted to Cambridge, where I bloomed 

 for two years in the blue and silver of a fellow-commoner 

 of Trinity. At the end of that time (Jbeing of royal de- 

 scent) I became entitled to an honorary degree. I sup- 

 pose the term is in contradistinction to an honourable 

 degree, which is obtained by pale men in spectacles and 

 cotton stockings, after thirtj'-six months of intense ap- 

 plication." — Pelham, chap. ii. 



Thbelkeld. 



Cambridge. 



NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC. 



" Many talk of Eobin Hood, who never shot with his 

 bow," quoth the old proverb : and we may parody it by 

 saj'ing, " Many talk of ' the moral Gower,' who never read 

 one line written by him." True it is that his Confessio 

 Amantis is printed in Clialmers' English Poets; that 

 Caxton published one, and Berthelette two, if not three, 

 editions of the same poem ; and that Ellis, Todd, and 

 Collier have given extracts from it : yet the work is com- 

 parativelj-^ unknown. We think, therefore, it will be 

 admitted that in securing the services of Dr. Pauli to 

 edit, and the beautiful fonts and typographical taste of 

 Mr. Whittingham to produce, a librarj' edition of T/ie 

 Confessio Amantis of John Gower edited and collated ivltti 

 the best Manuscripts, our worthy publishers, Messrs. Bell 

 & Daldy, have deserved our encomium, and the good word 

 of every lover of old English poetr}'. Many an lionest 

 antiquary, when viewing the goodly effigy of John Gower 

 on his tomb in St. Mary Overy, with his head circled 

 with a chaplet of roses, resting on three volumes repre- 

 senting liis three great Avorks written in as many lan- 

 guages, viz. the Speculum Meditantis in French, the Vox 

 Clamantis in Latin, and the Confessio Amantis in English, 

 has desired better acquaintance with these works, more 

 especially the latter. So far as the Confessio Amantis is 

 concerned, that desire may now be readily gratified. The 

 Poem occupies tliree handsome octavo volumes. The 

 text is founded on Berthelette's first edition, collated 

 throughout with two Harleian MSS., and occasionally 

 with a third, and the celebrated MS. in the possession of, 

 we are grieved to sa3', the late Earl of Ellesmere. The 

 reader has therefore in this edition a better text of Gower 

 than has yet been given ; while, to make the book com- 

 plete in every respect. Dr. Pauli has prefixed a carefully 

 compiled Introductory Essay on the Life, Writings, and 

 Character of Gower, and, with the assistance of Mr. 

 Daldy, brought his work to a fitting close b}' a short but 

 very useful Glossary. Considering the intimacy which 

 existed between Chaucer and Gower when living, how 

 their names seem identified, the illustration which the 

 writings of the one throw upon the language of the other, 

 and the increasing study of Chaucer, this handsome edi- 

 tion of the great Poem of his great contemporary must 

 find a place in every library. 



There cannot be a better proof that, great as is the 

 demand for light reading, the demand for works of a 

 higher and more thoughtful character keeps pace with it, 

 than the fact, that not only is the number of larger re- 

 views, which appear periodically, considerably increased, 

 but tliat a new form of Essay Publication has been intro- 

 duced. We allude to the series of Papers issued by mem- 

 bers of different Universities. The Oxford Essays led 

 the way. They were soon succeeded by the Cambridge 

 Essays: and these again have found successors in a 



