2»<» S. No 70., May 2. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



347 



some letters of Cardinal Richelieu, and other his- 

 torical matters, which were intended for insertion 

 by Father Griffet, the Jesuit, in his History of 

 Louis XIII. and Louis XIV., has the subjoined 

 letter of M. de Louvois, with the following remark 

 attached : 



"Dansle recueil des lettres que Ton projettoit d'im- 

 primer a la suite du journal de Louis 14, on a cru devoir 

 supprimer une lettre de M. de Louvois qui fait trop con- 

 noitre toute le noirceur de son caractere : la voicy." 



" Lettre de M. de Louvois a M. Descarrieres envoye du Roy 

 a Liege, 

 "A St. Germain le 14 Mars, 1675. 

 " Voyez si vous ne pourriez pas feindrc qu'on a trouv^ 

 dans les papiers du Cardinal de Baden, quelque lettre du 

 Ministre de I'Empereur qui put, etant repandue dans 

 I'Alleinagne et le Pays Bas, y decrier les affaires de S. M. 

 Imperiale, et de tout son parti : il faudroit que cette lettre 

 fut a peu pres du stile de la cour de Vienne et remplie de 

 toutes choses qui pourroient rendre sa conduite plus 

 odieuse. Brulez ceu apres que vous I'aurez lu." 



One interesting letter from the Cardinal, ad- 

 dressed " Au pere Suffren Jesuite confesseur et 

 predicateur de Louis 13.," is undated, and com- 

 mences thus : " Mon pere ayant plu au Roy faire 

 choix de votre personne pour etre son confesseur," 

 &c., giving him full instructions how to regulate 

 his conduct and behaviour. 



Can some one of your correspondents affix the 

 date of this letter, or inform me whether it has 

 ever appeared in print ? Cl. Hopper. 



The word Alve. — What is the derivation and 

 meaning of the word alve^ in such names of pa- 

 rishes as Alveton (pronounced Alton), Alvechurch 

 (pronounced Alchurch), &c. ? There are many 

 such in England. William Fbaser, B.C.L. 



Alveton or Alton, Staffordshire. 



Saint Julius Ccesar. — Did any saint of this 

 name ever exist ? It would appear so, as it is 

 the name of several regular priests, and only the 

 names of saints are so conferred in religion, on 

 entering any of the numerous Orders of the Ro- 

 man Catholic Church. A. S. A. 



Eating Lead. — Is any reliance to be placed on 

 the following statement, which I cut the other 

 day from a provincial newspaper ? Describing the 

 sufferings of a shipwrecked crew, it goes on to 

 say : — 



" On the third day they fell in with part of the poop of 

 the ship, and found a piece of lead piping about five 

 inches long, which was shared in sixteen parts for their 

 mutual support." 



H. Draper. 



Dublin. 



Mounted Staff"- Officers. — By an order just is- 

 sued from the Horse Guards, regulating the quali- 

 fications of officers to be appointed in future on 

 the staff, the aides-de-camp, &c., are required 

 to be adepts in taking, among other things, " fly- 



ing sketches on horseback." Now, I should thank 

 any correspondent of " N. & Q." who would point 

 out to me any apparatus or manner in which this 

 may be accomplished, having, when whirled along 

 in the old mail coach, found it a most imprac- 

 ticable matter ; and to a mounted officer, it seems 

 to me next to an impossibility : for, so long ago 

 as the time of Swift, a similar difficulty is pointed 

 out, even by Hannah, Lady Acheson's maid, who 

 remarks to her mistress : 



" A Captain of Horse never takes off his hat. 

 Because he has never a hand that is idle ; 

 For the right holds the sword, and the left holds the 

 bridle." — Hamilton's Baton, lines 106 — 8. 



We may have many ambidextrous aides-de- 

 camp, but I have never yet heard of a Briareus 

 among them ? *, 



Kichmond, Surrey. 



Abel Wantner. — In the History and Desanp- 

 tion of Gloucester, by Geo. Worrall Counsel, 8vo., 

 1829, under the division of the parish churches 

 of the city, and particularly that of St. John 

 Baptist, at p. 143., there is this paragraph : — 



" Abel Wantner, who compiled Collections for the 

 County (Gloucester), lies buried in this church, and 

 happy it is for his memory that they were never pub- 

 lished." 



I am desirous to know something of this Abel 

 Wantner, and whether anything is known of these 

 "Collections." Some one has said "It is a bad 

 book from which some information cannot be ob- 

 tained ;" and although this may be a kind oi far- 

 rago, yet perhaps somewhat might be gleaned and 

 separated from the chaff. Delta. 



French Monasteries. — Can some of your corre- 

 spondents afford me information respecting a folio 

 volume of steel engravings of ancient monasteries 

 in France ? There is no title-page to the work, 

 nor any letter-press ; but the dates on the plates 

 range between 1670 — 1690, and bear the name of 

 " F. Guil. de la Tremblaye." In the copy now in 

 the library of the University of Durham, there is 

 a note in the handwriting of its former possessor, 

 Dr. Routh, which states that only two other copies 

 are known to exist. Dunelmensis. 



Thomas Handley. — Information is requested 

 respecting the family or descendants of Thomas 

 Handley, Esq., Clerk to the Court of Chancery in 

 1750. Dunelmensis. 



Tall Men and Women. — Would any of the 

 readers of " N. & Q." communicate the stature of 

 any unusually tall men and women who may have 

 come within the range of their observation. Sir 

 William Henry Don, Bart., I believe is upwards of 

 seven feet high. The Spanish giant, whom I saw 

 when he was in London some years since, was said 

 to reach seven feet and a half. Robert Hales, " the 



