m 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 115. 



ing his Grace an opportunity of placing his (Mr. 

 Huskisson's) office in other hands, as the only means 

 in his power of preventing the injury to the King's 

 service which might ensue from the appearance of 

 disunion in His Majesty's councils, &c. On receipt 

 of Mr. Huskisson's note, the Duke wrote to that 

 gentleman stating that he had deemed it his duty 

 to lay his note before the King. It happened that 

 the Duke's note reached Mr. Huskisson whilst he 

 was engaged in conversation with Lord Dudley, to 

 "whom he had been describing his own note to the 

 Duke, and speaking of it (strange enough) as if it 

 had not been a tender of resignation. When Mr. 

 Huskisson showed Lord Dudley the Duke's letter, 

 which showed that his Grace took a different view 

 of the matter, his Lordship, knowing what Mr. 

 Huskisson had been telling him, naturally enough 

 said that the Duke must be labouring under a mis- 

 take. But this incident was narrated with so much 

 naivete by Mr. Huskisson himself, that I am 

 tempted to quote his words (spoken in tiie House 

 of Commons) as they were reported in the Times, 

 June 3, 1828 : — 



" Upon showing this (the Duke's) letter to Lord 

 Dudley, so struck was he with the different import 

 which tlie Duke of Wellington attached to the matter 

 from that which was impressed on himself by the pre- 

 vious conversation, that he remarked, ' Oh, I see the 

 Duke has entirely mistaken your meaning: I will go 

 and see him, and set the matter right.' (A laugh.) 

 Lord Dudley returned shortly after seeing the Duke, 

 and said, ' I am sorry to say I have not been success- 

 ful. He (the Duke) says it is no mistake ; it can be 

 no mistake ; and (if Mr. Huskisson's relation of the 

 words were not imperfectly heard, for he let his voice 

 drop repeatedly) it shall be no mistake." (Loud 

 laughter. ) 



C. Ross. 



THE KEV. MR. GAY. 



(Vol. iv., p. 388.) 



I am greatly obliged by the communication of 

 your correspondent relative to the Gays connected 

 with Sidney College. It was from that quarter I ex- 

 pected light. The passage in Paley's Life of Law, 

 which is to me of considerable interest, long ago 

 attracted my attention, although it escaped notice 

 at the moment when I ventured to send my first 

 inquiry. It runs as follows : 



" Our Bishop always spoke of this gentleman in 

 terms of tlie greatest respect. In the Bible, and in 

 the writings of Mr. Locke, no man, he used to say, was 

 so well versed." 



Thus I find the passage quoted from Paley in 

 Nichols' Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth 

 Century, vol. ii. p. 66. Bishop Law also mentions 

 him in a letter to Dr. Zach. Grey, editor of 

 Hudibras : " Respects to honest 'Mr. Gay, and all 

 riends in St. John's." The letter was written 



from Graystock, May 31, 1743. The full address 

 of Dr. Grey unfortunately is not given where I 

 find the letter, in the same vol. of Nichols, p. 535. 

 But we may safely gather from it, that at thafc 

 time " honest Mr. Gay " was at Cambridge, and ia 

 esteem ; whether a resident, as should seem most 

 likely from the manner of the notice, or a casual 

 visitor, does not certainly appear. If a resident, 

 this is not consistent with the idea of your cor- 

 respondent, that he became vicar of Wilshamstead, 

 Bedfordshire, and vacated his fellowship before 

 1732. I wish that the identity of the author of 

 the Dissertation with the John Gay — first in the 

 list of your correspondent — an identity to which 

 my mind also inclines, could be more clearly 

 made out. He was born, and partly educated, ia 

 Devonshire. 



A private correspondent has very kindly fur- 

 nished me with a few particulars relative to 

 Nicholas Gay, the second mentioned in your cor- 

 respondent's list, and father of the fourth, which 

 Nicholas was vicar of Newton St. Cyres, near 

 Exeter, and died, ajt. seventy-five, in 1775 ; and to 

 another, Richard Gay, rector of St. Leonard, near 

 Exeter, who died in 1755. Of this Richard Gay, 

 on a stone in the church of Frithelstock, near 

 Torrington, it is said that — 



" To great learning, he added a most exemplary life 

 in constant faithful endeavours to support religion, to 

 glorify God, and to do good to man. He was equalled 

 by few, surpassed by none of the age he lived in." 



To such a character, one would gladly attach 

 the Dissertation in question, but no Richard Gay,, 

 it appears, is mentioned in the records of Sidney 

 College. There were many Gays in Devonshire: 

 of the family of John Gay the poet. 



Permit me to make another inquiry : Is there 

 any tolerably good account in existence of the 

 private or domestic life of the celebrated Lord 

 North, minister and favourite of George III. ? 

 Of his political career, a pleasing sketch is given 

 by Lord Brougham, in his Historical Sketches of 

 Statesmen, and many delightful anecdotes of his 

 incomparable temper and playful wit are known; 

 but of his domestic history I cannot find a trace. 



Edward Tagart. 



Wildwood, Hampstead. 



PARISH registers, RIGHT OF SEARCH. 



(VoLiv., p. 473.) 



As the Query herein appears to be one which it^ 

 is more the province of the lawyer to answer, I 

 take the liberty of submitting the following for 

 your correspondent's consideration. 



The ecclesiastical mode of registration appears 

 now to be regulated by 52 Geo. III. c. 146., which 

 still remains in force (except with regard to mar- 

 riages, which was repealed on the introduction of 



