Mar. 13. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



24.3 



" S'. — His Majesty taking notice of an opinion en- 

 tertained in Staffordshire, that the burning of Feme doth 

 draw downe rain, and being desirous that the country 

 and himself may enjoy fair weather as long as he re- 

 mains in those parts. His Majesty hath commanded 

 me to write unto you, to cause all burning of Feme to 

 bee forborne, untill his Majesty be passed the country. 

 Wherein not doubting but the consideration of their 

 own interest, as well as of his Ma''°% will invite the 

 Coimtry to a ready observance of this his Ma"" com- 

 mand, I rest. 



Your very loving friend, 



Pembroke and Montgomery." 



Belvoir, 1st August, 1636. 

 * To my very loving friend the 



High Sheriff of the County 



of Stafford." 



Do any other writers of the time notice this 

 **■ opinion," and do any traces of it exist at present ? 



TRANSLATIONS. 



It becomes needful that the translations which 

 are to be copyright should be accurately made 

 when the new international law comes into effect. 

 In the Consulship and Empire of M. Thiers, 

 vol. iii. p. 220., purporting to be translated by 

 D. Forbes Campbell, " under the sanction and 

 approval of the author," the following happy piece 

 of translation occurs : — 



" They urged also, that the Maltese people would 

 offer great resistance to the destruction of those fine 

 fortresses, and proposed the reconstitution of the Order 

 on a new and more solid basis. They had no objection 

 to allow the French language still to be used there, 

 stipulating only that a college should be instituted for 

 teaching the English and Maltese languages. The 

 latter for the advantages of the Maltese people, who 

 should have a share in its management ; they were 

 desirous of placing this new settlement under the 

 guarantee of some great power, Russia for example. 

 The English were in hopes that with the English and 

 Maltese languages spoken by the people who would 

 still be devoted to them, they should still have an in- 

 fluence in the island, which would prevent the French 

 from again obtaining possession of it." 



The translator has Invented a college and sys- 

 tem of Instruction, because he did not know how 

 to translate '■'■languc!"* Thus this Important pas- 

 sage is wholly perverted. 



" lis alleguaient la resistance de la population mal- 

 taise a toute destruction de ses belles forteresses, et 

 proposaient la reconstitution de I'Ordre sur des bases 

 nouvelles et plus solides. [Is voulaient y laisser une 

 langue frangaise, moyennant qu'on y institat une langue 

 anglaise et une langue mallaise, celle-ci accordee a la popu- 

 lation de risk, pour lui donner part a son gouvernement ; 



* " Langue " means Order of Knights of Malta, of 

 the particular " nation " expressed. 



ih vovlaient que ce nouvel etablissement fat place sur la 

 garantie d'une grande puissance, la Russie par exemple. 

 Lcs Anglais espernient quavec les langues anglaise et 

 maltaise qui leur seraient devotee, ils anraient un pied 

 dans Visle, et empecheraient les Frangais d'y rentrer. " 



C. Redding, 



BALLAD OF LORD DELAMERE. 

 (Vol. 11., p. 104.) 



A correspondent gives the first two lines of a 

 ballad called Lord Delamere, and inquires to what 

 political event It refers. Dr. Kimbault (Vol. li., 

 p. 158.) suggests that this song may be another 

 version of one published in Mr. Thomas Lyte's 

 Ancient Ballads and Songs, which begins differ- 

 ently, and which Mr. Lyte fancies may refer to 

 some corn-law debate in parliament about the 

 years 1621 and 1622. I have a song wliich I took 

 down from recitation in Derbyshire, entitled The 

 Long-armed Duke, but which Is no doubt Identical 

 with Mr. Lyte's, the first verse being nearly the 

 same. That it refers to some transaction much 

 later than 1622 Is evident from the mention of 

 Lord Delamere, that title having been first con- 

 ferred by Charles 11. upon Sir George Warrington. 

 Henry, second Earl of Delamere, and Williani 

 Eiirl of Devonshire, are the heroes of the ballad, 

 which I believe to be founded upon some obscure 

 report of the quarrel which took place between, 

 the latter and Colonel Colepepper, of which an 

 account will be found in the Works of Lord Dela- 

 mere, London, 1694, p. 563. (reprinted in Howell's 

 State Trials, vol. ii. p. 510.), and also in CoUIns's 

 Peerage, vol.1, p. 343.; and see also CoUey Gibber's 

 Apology, chap. III. 



The Earl of Devonshire struck Colonel Cole- 

 pepper In the anteroom at Whitehall, having pre- 

 viously received an affront from the Colonel in the 

 king's palace. He was summoned to appear at 

 the King's Bench, and gave bail to the amount of 

 30,000^ ; Lord Delamere being one of his sure- 

 ties. A fine to that amount was inflicted on him, 

 but he appealed from the judgment to the House 

 of Lords, where one of his warmest advocates was 

 Lord Delamere. Vague reports of these proceed- 

 ings would find their way into the North, where 

 the matter would be handled by the balladmongers 

 In a style congenial to the manners and Ideas of 

 their rustic auditory. Lord Delamere is described 

 by a cotemporary versifier as 

 " Fit to assist to pull a tyrant down. 



But not to please a prince that mounts the throne." 



These lines are given, without a reference, in a 

 note to Burton's Diary. Query, Where do they 

 come from ? 



My version of the ballail was printed about 

 nine years ago in a periodical called The Story- 

 teller, which came to an abrupt conclusion in the 



